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There are many middle infielders who are tagged by scouts as “good field, no hit.” For the most part, these players are steady performers in the field. They make all of the routine plays with ease and the more challenging ones seem as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Their offensive contributions are minimal; […]

At 6-feet-1 and weighing 165 pounds, Julio Lugo was built for the infield. He was tall, slender, and fast. He played for seven major-league teams: the Houston Astros, Tampa Devil Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, and Atlanta Braves.  Julio Cesar Lugo was born on November 16, 1975, in […]

Although he answered to a variety of nicknames – Rub-Dub-Hub, Hurling Hub, the Tennessee Cyclone, the Untamed Son of Sumner County, the Gallatin Squash – his family, friends, and baseball fans simply called him Hub. Herbert Rodney Perdue was one of the most personable and exciting pitching prospects to emerge from the hills of Middle […]

With his poor eyesight, and notoriously poor control, flame-throwing pitcher Ryne Duren’s fastball put the fear of God into opposing hitters in the late 1950s and early 1960s. “Duren was the standard by how we ranked hard throwers,” All-Star pitcher and pitching coach Jim Kaat said. “We’d say [so-and-so] can throw almost as hard as […]

Pi Schwert has the distinction of being one of a small handful of former major-league players to serve in the United States House of Representatives.1 An excellent defensive catcher for the University of Pennsylvania, he went straight to the New York Yankees after graduating in 1914, playing in 12 games over two seasons. Years later, […]

Ben Douglas Junior of Middletown, Connecticut is a forgotten pioneer of early baseball. Of the six New England cities which have had major league baseball teams, Ben Douglas Junior started the original team in half of them. In 1848, Ben became the third of four sons born to wealthy industrialist Benjamin Douglas Sr. and his […]

In 1947 Johnny Mize did something unmatched in baseball history. He became the first player to hit 50 or more home runs in a season while striking out fewer than 50 times, one of the game’s extraordinary records and a sole distinction Mize still held more than 65 years later. Few, if any hitters have […]

Sam Nahem was a so-so pitcher who logged a 10–8 won-loss record and a 4.69 ERA in four partial seasons with the Dodgers, Cardinals, and Phillies between 1938 and 1948. Despite this unremarkable record, Nahem was a remarkable major leaguer in many ways. He was the only Syrian and one of the few Jews in […]

The headline on John Lawrence Smith’s New York Times obituary called him a “noted chemist,” a label the unassuming executive would have appreciated. It wasn’t until later that the story mentioned he was a part-owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. To the non-baseball world, Smith had made his name an executive of Charles Pfizer & Co., […]

Lefty Grove may have been baseball’s greatest all-time pitcher. He was certainly its most dominant. No one matched his nine ERA titles, and his .680 winning percentage (300-141) is the highest among 300 game winners (eighth best overall). After winning 111 games in a minor-league career that delayed his major-league debut until he was 25, Grove led […]

The etymology of the term “ace” meaning the best pitcher on a team derives from the nickname of Asa Brainard, one of the top pitchers of baseball’s early years. Upon settling with the Excelsiors of Brooklyn in 1860, he was initially a second baseman and outfielder because the great James Creighton was positioned in the […]

Ted Lyons is remembered as the “Sunday pitcher” who started only once a week for much of his career. He made the most of his workdays, finishing nearly three out of four starts with more complete games than any other contemporary pitcher. Forget won-lost record, Lyons said: “A good pitcher is a pitcher who has […]

With his spectacles and quiet demeanor, Vic Sorrell gave the impression of a professor or preacher instead of a baseball lifer. After a standout career as a high-school and collegiate star in North Carolina in the early 1920s, right-handed pitcher Sorrell debuted for the Detroit Tigers in 1928. Toiling during some of the team’s leanest […]

The children of the elite often will have difficulty establishing their own identities and achieving success, particularly if their interests parallel those of a parent. Such was not the case with Joe L. Brown, whose father was Joe E. Brown, the popular comic actor, film star, and baseball aficionado who (unlike practically all celebrated sports […]

It was a dreary, overcast day in Brooklyn on April 15, 1954. The visiting Pirates were at Ebbets Field to face the Dodgers. The home team had jumped out to a 7-1 lead courtesy of home runs by Roy Campanella, Jim Gilliam and Jackie Robinson. Tex Ricard, the Dodger PA announcer announced a pitching change […]

When you review how professional baseball integrated, it is easy to begin and end with the story of Jackie Robinson’s struggles. Scant attention is given the fact that African Americans faced tremendous resistance to their presence throughout the 1950s and 1960s, especially in the Deep South. One such player who experienced this was Blue Moon […]

Chroniclers of the game have rarely been kind to Andrew Freedman, principal owner of the New York Giants from January 1895 to September 1902. According to one team historian, Freedman was “naturally arrogant (with) a bad temper at the end of a very short fuse.”1   In much the same vein, Bill James memorably described him […]

Román Mejías spent only one season with the Houston Colt .45s, but he made the most of it. In 1962, the Colts’ first season in the National League, right fielder Mejías – an expansion-draft pickup from the Pittsburgh Pirates1 – led the team in many offensive categories, including hits, home runs, and runs batted in.2 […]

It wasn’t easy being an independent team in 1925. These teams barnstormed from city to city, relying on their manager to arrange each month’s schedule,1 hoping they’d make enough money to pay the bills. If you were a Black team operating outside of the Negro National League, which was now in its sixth season, or […]

When it comes to hard-luck losses, the textbook example is Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates dropping a 1-0 decision after his perfect game was snapped in the 13th inning of a 1959 contest. Cincinnati Reds fans of a certain vintage could never forget Jim Maloney getting saddled with the loss after his no-hitter was […]

They came. They saw. They conquered. But the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees on the evening of August 6, 1979, was more than a victory for the latter squad. It was a cathartic conclusion to a mournful day that began with the burial of a ballplayer whose absence was palpable […]

In major-league history, 10 teams have lost their first 11 regular-season games.1 Of these slow starters, the National Association’s 1872 Eckfords of Brooklyn were the most severely outclassed during their season-opening skid. They bore the largest negative run differential (-185), suffered more double-digit losses (10) and absorbed as many losses by 20 runs or more […]

The Jefferson Street Neighborhood in 1860. From 24th Street to where Turner’s Lane ends is the ballpark site.   The Philadelphia ballparks situated at Jefferson and Master Streets, between 27th and 25th Streets, have a significant historic importance for our national pastime. Originally, this plot of land was known as the Jefferson Parade Grounds. It […]