Search Results

Hans Lobert’s game was built around speed. Aside from 1912, when an injury caused him to miss more than half the season, the stocky, bowlegged third baseman stole 30 or more bases each year from 1907 to 1914. At a field day in Cincinnati on October 12, 1910, Lobert rounded the bases in 13.8 seconds, […]

A league pennant was squarely on the line under the brutal Mexican sun on September 5, 1938. A team known as Agrario, led by the legendary Satchel Paige, battled Aguila for the championship of the summertime Mexican circuit, a league recently strengthened by the importation of such frontline Negro League stars as Josh Gibson, Ray […]

August G. “Happy” Foreman pitched in three major-league games in 1924 for the Chicago White Sox (allowing three runs), and he pitched in three major-league games in 1926 for the Boston Red Sox (allowing three runs). In neither year did he win a game or lose a game. In 1924, he had two plate appearances […]

“He’s that baseball dude who got banned for steroids or something, which makes him more than famous. He’s like infamous, and dangerous, and a kind of cool, a cross between Babe Ruth and Count Dracula.”1 – J.R. Moehringer, writing of Alex Rodríguez in 2015. What is fame? “I’m not too sure but I’ll know it […]

During his late 19th-century heyday, right-handed pitcher Ad Gumbert was regarded as one of the game’s most well-rounded performers. That status was founded on 123 major league victories led by two seasons of 20-plus wins; fielding skills that made him an outfield option; and a formidable bat with extra-base power. Gumbert was just 29 years […]

He was not as flashy as his predecessor, Buck Weaver. But he was as refined and polished as a third baseman as one could find. He had quick and sure hands and outstanding range, and threw perfect strikes across the diamond. Hall of Fame pitcher Charles “Chief” Bender said he was the best third sacker […]

He made his big-league debut on a day when Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed thousands of civil rights marchers on the Boston Common, and flourished as a pitcher during the Summer of Love. As he struggled with injuries, Americans grappled with the strain of assassinations, racial riots, and the escalating Vietnam War. Jim Lonborg’s […]

Sal Campisi grew up in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn, New York, loving his hometown Dodgers while hating the St. Louis Cardinals and dreading the sight of their star, Stan Musial, at the plate. Campisi recalled, “When I was only a few years old, my folks would take me to Ebbets Field for critical games […]

Until Rickey Henderson donned New York Yankee pinstripes in 1985, Fritz Maisel’s 74 stolen bases had been the franchise’s single-season record for 71 years. The diminutive Maisel, nicknamed “The Catonsville Flash” for his Maryland hometown, spent all or parts of six seasons (1913-1918) with the Yankees and St. Louis Browns. For 57 years he was […]

When asked in the twilight of his life to reflect on his baseball career, Gus Munch revealed why he never made it to the major leagues: His mom talked him out of it. This was perhaps a bit of a simplistic answer, as there were several instances of mutual interest expressed between Munch and major-league […]

Right-hander Bud Tinning emerged as an effective reliever and spot starter in the last two months of his rookie season with the Chicago Cubs in 1932 as the North Siders captured their second pennant in four years. He won 13 games and led the NL with a .684 winning percentage the next season but battled […]

Gonzalo Márquez, one of the earlier Venezuelans in the majors, never played a full year in “The Show.” From 1972 through 1974, he got into just 76 regular-season games with Oakland and the Chicago Cubs. Márquez’s primary position was first base, and he was a good fielder — but he lacked power. Across his entire […]

In the late 1930s, Monty Stratton of the Chicago White Sox was one of the best and most praised pitchers in major-league baseball and was about to enter the prime of his career. “Monty Stratton looks as if he is going to furnish many a page in baseball history before he gives up,” Philadelphia sportswriter […]

Prior to the start of Game Two of the 1918 World Series, Fred Mitchell, manager of the National League pennant-winning Chicago Cubs, recalled George “Lefty” Tyler’s previous World Series appearance. Mitchell earned his current position at the helm of the Cubs from successful work with his pitchers, especially Tyler, during his tenure in Boston. During […]

No-hitters are often remembered for the dramatic defensive plays that preserved them. The later it comes in the game, the more dramatic the play is; sometimes it’s even the 27th out.1 Other times it’s the very first out, when no one could imagine what is at stake. Rudy Law of the Chicago White Sox led […]

Jim Perry debuted with the Cleveland Indians in 1959, became a Minnesota Twin in 1963, and moved to the Detroit Tigers in 1973. His younger brother, Gaylord Perry, spent the first 10 years of his career in the National League before being traded to Cleveland in December 1971. Through June 1973, Jim Perry had started […]

Less than one calendar year since winning the National League pennant, the 1894 Boston Beaneaters had been dealing with a couple of issues. The team was playing well through the beginning of June, almost exactly as well as they had been playing at that point in the prior season, but things were slightly different this […]

The month of June 1931 came to a close with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs battling each other at the Baker Bowl. Chicago (36-29-1) held third place in the National League standings, seven games ahead of sixth-place Philadelphia (29-36-1). The teams had split the first two games of a four-game series, and on […]

On America’s birthday, July 4, 1899, the Baltimore Orioles hosted the Boston Beaneaters in an Independence Day celebration at Union Park. In the second game of a morning-afternoon doubleheader, Baltimore’s John McGraw became the first player in major-league history to steal second base, third base, and home, in the same inning. His heroics helped secure […]

Phil Rizzuto had the nickname “Scooter” because of how he got from place to place. He’d earned the moniker as a 5-foot-6 minor leaguer, with short and quick shuffles to any ball or base that needed him.1 He embodied it with the New York Yankees for 13 seasons, turning more double plays than all but […]

The Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, two teams firmly entrenched at the bottom of the National League standings, squared off in an unlikely pitchers’ duel at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia on August 22, 1921. Fans who attended were treated to a “herculean pitching battle”1 fought by two unlikely mound combatants, journeymen slingers Elmer Ponder […]

At 6:30 A.M. on July 14, 1969, Bill Stoneman was a private first class in the Vermont National Guard, fulfilling military obligations to his country at Camp Johnson in Colchester, just north of Burlington. At 4 P.M., with the day’s duties complete, Stoneman got into his car and headed to another job in another nation […]

Crosley Field was the “married” name of Cincinnati’s beloved National League ballpark. Situated at the intersection of Findlay Street and Western Avenue, it lived the first 23 years of its life using its “maiden” name, Redland Field. Then in 1934, Powel Crosley appeared, swept it off its feet and blessed it with his own name. […]

From 1926 through 1976, a wooden stadium stood at the corner of King and Isenberg Streets in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was small, with capacity of only about 25,000.1 It lacked infrastructure. It was called “The Termite Palace” for its infestation. Yet, like so many ballparks of past eras, it had a simple charm. “The first […]