May 18, 1940: Young Roy Campanella clouts two home runs for Baltimore Elite Giants
For decades, baseball had been played in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,…
May 24, 1940: Cleveland spoils Browns’ first night game in St. Louis
For nearly 15 minutes 25,562 excitedly impatient fans had been…
May 26, 1940: Derringer dazzles as Reds celebrate a pennant flag
Paul Derringer had struggled before. Two years after a brilliant…
June 1, 1940: Pee Wee Reese gets beaned by Cubs, leading to bleacher changes at Wrigley
Babe Ruth joined the Brooklyn Dodgers as they traveled by train…
June 8, 1940: Reds’ Harry Craft hits for cycle as ‘our lads annihilate Dodgers’
Baseball fans are usually divided into two camps: those who enjoy…
June 15, 1940: Harry Danning’s cycle leads Giants rout after Pirates miss batting practice
On June 15, 1940, Mother Nature must have been a New York fan.…
June 16, 1940: Ted Lyons pitches 12 innings; Ted Williams hits a game-winning homer
The Chicago White Sox hosted a Sunday afternoon doubleheader…
July 4, 1940: Ab Wright’s bombastic Independence Day leads Millers over Saints
On the morning of July 4, 1940, the St. Paul Saints defeated…
July 5, 1940: Another Brooklyn-Boston marathon ends in 20-inning Dodger win
For a while, Boston National League fans who saw Brooklyn play…
July 5, 1940: Surging Reds score 3 in the ninth to sweep Pirates
June 1940 ended with the reigning National League champion Cincinnati…
July 9, 1940: Five NL pitchers combine for first All-Star shutout at Sportsman’s Park
Under a broiling midsummer sun, five National League pitchers…
July 13, 1940: Johnny Mize’s cycle boosts Cardinals in walk-off win over Giants
The New York Times described the outcome of a 1940 midseason…
July 19, 1940: Yankees’ backup backstop Buddy Rosar hits for the cycle
The New York Yankees entered 1940 as baseball’s first-ever…
July 28, 1940: Bobo Newsom finally loses after 13-game winning streak
The 1940 season was the finest of Bobo Newsom’s 20-year major-league…
August 2, 1940: Joe Cronin hits for second career cycle in Red Sox-Tigers slugfest
A modest crowd of 8,693 passed the turnstiles at Briggs Stadium…
August 5, 1940: John Whitehead tosses abbreviated no-hitter for last big-league victory
“For some time now large John has been in danger of being booted…
August 5, 1940: Bound for majors, Fred Caligiuri, Phil McCullough square off in Class D gem
In 1940 baseball was truly America’s national game. But it…
September 2, 1940: Rookie sensation Sid Hudson outduels Lefty Grove in marathon thriller
The fans had reason to question the wisdom of manager Bucky Harris…
September 8, 1940: Joe Gordon’s cycle leads Yankees over Red Sox in packed Fenway Park
On September 8, 1940, there were still four teams in the American…
September 24, 1940: Jimmie Foxx finally hits 500th home run
In mid-August of 1940, Jimmie Foxx went on a homer-hitting…
September 27, 1940: Frustrated Red Sox, out of pennant race, crush Senators 24-4
The potent Red Sox lineup of 1940 hadn’t been enough to overcome…
September 27, 1940: Tigers clinch American League pennant behind Floyd Giebell
The Cleveland Indians certainly started off the 1940 season in…
October 2, 1940: Jittery Reds lose World Series opener to Bobo Newsom and the Tigers
Baseball insiders and fans were asking a lot of questions as…
October 3, 1940: Jimmy Ripple’s homer vaults Reds to Win in Game 2
Cincinnati’s Crosley Field was crammed with 30,640 spectators…