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He was one of baseball’s freer spirits, whose flakiness could drive management crazy. But Bernie Carbo’s biggest legacy is hitting one of the all-time clutch home runs in World Series history, setting the stage for Carlton Fisk’s more memorable blast that ended Game Six of the 1975 World Series. Bernardo Carbo was born on August […]
Left-hander Vic Johnson could feel good about his 1945 season pitching for the Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately, the one season was bracketed by two others that had to be disappointing. He was 6-4 with a 4.01 earned run average in 1945, appearing in 26 games and facing 384 batters, for a Red Sox team that […]
Over the history of baseball, there have been myriad players who have been, deservedly or undeservedly, tagged with the moniker of “goat.” These competitors have been involved in circumstances that changed outcomes at critical instances in momentous games. Two of the most famous such persons, Ralph Branca and Bill Buckner, have direct ties to the […]
Every great city has its own great bar. Elizabethan London had the Mermaid Tavern. Paris has its Deux Magots. In New York City in the 1950s, there was no shortage of options, but for sports fans there was only one choice: Toots Shor’s. Initially located at 51 East 51st Street, across the street from Radio […]
A lifetime of baseball as a major league catcher, minor league manager, and major league coach would usually be thought of as a happy life; it was that for Larry Cox, but he unfortunately passed away at the age of 42 before he could complete his baseball journey. Larry Eugene Cox was born on September […]
Rollie Sheldon’s introduction to big-league baseball came with the 1961 New York Yankees. With a record of 109-53, that team ranks as one of the winningest in the franchise’s history.1 Sheldon’s record in his rookie year was 11-5, topped among the starters by Whitey Ford (25-4) and Ralph Terry (16-3). Though he was 24 at […]
“Taking hits away from people,” said Dwayne Murphy, “is the part of the game I love most. I know what my reaction is when it happens to me. It’s demoralizing. Once, during batting practice, a player on another team . . . came up to me mad as hell. He told me I had no […]
Doug Griffin’s professional baseball career comprised 13 years, beginning at Idaho Falls in 1965 and finishing with the Boston Red Sox in 1977. He spent eight seasons in the major leagues, seven of them with the Red Sox, and appeared briefly in the 1975 World Series. Douglas Lee Griffin was born on June 4, 1947 […]
Dwight Smith entered the major leagues with a bang, thanks to a dynamic rookie season that included clutch hits, a playoff appearance, Rookie of the Year votes, and even a chance to sing the National Anthem. He never matched the success of that first season, but Smith still had a respectable eight-year career in the […]
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 […]
Curt Gowdy was the Cowboy behind the mike. Ned Martin quoted Ted Williams and Eudora Welty. Ken Coleman meant the Jimmy Fund. Bob Starr had a gentle lummox William Bendix kind of charm. In evaluating the Red Sox during the mid-to late 20th century, all helped baseball bewitch. Ken Harrelson was the Red Sox’ Southern-fried […]
Dick Pole was a 6-foot-3, 200-pound right-handed pitcher who broke in with the Red Sox in 1973. Born on October 13, 1950, in Trout Creek in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, one of the few Yoopers who worked a major-league mound. Richard Henry Pole was signed as a free agent by the Boston Red Sox in 1969. […]
Willie Mays batted .309 lifetime against the Dodgers and hit 98 home runs. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library) What was wrong with Willie Mays? Sure, the Say Hey Kid was batting .372 through May 7, but he had just one home run in his first 22 games as a San Francisco Giant. According to […]
With the designated hitter in place in both leagues starting in the 2022 season, no pitcher will be able to match what Mel Stottlemyre did in 1964. As the New York Yankees won their 11th game in a row and closed in on a fifth straight pennant, their rookie sensation had five hits in five […]
“Another dazzler,” raved Los Angeles Dodgers beat writer Frank Finch about Sandy Koufax’s six-hit shutout of the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 27, 1959, Koufax’s first whitewashing in almost four seasons.1 “He can beat any team and strike out anyone,” declared Dodgers pitching coach Joe Becker about his young emerging ace whose midseason transformation was as […]
The Brooklyn Dodgers’ relocation to Los Angeles was not yet official on September 22, 1957, but the writing was on the wall. A week earlier, the Los Angeles City Council had voted to make 300 acres in Chavez Ravine available to Dodgers President Walter O’Malley for construction of a privately funded ballpark. The Los Angeles […]
Billy Williams was on fire, the 30-year-old hammering the ball out of the park and providing one of the few reasons to make time to see the Chicago Cubs as the 1968 season wound down. The Cubs entered the game on September 10 in fourth place, decidedly mediocre at 75-71, a half-game behind Cincinnati and […]
Shane Rawley for the Yankees and Bud Black for the Royals were the starting pitchers as the Royals and Yankees faced off before a Sunday crowd of 33,944 in the 12th and last game of their season series. The Yankees led the series six games to five. This was the fourth game of their series; […]
As the Houston Astros entered their final game before the 2017 All-Star break, they were setting new franchise records and dominating the American League for the first time since they joined the junior circuit in 2013. Their 59-29 record put them 15½ games up on the Texas Rangers in the AL West and had them […]
Rookie superstar Fred Lynn stole second base in the ninth inning to score the game’s only run and then made a phenomenal catch of a Graig Nettles gap shot in the bottom of the frame to preserve Bill Lee’s six-hit shutout of the fading Yankees in the opener of a doubleheader in Queens. The loss, […]
With rain falling and the clock approaching 1:00 A.M., Yankees coach Don Zimmer wasn’t even sure of the situation any more. He turned to Roger Clemens on the bench and asked, “If Giambi hits it out, do we win?”1 Such was the setting on a soggy Friday night-cum-Saturday morning in a back-and-forth game at Yankee […]
Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds and Bud Harrelson of the New York Mets fight with each other during the 1973 National League Championship Series as Mets teammate Wayne Garrett approaches. (SABR-Rucker Archive) The Cincinnati Reds and the New York Mets arrived at Shea Stadium to play the third game of the 1973 National […]
“Expect the unexpected,” an overused yet reliable phrase that addresses the surprising possibilities accompanying any game of baseball, proved especially trustworthy on what in advance seemed an inauspicious contest. Neither team going into this late-season National League matchup in Pittsburgh on September 7, 1899, possessed much incentive, particularly the visiting Louisville Colonels, who stood 28 […]
There was much ballyhoo when, in 1962, Major League Baseball made its long-overdue move into the Deep South by awarding an expansion franchise to Houston, Texas. This was swiftly followed by a club moving to Atlanta and by two more expansion franchises in Florida. Yet in all the ballyhoo, it was largely forgotten that Major […]