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Thunder Thornton hit the ballOver and against the wall.Cleveland copied Boston styleSmashing them a Fenway mile.1   Spring had arrived in New England, and with it Red Sox baseball sprang anew. It was early in the 1978 season and optimism was high for a return to October baseball in Boston. Just three weeks earlier, the […]

“As a diehard Yankee hater and former Yankee killer, I even helped to germinate the seeds of the feud by spreading some fertilizer of my own.” — Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Boston Red Sox pitcher, 1969-1978.1 Books have been written, blogs have been posted and newspaper accounts have captured the intensity of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, […]

The Pittsburgh Pirates suffered through a miserable 1955 season, and entered the final weekend hosting the NL-leading Brooklyn Dodgers. Back in April, Pittsburgh GM Branch Rickey was optimistic heading into the season opener, citing outfield and pitching improvements, with third base as his major concern: “This 1955 club will be the best Pittsburgh has had […]

Warren Spahn joined the elite group of 300-game winners with a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on August 11, 1961, ending the longest gap ever between 300-game winners. The Red Sox’ Lefty Grove had won his 300th game 20 years and 17 days earlier, on July 25, 1941. Fans wanted to witness what they […]

“You ought to have seen it. Mr. Young, formerly of Canton, O., now of this beautiful city of trees and pretty girls, made his debut yesterday at League Park.” — Leader and Herald, August 7, 1890   “Well boys,” murmured Adrian “Cap” Anson as he rose from his downy couch at the Hollenden Hotel in […]

As their 1954 season staggered toward its conclusion, the Philadelphia Athletics would host the New York Yankees in the home finale at Connie Mack Stadium. The game, however, was bereft of suspense for either team. For the Yankees, winners of the previous five World Series, their dethroning by the Cleveland Indians was complete. The day […]

Over the decades, residents of Washington, D.C., have turned to television station WTTG to watch Washington Redskins/Commanders football, Georgetown University Hoyas college basketball, and San Diego Padres baseball.1 This last item calls for some explanation. In May 1973 Washington supermarket tycoon Joseph Danzansky submitted a $12 million offer to buy the failing Padres.2 The baseball […]

Baseball purists long for the days when baseball games, either regular-season or the World Series, were played under afternoon skies. Before the lure of television money and advertising dollars, baseball was an afternoon game. One with its one pace, no time clock, and moving with the ease of the summer breeze. But owners saw the […]

With all due respect to the vernal equinox, nothing says “spring is in the air” like Opening Day of the baseball season, and Chicago’s Wrigley Field is a magnet for the annual ritual. The classic ballyard, nestled in a neighborhood on the north side of the city, rises invitingly above the intersection of Clark and Addison Streets. […]

A two-outcome (walk or strikeout) pitcher in his first major-league start in the twilight game of a doubleheader, Brooklyn’s Sandy Koufax pitched four shutout innings against Pittsburgh before walking in a run in the fifth and leaving the game. The Pirates gained a split by roughing up reliever Ed Roebuck to beat the Dodgers 4-1 […]

As people awoke on Wednesday, September 20, 1961, and settled down for their morning coffee, some saw a front-page headline much like the one in the New York Daily News: “Esther Due Thursday.”1 But the baseball fans on the West Coast had been dealing with their own “hurricane” since the start of the 1961 season. […]

Much of the off-field enjoyment of baseball is connected to the contemplation of its many and varied statistics. Literally everything that occurs on the baseball field during a game can be counted; the batters’ credits and the pitchers’ debits accumulate. The result is a mountain of statistical data for players and fans alike to ponder, […]

In football they talk about “statement” games, when Team A thrashes Team B, thus sending a message to the opponent and the world that Team A is damn good and don’t you forget it. There are too many games in a baseball season to pinpoint one match as a “statement” game. But the Montreal Expos […]

It was cloudy, misty, and a cold 43 degrees in Pittsburgh on this April Sunday.1 The Cubs and Pirates were concluding their four-game series, with the Pirates having taken two of the previous three games. The Pirates were the defending NL East champions, with the Cubs one of the favorites to win the division in […]

James Arthur Willoughby was a right-handed pitcher perhaps best known for his contributions to the 1975 Boston Red Sox (including being pinch-hit for in Game Seven of the World Series). Willoughby also pitched for the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago White Sox. “Willow,” as he was often called, was born in Salinas, California, on […]

Rubén Gómez was the second pitcher from Puerto Rico to reach the majors — and the first to start and win a World Series Game. He led the New York Giants to a 6-2 win in Game Three at Cleveland on October 1, 1954. A limber 6 feet even and 170-175 pounds, Gómez was amazingly […]

Throughout his 12-year professional playing career, Walter John Hriniak (pronounced RIN-ee-ack) brought Gas House Gang-style intensity to the game. Typically wearing the filthiest uniform, he was dubbed “The Rat” for his tendency to “grovel around the dirt and grime and do anything to win a ballgame. ‘I don’t have the God-given ability of others, so […]

Julio Valdéz, a Dominican infielder, played parts of four seasons with the Boston Red Sox in the early 1980s. As a utilityman who’d played only 65 major-league games, Valdéz made newspaper headlines in the spring of 1983 as the subject of a rape allegation. Although a grand jury refused to indict him, Valdéz never got […]

Harsh sunshine beat down on the Los Angeles Coliseum floor. Two men, drenched in sweat, practiced baseball drills while local temperatures soared past 100 degrees in the spring of 1960. Maury Wills, an eager Dodger infielder, and Pete Reiser, an enthusiastic LA coach, worked together for nearly two weeks. “You can’t quit,” Reiser said over […]

Fred Claire wasn’t a politician. However, like many politicians, the erstwhile executive vice president of the Los Angeles Dodgers said one thing when he was talking about Pedro Martínez in 1992, ended up doing the opposite, and regretted his action. “I won’t trade Pedro Martínez, I don’t care who they offer,” said Claire.1 Well, he […]

If Calvin Schiraldi had never been called upon to pitch in the sixth game of the 1986 World Series, we might think of his career in baseball as a story of encountering and overcoming adversity — a series of comebacks. But Red Sox manager John McNamara did call Schiraldi in from the bullpen in the […]

Infielder Larry Wolfe spent two full seasons in the major leagues, 1978 with the Minnesota Twins and 1979 with the Boston Red Sox, and a partial season for each team, too. He attracted enough interest in high school and college that he had been drafted by both the Dodgers (in 1971) and the Yankees (in […]

Developing a passion for umpiring began at a young age for Dave Phillips, and baseball was simply in his family’s DNA. His parents met on a St. Louis baseball field in the 1930s while his mother, Helen Creamer, was playing softball and his father, Bob Phillips, was umpiring her games. Their son grew up to […]

  The history of Maple City Park in Hornell, New York, spans everyone from Babe Ruth and Maury Wills to minor-leaguers with a single season’s statistical line. There’s a hefty portion of Brooklyn Dodgers nostalgia mixed into the story, as well as memories of the long-ago days when everyday people could pool their cash donations […]