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A life in baseball is how one might best describe the life of Fred Mitchell. He pitched in the very first game ever played by the Boston Red Sox franchise (an exhibition game in Charlottesville, Virginia), and 18 years later managed the Chicago Cubs against the Red Sox in the 1918 World Series. His major-league […]

Don Leppert signed his first professional contract shortly after his 23rd birthday, scouted on Korean War-era military-service teams in a sport he had not intended to play as a pro. He reached the majors a few months before his 30th birthday, when the defending World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates sought to strengthen their bench. He […]

During right-hander Lerrin LaGrow’s final year in the majors, he quipped “Hillerich & Bradsby” when asked to identify his toughest opposing hitter.1 By naming the company that manufactures Louisville Sluggers, he perhaps inadvertently referenced the moment for which he’s arguably most remembered – being the target of Bert Campaneris’s thrown bat during the 1972 AL […]

Bobby Mathews, nearly forgotten today, was one of the top pitchers of the early professional era despite his small stature (5-feet-5½-inches tall, weight about 140 pounds). Between 1871 and 1887, he won nearly 300 games, 297 to be exact – more than any other pitcher not inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. His […]

Despite frequent citations over the years, it is not common knowledge that the Braves got their nickname and first Indian-head logo under James E. Gaffney. Then again, nearly a century and two franchise moves have gone by since the owner of yesteryear (December 1911 to January 1916) rechristened his team. The change celebrated his ties […]

“It exceeded all proportion, It could not be contained, It bloomed round like a dark sunrise, It glistened in the rain. The little boys with crew cuts Or blond locks oh so fair Would look and cheer with wonder At Oscar Gamble’s hair.” —Roy Peter Clark1   Oscar Gamble made his big-league debut in 1969 […]

It was a long slog to the major leagues for Jack Merson. He broke into Organized Baseball in 1940, signed as a teenager by the Washington Senators and assigned to play second base for the Newport (Tennessee) Canners in the Class D Appalachian League. He made the majors near the end of the 1951 season, […]

In 1990 an old-school scout, Dick Wilson, stated that it was hard to explain that intangible something that told him a player had what it took to be a major-league player, but he “knew it when he saw it.” About Dave Rader, Wilson relayed, “I saw him at South Bakersfield High School, and I knew […]

The elder statesman of the Baby Birds staff that vaulted the Baltimore Orioles into pennant contention in the early 1960s was a mere 22-year-old. He is the only AL pitcher to lead the circuit in wins during a rookie campaign and the only one in either league to do so since Chicago Cubs righty Larry […]

Al Sothoron was a spitball pitcher and a master of trick deliveries. When the moist pitch was outlawed, Sothoron was one of 17 practitioners of the art who were exempted from the ban under a grandfather clause. Whether he continued to use other trick pitches, some of which were now illegal, is a matter of […]

Orleans County is located in western New York State on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The Erie Canal bisects the county and was responsible for the growth of its villages. Although Buffalo and Rochester are less than an hour away by car, the area is primarily farming country, with apple and cherry trees greatly […]

“The rumors are that [rookie] Allen is not returning with the Phillies to Connie Mack Stadium on Wednesday. He’s going directly to the Hall of Fame.”1   The Philadelphia Phillies’ first black superstar, Dick Allen was one of the most feared hitters in baseball in the 1960s. In an era dominated by pitching, he slugged […]

“He’s been hotter than the weather, and in the Midwest, that’s torrid.” Les Biederman of the Pittsburgh Press, discussing Ernie Banks who during the final four games of a five-game series between the Cubs and Pirates went 11-for-19 with five home runs and 13 RBIs.1 Ernie Banks, in his second full season with the Chicago […]

The New York Mets had their backs to the wall after a disappointing loss in Game Four of the 2015 World Series. They were ahead in that game through the seventh inning and lost it on costly mistakes that had shaken their confidence. The Royals’ confidence, meanwhile, was growing. They needed to win just one […]

The New York Mets and Kansas City Royals squared off for the fourth game of the 2015 World Series on October 31. Noah Syndergaard had fired up the Mets with his solid performance in Game Three. It was now Steve Matz’s turn to take the mound. This was a dream come true for the left-hander. […]

On the morning of September 4, 1935, longtime Chicago Tribune sportswriter Irving Vaughan wrote an article examining the National League pennant race, specifically, how the Cubs’ prospects looked going into the final weeks of the season.1 From his perspective, the odds did not appear promising for the Wrigley Field squad. Chicago was in third place, […]

On the evening of Friday, May 27, 1994, 3,954 fans gathered at Municipal Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota, to watch the Colorado Silver Bullets, a pioneering all-women’s team, take on the Richfield (Minnesota) Rockets.1 The Silver Bullets, coached by 318-game winner and Hall of Fame inductee Phil Niekro, were in the midst of their inaugural […]

The pain has now subsided. The wound has now healed — perhaps even slightly for the principal character of this infamous game. A World Series championship, something the Chicago Cubs were allergic to for 108 seasons, will cause such a development. But the notorious nature by which many North Siders acted in this moment of […]

The crowd at Wrigley Field wore slickers and raincoats. Some held red, white, and blue folding umbrellas with the Chicago Cubs logo. Others sported smaller, hands-free umbrellas on their head. “What’s a little rain,” Greg Gumbel asked the television audience, “when there’s an All-Star Game to be played?”1 Baseball’s midsummer showcase returned to Wrigley Field […]

Members of the Kenosha Comets of the All-American Girls Base Ball League pose for a photo on July 1, 1943, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. (Chicago Sun / GenealogyBank.com)   Philip K. Wrigley, chewing-gum magnate and longtime owner of the Chicago Cubs, was an innovator and experimenter, and during World War II, he was committed […]

Here are the SABR Defensive Index™ rankings through games of June 16, 2019. For the seventh consecutive season, the SDI will be used to help select the winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™, presented by SABR. The SABR Defensive Index accounts for approximately 25 percent of the Rawlings Gold […]