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As August 1933 began, the race for the American League pennant was down to two teams, the Washington Senators (61-35) and the New York Yankees (60-36). The Philadelphia Athletics (47-49) were holding down third place in the standings, but, as they were 14 games behind the top spot, the task of winning the title seemed […]
On a warm Saturday afternoon in early May 1932,1 the day Burgoo King captured the 58th running of the Kentucky Derby, young Reds catcher Ernie Lombardi proved he was “king” of Redland Field when his screaming line-drive triple in the 12th inning completed an improbable 9-8 comeback victory for the hometown club over the Boston […]
The Pittsburgh Pirates began the 1938 season on a hot streak. They swept a three-game series over both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. The Bucs were finding some “late-inning magic” to pull out a few of those games. In the season opener on April 19 at Sportsman’s Park, Pittsburgh scored two runs […]
The Boston Beaneaters entered their three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies in a foul mood. Their frustration stemmed from a disappointing loss to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms the day before. The entire City of Boston seemed upset by the fact that Beaneaters manager Frank Selee had decided to start Vic Willis against Brooklyn just one day […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
On February 4, 1921, Carl “Babe” Holling was arrested for burglary of a San Francisco apartment … while holding his first major-league contract in his pocket.1 After charges were eventually dropped, the pitcher parlayed his two years with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League into being one of a bumper crop of California […]
A fiery, redheaded, energetic catcher, Ivey Wingo retired with the National League record for games caught in a career, 1,233. Wingo was a popular man with teammates and fans. His belief in civic duty was demonstrated in 1918 when it was noted in a Sporting News article that he had purchased $7,000 in Liberty Bonds […]
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, […]
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 […]
“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 […]