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Silas Kenneth Johnson, who pitched for four National League teams over 17 seasons, was born in Danway, in north-central Illinois, on October 5, 1906, the second of four sons of Norwegian-Americans Nels and Tillie Johnson. The family soon moved to the nearby town of Marseilles, where they operated a 460-acre farm. Nels had been a […]

When it came to baseball, left-handed outfielder Charlie Eden was born a century too soon. An able batsman but atrocious in the field, Eden might well have had an extended major league career as a designated hitter if his playing days had begun in the 1970s. As it was, his offensive prowess—plus some pitching—ability afforded […]

He enjoyed a 15-year career in the major leagues and today is well into his sixth decade working in baseball, but Jesús Alou is destined to be remembered as the third brother in an extraordinary baseball family. He might have accomplished less as a player than his two All-Star siblings, but those comparisons are unfair. […]

“Blackstone is more worthy of permanent emulation than Mathewson, et al.”1 — Chattanooga Daily Times discussing Howell’s decision to leave baseball for law, December 12, 1915 A Louisiana State University Hall of Famer (although not for baseball), transported directly from the college campus to the major leagues; a three-game pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals […]

It is the rare man whose co-ownership of the New York Yankees would go unmentioned in his obituary. Yet such was the case for Bill Devery.1 Largely a silent partner in the club from its founding in 1903 until its sale a dozen years later, Devery had a negligible effect on franchise history, having left […]

Two rookies made their major league debuts for the Providence Grays at St. Louis’s Union Grounds on September 18, 1885. One of them, 19-year-old third baseman Denny Lyons, went on to compile a .310 batting average in 1,121 games over 13 seasons. The other, a 27-year-old southpaw named John Foley, pitched a complete game that […]

A late-season addition by the Detroit Tigers in 1905, right-hander George Disch posted a 2.64 ERA in eight games. Initial reports were positive, and a bright future was predicted. However, he could not crack a Tiger rotation of George Mullin, Ed Killian, Bill Donovan, and Frank Kitson (116 complete games in 137 starts in 1905) […]

Remembered in Detroit as the pitcher who won both games of a doubleheader to effectively clinch the 1909 pennant, Ed Killian was also one of the stingiest pitchers in baseball history when it came to the home run. In his entire big league career, the left-hander surrendered just nine homers, and he once went nearly […]

On July 7, 1910, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the hometown New Bedford Whalers squared off against the Lowell Tigers in a Class B New England League game. On the mound for the Whalers was 20-year-old Tommy Griffith who, in his second professional season, was on his way to winning 19 games for the pennant-winning New […]

It is a sports cliché that records are made to be broken. But in baseball, changing times and modern playing strategies seem to have put certain major-league bests permanently out of reach. The holders of unapproachable all-time records include immortals like Cy Young, Cal Ripken, Nolan Ryan, Zip Zabel, … Zip Zabel? Indeed, just as […]

Selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the second round of the 1983 MLB amateur draft, Bob Milacki garnered little attention with a pedestrian record of 16-21, 3.79 in his first 290 innings in the minor leagues. “I’d been in the organization [three] years and never impressed anybody,” the right-hander later acknowledged.1 In 1988, as the […]

On August 31, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower traveled approximately two miles from the White House to Griffith Stadium take in an afternoon of baseball featuring the Washington Senators and New York Yankees, whose star, Mickey Mantle, was in pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home-run record. Mantle walloped his 47th round-tripper in the Yankees’ 6-4 victory, […]

On an August night at Candlestick Park in 1972, Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Nelson Briles missed perfection by inches – and escaped with a win by an equally slim margin. Two innings after Ken Henderson’s line drive eluded first baseman Willie Stargell for the San Francisco Giants’ only hit and baserunner of the game, substitute left […]

On the afternoon of June 10, 1944, just 3,510 individuals came out to Crosley Field for a contest between the Cincinnati Reds and the league-leading St. Louis Cardinals, who were working toward a third straight pennant. Cincinnati was tied for second place, percentage points behind the Pittsburgh Pirates and 3½ games behind St. Louis. The […]

Baseball takes on an extended mythology when accompanied by a subplot of conflict, whether national, local, or personal. The game parallels our image of the human experience, of the randomness of life no matter how much we try to control or improve it. Perhaps this is due to its democratic nature, each player getting a […]

The New York Mets were 4-4 nine days into the 1977 season. All of those wins had come from two of their starters, Tom Seaver and Nino Espinosa. The Chicago Cubs had arrived in town two days earlier, beating the Mets in the first game of their three-game series at Shea Stadium on April 15. […]

There died a myriad of them, And of the best, among them, For an old bitch gone in the teeth, For a botched civilization, … — Ezra Pound, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920)   Friday, May 9, 1919. The Armistice ending the Great War was nearing its six-month anniversary. The Spanish influenza pandemic hadn’t loosened its […]

When Game One of the 1972 American League Championship Series between the Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers went into extra innings, A’s rookie Gonzalo Márquez turned to teammate Dagoberto “Bert” Campaneris and made a bold prediction. “If I get to pinch-hit,” Márquez said in Spanish, “I’ll win the game.”1 Márquez got his chance in the […]

The first half of the 2007 season was an indicator that two eras were on the wane for the Houston Astros. The team itself was 32-46 and 14 games out of first place after a June 27 game against Milwaukee, which was a departure from the competitive squads that had finished either in first or […]

The Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants began a three-game series at Ebbets Field on the evening of Friday, April 22, 1955. The Dodgers started the season winning their first 10 games while the Giants, winners of the 1954 World Series by sweeping the Cleveland Indians, had lost five of their first seven. The […]

“What a happy world this would be if every one was accomplished as George Herman Ruth.” – Copeland C. Burg, September 29, 19301   On September 20, 1919, at Boston’s Fenway Park, Babe Ruth started on the mound for the Red Sox in the first game of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox. Staked […]

In The Science of Hitting, Ted Williams wrote, “I had a higher percentage of game-winning home runs than Babe Ruth.”1 Research shows that Ted Williams had 110 game-deciding home runs, among the 521 he hit (21.11 percent). Ruth hit 126 game-winners of his own total of 714 (17.65 percent). A “game-winning home run” is defined […]

The Setting The baseball world has been captivated this summer by a home run chase, pitting New York hero Mickey Mantle and last year’s MVP Roger Maris against each other, as well as against a legendary ghost, Mr. George Herman (Babe) Ruth. But, as Arthur Daley pointed out in this morning’s New York Times, “Winning […]

On July 9, 1930, the New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Athletics by a 12-6 score at Yankee Stadium. The loss dropped the reigning World Series champions into second place in the American League. Connie Mack’s club trailed the Washington Senators by a scant half-game. The Mackmen won their next eight games, from July 10 […]