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The fourth-place Boston Beaneaters hosted the Chicago Colts at the South End Grounds for the finale of a four-game series on June 11, 1891. The Colts appeared to have no trouble in winning the first two games of the series, taking the opener 5-3 and the second game, the following day, by 9-7. In the […]

New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner became the champion of player free agency and trade transactions, routinely looking past his top prospects to build out his roster. His 1984 team was built around free-agent acquisitions Dave Winfield, Don Baylor, Steve Kemp, and Phil Niekro, as well as Ken Griffey, Omar Moreno, Toby Harrah, and Butch […]

Henry Aaron reached the 100-RBI milestone in 11 seasons and retired with the all-time mark of 2,297. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   It was fitting that Henry Aaron played a leading role in what would prove to be the Milwaukee Braves’ final win in Wisconsin. On September 17, 1965, the Braves welcomed the San Francisco Giants to […]

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 […]

It was a chilly spring evening at Coors Field. The Pirates were hoping to rebound from their 6-1 loss on the previous evening when their team leader, Andrew McCutchen, returned to the lineup. McCutchen had struggled on the Pirates’ Western road trip, getting only three hits in 23 at-bats before the team’s arrival in Denver. […]

Probably the greatest rivalry in the history of baseball was the Brooklyn Dodgers versus the New York Giants, especially in the late 1940s and 1950s.1 During this period the rivalry escalated as a result of Jackie Robinson becoming a major leaguer in 1947 and Leo Durocher joining the Giants as manager. Durocher had been manager […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

In 1972 Hank Morgenweck achieved a long-held dream—a full-time umpiring job in the major leagues. Four seasons later, in bitter and disputed circumstances, he lost it. An experienced minor-league ump with a National League playoff game on his résumé, Morgenweck was named to the American League’s umpiring staff in spring 1972. But his contract was […]

llReal Cubs fans never called him Swish. To them he was Big Bill, or Nick. The Swish nickname originated in Brooklyn. The big left-handed hitter always leveled his bat across the plate several times when stepping in to face an opposing pitcher. Dodgers fans would yell, “Swish, swish, swish,” in unison with his practice swings. […]

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 […]

One could pull up Dickey Pearce’s statistics at the reference sites and be completely unimpressed. His numbers in the National Association and the National League are unremarkable. This is only part of the story; he was 35 years old when the National Association started and 40 when the National League began. Pearce’s reputation and contributions […]

“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 […]

For the afternoon of July 29, 1914, baseball had two different John McGraws. In North Manhattan, the original John McGraw, the already renowned manager of the New York Giants, was orchestrating a 1-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at the Polo Grounds. For the time being, the win kept his three-times defending National League champion […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Like Steve Carlton, who won 27 of his team’s 59 victories in 1972, Theodore Breitenstein was a left-handed ace on a weak team. Breitenstein was credited with 43 percent of the St. Louis Browns’ victories from 1893 to 1896. In 21 seasons of professional baseball from 1891 to 1911, the durable southpaw won more than […]

Rafael Noble (pronounced NO-bleh) was a stocky, powerful catcher. “Look at my guy Ray Noble,” said his manager with the New York Giants, Leo Durocher, in early 1952. “If I didn’t have Wes Westrum, he’d be my No. 1 man. He’s a good catcher and he has a lot of power. He’d be even better […]

The third pitcher selected by the New York Mets in the 1961 National League expansion draft, French-Canadian Ray Daviault (pronounced dah-vee-yoh) debuted in New York’s inaugural home game, at the Polo Grounds versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. He walked the first batter he faced, then chased him home with a pair of wild pitches. After two eventful […]

Steve Balboni played for the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals before he bookended brief stints with the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers around a second tour with the Yankees. He owns four World Series rings, one as a player with the Royals and three as an advance scout with the San […]

Negro league fans called him “the black Lou Gehrig,” putting Buck Leonard in pretty lofty company. It didn’t hurt Buck that he followed Josh Gibson, “the black Babe Ruth,” in the Homestead Grays’ lineup. Was Buck Leonard the equal of Gehrig as a first baseman and hitter? He probably was a better first baseman than the […]