Books and articles about Dale Long

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The 6'4" 205-lb Long turned down a contract from the NFL Green Bay Packers to play pro baseball. He stuck with the Pirates in 1955 after 11 minor league seasons (2 as a home run champ) and led the NL in triples. In May 1956, he hit eight homers in eight consecutive games, a record equaled by Don Mattingly in 1987. Traded to the Cubs in 1957, he found cozy Wrigley Field to his liking, hitting 55 HR over the next three seasons. In 1958 he caught two games using his first baseman's mitt, becoming the first lefthanded catcher since 1906. In 1959 he tied a then-NL record by hitting back-to-back pinch homers. He also helped the Yankees down the stretch in 1963 with timely pinch hits. After his playing career, he worked as a minor league umpire. (DB)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » March 21, 1951: Pittsburgh's lefty first baseman Dale Long makes his first appearance as a catcher in an exhibition game against San Diego. » June 1, 1951: The Pirates waive 1B Dale Long to the Browns, who ship him to San Francisco (PCL). Long will be back in Pittsburgh for the 1955 season. » April 17, 1956: Despite 2 HRs by Dale Long, Pittsburgh loses to New York 4-3 when Willie Mays scores from 2B in the 8th inning on Daryl Spencer's groundout to 2B. » May 19, 1956: In the Pirates 7–4 win, slugger Dale Long hits a 9th-inning home run against the Cubs for the first of a string of eight home runs in eight games. » May 20, 1956: The Pirates draw their biggest crowd in five years—32,326—and sweep a pair from the Braves, 6–5 and 5–0. Dale Long hits a homer in each game and drives in seven runs. Bob Friend wins the opener and Ron Kline fires the six hitter in the nitecap. » May 28, 1956: Dale Long of the Pirates connects against the Dodgers Carl Erskine at Forbes Field for his 8th home run in eight games, a record that will stand until the Yankees Don Mattingly equals it in 1987. Pittsburgh wins, 3–2, behind Bob Friend's 2-hitter. » May 29, 1956: Dodgers P Don Newcombe beats the Pirates 10–1 and blanks Dale Long in four ABs, stopping his home run streak. Newk has a 3-run double off Ron Kline in the 2nd to help clinch his 7th win. » May 1, 1957: The Cubs send 1B Dee Fondy and 2B Gene Baker to Pittsburgh for 1B Dale Long and OF Lee Walls. Fondy hits .300 but will be traded, while Walls and Long will knock out 45 home runs for the Cubs this season. » September 21, 1958: The Cubs 1B Dale Long, a lefty, catches in the 9th inning in a 2–1 loss to the Dodgers. This time he wears a lefty catcher's mitt, not a 1B glove. The Cubs strand 15 runners as Sandy Koufax tops Bob Anderson: each pitch seven innings before relief. » April 5, 1960: The Giants purchase 1B Dale Long from the Cubs. » October 2, 1960: Dale Long hits a 2-run homer in the 9th to give the Yankees an 8–7 win over Boston. The Yankees go into the World Series with a 15-game win streak, the most ever. » October 3, 1960: The Yankees head into the World Series with a 15-game winning streak, the 8th longest streak in the American League this century, after Dale Long's 2-run 9th-inning home run gives them an 8–7 win over the Red Sox. New York's 193 home runs are an AL record, three better than the 1956 Yanks. RBI leader Roger Maris drives in three runs, but falls one home run short of Mickey Mantle's league-high 40. » June 27, 1961: Gene Green, Willie Tasby, and Dale Long hit consecutive home runs for the Senators, as they trim Cleveland 8–5. » July 11, 1962: The Senators send 1B Dale Long to the Yankees for OF Don Lock. Long will hit .298 in pinstripes this year. » May 22, 1963: At Yankee Stadium, New York blows a 7–0 lead and allows Kansas City to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Mickey Mantle, leading off the 11th, is fooled by Bill Fischer on a slow curve, then cannons a 2–2 pitch that almost clears the RF roof. "The hardest ball I ever hit," Mantle later comments, a ball that, by some accounts, was still rising when it struck a foot below the top. It is conservatively estimated by Dr. James McDonald, a physicist who studies long-ball trajectories, that the ball would have traveled 620 feet if it had not struck the facade. "That was the only homer I ever hit that the bat actually bent in my hands," Mantle tells Dale Long, from whom he borrowed the bat. » September 20, 1972: Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants hits a home run to set a new Japanese record of seven home runs in seven consecutive games. Dale Long in 1956 hit in eight straight, and several players have hit in 6. » May 4, 1980: White Sox 1B Mike Squires catches the final inning of an 11–1 loss to the Brewers, becoming the first lefthander to catch in the majors since Dale Long in 1958. » July 18, 1987: Don Mattingly hits a home run in his 8th consecutive game, tying the major-league record set by Dale Long in 1956, but the Yankees lose to Texas 7–2. His streak will end tomorrow when he goes 2-for-4 but no homers. » July 28, 1993: Seattle's Ken Griffey homers for the 8th consecutive game, tying the major league mark set by Dale Long and tied by Don Mattingly. The Mariners lose to the Twins, however, 5-1.