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In 1937 rookie outfielder Gibby Brack captured the imagination of the baseball world with a 12-game hitting streak in the first two weeks of his major-league career, topping the National League in hitting. “There is power in his swing and speed in his legs,” exclaimed The Sporting News. “[H]e started out to make good for […]

Could a friendly poker game among minor-league teammates lead to a Hall of Fame career for a 29-year-old who had been pitching in professional baseball for nine years, never had won a major-league game, and seldom had put together two good years back to back in the minors? Perhaps. Arthur Vance had earned the nickname […]

A lifelong pursuit toward a ministerial career was put on hold for 21 years while the devoutly religious Lindy McDaniel labored in his temporary gig as a major-league hurler. During the interim employment he alternately became both the “toast of the town … [and] the roast of the town with his ups and downs.”1 Possessor […]

Dennis Bennett, a member of the Phillies’ pitching rotation in 1964 and a fun-loving character on baseball’s stage for much of the 1960s, was blessed with a great left arm and a thirst for the good life. He also overcame several reckless brushes with danger, including a tragic accident, to forge a seven-year big-league career, […]

“I don’t care for Rockefeller’s millions and I have no desire to share Wilson’s honors,” Heinie Wagner once quipped to a group of players during a long, hot train ride out west. “But I would like to be as good a pitcher as Walter Johnson and always be able to pitch for a team as […]

At the close of his maiden season in 1917, right-hander Oscar Horstmann loomed large in the plans of the St. Louis Cardinals. Effective as both a starter and reliever, the young hurler displayed an excellent fastball, an outstanding overhand curve, and exemplary work habits for the long-downtrodden Cards who were finally making some progress in […]

After his third year in organized baseball, 22-year-old right-handed pitcher Bill Burwell was drafted into the United States Army in 1917 and was assigned to the recently formed 89th Infantry Division, the “Rolling W,” and later deployed to Europe. During one of the last major offensives of the war, the Battle of Saint-Mihiel in northeastern […]

A Tennessee native who played baseball and basketball at Georgia Tech,1 Bob Tillman caught the eye of Red Sox scout George Digby, who signed him out of Middle Tennessee State on January 18, 1958. Tillman, a 6-foot-4 right-hander, earned a place in baseball history with his first official major-league at-bat, which left the yard in […]

Lenny Levy’s career defies conventional logic. A washout in one year of minor-league D-level baseball (years later, Baseball Digest called him “hardly more than a semipro player”), he fashioned a professional career with the Pittsburgh Pirates that began in 1934 and ended in 1964 with only a break for World War II. He was a […]

In the estimation of nineteenth-century baseball historian David Nemec, Pittsburgh pitcher “Billy Gumbert may have been more talented than his younger brother Ad,”1 a 123-game major-league winner. But Billy’s disinclination to journey far from a budding career in local business restricted his ballplaying opportunities. He pitched only home games at Recreation Park after a morning […]

On his third tryout in the spring of 1910, right-handed pitcher Frank Lange finally made the roster of the Chicago White Sox. With Lange just coming off a 29-win season for the Des Moines Boosters of the Class A Western League, White Sox management held high hopes for him. And on occasion Lange would validate […]

“Believed by many to be the first black sports broadcaster, he also was known as an unofficial historian of baseball’s Negro Leagues, from his days as a sportswriter and sportscaster in Newark, N.J.”1 Sportswriter Jerry Izenberg wrote on numerous occasions that one man gave us reports and box scores for the Negro Leagues and that […]

Playing on seven different teams across 13 major league seasons, outfielder Tuck Stainback acquired a reputation as a player “who ought to be great, but never will be.” The weight of expectations affected him, as it did many other touted talents.1 During the 1930s, Stainback was considered one of the fastest runners in the National […]

Ralph Theodore Joseph Branca was a New York guy. He was born on January 6, 1926, in Mount Vernon, just outside New York City, as the fifteenth of seventeen children. His middle name was a celebration of the first President Roosevelt, who also hailed from the Empire State.1 His elementary and high school years were […]

The Detroit Tigers had been to the World Series four times in their 34-year history. Four times, they had suffered defeat. On October 7, 1935, the Tigers, along with the entire city of Detroit, were thirsty for victory, hoping that the fifth time would be a charm. As that Monday morning dawned, the team found […]

Duke Snider, Clem Labine, Roy Campanella, and Gil Hodges helped Dem Bums finally capture an elusive World Series title in 1955. (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive)   “It may have been the most thrilling game of the postseason festival,” opined sportswriter Arthur Daley of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ “brutal clubbing” of the Yankees in Game Five of the […]

Brilliant pitching by Dizzy Dean, Carl Hubbell, and Lon Warneke led the National League to its first All-Star win. The 4-3 triumph was played in 89-degree weather, Boston’s hottest July 7 since 1883. However, while thousands of Bostonians chose to spend the day at nearby beaches, it was not the weather that was responsible for […]

In the history of major-league baseball, 24 pitchers have won 300 or more games. At the top of the list is Cy Young with 511 wins, and tied at 300 wins are Lefty Grove and Early Wynn. The oldest pitcher to win his 300th game was Phil Niekro, when he was 46 years old. The […]

The Detroit Tigers had been to the World Series four times in their 34-year history. Four times, they had suffered defeat. On October 7, 1935, the Tigers, along with the entire city of Detroit, were thirsty for victory, hoping that the fifth time would be a charm. As that Monday morning dawned, the team found […]

Willie Mays (#24, leaping at right) celebrates as Roberto Clemente (#21, at far left) and other Santurce Crabbers teammates look on. (Courtesy of Jorge Colón Delgado.)   Herman Franks had managed the 1953-54 Magallanes Navigators to a 39-37 record in the Venezuelan four-team Winter League and led the Santurce Crabbers to the Caribbean Series the […]

Although the Beaneaters’ May 7 game at the Polo Grounds against the New York Giants came early in the 1894 season, it would have been hard to find a more attractive matchup that year. Not only was the weather “ideal,” the starting pitchers were two of the game’s best, Charles “Kid” Nichols for Boston and […]

Charles Evard Street’s long winding path to St Louis had a full share of twists, turns, and moments of high drama. He was born in Huntsville, Alabama, on September 30, 1882. It was said about him that he became a catcher because he was naturally “pretty tough” and possessed a good arm and a chattery […]

For the first time since 1941, the 1946 baseball season opened with the United States at peace. Fans, who had endured subpar baseball for the previous three years would turn out in record numbers this season. In Brooklyn, the Dodgers would shatter their previous attendance record, drawing just under 1.8 million. An early indication of […]

SABR Salute: Eddie Gold Editor’s note: The SABR Salute, first bestowed upon writer Fred Lieb in 1976, was designed as a manner of recognizing the contributions of some of the older members of the Society. Subsequent SABR Salutes appeared in the SABR Membership Directory and honored members who had made great contributions to baseball historical […]