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In 1892 Colonel Thomas P. Robinson was the 30-year-old owner and manager of Oakland’s entry in the four-team California League. Was he a colonel? Probably not,1 but the press called him “Colonel,” and his team was called the Colonels. The year before, the Oakland Colonels had played home games in Emeryville, about three miles north […]

It was “a baseball burlesque … a wild slugfest with a flock of pitchers being rushed in and out of the box.” — James M. Gould, St. Louis Star, May 11, 1923   The Philadelphia Phillies hosted the St. Louis Cardinals at Baker Bowl on Friday, May 11, 1923. It was the final game of […]

“Bender’s control, his absolute mastery over the batters and his speed were almost ideal,” gushed the Philadelphia Inquirer about Charles Bender’s no-hitter, the first in the history of Shibe Park.1 Cleveland Naps batters were “Benderized and hypnotized” by the Athletics hurler, opined the Cleveland Plain Dealer, noting in the racially insensitive parlance of the era […]

The losing team accuses the winning pitcher of doctoring the ball. The winning pitcher shakes his head and avows his innocence. It’s a tale as old as time – or, at least, it goes back to the earliest days when scuffing a pitched baseball became illegal. On May 12, 1915, Detroit Tigers manager Hughie Jennings […]

“His hearty ‘glad to see you,’ and the warm grasp of the hand were the same as of old,” wrote the Boston Globe reporter who shook hands with Charlie Bennett. His eyes “twinkled merrily” during the interview at the apartment of Kid Nichols on Tremont Street in Boston.1 But this was not the same Charlie […]

It was a hot, humid Independence Day in Bloomington, Minnesota. Early-morning thunderstorms were a concern but by game time the skies had cleared. The announced crowd of 30,654 was the largest yet recorded for a Fourth of July game in Minnesota. The Oakland Athletics and the Minnesota Twins, who were fighting for first place in […]

Babe Ruth put on a home-run show in his hometown on April 18, 1919. The Boston Red Sox pitcher-outfielder swatted four round-trippers in four at-bats during a chilly, one-sided exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles. The Babe had begun to make his grand transition from top-flight left-handed pitcher to full-time outfielder and slugger. In 1918 […]

You could think of Al Huenke as another Moonlight Graham. Archie “Moonlight” Graham had one of the briefest major-league careers on record — two innings in right field for the New York Giants on June 29, 1905. He became posthumously famous when he turned up as a character in W.P. Kinsella’s 1982 novel Shoeless Joe […]

A boxer turned ballplayer, Ira James “Pete” Flagstead became a 13-year major-league outfielder who hit .290 over the course of his career, mostly spent with the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox from 1917 through 1930. He was raised a long way from the major leagues of the day, in Olympia, the capital of the […]

At a certain point one begins to wonder how hard it really was to make the Boston Red Sox in the 1920s. This was a dead decade for the Sox. This was a team that finished in last place eight times and never finished closer than fifth place. This was a team that finished as […]

It wasn’t unusual that Chris Speier was a Bay Area dude who played for the San Francisco Giants, nor that he was discovered by a major league scout while playing semi-pro ball. But for a California dude to be discovered playing ball in a Canadian town better known for its annual Shakespeare festival than for […]

Joe Herr was a power-hitting shortstop in St. Louis in 1888, first for the minor league St. Louis Whites of the Western Association, and then for the St. Louis Browns in the major league American Association. Between the two clubs that year he hit seven home runs, three of which went over the left field […]

In late July 1958 newspapers nationwide published a brief Associated Press dispatch announcing the death of Deadball Era pitcher Jack Rowan.1 Follow-up articles supplied poignant detail. The elderly gent, believed to be about 85 and without family, had spent his final years living alone in a small Detroit hotel room, surviving on a small monthly […]

White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillén once said of A.J. Pierzynski: “If you play against him, you hate him. If you play with him, you hate him a little less.”1 Pierzynski was a fierce competitor with a strong desire to win. This desire at times could rub teammates the wrong way and many times would get […]

These days, a man coming from Gayville might be taunted in some circles, feted in others. There appear to be two Gayvilles in South Dakota, one an unincorporated place on the western edge of the state and the other a town in Yankton County in southeastern South Dakota. In 2010, the population was 407. In […]

Merrill Combs was a graduate of the famed Fremont High School of Los Angeles, which has sent 25 players to the major leagues. He was one of three big leaguers named Combs, including Hall of Famer Earle Combs and pitcher Pat Combs.1 Merrill Combs was an infielder who played shortstop and third base, and three […]

Charles Richard “Charlie” Maxwell, the popular outfielder of the Tigers from 1955 to 1962, often called “Paw Paw” by fans, writers, and broadcasters, was one of Detroit’s best power hitters. A lefthanded batter who averaged .264 lifetime, Charlie hit 148 home runs and batted in 532 runs in a major league career lasting from 1950 […]

Billy Horne was a Negro League second baseman and shortstop who played for several clubs in his 15-season career, from 1935 to 1949. He was a left-handed hitter, threw right-handed, stood 5-feet-5 and weighed 152 pounds. Nicknamed Little Grumbler and Aussa, Horne was regarded as a fine defender and appeared in several all-star games.1 William […]

In one sense, Julius Solters began his life in darkness and ended it in darkness as well. He was born of Hungarian immigrant parents and at a very early age worked leading mules in a coal mine near his native Pittsburgh. He ended it without ever seeing his youngest son, Stevie, who had been born […]

“He’s worth a bonus,” Cleveland Indians scout Jimmy Gruzdis told farm director Walter Arthur “Hoot” Evers.1 “He” was Tyrone Alexander Cline, a 1960 first-team All-American outfielder for the Clemson University Tigers who batted .335 in two varsity seasons, including a career-best .348 for the 1959 Atlantic Coast Conference champions. He also won five of six […]

“We still don’t really know how Epy Guerrero signed this boy. It was a secret mission. All we know is that Epy Guerrero was here, and then he was gone.”  (Juan Navarro, sports editor of La Prensa, in reference to the signing of Bryan Alyea out of Nicaragua). Many could tell similar stories of Epy […]

Pearce Nuget Chiles was a ne’er-do-well, a scoundrel. A decent enough ballplayer, but a scoundrel. In two partial seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies (1899-1900), he was a late-inning pinch hitter whose lifetime at-bats to runs-batted-in ratio rivals that of Joe DiMaggio (22.04 to Joe’s 22.53) and a thoroughly disruptive baserunning coach, known for his devilishly […]

“I know I’ve been a chump for a long time,” said Frank Grube on the verge of making the St. Louis Browns in April 1941, “and I know I’ve got some good baseball left in me. You don’t know how tough it is,” Grube continued, looking back on the past four years he had spent […]

Three-time All-Star and 1959 Rookie of the Year Bob Allison was a feared slugger, an aggressive, daring baserunner, a versatile outfielder and first baseman with a powerful arm, and, above all, a competitive team player. He played his entire 13-year career (1958-1970) with the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins, helping transform a moribund franchise into a consistent […]