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When the Houston Astros called their Triple-A affiliate, the Round Rock Express, to send Luke Scott up to the majors on July 13, 2006, they “hoped he would be able to provide a spark for their struggling offense.”1 The Astros were six games below .500 and 10½ games out of first place in the National […]

With nearly 35,000 fans on hand on the day set aside to honor him at Wrigley Field, veteran Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo publicly confirmed that he was a diabetic. “I didn’t want anyone else to know about this originally. I’m a diabetic and had a full career in the major leagues and a […]

The Polo Grounds had been an important part of the New York sports scene since its original use in the nineteenth century as a field for polo players and then, in several different incarnations, as a home for professional baseball. The park “opened for baseball use September 29, 1880”1 and over the years a number […]

The New York Mets arrived in Philadelphia after a brief stop in Chicago where the teams could play only one game because of the weather. Gary Gentry pitched spectacularly in that May 13 game, throwing the fifth one-hitter in the team’s short history. The win left the Mets 1½ games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs. […]

It was widely believed that Cole Hamels’ start on Saturday, July 25, 2015, against the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field could be his last in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform. If so, it would end his memorable 9½-year run with the team, capped by his 2008 World Series MVP Award. The Phillies were limping along sporting […]

For Dizzy Trout, the 30-year-old right-hander, no victory had meant so much. Sure, he had posted 98 wins in his seven seasons with the Detroit Tigers, including 20 in 1943 and 27 the following year. But on October 6, 1945, in Game Four of the 1945 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, Trout shined like […]

They had been in the wrong place, but at the right time. The 1973 Opening Day roster weakened under the weight of countless ailments. Right fielder Rusty Staub continued to deal with the hamate bone operation that curtailed his wonderful start to 1972. Catcher Jerry Grote, shortstop Bud Harrelson, first baseman John Milner, and left […]

You know the old cliché: Some fans claim they’ve seen it all. Yet only a crowd of 35,759 at Citi Field can state that they have witnessed in person perhaps one of the greatest comebacks in the history of New York Mets baseball. In a “win that defied all logic,”1 Asdrubal Cabrera led the New […]

On the morning of September 8, 1972, Red Sox fans woke up to a reality unthinkable just a month and a half before – the Old Towne Team was in first place in the American League East. On that auspicious Friday morning, Boston Globe writer Ray Fitzgerald summed up the turn of events when he […]

The Chicago Cubs’ 29-year-old right-handed ace Jake Arrieta was on a roll of historic proportions. “It’s just incredible what he’s done in the second half. He’s Bob Gibson-esque,” said skipper Joe Maddon, making a bold comparison to the former St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer.1 Madden was not entirely correct in his assessment – Arrieta […]

Only two months had passed since outfielder Lee Walls was traded from Pittsburgh to Chicago,1 and he had not yet become a household name in the Windy City as July 1957 began. On July 2 Walls moved up some in Cubs fans’ eyes as he tried to singlehandedly lead his Chicago teammates to a victory […]

From 1946 through 1965, the Hearst newspaper chain sponsored events in as many as 13 cities culminating in the annual Hearst Sandlot Classic between the New York Journal-American All-Stars and the United States All-Stars. Chicago sent two players to the games from 1946 through 1957, and the players were selected based on their performance in […]

During the 2017 baseball season, the Chicago Cubs surpassed 8,000 regular-season games played at Wrigley Field. The season included the raising of the team’s first World Series championship gained while calling Wrigley Field home. A century earlier, the Cubs played their first game at Wrigley (then called Weeghman Park), to a packed Chicago crowd that […]

As 2019 drew to a close, Don Hasenmayer was one of 23 surviving major-leaguers to have served in World War II. In May 1945, the 18-year-old infielder squeezed in five major-league games for the Philadelphia Phillies before joining the United States Navy. He collected a pair of base hits– both singles — in 18 at-bats […]

“The great Jackie Robinson once said, ‘A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.’ This afternoon, as the Mariners acknowledge Tuesday’s league-wide celebration of the life of Jackie Robinson, the Mariners are pleased to welcome a special guest who personifies Jackie’s spirit and has dedicated his life to serving […]

Despite having an impressive minor-league record, left-handed-hitting Jim Marshall never could crack the starting lineup on a regular basis for five major-league clubs. As a result, he served mostly as a backup first baseman/outfielder and pinch-hitter during a major-league career that started in 1958 and ended in 1962. After his playing days he became a […]

Charlie Walters says there were two things he always wanted to do: “Be a newspaper guy and a major-league ball player.” He got to do both. Now a sports columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Walters also had a seven-year career in professional baseball that included six games at the major-league level, with the […]

As a young baseball player in rural Minnesota, Dick Stigman picked the perfect day to pitch a perfect game. Cy Slapnicka, the man who signed Cleveland greats Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, and Herb Score, was watching. In the spring of 1954, three days after graduating from Sebeka High School, Richard Lewis Stigman (born January 24, […]

He was born in Ireland during the Potato Famine, named for an American president, and crossed the ocean as an infant to become a star in a game that was unknown in his native land at the time. Eventually, baseball came to flourish in Ireland. In the present Irish Baseball League the most outstanding player […]

Baseball fans from the 1970s may have faint memories of a lanky backup catcher for the San Diego Padres. Bob Davis, a native of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, became a familiar face for the Padres faithful during the organization’s early years. Standing six feet and weighing 180 pounds, Davis caught 166 games for the Friars before […]

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 […]

From his key contributions as a rookie on the pennant-winning Boston Red Sox of 1967 to his final games spent entangled in one of the most controversial incidents in World Series history, Mike Andrews packed plenty of memorable moments into seven-plus big-league seasons. And while his baseball career may not have lasted as long — […]

Outfielder Greg Harts got into his only three big-league games with the New York Mets during the 1973 pennant race. The lefty was called up from Double-A and got a hit in two pinch-hit at-bats. His only other appearance came as a pinch-runner; he never played in the field in the majors. Harts ran well […]