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After languishing with the Pittsburgh Pirates from his major-league debut in September 1984 through the 1987 season, Mike Bielecki was traded to the Chicago Cubs in March 1988.1 In 19 games that season, including five starts, he was 2-2 with a 3.35 ERA. In 1989 the 6-foot-3 right-hander appeared in a career-high 33 games, all […]

The 1891 Cincinnati Reds looked to improve on their 77-55 record and fourth-place National League finish of 1890, but an early-season slump seemed to sap the life out of the team. By June 27 the Reds were last in the eight-team NL, 12 games behind the front-running New York Giants and Chicago Colts. It was […]

In the top of the eighth inning of a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Brooklyn Dodgers at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City1 on April 22, 1957, with his team behind by two runs and runners at second and third with one out, Phillies manager Mayo Smith sent out John Irvin Kennedy to run for […]

On August 27, 1957, in a game of little interest and with no bearing on the pennant race, the Chicago Cubs visited Ebbets Field and beat the home standing Brooklyn Dodgers in a night game, 9-4. The game was not as close as the final score would seem to indicate. By the top of the […]

“Only twice in my life has my spine actually tingled. Once was when I saw the Sistine Chapel. The other was when I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball.” — Al Campanis scouting Koufax1   You’re a 19-year-old pitcher, injured and sitting on the bench for more than two months before your major-league debut, a […]

San Francisco Giants first baseman Will Clark had compiled his best season to date when the Giants won the 1989 National League West Division. In only his fourth major-league season, Clark and teammate Kevin Mitchell formed a formidable offensive threat that was being compared to some of the best Giants slugging duos of all time.1 […]

Nearly a quarter of a century had passed since the New York Yankees had appeared in three straight World Series, a feat last accomplished by the 1976-1978 teams. The veteran 2000 squad (which nearly blew a big American League East lead in the last week of the regular season) matched this record thanks to a […]

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 […]

“The only thing wrong with Spooner, Is that he didn’t come along Sooner!”1 – A Brooklyn sportswriter   By any measure, 1954 was a big disappointment for the Brooklyn Dodgers, winners of the National League pennant in the two preceding seasons. The Dodgers still had never won a World Series title, losing five times to […]

“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 name Don Bessent sparks the memories of Brooklyn Dodgers fans of a certain age for helping his slumping team revive during the 1955 pennant race. But, for most fans, he’s a candle that burned brightly, but quickly. Fred Donald Bessent was born on March 13, 1931, in Jacksonville, Florida, the eighth and last child […]

Joel Hanrahan excelled as a closer with the Pittsburgh Pirates in a playing career ended by two Tommy John surgeries. In 2011 and 2012, he compiled the best two-year saves total in Pirates history with 76. From the spring of 2011 to the 2012 All-Star Game, he allowed just 23 earned runs in 102 2/3 […]

Right-hander Joel Finch had an excellent minor-league career, building toward a major-league debut the year after the Red Sox were eliminated by the New York Yankees in the 1978 single-game playoff that closed Boston’s season that year. During the 15 games in which he worked in the majors — all for the Red Sox and […]

Saves became an official major-league statistic in 1969. By the mid-1970s, closers had become firmly entrenched on big-league rosters. Pitchers such as Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, Sparky Lyle, and Rich “Goose” Gossage were helping to define the role, often pitching multiple innings at the end of games. In 1976, the antacid maker Rolaids, whose motto […]

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 […]

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 […]

Right-handed pitcher Steve Arlin always knew there was more than baseball. After leading the Ohio State University to two consecutive berths in the College World Series and a national title in 1966, he brokered an unusual professional baseball contract that permitted him to pursue a degree in dentistry in the spring and early summer. Dr. […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]