Doubleheader (baseball)
In the sport of baseball, a doubleheader is a set of two games played between the same two teams on the same day. Historically, doubleheaders have been played in immediate succession, in front of the same crowd. Contemporarily, the term is also used to refer to two games played between two teams in a single day in front of different crowds and not in immediate succession.
The record for the most doubleheaders played by a major-league team in one season is 44 by the Chicago White Sox in 1943.[3] Between September 4 and September 15, 1928, the Boston Braves played nine consecutive doubleheaders – 18 games in 12 days.[3]
History[edit]
For many decades, major-league doubleheaders were routinely scheduled numerous times each season. However, any major-league doubleheader now played is generally the result of a prior game between the same two teams being postponed due to inclement weather or other factors.[4] Most often the game is rescheduled for a day on which the two teams play each other again. Often it is within the same series, but in some cases, may be weeks or months after the original date. On rare occasions, the last game between two teams in that particular city is rained out, and a doubleheader may be scheduled at the other team's home park to replace the missed game.
Currently, major-league teams playing two games in a day usually play a "day-night doubleheader", in which the stadium is emptied of spectators and a separate admission is required for the second game. However, such games are officially regarded as separate games on the same date, rather than as a doubleheader. True doubleheaders are less commonly played.[4] Classic doubleheaders, also known as day doubleheaders, were more common in the past, and although they are rare in the major leagues, they still are played at the minor league and college levels.
In 1959, at least one league played a quarter of its games as classic doubleheaders. The rate declined to 10% in 1979. Eventually, eight years passed between two officially scheduled doubleheaders. Reasons for the decline include clubs' desire to maximize revenue, longer duration of games, five-day pitching rotation as opposed to four-day rotation, time management of relievers and catchers, and lack of consensus among players.[5]
The home-and-home doubleheader, in which each team hosts one game, is extremely rare, as it requires the teams' home ballparks to be in close geographical proximity. During the 20th century and before the advent of interleague play in 1997, only one instance was recorded in Major League Baseball: a Labor Day special event involving the New York Giants and Brooklyn Superbas.
This is the only home-and-home doubleheader known to have been part of the original major league season schedule.[26][27]
Since interleague play began, the New York Mets and the New York Yankees have on three occasions played home-and-home doubleheaders. Each occasion was due to a rainout during the first series of the season. During the second series of the season, a makeup game was scheduled at the ballpark of the opposing team as part of a day-night doubleheader.
On September 13, 1951, the St. Louis Cardinals hosted a doubleheader against two different teams. The first game was a 6–4 win against the New York Giants. The second game resulted in a 2–0 loss to the Boston Braves.[28]
On September 25, 2000, the Cleveland Indians also hosted a doubleheader against two different teams. The September 10 game against the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland had been rained out. With no common days off for the remainder of the season and both teams in a postseason race, the teams agreed to play a day game in Cleveland on the same day that the Indians were to host the Minnesota Twins for a night game. The Indians defeated the White Sox 9–2 in the first game, while the Twins defeated the Indians 4–3 in the second.[29]
On occasion, teams may play both games of a doubleheader at the same park, but one team is designated home for each game. This is usually the result of earlier postponements. For example, in 2007, when snow storms in northern Ohio caused the Cleveland Indians to postpone an entire four-game series from April 5–8 against the Seattle Mariners; three of the games were made up in Cleveland throughout the season, while the fourth was made up as part of a doubleheader in Seattle on September 26 with the Indians as the designated home team for the first game. The Indians won the first game acting as the home team, 12–4, but lost the second as the away team, 3–2.
In popular culture[edit]
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ernie Banks, who spent his entire MLB career with the Chicago Cubs, was known for his catchphrase, "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame ... Let's play two!", expressing his wish to play a doubleheader every day out of his love of baseball.[30]