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The 1967 season marked the return of Al “Moose” Lakeman to the major league coaching ranks for a final three years with the Boston Red Sox. He coached for Boston throughout the Dick Williams years, from 1967-1969. It was his second stint with the Sox. Lakeman had also coached under manager Johnny Pesky in 1963 […]

There was no All-Star Game in the summer of 1945. But in late September, the service stars of the American League and those of the National League squared off in what might be called a combination all-star game and world series. It was a scheduled, best-of-seven game series, played at Honolulu’s Furlong Field in the 14th […]

A pitcher who tosses a no-hitter receives instant acclaim and is assured of a lasting place in the record books. But what about the man behind the bat who skillfully called the pitches that silenced the opponents’ bats? One of the most famous of all sports photos shows Yogi Berra jumping on Don Larsen following […]

WORLD WAR II decimated minor league baseball. Then, like the legendary phoenix rising from the ashes, the 1945 low of 12 leagues soared to an impressive 52 leagues in 1947. They ranged from Triple-A to Class D and covered the length and breadth of the United States plus towns in Canada and Mexico. Old leagues […]

There is an expression in baseball that refers to a player “having a cup of coffee” in the majors. The inference is that he was with a team such a short time about all he had time for was a cup of coffee. In that parlance, the “shortest cup of coffee” is appearance in one […]

This undated publicity photo (circa 1944–49) of the Clowns includes Edward “King Tut” King and in the lower right inset, “baseball clown” Ed Hamman in full clownface. Hamman would eventually become sole owner of the Clowns. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)   Found almost exclusively in black newspapers, box scores for Miami Ethiopian Clowns […]

“Ah just fired fast ball after fast ball at ’em in the ninth,” declared Ewell Blackwell in his Western drawl after tossing a no-hitter. “Because ah will admit, ah was a trifle nervous when the last round started.”1 The Reds first-year skipper Johnny Neun was looking for a pick-me-up following the sixth-place (26-30) Reds’ humiliating […]