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Lou Finney was a tough man to strike out. A fast, feisty left-handed hitter with line-drive power, Finney made contact often enough and was versatile enough in the field to play an important role first for Connie Mack’s Depression-era Philadelphia Athletics and later for Joe Cronin’s World War II-era Boston Red Sox. A scrappy, curly-haired Alabaman […]

When the Houston Astros signed Andújar Cedeño out of the Dominican Republic in 1986, their manager, Hal Lanier, said what many were thinking: “He’s got a lot to live up to.”1 After all, Dominicans Joaquín Andújar and César Cedeño (no relation) had each been big-league standouts. Although Andújar Cedeño never became an All-Star like his […]

Paul Hardy was a defensive-minded catcher who played in the Negro leagues for nearly three decades, from 1931 to 1959. He stood 5-feet-10 and weighed just 162 pounds — a slight build for a backstop — but he developed a reputation for durability and regularly caught both ends of doubleheaders during his career. Nicknamed “Piccolo,” […]

When Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey died in 1976, he left his entire baseball empire in the care of his wife Jean. At first it appeared that she had no interest in taking his place. However, circumstances arising from internal jockeying by others to take over the ballclub led to her emergence as one […]

In four seasons, right-hander Al Schroll pitched for four major-league ball clubs – the Red Sox and Twins in the American League and the Phillies and Cubs in the National League. He won a total of six games and lost nine. Schroll was lucky to be alive, not to mention making the major leagues; a […]

Major league baseball’s biggest contribution to the nation’s bicentennial celebration in 1976 could be summarized in two words: “The Bird.” Mark Fidrych exploded on the baseball world as an unheralded 21-year-old rookie pitcher. He revealed his talent in each of his 19 victories for the Detroit Tigers, his quirkiness in his public conversations with both […]

John Wright was the “owner of a blazing fast ball and a sharp-breaking curve and plenty of control”1 and his sinker brought “despair (to) opposing batsmen.”2 To many who saw him, “He dominated batters.”3 Wright will forever be linked in history with Jackie Robinson as the first two players to break the color line in […]

A turn-of-the-century minor-league standout, Joe Bean was among those auditioned at shortstop by the pre-McGraw New York Giants. Sadly, Bean failed to impress, his hitting and fielding being deemed below big-league caliber. After appearing in 50 games, Bean was released by New York in late June of 1902. Thus came to its close the brief […]

During a playing career that spanned a remarkable six decades, Jim O’Rourke did much to advance baseball as our national pastime. A key member of championship teams in both the National Association and the National League, O’Rourke was a versatile performer in the field and a reliable .300 hitter at the plate. Thereafter, as his […]

With a lineup featuring Nap Lajoie and Shoeless Joe Jackson, the Cleveland Naps were expected to contend for the 1912 American League pennant. The club, however, proved a disappointment. By early September, a 54-71-2 (.432) record placed the Naps closer to the AL bottom than the top, and cost first-year manager Harry Davis his job. […]

One of the best-hitting catchers in minor-league history, Everett “Yam” Yaryan batted .357 and slugged 41 home runs in 1920 for Wichita, Kansas, in the Western League. Only Perry Werden and Ernie Calbert had previously hit more homers in one minor-league season, and neither was a catcher.1 Yaryan’s banner year was his springboard to the […]

At one time there was probably no figure more popular in the American League than the outspoken but amicable George Stovall, a gifted first baseman and team leader who would later go on to a stormy managerial career culminating in a prominent role in the establishment of the upstart Federal League. F.C. Lane of Baseball […]

Signed by the Minnesota Twins in 1961, left-hander Jim Roland debuted as a 19-year-old in a September call-up the following season and tossed a three-hit shutout in his first big-league start, in 1963. “[He] has a blazing fast ball and is effectively wild,” wrote Twins beat reporter Arno Goethel.1 Battling injuries and control issues throughout […]

Right-handed pitcher Henry Ward “Hank” Johnson started his professional baseball career close to home with back-to-back seasons for the Bradenton Growers in the Class-C Florida State League in 1923 and 1924. , Johnson was 2-0 his first season and 10-8 in 1924. Johnson was born in Bradenton on May 21, 1906, the fifth child among […]

“I’m nobody’s caddy. I should be playing somewhere,” Larry Biittner insisted. “I don’t want to be stereotyped. … Once you get the label you can’t play every day, it sticks. I’ve seen too many careers ruined that way, and I don’t want it to happen to mine.”1 These frustrations were expressed in 1979 as the […]

More than once, Aaron Rowand’s style of play has been described as hard-nosed. The world saw why on May 11, 2006. Rowand was in his first season with the Philadelphia Phillies after five years with the Chicago White Sox, and his team was hosting the New York Mets, who had loaded the bases with two […]

Although he pitched in only 58 major-league games in his tragically brief career, Mark Fidrych made an enduring impression on the history and culture of professional baseball. Fidrych had one stellar season, in 1976.That season, he first made an impression on baseball fans with his pitching prowess when he came out of nowhere to become […]

While a catcher for the Seton Hall University Pirates in 1987, Craig Biggio and two teammates – future MLB slugger Mo Vaughn and 1987 NCAA batting leader Marteese Robinson – were dubbed “The Hit Men.” After a brief time in the minor leagues through the first half of 1988, Biggio spent the next 20 years […]

Jack (John Besson) Taylor, “Brewery Jack,” was a star pitcher in the National League during the last decade of the nineteenth century. Taylor made his major league debut, appearing in one game in 1891 with the New York Giants, pitching for Jim Mutrie‘s team on September 16th. He pitched his final game on September 12, […]

A seven-game major-league career rarely affords a player much chance to leave a lasting impression on the game. Still, the imprint left by turn-of-the-century left-hander Warren McLaughlin is fainter than that of most marginal big leaguers. The availability of box scores from the era permits baseball reference works to construct a statistical line for McLaughlin, […]

Where the nickname Tony came from is unclear, other than a likely play on his last name. In all the research done for this biography, the nickname never came up once. When any nickname was employed, he was universally called Charley. We’ll call him Charles Tonneman here. He was a right-handed catcher. He had a […]

“What other player is there who bats like [Carl] East, fields like East, throws like East from right field and then can pitch the kind of a game that Carl did yesterday?” — Wichita Beacon, July 6, 19211   Carl East was a pitcher and an outfielder in the minor leagues. Like Babe Ruth, he […]

Located about 15 miles west across the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan, Bloomfield is an older, mostly blue-collar New Jersey town with a rich athletic tradition. To continue this heritage, the municipality maintains more than a dozen greenswards suitable for the play of outdoor sports. One of these is Felton Field, a small, tidy playground […]

There was no reason to expect St. Louis Cardinals catcher Glenn Brummer to play a significant role in the team’s Sunday afternoon game against the San Francisco Giants on August 22, 1982. Though manager Whitey Herzog called Brummer “the best third-string catcher I’ve ever seen,”1 that was more a reference to his willingness to work […]