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Foghorn Bradley1 joined the Boston Red Stockings near the end of 1876, the first year of the National League’s existence. Boston was desperate for pitching. Bradley pitched decently, but Boston deemed him expendable at the end of the season. He never made it back to the major leagues as a player, but Bradley had a […]

“That long, long list of pitchers…like a lost platoon.”[1] So the Chicago Tribune described the many young hurlers who came through the Cubs system in the late 1960s. Some of those prospects went on to better things after trades, but others got only a cup of coffee – if that. Pat Jacquez – the elder […]

When Jess Barnes was at the top of his game, the right-handed pitcher from Circleville, Kansas, held his own with the elite of his day. Named to Baseball Magazine’s All-American team following the 1919 season, Barnes shared the honor with such luminaries as Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, George Sisler, and Joe […]

“He’s either the poorest great third baseman or the greatest poor third baseman.”1 In perhaps one of the best non-Yogi-Berra quotes in baseball history, this was Branch Rickey’s assessment of Frenchy Bordagaray, a colorful outfielder/third baseman who played for several teams in the 1930s and 1940s. He was free-spirited enough to fit in with both […]

Jerry Kindall had no trouble making it to the major leagues. All the 21-year-old University of Minnesota 1956 All-American infielder had to do was sign on the dotted line, and the next day he was in Chicago wearing a Cubs uniform. For Kindall, one of 59 major-league “bonus babies” signed from 1953 through 1957, the […]

Everything about Jim Bibby was big. His frame: 6’5” and 235 pounds, with “legs like oak trees.”1 His hands: he could fit eight baseballs in his right hand — palm down — one more even than Sandy Koufax and Johnny Bench.2 His fastball: “vicious … serious heat … would scare the bejesus out of most […]

It’s easy to find high praise about Frank White from members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, ranging from managers and executives for whom he worked (John Schuerholz and Whitey Herzog) to longtime players on opposing teams such as Reggie Jackson.1 Still, there may be no more significant comment about White than from Hall of […]

“My only regret is that I can’t sit in the stands and watch myself pitch.”1 No one ever accused southpaw Bo Belinsky of being modest. And probably no pitcher in baseball history ever got more mileage out of 28 wins (against 51 defeats) in parts of eight big-seasons as Belinsky. Belinsky took baseball by storm […]

Charles Radbourn’s pitching achievements were hailed by contemporaries and sportswriters for decades as some of the greatest feats of nineteenth century baseball. Little known today, many considered an 18-inning game in 1882 as the finest athletic contest ever seen on a baseball diamond. That game was won, not by the pitcher Radbourn, but by the […]

In spring 1941, at the age of 31, “Lefty” Mills’ career seemingly was finished just seven years after he signed his first professional baseball contract. Six years later, after he served in the military during World War II, Mills attempted a comeback. It was short-lived. Mills was scratched from a scheduled start for Charley Pedrotti’s […]

Bill Lee was one of those rare ballplayers whose off-field persona overshadowed his significant on-field performance. In baseball parlance, Lee is known as a “flake,” a term that includes anyone who doesn’t give pat answers to pat questions or dares to admit to reading a book without pictures. He was an original in a sport […]

Second-generation big-leaguer David Segui1 debuted in 1990 and batted .291 over all or parts of 15 seasons. A switch-hitter with moderate power, he started and ended his career with the Baltimore Orioles around stints with six other teams. Segui was briefly the majors’ all-time fielding percentage leader among first basemen with at least 1,000 appearances […]

Wayne Harper Ambler, a versatile infielder with a slick glove, averaged .224 in three major league seasons for the Philadelphia Athletics before World War II. But unlike most big leaguers of his era, he attended college first–thanks to the sponsorship of Athletics owner and manager Connie Mack. Graduating from Duke University with a Bachelor’s Degree […]

The name Luis Aparicio is closely linked with Venezuela. Both Luis Aparicio Ortega (Ortega) and his son, Luis Aparicio Montiel (Aparicio), had a significant impact on bringing the game of baseball to new heights in Latin America. For that reason, many say that when talking about one, you can’t help but think of the other. […]

For nearly eighty years, Hub Kittle loved and studied pitching. He first realized that this was his calling when he was eight years old. He could outthrow all the neighborhood kids. “Something clicked there, that I had something the good Lord must have gave me. I don’t know why, I couldn’t outfight ’em and I […]

Tom McGuire must have found it odd to be on the mound for the first-place Chicago White Sox on August 9, 1919, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. The spitballing McGuire had never made an appearance in Organized Baseball. His professional baseball career had been played entirely in independent, “outlaw” leagues like the United States […]

With the game in the balance, Lee Smith would walk ever so slowly1 from the bullpen to the mound. The 6-foot-6, 250-pound Louisianan was in his time one of the most feared relief pitchers in the game.2 In his 18 major-league seasons (1980-1997), the right-hander pitched for eight different teams, and his records are notable […]

Shortstop Dud Lee played one game for the St. Louis Browns in 1920, under one name, and two games for the 1926 Boston Red Sox under another. In between, he appeared in another 251 big-league games, compiling a .223 batting average and 60 RBIs. He never hit a home run, under either name. The shortstop […]

The social calendars for many a Louisvillian in the mid-1880s were anchored by two annual marquee events: the Kentucky Derby and the Southern Exposition. The Derby, which grew to become the signature event in American horse racing, was held on the first Friday in May at Churchill Downs.1 The Southern Exposition was a regional fair […]

The Chicago Cubs opened 1982 with rookie Ryne Sandberg at third base, months after acquiring him in an offseason trade with the Philadelphia Phillies. Held to one hit in his first 32 at-bats, the 22-year-old Sandberg entered the Cubs’ April 23 game with the Pittsburgh Pirates batting just .140. On a windy day at Wrigley […]

The New York Mets lost Mike Piazza to a strained left hamstring in the first inning of their 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on April 23, 2002.1 Despite missing their slugging catcher, they won four of their next five games to move into a first-place tie with the Montreal Expos in the National […]

The New York Mets came into existence in 1962 and were one of the worst teams in baseball history, losing 120 games. The 1963 season was much of the same for Casey Stengel’s Mets. They lost 111 games and finished last for the second straight year. The Mets of that era were lovable losers, with […]

Mike Corkins is one of many ballplayers with reason to dislike Jim Bouton’s Ball Four — not because it captured his personal indiscretions, but because it chronicled his professional failings. In his entry for September 8, 1969, Bouton summarized Corkins’ unfortunate major-league debut for San Diego against Houston, in which the rookie yielded two triples […]

High and Inside The Newsletter of the BioProject Committee Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) June 2022 Past newsletters Editor: Andrea Long From the Directors Update on BioProject Submissions The BioProject on Social Media Project Team From Co-Directors, Rory Costello and Gregory H. Wolf BioProject Tags: a call for suggestions Published stories on the BioProject […]