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Rinky-dink in a most charming way, Jarry Park — or Parc Jarry to Quebec’s French-speaking population — was home to the Montreal Expos from 1969 through 1976. The little ballpark seated just 28,456, and that was only after additions pumped it up from its amateur capacity of 3,000. Since the era of wooden stadiums ended, […]

The Minneapolis Millers had a number of locales to hang their hats during their nearly 80 years of professional baseball, but the ballpark most closely associated with the team was the one described by former Minneapolis Tribune writer Dave Mona as “soggy, foul, rotten and thoroughly wonderful Nicollet Park.” In 1896, Nicollet Park replaced a […]

South Side Park, later known as Schorling Park, located on 39th Street between Princeton and Wentworth Streets, hosted its first game on April 21, 1900. (THE INTER-OCEAN, APRIL 8, 1900)   The ballpark on 39th Street in Chicago between Princeton and Wentworth Streets had as many names as any ballpark in the era before corporate […]

On the evening of June 20, 1931, in Jamestown, North Dakota, an estimated crowd of 1,800 came out to the ballpark to see something old and something new. The “old” was Grover Cleveland “Old Pete” Alexander, the winner of 373 major-league games, who would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938. […]

Over four seasons with a Chicago Cubs club that finished no better than fourth and was once dead last, Tony Kaufmann was a reliable starter and occasional reliever. During that stretch, 1923-1926, the righthander had a 52-41 record with a 3.68 ERA. But it was a turbulent 1927 season that shaped the rest of his […]

Wilbur Wehde was born on November 23, 1906, in the hamlet of Holstein, Iowa. The town, roughly 45 miles east of Sioux City, was at the time home to fewer than 1,000 residents, mostly first- or second-generation German immigrants. Wehde’s father, Gustave, managed a creamery and brokered other farmers’ produce, while his mother, Frieda, managed […]

According to his obituary in 1891, Bill Crowley was “at one time, one of the best ball players that donned a uniform.”1 A 5-foot-7, 159-pound right-handed outfielder, Crowley often played bigger than his size, and was considered one of the heaviest and hardest hitters of his time.2 Crowley was known primarily for his defensive prowess, […]

On baseball’s biggest stage, Chicago Cubs right-hander Claude Passeau tossed the game of his life: a one-hit shutout against the Detroit Tigers in Game Three of the 1945 World Series. Though often overlooked in discussions about the best pitchers of his era, Passeau was a durable workhorse and five-time All-Star who averaged 15 wins and […]

There may have been no one more surprised to find Chick Fullis playing for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game Seven of the 1934 World Series than Fullis himself. In his only start in the World Series (in Game Five), Fullis had misplayed two balls in center field that directly led to two runs in […]

It takes a special kind of talent for a pitcher to lose 20 games in a season. The pitcher has to pitch both poorly enough to lose, but well enough that he keeps getting chances to pitch. If losing 20 games takes talent, how much more talent does it take to lose 48 games in […]

The adage “You can’t win for losing” fits the 1962 New York Mets. That team lost 120 games, the most in one season in major league history — many close and winnable. Yet the performance of one pitcher on that team, Ken MacKenzie, deserves recognition. The Canadian-born, Yale-educated, control-oriented, bespectacled lefty reliever emerged as the […]

Tom Bruno pitched in parts of four major-league seasons from 1976 through 1979. A 6-foot-5 righty, Bruno mainly worked in relief, compiling a 7-7 record and a 4.22 ERA over 69 games. He signed with the Kansas City Royals in 1971 and attended that club’s pioneering Baseball Academy. After reaching the majors with the Royals […]

Billy Barnie touched all aspects of baseball before his untimely death in 1900 at age 49. This includes player trades, player contracts, home and away uniforms, three strikes and out, modern schedule making, five-pointed home plates, all-star teams, coaching boxes, overhand pitching, ballpark construction, championship rings, and daily game promotion. Barnie held every conceivable baseball […]

“If Shipke only becomes a hitter! His work at third [base] yesterday was classy from start to finish. He had several of the closest kinds of plays on pick-ups and other varieties of slow rollers, but he had the knack of grabbing them while at full speed … and getting them toward first without any […]

In one of the Bill James books, contributor Jim Baker has some fun at the expense of an obscure late-19th-century pitcher named Carlton Molesworth. Combing his faintly humorous name with historically dubious statistical entries that list Molesworth as 5-feet-6 and 200 pounds, Baker presents a vignette that casts Molesworth as the portly butler of a […]

Bob Turley was a rich businessman who once won a Cy Young Award pitching for the Yankees. “Bullet Bob” was one of the hardest-throwing pitchers of the 1950s and one of the wildest of any generation. Turley’s business success far surpassed his baseball accomplishments. His top baseball salary was $35,000, but he earned millions in […]

Although he helped the Cincinnati Reds win a National League pennant, Lee Grissom is remembered (if at all) for things unrelated to his exploits on the mound. Baseball fans remember him vaguely as the brother of Marv Grissom. Newspaper readers of a certain age may remember a photograph of two ballplayers in a rowboat. Comic […]

Of all those who proudly wore the uniform of the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League, Monte Irvin was one of the last surviving players. He went on to a Hall of Fame career as a pioneering African American player in the major leagues. Montford Merrill Irvin was born in Haleburg, Alabama, on February […]

Three days before the start of the 1990 season, Omar Vizquel, the Seattle Mariners’ slick-fielding shortstop, sprained his left knee during a collision in a Cactus League exhibition. The injury sidelined him until July. That same day, April 6, the Mariners signed utility infielder Mike Brumley to fill the void. Before the signing, Brumley had […]

Entering the last day of the 1939 season New York Yankees’ righty Steve Sundra owned an unblemished 11-0 record, but a September 30 home run from Boston Red Sox rookie Ted Williams spoiled that. From 1900-60 Sundra’s .917 winning percentage ranked fifth among pitchers with 10 or more decisions in a single season. Combined with […]

“This guy is a natural. He’s got ideas about what he wants to do and does it. He amazes me.” — Carl Hubbell “No pitcher has made such magnificent use of his God-given equipment.” — Branch Rickey “If you placed all the pitchers in the history of the game behind a transparent curtain, where only […]

One lone ballplayer from the U.S. Virgin Islands played in the Negro Leagues: Alphonso “Piggy” Gerard, who did so in 1945-48. Thus, when the Negro Leagues were officially recognized as major leagues in December 2020, Gerard’s honor as a pioneer was amplified. The outfielder also played during 14 seasons in Puerto Rico, where a very […]

In the spring of 1945, a crane operator for U. S. Steel went shopping. Frank “Red” Haller had worked in the steel mills in Joliet, Illinois, as did his father before him, but he wanted a better life for his sons. List in hand, he elected to purchase baseball equipment at Barrett’s Hardware Store, so […]

Burgess Urquhart Whitehead was a solid contributor to the success of the Gas House Gang in 1934, appearing in 100 games while spelling Leo Durocher at shortstop, Pepper Martin at third base, and Frankie Frisch at second. In his first full year in the big leagues, Whitehead had 332 official at-bats and hit a solid […]