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Bill Monbouquette grew up just a few miles from Fenway Park and was signed by his hometown Boston Red Sox, but his first day with the team, the cops threw both him and his father into a holding cell at the ballpark. “I remember sitting out in the right-field stands at Fenway watching a game […]
When it came to fielding prowess, the consensus was that Fred Tenney ranked behind only Hal Chase among first basemen of the Deadball Era. Considered the originator of the 3-6-3 double play, Tenney also developed the style of playing deep and well off the bag, as modern first basemen do. “Tenney’s way is far different […]
Among all the ballplayers who served in World War II, Earl Johnson was the real military hero. Unlike some, he had his better years after the long layoff for the war, peaking in 1947, but began to lose his edge just as the Red Sox entered two seasons (1948 and 1949) when one more win […]
In the 146 years of professional baseball, no team has come close to attaining the legendary status of the 1927 New York Yankees. They were, and are, the symbol of greatness, both individually and as a team. As the prominent baseball historian Donald Honig said, “Never before or since has there been in the game […]
Walter “Dobie” Moore was one of the greatest shortstops in Black baseball history. Nicknamed “The Black Cat,” he was a powerful hitter and gifted fielder. He began his career playing for the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry baseball team (a squad that produced more than a dozen Negro League players in the years surrounding World War […]
In addition to being a pretty good pitcher and the first German-born player in the major leagues, Charles Getzien had one of the better nicknames in nineteenth-century baseball: Pretzels or Pretzel Twirler. Before becoming a Boston Beaneater, Getzien gained prominence as a star for the Detroit Wolverines of the National League, winning a championship with […]
Ornery, rambunctious, and immensely talented, Leslie Nunamaker became one of baseball’s stoutest hitting and best throwing catchers during the last decade of the Deadball Era—and one of the game’s colorful personalities. Cut from the same temperamental cloth as contemporaries Ty Cobb and John McGraw, Nunamaker was prone to explosive on-field behavior that resulted in an […]
Fittingly, pitcher Leroy Matlock was called “the Black Carl Hubbell” in press releases promoting a 1937 barnstorming tour.1 Hubbell, who entered the Hall of Fame in 1947, had completed a high-profile streak of 24 wins in a row earlier in 1937 for the pennant-winning New York Giants. Matlock, also a lefty, had 26 straight victories […]
When Bowie Kuhn was named the fifth Commissioner of Baseball in early 1969, he was touted by owners as the man needed to modernize and strengthen the game of baseball, which was declining in popularity as pro football’s increased. It was a time, Daniel Okrent noted, when professional baseball was fighting for survival.1 Kuhn, a […]
What Tommy Davis accomplished as a major leaguer on one good leg, most players would be proud to do on two. Not that this sums up his athletic career, but it is an important backdrop to his improbable baseball odyssey. Davis seemed ready to have his ticket punched for Cooperstown as he entered his ball-playing […]
George Kaiserling was born to a German immigrant couple, Frederick and Johanna (Becker) Kaiserling, on May 12, 1893, in Steubenville, Ohio. He was the sixth born of eight, six sons and two daughters. His father worked as a millhand in the basic steelmaking industry and his mother was a homemaker.1 There is only data […]
“Baseball had always been in my blood,” said versatile infielder Frankie Gustine, who signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a 16-year-old athletic prodigy in 1936. One of the most popular Pirates of his era, Gustine debuted as a September call-up in 1939 and was named to three consecutive NL All-Star teams (1946-1948) as a second […]
John Lyston was a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher from Baltimore, Maryland, who played professionally in the late 19th century. The talented tosser possessed an outstanding curveball that complemented his powerful fastball. Early on, John was a standout hurler in the amateur and semi-pro ranks in and around the Baltimore area. Word of his pitching prowess soon […]
Tall, powerful, and fleet-footed, Burnis “Wild Bill” Wright was one of the Negro Leagues’ brightest stars for nearly a decade before embarking on a lengthy and successful Hall of Fame career in the Mexican Leagues. A towering 6-foot-4, 220-pound switch-hitter who slashed for average and slugged with power, he bunted effectively, ran like the wind, […]
Russ Kemmerer pitched a one-hit shutout in his first major-league start, on July 18, 1954, at Fenway Park, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 4-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Deprived of a no-hitter in the seventh inning when Sam Mele’s fly ball to left field eluded the outstretched glove of Ted Williams, the […]
Law enforcement has provided post-baseball employment for any number of former ballplayers, but right-handed pitcher Epp Sell followed a different career trajectory. Some ballplayers become police officers; Sell was more like an officer with a sideline in pitching. Sell joined the Reading, Pennsylvania, police department before he reached the majors, and was given leave during […]
Fans at Ebbets Field cheered when Babe Ruth — decked out in Dodger blue — trotted to the third-base coach’s box on Sunday, June 19, 1938, in the first game of a doubleheader. Baseball’s home-run king had agreed the previous day to join the Brooklyn staff. Dodgers general manager Larry MacPhail signed him to a […]
In 1913 future Hall of Fame right-hander Walter Johnson earned wins that stopped 18 losing streaks by his Washington Senators. He did it again 10 times in 1914 and 17 times in 1915. By the end of May 1916, he had stopped two more Washington losing streaks; on June 1 he was on the mound […]
The stars of Massachusetts came out to the South End Grounds as the Boston Nationals opened their 1893 home schedule. It was Monday, May 15, 1893, and around 8,000 fans braved the ominous clouds to see the defending champions face the New York Giants. The grandstand was awash in local dignitaries including mayors, state senators, […]
Superstitious? Not me. Although there was a time in my life when I thought I could alter fate merely by avoiding black cats, knocking on wood, or even by talking to baseball bats. The latter practice occurred in the spring of 1968, when I was 12 years old and batboy for the Minnesota Gophers baseball team. Saturday, […]
“But the first time Howard came to bat … he hit a ball that if it ever came down, would be one of the longest home runs in RFK Stadium. It did, and it was.” — Shirley Povich1 Nearly 50 years before Bryce Harper won the 2018 Home Run Derby2in front of the hometown fans […]
On July 14, 1953, the National League defeated the American League, 5-1, in the major-league All-Star Game at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. On that same date in another Midwest town, Decatur, Illinois, the All-Star game for a Class D minor league, the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League,1 was played at Decatur’s Fans Field. The game featured the […]
Ruppert Stadium was the home of the Kansas City Monarchs beginning in 1923. The stadium was first known as Muehlebach Field (1923), then Ruppert Stadium (1937), and later Blues Stadium (1943). It was completely rebuilt and renamed Municipal Stadium in 1955. (Courtesy Noir-Tech Research, Inc.) Satchel Paige left the mound in Kansas City’s Municipal […]
This article was originally published in “The First Negro League Champion: The 1920 Chicago American Giants” (SABR, 2022). Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants played home games at Schorling Park in Chicago (NoirTech Research, Inc.) The arc of the history of the Chicago American Giants follows closely with the arc of Black and Negro […]