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“In the ’80s we had a terrible cocaine problem. Did we have a policy? Did anything happen? No. We have a (steroid) policy.” — Commissioner Bud Selig, July 13, 2005, San Francisco Chronicle Lonnie Smith had batted leadoff in hundreds of major league games, but on September 5, 1985, he was at the top of […]

The record for the largest number of participants ejected from one game is 17. The game was at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on August 12, 1984. The ejections were all made by home-plate umpire Steve Rippley, and one of the men he threw out was his current boss, Joe Torre. In an early 2017 interview, Rippley […]

Harry Caray’s lasting impression and impact on American culture transcends that of a simple baseball personality. He has become a broadcasting legend and an icon of Chicago and major league baseball. Caray’s broadcasts were loud, heartfelt, and earthy. His voice made you want to sing along. Harry was a real natural conversationalist on air. A […]

As Major League Baseball moved toward a possible players’ strike in 1981, the Chicago baseball scene had plenty of drama: the White Sox signed future Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk, the Wrigley family sold the Cubs, and beloved broadcaster Harry Caray moved from the South Side to the Friendly Confines. A possible 1980 players’ […]

In an iconic moment from A League of Their Own (1992), Manager Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) asks Evelyn Gardner (Bitty Schram), “Are you crying? Are you crying? There’s no crying! There’s no crying in baseball!”   Baseball is not just a game for boys. This was never more apparent than when A League of Their […]

Not long after D-Day, in June 1944, Esquire magazine summoned 16- and 17-year-old boys from all over the country to New York for the first Esquire All-American Boys Baseball Game. Chicago was one of 29 cities to send players to this game. A local newspaper would select a deserving local player and pay their travel […]

The public accent on youth in recent years has had little effect upon major league baseball. Clubs have been restricted from signing young stars until they are out of high school, and this reduces the ranks of fuzzy-faced youngsters on Big League rosters. The youngest player in 1972, for example, was Rowland Office, outfielder for […]

The Red Sox were coming off back-to-back World Championships in 1915 and 1916. From 1910 through 1916, the American League pennant had either been won by Philadelphia or Boston. No one else. Early in January 1917, and after several entreaties that he stay, manager Bill Carrigan reaffirmed his earlier announcement that he would not be […]

Lou Gehrig, born 101 seasons ago, would never have made the claim, but let’s credit him with the best 10-season batting record in major league history if you don’t mind. It happened from 1927 through 1936 when baseball offense had a heyday. In a compilation of the finest 10-season performers from 1901 through 2003, Gehrig places in seven of […]

Cover of the Arizona Diamondbacks expansion draft program on November 18, 1998. (Photo courtesy of Joel Zolondek)   In the first two decades since major-league baseball granted an expansion bid to Arizona Baseball, Inc., the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise has been characterized by the stability of its leadership. The franchise has had two managing general partners, […]