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Marty Noble: MLB carries on strong, 200,000 games later | MLB.com: News

Posted by Sean Forman on September 23, 2011

Marty Noble: MLB carries on strong, 200,000 games later | MLB.com: News.

200,000th game will be tomorrow.  Glad to see MLB pick up on this momentous event.  A nice rundown of the first National League game is in this article.

22 Responses to “Marty Noble: MLB carries on strong, 200,000 games later | MLB.com: News”

  1. Kahuna Tuna Says:

    Let's refer to this event as "BB|ĪĪ|".

    (Source for Roman-numeral notation.)

  2. Dr. Doom Says:

    They also have a contest to see who can pick the person to record the 200th strikeout on the day of the 200000th game. All thanks to Sean and his amazing work!

  3. D Forrest Y Says:

    That'd make a great jeopardy question -- "The Boston Red Stockings beat the Athletics for the first game in this league?" ...most decent fans would immediately think it must the American League.

  4. Timothy P. Says:

    Jamile Weeks hit career HR number one last night.

  5. Lawrence Azrin Says:

    I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Jamie Moyer or Julio Franco in this thread yet.

    The author speculates as to whether or not any players used gloves. I know that gloves were first used in the early 1870s, but were they used in at all in 1876 MLB games?

  6. Dan Says:

    Did anyone read all the way to the end of the article where the author mentions "Henry's homers"?

    Now that's some subtle disrespect for Bonds...

  7. Doug Says:

    @2.

    Thanks to Sean, indeed. But I didn't see any attribution to B-R in the MLB article. Did awareness of the 200,000th game originate here? If so, would have been nice to see some acknowledgement from MLB.

  8. Doug Says:

    @5.

    "The author speculates as to whether or not any players used gloves."

    I also wonder when catchers first used masks. The article mentions one of the catchers was injured in the eye by a foul ball. Ouch!

  9. scott Says:

    @ 5: I have a 1989 "Who's Who In Baseball" Julio Franco's birth date is listed as August 23, 1961. Somehow he got 3 years older later in his career.

  10. Bobbie Says:

    Season opening roster.
    Boston— J.E. Borden, p.; T. McGinley, c.; T. Murnan, 1b.; Morrill, 2b.; *G. Wright, s.s.; *H. C. Schaffer, 3b; *A. J. Leonard, l.f.; *J. O'Rourke, c.f.; *J. E. Manning, r.f. Reserves-F.T. Whitney and W.R. Parks.
    Athletics— *A. Knight, p.; *W.K. Coons, c; *W. D. Fisler, 1b; W. Fouser, 2b.; *D. Force, s.s.; *E. B. Sutton, 3b.; *G.W. Hall, l.f,; *D. Eggler, c.f.; L. Myerle, r.f.
    *Denote men who played with the teams in 1875.

    The eight teams started the season with 9-12 players.
    Boston lost Spalding, Barnes, and White from the previous year to Chicago.

  11. Jeff J. Says:

    @8

    A player or players at Harvard supposedly first used a mask in April of 1877.
    Pete Hotaling or Mike Dorgan were supposedly the first big leaguer to use one, supposedly in the summer of 1877 (unconfirmed reports of Deacon White using one as early as 1869).

  12. TheGoof Says:

    Grew up reading his work in Newsday, which also had Tom Verducci, Peter King...

  13. Kingturtle Says:

    I am actually quite sick of reading things in the blog or on this site and then later hearing it in the media without any mention of this site.

  14. joe baseball Says:

    from what I can tell, the Min-Cle game just became official, I think it should be the 200,000

  15. Ken Says:

    You would think that in all that has been said about this "landmark", someone would have questimated which game the landmark was, long before #14 entered his post. I know it was subject to change depending on rainouts being played later, but generally speaking, you would think a big deal would have been made of the probable magic 200,000th. His words, "game just became official" sounds as if the 5th inning just finished. Or do you just take the order in which the games started, knowing team No. X would be the 200,000th? Personally, I would take whichever game finished 200,000th. How can a game be official unless you know the final score and all the stats involved? So do these alternative methods change anything, fellow stat-heads?

  16. joe baseball Says:

    I used the same assuption that was used when Cal Ripken broke the streak, the game had to be officially played(4.5 Inn if the home team was winning or 5 inn otherwise) otherwise a game that might have started couldve been interupted and the results wiped off the books. But the 9th completed game of the day is also a valid way to record it. I'm guessing that the Min-Cle games was also the ninth game to finish. anyone with better info?

  17. joe baseball Says:

    The 200,000th regular-season game in Major League Baseball history was recognized Saturday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston, where the milestone was announced after the Rockies-Astros game became official.

    At about 8:45 p.m. ET, Colorado and Houston were tied at 2 after five innings. MLB officials then checked with Elias Sports Bureau for a final authentication, and then notified the Rockies and Astros that they were in the history books.

    There were eight ballparks hosting games that started in the 7 p.m. ET hour, and there were 199,998 games played entering that window. It created some bonus drama in the closing days as the fifth inning neared.

  18. ajnrules Says:

    Yey! I was at that Astros-Rockies game tonight! I had lost track in the 200,000-game countdown, and so I was surprised when they made the announcement of history. It was a good game through 12, but then the Astros had to use Jordan Lyles, who suffered the Derek Holland syndrome and the game ended on a whimper.

  19. JayKibler Says:

    @6,
    Yes, I did notice that...and chuckled.

  20. Russ Says:

    I was at the Cleveland Minnesota game last night. While the powers that be may not actually recognize it as such, I will think I was at #200,000.

  21. Rich Says:

    I was trying to find an article on the first game when it happened and instead came across this

    Do you suppose this was some sort of spring training game (though it's played in Philadelphia) or did the first ever MLB game really take place a week earlier?

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