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Growing up in Lincoln, Nebraska, LARRY GERLACH remembers watching The Pride of the Yankees when he was seven years old or so. Lou Gehrig’s speech got to him—no surprise there—and he became a baseball fan and a Yankees fan simultaneously. Lincoln was home to a team in the Class A Western League, and Larry’s relatives, […]

The full track during the early years of Yankee Stadium was a precursor to the “warning track” that is now a ballpark standard. (Library of Congress, Bain Collection)   Yankee Stadium was built for baseball, but it turned out to be an exceedingly versatile structure. Football was played there. Championship boxing, concerts, religious revivals. Popes […]

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 […]

A large mural of Roberto Clemente adorns Parque Luis Alfonso Velasquez Flores in Managua, Nicaragua. (Courtesy of Steven A. Melnick, Ph.D.)   New Year’s Day, 1973: As the world awoke to the awful news and details emerged about the accident that claimed Roberto Clemente’s life, fans could only ask why. Why Clemente? Why was such […]

Hitting three triples in s game has become a rare batting feat.   Maybe it should be described as a rare base-running feat as well, because speed on the base paths is also very helpful.   In fact, the last two times it has been accomplished it took two very fast runners.   Bert Campaneris hit three triples […]

One of the greatest baseball tales of all time involved the famous catch by outfielder Bill Lange of the Cubs, when they were known as the Colts during the last century. It was in the mid 1890’s, according to the story, and Chicago was nursing a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the 11th at […]

As I sprinted across Oracle Park with my son during the San Francisco Giants home opener on April 7, 2023, an usher and I struck up a conversation.1 Understanding that I was from the Twin Cities and a fan of the Minnesota Twins, he asked me point blank, “Will Joe Mauer end up in the […]

Part I: The Great Glass Era In the damp and chilly spring of 1907, at the height of the great glass era, an erudite professor of languages, a polite young first baseman and an eccentric left-handed pitcher came to the Hilltop in Kane, Pennsylvania to play professional baseball. While their time together as teammates would […]

National League president Warren Giles was in San Diego for Opening Day, April 8, 1969, and here joins Buzzie Bavasi holding an aerial photograph of the Padres’ new ballpark, San Diego Stadium. (Courtesy of Tom Larwin)   San Diego’s quest for major-league baseball began in the mid- to late 1950s, around the time Los Angeles […]

The 1978 Baltimore Orioles already had a stable full of thoroughbreds as far as their starting pitching corps was concerned. Jim Palmer (21–12, 2.46 ERA) led a talented group of pitchers who could stack up against any club in the major leagues. Mike Flanagan (19–15, 4.03 ERA), Dennis Martinez (16–11, 3.52 ERA) and Scott McGregor […]