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“Fastball … High drive into deep right! Back goes Jones! Is gone!” – Vin Scully1 When Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness …” to begin his classic book A Tale of Two Cities, he […]

The New York Mets beat the heavily favored Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2, in the National League Division Series winner-take-all Game Five at Dodger Stadium, before a crowd of 54,602. Daniel Murphy of the Mets, who hit .281 with 14 home runs during the regular season, played the role of hero in the game by going […]

Dodgers right-hander Don Sutton talks about pitching with Sandy Koufax during spring training in 1979. (Photograph by Donald Gregory Dughi.)   Sandy Koufax threw his final pitch in a major-league game in 1966, but his influence could still be spotted on a mound decades later. Not in a pitch but in a stare. A death […]

Your team clings to a lead in the late innings and is trying to get out of a first-and-third, one-out jam. Your pitcher gives up a long fly to right-center, and both runners take off. But your fleet center fielder seemingly saves the day. She sprints, leaps, extends, dives, and snags the drive inches off […]

In 7,976 regular-season games through the end of the 2018 season, the San Diego Padres had never thrown a no-hitter.1 Five times, the Padres have taken no-hit bids into the ninth inning. Here are summaries of those games, with the date, pitcher(s), opponent, and location.   July 21, 1970 Clay Kirby and Jack Baldschun 8 […]

When Brad Lidge announced his retirement late in 2012, some commentators pointed to the home run he gave up to Albert Pujols in the 2005 NLCS as the defining moment of his career. To Phillies fans, though, the image of Lidge on his knees, arms raised in triumph after recording the final out of the […]

This appendix accompanies the article “Player Win Averages” written by Pete Palmer and published in the Spring 2016 Baseball Research Journal. To scroll down to pitchers, click here.   Player Win Averages-Batters Player Games PW RW Barry Bonds 2986 120.3 123.2 Henry Aaron 3298 97.2 94.6 Willie Mays 2992 95.7 87.5 Mickey Mantle 2401 92.4 […]

During World War II there were a number of special benefit baseball games aimed at war relief, war bond sales, or other fundraising purposes. One of these was as early as March 17, 1940, in Tampa, Florida, and was played for the Finnish Relief Fund following the invasion of that small nation by the Soviet […]