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There was no big champagne celebration in the locker room after the game in which Willie Mays blasted his 52nd home run of the 1965 season, the highest season total of his career. For that matter, there was no Mays in the locker room either. Any plans for celebration died the previous evening when the […]

Bunker Hill Day, commemorating the Revolutionary War battle, arrived in Boston on Monday, June 18, 1894. For those in search of sporting entertainment as the calendar crept toward the first day of summer, two National League contenders would play a morning-afternoon doubleheader at the Congress Street Grounds. The host Boston Beaneaters, winners of the previous […]

With the Detroit Tigers seizing a two-games-to-one lead in the 1935 World Series on the Chicago Cubs after a wild extra-inning affair in Game Three, managers Charlie Grimm and Mickey Cochrane were compelled to shuffle their lineups. “The two managers, reckless in their manipulation of talent in the turbulent concluding innings, forced themselves into a […]

If one were to rate the excitement of various baseball plays, inside-the-park home runs (IPHR) would most likely rank very near the top. One of the game’s longest-fused events, thanks to the batter’s 360-foot trip around the diamond, IPHRs have an evergreen presence in highlight and blooper reels alike with dramatic elements like misplays or […]

Considering the transportation methods available in 1903, a trip from Cleveland, Ohio, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, would have been neither quick nor easy. Cleveland Naps manager Bill Armour didn’t seem to care – that’s how badly he wanted to secure two-way minor-league star Hugh Hill’s services for the 1903 season. After battling contract baiting from the […]

Under a broiling midsummer sun, five National League pitchers combined to throw the first shutout in All-Star Game history. With their 4-0 victory in the 1940 contest, the Nationals had now won three of the last five games, after having lost the first three. Although the American League Browns and National League Cardinals shared Sportsman’s […]

As they made their way down I-94 to Comiskey Park for this Monday night game, the 12-0 Milwaukee Brewers and their fans were in a celebratory mood after their dramatic win on Sunday against the Texas Rangers at Milwaukee County Stadium. Yes, they were still one game shy of tying the major-league record set by […]

After May 31, the 2004 Boston Red Sox never got to first place in the American League East. From June 1 on, they were in second place for the next 111 games. The New York Yankees were in first for that entire stretch. As late as August 15, the Yankees’ lead over the Red Sox […]

Several hundred loyal Boston rooters blew their tin horns, banged their noisemakers, and cheered themselves hoarse against the roar of 12,000 Oriole fans. They had followed their team to the showdown series of the 1897 pennant race and had come prepared for a party unlike any other. The trip seemed such a unique and spectacular […]

Scott Podsednik hits a walkoff home run off Astros closer Brad Lidge. (Courtesy of Ron Vesely / Chicago White Sox)   Stormy conditions in Chicago on October 23 threatened to wipe out Game Two of the World Series. With two of the league’s premier workhorses, Andy Pettitte and Mark Buehrle, on the mound, it had […]

Even in the nineteenth century, Opening Day was a much-anticipated event. When the Boston Beaneaters and New York Giants were rained out in their 1893 season opener, the New York Sun wrote: “The postponement of yesterday’s game as a consequence of bad weather was undoubtedly one of the severest disappointments ever suffered by New York […]

Less than a week before the 1944 midsummer classic, Boston’s “All-Star squad quartet”1 of second baseman Bobby Doerr, right fielder Pete Fox, pitcher Tex Hughson, and left fielder Bob Johnson paced the Red Sox to a 13-3 thrashing of the Detroit Tigers. A crowd of 5,146 at Fenway Park saw all nine of Boston’s starters […]

In what could be billed as one of the wildest games in major-league history, the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs met on a Thursday afternoon in front of 14,952 fans at Wrigley Field. The wind was blowing out at 18 mph.1 A little more than four hours later, the Phillies emerged victorious, securing a 23-22 […]

The Boston Red Stockings squad was one of the original eight teams when the National League formed in 1876.1 In 1883 the team changed its nickname to the Beaneaters,2 and in 1907 changed it once more to the Doves. Up to this point, the NL team’s success was confined to the nineteenth century, with six […]

How is it that someone who weighed 160 pounds and stood five feet, 8 1/2 inches tall attracted the nickname “Moose”? It’s not as though he came from northern Wisconsin or near the northwest Maine/Canadian border. Elmer Albert Eggert was born and died in Rochester, New York – born on January 29, 1902 to parents […]

William H. Conant, Arthur H. Soden, and James B. Billings were the majority owners of the Boston Nationals1 from its difficult early years, through its ascendancy to the position of one of the best teams in the National League, to its eclipse after the entry of the American League team in Boston in 1901. Held […]

George Pfister spent 56 years in Organized Baseball. However, he played just once in the majors, with the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers. It came on September 27, in the second to last game of the NL pennant-winners’ season. Pfister, then 23 years old, came in for the last five innings – but there was just one […]

Few one-game major leaguers led a baseball life as rich as pitcher Ernie Lindemann’s. From 1903 through 1915, he was a dominant force in the New York City area’s thriving semipro scene. He routinely faced, and often succeeded against, major-league teams and elite African-American independents. Indeed, Lindemann’s sole major-league appearance, with the Boston Doves in […]

Harry Walker was born to baseball and spent his life in the game. The son of one major leaguer and the brother of another, he was an All-Star outfielder, the lightning-rod manager of three teams, and a controversial hitting guru. Harry and Dixie Walker are the only brothers to win batting titles. When Harry came […]

From his early days as an amateur, pitcher Bill Hawke mowed down opposing batsmen with a lightning quick fastball and tantalizing off-speed pitches. When the distance between the batter and pitcher was expanded to 60 feet, 6 inches in 1893, Hawke changed his strategy and began to induce outs with grounders and pop flys. In […]

Joe Cunningham was a left-handed first baseman and converted outfielder who played parts of 12 major-league seasons with the Cardinals (1954, 1956-61), Chicago White Sox (1962-64), and Washington Senators (1964-66). In his All-Star season of 1959, he hit .345 to finish second for the batting title. Known for his excellent batting eye, Cunningham’s lifetime on-base […]

From 1975 through 1982, Dennis Lewallyn pitched in parts of eight seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, and Cleveland Indians. The 6-foot-4 righty totaled a year and a half of major league service time, going 4-4 in 34 games. “I threw a sinker, slider, change-up; did not throw a lot of pitches in […]

From 1903 to 1914, southpaw Charlie Fritz pitched in southern minor leagues with determination, endurance, and “varying success.”1 He won 116 games and lost 153.2 In 1907, after striking out 15 batters in a 12-inning game, he received a “cup of coffee” in the majors—three innings pitched for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. Charles Cornelius “Charlie” […]

Maple Leaf Stadium, circa 1929. (City of Toronto Archives)   Toronto is a world-class city with a proud baseball history, but its ballparks have not always met a high standard. Exhibition Stadium, the American League Blue Jays’ home from 1977 to 1989, was a converted football stadium whose seating arrangements were not entirely suited to […]