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On August 6, 1912, Bill Hunter made his major-league debut as a ninth-inning pinch-hitter for the Cleveland Naps. Tasked with facing Boston’s Smoky Joe Wood, then in the midst of a celebrated (34-5/1.91 ERA/258 strikeouts) season, Hunter promptly struck out. Onlookers sympathized, with the Cleveland Leader observing, “There’s no disgrace in that. Better hitters than […]
Many players played for National and American League teams in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia or St. Louis. Just a dozen men played for Washington teams in both leagues. Some of the best known are John Anderson, Jack Doyle, Win Mercer and Kip Selbach. Most of the rest are recognizable to fans of Deadball Era […]
Heinz Becker, the only German-born big-leaguer who played during the years of World War II, had a modest four-year career and appeared in just 152 games for the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians. In 1945, his only full season in the majors, Becker became a fan favorite for the pennant-winning Cubs, and his feet were […]
In the summer of 1904, the Zanesville, Ohio, baseball team had a game scheduled with a team in neighboring New Concord. “When the time arrived for the boys to take the bus, there was one player missing, so the bat boy had to be used in right field to complete the team. As luck would […]
Strong quick wrists, an open, positive demeanor, and unwavering confidence made young Ed Spiezio an outstanding baseball prospect. Cardinals Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst once told The Sporting News that Spiezio was the “the finest looking young hitter” he had ever seen.1 In five seasons with the Cardinals (1964-1968), Spiezio played on three National League […]
The third son of a saloon keeper who’d come to America to seek a better life, Albert Karl “Kip” Selbach played 13 years of major-league baseball and went on to become the proprietor of a bowling alley in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Selbach was born in Columbus on March 24, 1872. His parents, Charles […]
A fiercely independent individual, Heinie Meine had a curious career in organized baseball. Starting off in the Texas League in 1921 as a spitballer after the major leagues had banned the pitch, the right-handed Meine made one uneventful appearance for the St. Louis Browns in 1922, then waited seven years for his next shot in […]
“He’s a quality player who’s getting better all the time. A year ago, he played on talent alone. Now he’s doing it on talent and know-how. His potential is unlimited.”1 — Pittsburgh Pirates manager Jim Leyland No word better describes Bobby Bonilla’s baseball career than “potential.” He was selected as an All-Star six times. […]
A tall left-handed pitcher, Henry Keupper pitched seven years in professional baseball, but just one year in the majors — 1914, when he was 8-20 for the last-place St. Louis Terriers of the short-lived Federal League. Henry John Keupper was born on June 24, 1887, in Staunton, Illinois. Staunton, the second largest city in Macoupin […]
From 1906 to 1911, right-handed pitcher Wallace Luther “Toots” Shultz was the most sought-after student/athlete in baseball. From his days at prep school through his college days at the University of Pennsylvania he was pursued by his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates, the Philadelphia A’s and Phillies, both Boston teams, and the New York Highlanders. In 1911, […]
Almost every kid who has ever played baseball fantasizes coming up in the bottom of the ninth inning during the seventh game of the World Series and hitting a home run to win it. As of the 2010 World Series, only one person has ever accomplished this. It occurred on October 13, 1960, at 3:36 […]
Originally signed by the White Sox as a shortstop, Tom Hurd finally made the majors as a Red Sox right-handed relief specialist some nine years later. He played for Boston for three years in the mid-1950s, appearing in 99 games, all in relief. His lifetime record was 13-10 with 11 saves. In 1955, he led […]
Perhaps the most emphatic action ever taken by the Commissioner of Baseball occurred on August 3, 1921. On that day, Kenesaw Mountain Landis banished eight Chicago White Sox players from Organized Baseball for life for throwing the 1919 World Series, despite their acquittal in a court trial. The expulsion edict quickly became a baseball landmark, […]
A left-handed entomologist who forged a career in baseball? Handedness is immaterial in science, but successfully pitching left-handed in baseball is a sought-after skill. Bill Werle had a decent run, winning 29 games over six big-league seasons (two partial) from 1949 through 1954. Werle’s playing career spanned from 1943 to 1963, and he also managed […]
On May 4, 1871, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas1 opened the inaugural season of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players with a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Forest Citys. By the end of June the Kekiongas had compiled a 5-4 record, with two of the losses being shutouts. One of the shutouts came at […]
The team that was the last to integrate had been – 26 years earlier – the first to field a native of Mexico in the major leagues. The team was the Boston Red Sox, who took until 1959 to field a Black ballplayer – Pumpsie Green. In 1933, however, when Baldomero Melo “Mel” Almada took […]
Brooklyn fans could barely believe what they were seeing. After losing the first two games of the 1947 World Series, their team rebounded to win the next two games at Ebbets Field. The fifth game, the last one to be played in Flatbush for the Series, was packed with fans hoping to see the Dodgers […]
The Atlanta National League team traces its history through two previous cities and several nicknames. The franchise was a charter member of the National League in 1876, as the Red Stockings (or Reds, since Cincinnati reclaimed their original name), which also had played five seasons in the National Association prior to that, winning the last […]
The Houston Astros (originally the Colt .45s) had begun play in 1962, and the Astrodome had opened in 1965, but the team had endured a long wait for its first postseason appearance. In 1980 the Astros survived a one-game playoff with the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the NL West division with a 93-70 record. […]
With both clubs vying for the National League pennant lead and their respective staff aces scheduled for duty, the August 17 match between the Boston Beaneaters and the New York Giants shaped up to be an exciting, hard-fought contest. Monday-morning newspapers showed the 1891 season standings tightly bunched, with the Chicago White Stockings (56-39) clinging […]
12, 15, 25, 33, 37. Don’t worry. This isn’t a brainteaser where you have to guess the next number in the sequence. These figures are statistics from a wild and wacky major-league game played on August 9, 1923, between the reigning world champion New York Giants and the hometown St. Louis Cardinals. It included 12 […]
“I guess maybe I was a little hasty, but I had complete confidence in Sherry.” —Walter Alston, October 8, 1959.1 “I told Joe Becker, our pitching coach, that I felt real good, ready to pitch four or five innings. I never dreamed, actually, that I’d have to go that long.” —Larry Sherry, October 8, 1959.2 […]
On the morning of Tuesday, June 24, 1947, two titans of sport made their final preparations before doing battle that evening. Linked not only by their race, but by the last name Robinson, Sugar Ray would fight in the ring while Jackie would fight on the diamond. Walker Smith Jr., better known as Sugar Ray […]
Boston Red Sox analyst and former major-league pitcher Lenny DiNardo speaks to the Southern New England SABR Chapter on November 27, 2021. The Lajoie-Start Southern New England chapter’s first in-person meeting in two years drew a crowd of 40 members and guests to St. Philip’s Parish Center in Greenville, Rhode Island, on Saturday, November […]