On This Date in Baseball: March 15

Baseball is for everyone, but never on Sunday...

1885 - A lower court in New York decides that playing baseball on Sunday is a crime.

1945 - Bert Shepard, a one-legged pitcher, begins a successful tryout with the Washington Senators. Shepard's leg was amputated after a World War II flying mission. Shepard will pitch in only one game for the Senators, but his stint will be impressive. On August 4, he will pitch five and one-third innings of one-run ball against the Boston Red Sox. Also a symbol of wartime baseball, outfielder Pete Gray of the St. Louis Browns, will field and bat with only one arm.

Quote of the Day

"I was thrilled to death, but I'd never gone on the field if I couldn't do the job in a professional way. It wouldn't be fair to the rest of the players. If it had looked like a 'pathetic' thing, I never would have gone near the field."

-Bert Shepard in The Man Who Pitched on One Leg (Baseball Digest : July 1986)