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April 12. Minnesota 5, New York 4. Predicted by The Sporting News to finish fifth in the American League in 1965, the Twins opened the season against the team projected to repeat as American League champions, the New York Yankees. The Yankees were not the only obstacle facing the Twins on Opening Day, as melting […]

In 100 years of major league’ baseball, there have been nearly 117,000 home runs hit in regulation games. Less than 2 percent of these, or 2150, have been hit in extra innings. Yet, these overtime homers have been very important. About 90-95% of the time they provide the winning margin. In 1975, for example, there […]

While considerable attention has been paid to the home run feats of outstanding players such as Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron, comparatively little consideration has been given to outstanding team home run achievements, particularly those occurring in a single game. On 28 occasions, a major league team has nit at least 7 home […]

Tuesday, June 14, 1870, was fair and warm in New York City. The mercury on this pleasant day climbed slowly and steadily until the thermometer at Hudnut’s popular pharmacy at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street registered 86 degrees at 3 P.M. Up the Hudson a few miles, at West Point, relatives and friends […]

Babe Ruth calling his shot . . . Gabby Hartnett’s home run in the gloamin’… Ernie Banks’ No. 500. . . These are some of the 6,905 major league home runs hit at Wrigley Field. The first home run was hit by Art Wilson of the Chicago Whales in a Federal League game on April […]

The 1964 Phillies enjoyed a six-and-a-half game lead in the National League with 12 games left in the season, proceeded to lose 10 in a row, and surrendered the pennant to the St. Louis Cardinals. The closing two weeks of the 1964 regular season inflicted psychic baseball wounds which began to heal after the Phillies’ […]

As the American League’s pecking order of the 1950s was established, the Washington Senators (or Nationals) suffered greatly from the lack of a strong beak. Even with the 1960 season—the final campaign of the original franchise—tossed in for good measure, teams from the nation’s capital consistently played in a manner that inspired ridicule in an enduring […]

When the Senators moved from Washington to Minnesota in 1961 the roster that became the Twins included an incredible combination of young, established stars and MLB-ready prospects. Harmon Killebrew was already one of baseball’s elite sluggers at age 24, catcher Earl Battey and right fielder Bob Allison were among their respective positions’ top players at […]

After a World Series appearance in 1965 and finishing second to the Baltimore Orioles in 1966, there were many reasons to believe the Minnesota Twins had a good shot at the American League pennant in 1967. Decades later, this remains one of baseball greatest and most historic pennant races. On September 30, 1967, a Saturday […]

Early 1950s Japanese publication featuring Jackie Robinson. (Author’s collection)   There was a saying in Japan during the late 1950s: Kamisama, Hotokesama, Inaosama (God, Buddha, Inao). The 19-year-old Kazuhisa Inao was out there on the mound. The kid wasn’t that big, at least not by American standards – about 5-foot-9, 185 pounds. But he was […]

When Hank Greenberg, the Detroit Tigers slugger and baseball’s first Jewish superstar, decided to sit out a game in the midst of the 1934 pennant race because it fell on the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar, Edgar Guest penned a poem to mark the occasion. Guest ended his tribute, “Speaking of Greenberg,” which […]

It happens every spring. Those four words name both a popular motion picture and a formula for television programmers. Around the first of April every year viewers can see Lou Gehrig’s luck and Ike’s alibis and Stratton’s courage and that secret formula which causes objects to veer away from wood. Unfortunately, with all the cinematic […]

“I’d love to be the man going into Washington. I’ve always felt that city is one of the top two or three franchises in the nation.” – Frank Lane, general manager, Cleveland Indians1   October 26, 1960, started a new era of Washington Senators baseball. It began auspiciously enough. Senators’ president Calvin Griffith was relocating his […]

When veteran Plain Dealer baseball writer Russ Schneider made up his team of the worst guys he had to deal with in his twenty years with the Indians, he picked Kralick as the left-handed pitcher. (For those who are wondering, Wayne Garland was the righty.) Meanwhile, the newspaper files revealed little. His no-hitter in 1962 […]

In 1878 a triple play by Providence’s Paul Hines didn’t attract any extraordinary attention other than the excitement of a triple play that saved the day for Providence. The Hines play gained notoriety in baseball folklore when it was labeled by some as the first unassisted triple play in National League history. The rules of […]

In 1935 the City of Detroit forged a bond to its sporting teams that is an integral part of the psychology of the city, even today.In 1935 the City of Detroit forged a bond to its sporting teams that is an integral part of the psychology of the city, even today. What makes Detroit a […]

Metropolitan Stadium: Memorable Games at Minnesota’s Diamond on the Prairie Edited by Stew Thornley Associate editors Len Levin, Bill Nowlin, and Carl Riechers Publication Date: March 28, 2022 ISBN (ebook): 978-1-970159-67-7, $9.99 ISBN (paperback): 978-1-970159-68-4, $34.95 8.5″ x 11″, 287 pages Metropolitan Stadium was right on time. It wasn’t built too early, using a cantilever […]

Wrigley Field: The Friendly Confines at Clark and Addison Edited by Gregory H. Wolf Associate Editors: Len Levin, Bill Nowlin, and Carl Riechers  Publication Date: April 29, 2019 ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5901-1, $21.95 ISBN (e-book): 978-1-9701-5901-1, $9.99 8.5″ x 11″, 350 pages Wrigley Field evokes a feeling of perpetual summer, youth, and dreams. Any mention of the ballpark […]

A Pennant for the Twin Cities: The 1965 Minnesota Twins Edited by Gregory H. Wolf Associate Editors: James Forr, Len Levin, and Bill Nowlin Publication Date: October 14, 2015 ISBN (ebook): 978-1-943816-08-8, $9.99 ISBN (paperback): 978-1-943816-09-5, $39.95 8.5″ x 11″, 404 pages This SABR Digital Library volume celebrates the 1965 Minnesota Twins, who captured the […]