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This article was originally published in SABR’s Bittersweet Goodbye: The Black Barons, the Grays, and the 1948 Negro League World Series (2017), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin. At 9:53 on the morning of June 21, 1950, a Western Union telegram arrived at the Memphis office of Tom Hayes, a local businessman who […]

The St. Louis Cardinals won a World Series championship in 2006, their first season at the new Busch Stadium. (Kevin Ward/Flickr.com. Used by permission: CC BY-SA 2.0.)   Introduction The St. Louis Cardinals have achieved a level of success in Major League Baseball that has been outdone only by the New York Yankees. Through the […]

Federal League Park in Indianapolis, looking in from the right-field fence. (Indianapolis News, January 27, 1917)   The city of Indianapolis has been home to four short-lived major-league franchises. The first two — the 1878 Indianapolis Blues of the National League and the 1884 Indianapolis Hoosiers of the American Association — were noncompetitive and disbanded […]

Following their “Miracle” National League pennant and World Series championship in 1914,1 the Boston Braves had slipped to seventh place by 1920. Skipper George Stallings was still at the helm, but that changed in 1921. When Stallings resigned in November 1920 to purchase a part-interest in the Rochester Colts of the International League,2 the Braves […]

In his second at-bat of the second All-Star Game in 1960, Willie Mays made history by completing the All-Star Game cycle. In the span of just two days, Mays had collected the four necessary hits to hit for the cycle: a single, double, triple, and home run. No major leaguer has ever hit for the cycle […]

American League umpire Ron Luciano relished pulse-quickening pitcher-batter confrontations. It was when working behind home plate in those moments that Luciano wished he didn’t have to call balls and strikes, preferring instead to savor the situation.1 The beginning of Game Three of the 1978 American League Championship Series in Yankee Stadium provided such a confrontation […]

While Neil Young began the year singing, “Keep on rockin’ in the free world,”1 millions around the globe were seeking freedom by the spring of 1989. One day before Toronto and Boston concluded their weekend three-game series, the Chinese government used lethal force to crush a seven-week pro-democracy protest in Beijing.2 In Poland, citizens voted […]

A morning downpour threatened to postpone a Thursday afternoon game at Metropolitan Stadium, the Minnesota Twins’ home in their second season after moving from Washington. Cleveland, the visiting team, may have preferred not to play. It had lost its last six games and eight of its last nine, including a 14-3 drubbing the day before […]

When the Houston Astros signed Andújar Cedeño out of the Dominican Republic in 1986, their manager, Hal Lanier, said what many were thinking: “He’s got a lot to live up to.”1 After all, Dominicans Joaquín Andújar and César Cedeño (no relation) had each been big-league standouts. Although Andújar Cedeño never became an All-Star like his […]

This whippet-quick outfielder made jaw-dropping catches wherever he played. Unfortunately, he didn’t hit enough to stay in the majors. The only time he spent at the top was parts of the year with “The Worst Team That Money Could Buy,” the 1992 New York Mets. Yet as late as 2004, Pat Howell was still chasing […]

Arturo (Art) López had 49 at-bats with seven hits for the 1965 New York Yankees. He was the first player born in Puerto Rico to be originally signed by the Yankees and play for them.1 The outfielder was also the first boricua to play for a Japanese professional baseball team. During a professional career that […]

Bob Kennedy, whose 16 major-league seasons included one inning for the 1954 Cleveland Indians, was a journeyman pro who managed only a .254 batting average in his 16 seasons with the Indians, Chicago White Sox, and three other teams, isn’t likely to find a niche in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In a way this […]

In 1981 the Smithsonian Institution hosted an exhibition called “Black Baseball: Life in the Negro Leagues.” A fair-sized crowd attended the exhibit when it opened on April 24 and Negro League stalwarts Buck O’Neil, Monte Irvin, Buck Leonard, and Judy Johnson were also on hand. According to the Washington Post’s report about the exhibit’s grand […]

Determination made Andre Dawson a great player — determination to come back after more than a dozen knee operations, determination to show baseball how overlooked he was during his first 11 years playing north of the border, determination to become one of the most well-rounded players in the game’s history. Andre Dawson showed that determination […]

Some baseball players have the luck of being in the right place at the right time. Many others never do. A few, however, momentarily have this kind of good fortune in their grasp, then see it taken away. Shortstop Rey Quiñones was a May call-up for the 1986 Boston Red Sox, a team destined to […]

When Jim Holt played for the Minnesota Twins, sportswriter Bob Fowler wrote that he was the type of ballplayer every winning team needed, one who knew how to play the game and was ready whenever called upon. “Every team has an underrated player, a man who isn’t a most valuable player but a most valued […]

“My catcher was George Perkins, who handled a pitcher like nobody’s business,” wrote Satchel Paige.1 Bill Perkins, also known as William, George, and even Cy on occasion, was a catcher in the Negro Leagues for two decades and was the legendary Paige’s favorite target behind the plate. When Paige was first notified of his induction […]

In the 1970s Gary Holle was a dual-sport phenom (baseball and basketball) from upstate New York who had a six-year minor-league baseball career and a two-week stay with the Texas Rangers in 1979. Born in Watervliet, New York, on August 11, 1954, to Charles and Jean Holle, Gary carved out a successful business career after […]

Billy Jurges, a star shortstop for the Chicago Cubs (1931-1938, 1946-1947) and the New York Giants (1939-1945), played a part in Babe Ruth’s called home run during the 1932 World Series, and perhaps provided some of the inspiration behind Bernard Malamud’s novel The Natural and the movie by the same name. He helped prompt the […]

Phillippe Aumont pitched in 46 big-league games over the course of four seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies (2012-2015). A tall (6-feet-7), powerfully-built (265 pounds), and hard-throwing (fastball in the high 90s) right-hander, Aumont is as of 2022 the player from Quebec selected highest in the amateur free-agent draft. The Seattle Mariners made the 18-year-old hurler […]

In a city fueled by flash, Wes Parker was anything but. A child of southern California privilege, Parker grew up in Brentwood with a private school education, material needs met, and natural athletic ability in several sports besides baseball. Money, though it bestowed abundant opportunity, did not generate airs, snobbery, or a feeling of entitlement […]

As fast as he was on the bases and in the outfield, at times it seemed Ken Henderson couldn’t outrun an expectation first pinned on him at age 17. While it came with a big name, Henderson said the expectation was never one he sought. Instead, he often considered it unfair and unrealistic. But it […]

“He’s a heck of a guy. He’s enthusiastic and great for the (University of Hartford) program. He’s the reason why a lot of us are here. He is a man with big dreams. His dreams became our dreams. We believed in him.” — University of Hartford player Brian Crowley in the aftermath of Bill Denehy’s […]

Los Angeles’s Wrigley Field in was built and opened in 1925 as the finest minor-league park in the country. Some called it the best park in the country — majors or minors. From its earliest years Wrigley Field was home to multiple baseball teams, many other sports and community events. The history of Wrigley Field […]