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On August 30, 1977, there were two numbers that headlined the baseball sections of the Cleveland dailies. Those numbers were 1 and 893, each representing baseball records at opposite ends of the spectrum. The evening before, the Cleveland Indians hosted the Chicago White Sox in a regionally-televised broadcast of ABC’s “Monday Night Baseball.” The White […]
He enjoyed a 15-year career in the major leagues and today is well into his sixth decade working in baseball, but Jesús Alou is destined to be remembered as the third brother in an extraordinary baseball family. He might have accomplished less as a player than his two All-Star siblings, but those comparisons are unfair. […]
April 10, 1962, is an important date in the history of baseball in Houston, Texas. It marked the culmination of years of effort by George Kirksey, Craig Cullinan Jr., Roy Hofheinz, and R.E. “Bob” Smith to bring major-league baseball to Houston. The newly minted Houston Colt .45s played their first official National League game, defeating […]
When Ned Garver won his 20th game on the last day of the 1951 season for the lowly St. Louis Browns in 1951, he became the first pitcher in major league history to win 20 games for a team which lost 100. One of the most durable pitchers of his era, the right-handed Garver led […]
Throughout baseball history, careers have often been defined by a specific play or events. Joe DiMaggio is recalled for his 56-game hitting streak; Willie Mays for his catch in the 1954 World Series. Likewise, players can be maligned for ineptitude, real or perceived. Fred Merkle’s race-altering baserunning gaffe in 1908 and Bill Buckner’s inability to […]
Three young men from Kingston, Jamaica, made it to the majors in the 1980s. They were all outfielders, blessed with power and speed. Chili Davis played in 19 seasons, hitting 350 home runs. Devon White’s career spanned 17 seasons, with 208 homers and seven Gold Gloves. The third player, Rolando Roomes, got into just 170 […]
Bobby Roth, sometimes called Braggo, was an often insufferable self-promoter who bounced around among six American League teams in the years surrounding World War I, and was on the wrong side of two of the most lopsided trades of the Deadball Era. A player with diverse skills, Roth won a home run title and also […]
After graduating from Duke University in 1974, John Poff made it to the majors for 31 games in 1979 and 1980. He hit .218 in 91 plate appearances. The first baseman-outfielder retired after the winter of 1981-82. “My career in baseball was frustrating,” he later said. “I wanted and felt I deserved a lot more […]
Not many players can say they had a higher batting average than both Joe Jackson and Nap Lajoie. Moxie Meixell could claim that distinction, even if it was for just one day. In his major-league debut with Cleveland, on July 7, 1912, he was a late-inning defensive replacement for Jackson in right field and rapped […]
Blessed with speed and quickness, Bill Bruton was arguably the fastest man in professional baseball in the 1950s. While prowling center field, he could race back for well-hit long balls and charge in to scoop up potential Texas Leaguers. When batting, he used his speed to intimidate opponents into making throwing and fielding mistakes. He […]
“I was born in 1912 [sic] in Giddings, Texas, a little town between Austin and Houston. Rube Foster came from about twenty-five miles from my house, a little town right above me.” — Hilton Smith 1 Something must have been in the air as the state of Texas produced eight Negro League Hall of […]
Like his Hall of Fame teammate, Ernie Banks, right-handed pitcher Bob Rush was just happy to be in the big leagues. “I never really regretted signing with the Cubs,” Rush said. In his 10 campaigns with the North Siders (1948-1957), the “Lovable Losers” finished in the second division every season and never had a winning […]
Luis Eleuterio Tiant (1906-1976) was one of the finest pitchers that Cuba has ever produced. So was his son, Luis Clemente Tiant, who won 229 games in the major leagues from 1964 through 1982 – more than any of his countrymen. When asked about his namesake, Luis C. said in 1974, “He was a better […]
“Willie Foster was the greatest left hander that I ever played with and he was a gentleman on and off the field.” — Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe If there was a signature moment for a baseball player, Willie Foster’s complete-game victories in both ends of the doubleheader for the Chicago American Giants to decide […]
“Moe was just scary. The whole league was afraid of him.” – Terry Ryan, future Minnesota Twins GM and teammate of Moe Hill’s in 19731 “A living legend, the Hank Aaron of Class A ball.” – Rick Wolff, a Midwest League opponent of Hill’s in 19742 If ever a player personified minor-league baseball, it […]
During Hank Peters’ 12 seasons (1976-1987) as the Baltimore Orioles’ general manager, his teams won at least 90 games six times. Twice he was named The Sporting News’ Executive of the Year – following Baltimore’s 1979 American League pennant and 1983 World Series championship. But Peters accomplished much more over his 45 years in professional […]
One could sum up Harry Swan’s pro baseball career in a single term: “wild pitch.” Swan’s entire time at the top consisted of a 1914 trial in the Federal League: spring training with the Chi-Feds and one regular-season inning pitched for the Kansas City Packers.1 However, his story is more than just a cup of […]
From 1953 through 1956, Jim Woods was Mel Allen’s and Red Barber’s partner on New York Yankees radio/TV. One day, eying Woods’ slight overbite and gray buzz cut, Enos Slaughter jibed, “I’ve seen better heads on a possum.” In 1958 Jim moved to Pittsburgh, where announcer Bob Prince’s wife called Woods’ spouse “Mrs. Possum.” In […]
Left-hander Drake Britton had one win and one loss in his time in the big leagues, but he has a World Championship ring to treasure forever as a member of the 2013 Boston Red Sox. It was a year in which he almost lost the opportunity to pitch. John Drake Britton was born in Waco, […]
Except for a brief September call-up in 1953, Eddie Phillips spent his entire 11-year pro baseball career in the minor leagues. Yet, during those 2½ weeks with the St. Louis Cardinals, he established a record for most runs scored in the major leagues (four) without a plate appearance or taking a defensive position. His pinch-running […]
Lew Fonseca was a batting champion, a versatile fielder who played multiple positions, a manager, and a batting instructor. Off the field, he was an accomplished singer, radio announcer, and a film director and producer. But most of all, he was a promoter of and educator for the game of baseball, taking the technical resources […]
Willie Mays hit 20 home runs and won NL Rookie of the Year honors in 1951. Promoted May 24, he batted .274 with 68 RBIs for New York. (1951 Bowman card, courtesy of Topps) If you begin your National League career going hitless in three road games, you may as well go for broke and […]
Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, Eddie Collins is considered one of the best second basemen of all time. Renowned manager John McGraw, whose New York Giants clubs were defeated by Collins’s teams in three World Series, said, “Eddie Collins is the best ballplayer I have seen during my career on […]
This article was originally published in “The First Negro League Champion: The 1920 Chicago American Giants” (SABR, 2022). Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants played home games at Schorling Park in Chicago (NoirTech Research, Inc.) The arc of the history of the Chicago American Giants follows closely with the arc of Black and Negro […]