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After tossing a complete-game victory in a one-game tryout with the Chicago Cubs in 1913, Doc Watson’s ticket was stamped for the minors again in 1914. But instead of returning to the small stage, Watson violated his reserve clause and jumped to the “outlaw” Federal League, where he pitched for both the Chicago Chi-Feds/Whalers and […]

Perseverance is defined as “(continuing) despite difficulties, opposition, or discouragement.”1 Robert Louis Hartman was a model of the above. He persevered throughout a baseball career that began at age 14 with the semipro Kenosha Chiefs and labored through five minor-league seasons. A 20-win season in 1958 earned the left-handed pitcher a promotion to the Milwaukee […]

“He was a missionary extraordinary for the game itself. … Wherever he went … Barrett talked and preached baseball.” i He was referred to as the King of Weeds, a play on words about scouts who “beat the bushes” for prospects. He signed the second most major-league players in baseball history, second only to his […]

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 […]

Millions of boys have grown up dreaming of becoming a professional ballplayer. For a young Iowa farmboy named Calvin McVey playing ball for a living was the furthest thing from his mind. There were no openly professional ballclubs during his childhood. However, he was to become one of the first to play for pay, a […]

It may have seemed like an eternity. As in many cases when a player is on the verge of breaking a record or accomplishing a milestone, the waiting can be interminable. Such was the case with Minnesota Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew, who had set his sights on 500 home runs. But the epic homer was […]

He legitimately could be called the Father of Professional Baseball, yet few modern fans are familiar with the name of Aaron Burt Champion. As president of the Cincinnati Base Ball Club, Champion conceived the idea of fielding an all-professional team in 1869, the first openly professional club in the history of baseball. With the help […]

A goal of every major leaguer is to play on a team destined for the World Series.  While individuals are in the game for money and personal achievement, being part of a team going to the fall classic is a treasured experience. Nearly 50 years after Minnesota took the 1965 championship, Jerry Fosnow – who […]

As the saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Jim Bouton had approached Seattle Pilots pitching coach Sal Maglie and asked why reliever Diego Seguí had been selected to start the first game of their July 18 twin bill instead of him.1 Bouton wasn’t satisfied with Maglie’s answer, but after Seguí won his start […]

The Minnesota Twins surprised almost everyone by jumping from 70 wins in 1961 – the team’s first season after relocating from Washington, DC – to 91 wins in 1962; advancing from seventh place to second in the 10-team American League.1 The 1962 Twins had brief stays in first place in May and June, then chased […]

The magic number was one. A Minnesota win or Baltimore loss would assure the 1965 Twins of the American League pennant. Baltimore was in no mood to cooperate. They had swept a doubleheader on Saturday night and they were looking for their seventh consecutive win as they took the field on Sunday, September 26, against […]

Rich Reese could deliver in the pinch. He had two important pinch-hit two-run homers within a two-week span in 1967, one off Fred Talbot to beat the Yankees in New York and the other against Moe Drabowsky in the last of the ninth for a 10-9 win over Baltimore. 1 In 1969 Reese started hitting […]

A forgettable year for the Minnesota Twins, 1981, stands out in that it was the final season of Metropolitan Stadium. Even a finale couldn’t be properly planned for the ballpark, which opened in 1956 and was used by the minor-league Minneapolis Millers until the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota. A game on June 11 drew […]

The slow climb of Gil Hodges’ Washington Senators teams had brought the 1967 squad to heights unknown: a 55-55 record after shutting out the Twins in Minnesota on August 7. None of the previous expansion Nats had reached .500 so far into the season. A month earlier, on July 8, Washington’s record stood at 34-47, […]

“I lost track,” replied Sandy Koufax when asked if he knew how many batters he struck out. “[I] didn’t know I’d tied the record until everybody came off the bench to shake my hand.”1 Koufax fanned 18 to equal Bob Feller’s nine-inning record set in 1938 and match his own personal best three seasons earlier.2 […]

The Cleveland Indians fans among the crowd of 38,116 at Progressive Field were looking for the Indians’ first World Series championship since Larry Doby, Bob Feller, and Satchel Paige led Cleveland to the title in 1948. The Indians brought a three-games-to-two lead into Game Six, putting them just one win away from the championship that […]

The Chicago Cubs “swished home run bats that belted big George Munger out of the box within three innings”1 and went on to crush the St. Louis Cardinals 15-3 at Wrigley Field, behind the hitting-for-the-cycle performance of Roy Smalley. The overcast skies “and a few drops of rain”2 before game time did not deter the […]

Hideo Nomo threw two no-hitters (one with the Dodgers) and struck out 17 in April 1996 against the Marlins. (Copyright Jerry Coli /dreamstime.com.)   It was a busy night for sports in the Los Angeles area on Saturday, April 13, 1996. The Dodgers had a home game with Japanese sensation Hideo Nomo starting, which usually […]

In 1946, the Esquire’s All-American Boys’ Baseball Game, in its third year, was moved from New York to Chicago and was played at Wrigley Field on August 10. The game brought together 33 boys, aged 16-18, sponsored by 32 US newspapers. The players represented 25 states, and the East All-Stars played the West All-Stars. In […]

“The New York Boys have a 17-year-old boy of 190 pounds on first base who is a regular Babe Ruth. If he gets a high fast one, he’ll slam it over the right field wall at the Cubs’ Park.” — James Crusinberry, Chicago Tribune, June 19, 1920.1   More than 6,600 fans assembled at Cubs […]

The Chicago Cubs were going nowhere fast heading into a mostly meaningless Saturday doubleheader on September 14, 1957, with the seventh-place Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs were mired in eighth place, 2½ games below the Pirates. Only 6,170 fans showed up to see if the Cubs could close the gap on the Pirates in their effort […]

“There haven’t been many — if any — finer finishing touches put on a no-hit performance,” gushed sportswriter Jack Hernon after the Chicago Cubs’ Toothpick Sam Jones struck out the side with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to author a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates.1 Jones “put a bizarre finish to the greatest […]

One of the great things about baseball is that fans never know when a game they attend might turn into a historic occasion. This fact was borne out in an early-season, afternoon game between the defending NL Central champion and front-running Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs on a rainy day at Wrigley Field in […]

It was built on the site of a former theological seminary (of all places). It is one of the most renowned addresses in baseball history, nestled in a vibrant urban neighborhood that takes on the atmosphere of a block party on game days. It has seen the Babe’s called shot, Gabby’s Homer in the Gloamin’, […]