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Folks by the Bay were still buzzing about the previous evening. A pitching matchup of two titans, Gaylord Perry of San Francisco and Bob Gibson of St. Louis, had gone toe-to-toe in a game that delivered what many had expected. Perry struck out nine and walked two as he hurled the only no-hitter of his […]

For a certain type of twenty-first-century baseball fan – one numbed by too many pitching changes, mascot races, launch angle analyses, and Internet hot takes – a kind of mental balm can be achieved by contemplating an afternoon pitchers’ duel on a cold, windy, overcast day in South Dakota a century of Septembers ago. The […]

Joe Sommer was a Kentuckian through and through: born in Covington, raised in Covington, retired to Covington, and buried near Covington. In order to play professional baseball he left the Bluegrass State temporarily to ply his trade in large cities, such as Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Cleveland, and in smaller cities like New Haven, Rochester, and […]

Josh Gibson has often been called “the black Babe Ruth” since he, like the Sultan of Swat, was his league’s most-feared home run hitter, but Wilmer Fields – Gibson’s teammate during four of his seasons with the Homestead Grays – had much more in common with the Babe than Gibson did. On the surface, this […]

For many African American males growing up in poverty-stricken households throughout Los Angeles, sports offered a chance to break away from the cultural and economic restraints imposed on them by their surroundings. This was no different for a young Darryl Eugene Strawberry (born March 12, 1962, in Los Angeles). Darryl was the third boy born […]

Clarence Bruce belongs to the majority of Negro League players who toiled in relative obscurity and whose stories can never be told in their entirety. Though the Negro Leagues became a subject for research in the late 1980s, the focus tended to be on the superstars who already had gained belated induction into National Baseball […]

In the long and successful history of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball club, few people have been more important than Sam Breadon, who owned the team for 27 years and presided over nine league pennants and six World Series titles. Much of the club’s success has been attributed to Branch Rickey, the team’s genius general […]

To many who saw Al Luplow dive over the right-center field fence at Fenway Park on June 27, 1963 to glove a potential game-winning home run, it was the greatest catch they’d ever seen. An outfielder with the Cleveland Indians, Luplow was instinctively doing something he’d done as a Michigan State running back — launching […]

Max Manning was a man of many nicknames. Newark Eagles teammate Jimmy Hill gave him the moniker Dr. Cyclops, by which he became best-known in baseball circles. Hill had just seen the 1940 movie with that title, but he could not recall seeing any other player who wore glasses — especially thick spectacles like Manning’s […]

“I got the name Show Boat in St. Louis with the Cards in 1930,” wrote George “Showboat” Fisher in a 1985 letter. “The show ‘Showboat’ was in St. Louis most of the summer, the fans liked what they saw, so they started to call me ‘Show Boat.’ I hit .374 to lead the club, and we won […]

Like many other ball clubs, the Cleveland Indians opened spring training in 1963 with some question marks at various positions. One issue was third base, where no incumbent was in line to win the job. During the offseason, Cleveland traded Bubba Phillips, who had manned the hot corner for the previous three seasons, to Detroit. […]

When Orlando Cepeda stood on the podium in Cooperstown, New York, on July 25, 1999, it is likely that no man had followed a more difficult path to the Baseball Hall of Fame, or that any man was any happier to attain the honor. Cepeda had escaped the slums of Puerto Rico to attain stardom […]

Homer Summa logged over 3,300 plate appearances and posted a .302 batting average in the major leagues. The Baseball-Reference list of highest career batting averages for players with 3,000 plate appearances has him at 191st. He is a mere .0001 behind Willie Mays.1 That is select company. As one of only 16 players who have […]

Ameal Brooks played for semipro and Negro League teams from the late 1920s to 1950. He was known primarily for his work as a versatile catcher and outfielder, his clouting abilities at the plate, and an affinity for alcohol, which may explain his habit of jumping from team to team, sometimes in midseason. For more […]

John J. McHale Sr. was a highly esteemed major-league executive from 1948 through 1989. He worked for the Detroit Tigers, the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, the Commissioner’s office, and the Montreal Expos. On two occasions, McHale received significant support as a possible commissioner himself. Jim Fanning, a colleague for many years with the Braves and […]

Roy Sparrow was a likable hustler, huckster, and self-promoter who throughout his life appeared to be in perpetual motion. While living in Pittsburgh, Sparrow juggled multiple occupations. He was a shoe salesman, worked for two newspapers, and developed a reputation for local sports promotions. He was a determined, albeit unsuccessful, entrepreneur who opened and closed […]

Bob Johnson built an 11-year career in the major leagues by being a versatile infielder and a sought-after right-handed hitter who could deliver in the pinch. His distinctions include hitting the first home run in D. C. Stadium (later named Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington, D. C., in 1962 and tying a then-American League […]

“Pretty as the first flush of a June morn and as shapely as a peachblow vase filled with violets and many-hued pansies.” That’s how the Chicago Tribune described a tall, blond, and strikingly handsome 21-year-old Harley Parker in his 1893 debut for the Chicago Colts.1 Thirteen years later, when the right arm of the less […]

Al Leiter spent 18 years in the majors and enjoyed pitching success in both leagues. During his career, he managed to earn two World Series rings and play on three different teams in the fall classic. Although Leiter never became one of the star pitchers of his day, he made important contributions to his teams’ […]

The American dream of being a well-known baseball player was firmly established years before Babe Ruth’s major-league debut in 1914. For instance, in 1910 a New York Times article on recreation centers and urban parks asked, rhetorically, “What youngster nowadays dreams of being President of the country when it is just as easy to conjure […]

With a passion for problem solving fueled by an unyielding streak of empathy for his constituents, Mario Cuomo garnered allegiance from Democrats and respect from Republicans — most notably for his 1984 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. Whether on the stump or in Albany, the 52nd Governor of New York exemplified politicians being […]

Passon Field has been renamed Pollock Field and is still in use by West Philadelphia High School sports teams. (Courtesy of Lynn Alpert)   The first half of the twentieth century featured the proliferation of amateur and professional sports teams, including baseball, softball, football, basketball, soccer, and hockey. Baseball, Black and White, was far and […]

East Field as pictured in 2021.   Over the course of a month and a half in March and April 1980, East Field in Glens Falls, New York, went from an unremarkable city-owned baseball field notable mainly for its swampiness to a showcase for some of the Chicago White Sox’ top prospects.1 It happened this […]

This article appears 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.   Most baseball fans recognize that Jackie Robinson playing for the Montreal Royals of the International League on April 18, 1946, marks the date of the first […]