Search Results

The 1999 American League Division Series shifted back to a sold-out Jacobs Field1 for a Monday night winner-take-all Game Five between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox had retreated to Fenway Park down two games to none after losing Game Two on October 7, unsure if their ace Pedro Martinez would […]

The last Saturday in August of 1963 brought an afternoon match at the Met between the Minnesota Twins and the visiting Chicago White Sox. An announced crowd of 23,415 came out to the ballpark for this, the second of a three-game series. Minnesota, at 75-58, had won three in a row and six of its […]

For much of the 20th century, Class C meant the second-lowest level of the minor leagues, until a reorganization of the financially struggling minors eliminated Classes B, C, and D from the baseball landscape after the 1962 season.1 Many communities at those levels kept their teams for 1963, so the change of classifications was more […]

In the days leading up to one of Yankee Stadium’s most surprising comebacks, it was the visitors’ ballpark that was making headlines. The previous week, the New York Yankees dropped a two-game series to the Minnesota Twins, and placed the blame on the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome’s roof. After New York fielders lost some routine […]

“For weeks on end, the once fell bludgeonings of Johnny Mize were but a ghastly whisper,” opined the St. Louis Post Dispatch about the slugger’s prolonged slump in 1938.1 After bursting on the scene as a rookie in 1936, batting .329 and knocking in 93 runs, the stout 6-foot-2 Georgian laid a legitimate claim as […]

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were in the midst of a six-game losing streak when they visited the Detroit Tigers on May 4, 2006. The Tigers were the clear favorites to win.1 But unbeknownst to both the Tigers and the 24,879 in attendance at Comerica Park, Angels manager Mike Scioscia had a secret weapon: […]

The month of August had not been kind to the Red Sox. They had lost nine of 13 games, including a walk-off loss to the Indians the night before on a Carlos Santana home run. At 63-59, they were third in the AL East, 17 games back of the Yankees. For their part, the Indians […]

They just don’t make doubleheaders like they used to do; in fact, they hardly make them anymore. Long a fixture of the national pastime, the twin bill has become a relic; forgotten, antiquated, like wool uniforms and train travel. In 2016 only 14 “doubleheaders” were played, all due to weather-related rescheduling of prior games.1 None […]

The Boston Red Sox-Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day game of April 5, 1974, was not one to remember for fans of either crisply played baseball or proper decorum. The on-field action included three runs scored on wild pitches or passed balls, subpar outings for both starting pitchers, and relief pitching that allowed six of six inherited […]

On a pleasant summer Sunday at Fenway Park, before a packed crowd of 32,358, Ted Williams “enjoyed one of his more spectacular days, contributed seven hits, scored two runs, batted in three and generally demoralized the Brownie pitching.”1 The first-place Red Sox swept a doubleheader from the sixth-place Browns, and Williams was the main reason […]

Henry Aaron’s first game-winning home run came against the Chicago Cubs. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   After finishing his opening month in the big leagues batting .333, Henry Aaron slumped to a mere .182 in the first half of May. While Aaron sat on the bench over the weekend against the Pittsburgh Pirates and in both games […]

After they were thumped 10-2 by the New York Giants on June 1, 1903, it seemed unlikely that the Pittsburgh Pirates would go on to win their third consecutive National League pennant. Since May 1, Pittsburgh hurlers had surrendered an uncharacteristic 5.2 runs per game, dropping the Pirates into third place, 4½ games behind the […]

Right-hander Tom Sturdivant pitched 10 years in the major leagues, for seven different teams over both leagues (wearing seven different uniform numbers). His first team was the New York Yankees, the team that first signed him, and he won Game Four of the 1956 World Series for them, evening the series against the Dodgers at […]

By age 17, in the summer of 1885, William Moffat “Billy” Earle was already handling the swift slants of fellow Philadelphian Charles “Tod” Brynan with the local Somersets, among the strongest amateur clubs in the East. Earle and Brynan would eventually team as battery mates with no fewer than four professional clubs, but Brynan’s arm, […]

In the spring of 1972, Wes Stock worked as pitching coach for the Milwaukee Brewers, a four-year-old team with a roster of unproven throwers in need of tutelage. A year later, he had the same job with a different employer — the world champion Oakland A’s. “Wes Stock must feel like the auto mechanic who […]

Before Pedro Martinez arrived, scout Danny Doyle could laugh that he had signed every Red Sox Cy Young winner: Jim Lonborg and Roger Clemens. In 1988, Danny Doyle was named Midwest Scout of the Year by the Scout of the Year Foundation. Danny Doyle was a catcher, called up to the major leagues right at […]

Joe Hietpas caught the last half-inning of the season’s finale for the New York Mets in 2004. That was his entire major-league experience. He never came to the plate in The Show, an oddity for a position player. “At the time, you don’t look at it as your one missed opportunity for an at-bat. It’s […]

The 1958 Philadelphia Phillies finished eighth in the National League, the first of four consecutive last-place finishes. Despite that record, the team was not devoid of achievements. Several players generated solid performances. Center fielder Richie Ashburn led the majors in batting with a .350 average. Left fielder Harry Anderson batted .301, hit 23 home runs, […]

If ever there were a battery that was bound together in life and in death, it was probably pitcher Rube Waddell and catcher Osee Schrecongost. They were both born in small communities in western Pennsylvania, on opposite sides of the Allegheny National Forest, and a little less than 100 miles from each other. They both […]

He arrived on the big-league scene like a bolt of lightning through the evening sky. Fred Lynn played in his first game on September 5, 1974, and proceeded to smash major-league pitching to the tune of a .419 batting average and a .698 slugging percentage over his first 15 games. He followed that up with […]

Pitcher Tom Metcalf came from a small town in central Wisconsin but got to fulfill the dreams of his childhood when he spent two months in America’s largest city as a member of the New York Yankees in 1963. The righty’s major-league career was limited to eight appearances on the mound that season, in which […]

In March 1956, New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel watched in “amazement” as Rod Kanehl, the club’s versatile 22-year-old prospect, “scaled the fence in a do-or-die effort to catch” a home run ball during a meaningless practice game.1 The effort left a lasting impression on Casey that when the New York Mets hired the future […]

In 1970, Tommy Harper became a member of what was once among the most exclusive “clubs” in baseball. That year, his first with the Milwaukee Brewers, he hit 31 homers and stole 38 bases, thereby joining the “30-30 Club.” At the time, the only other members of the club were Hank Aaron, Bobby Bonds, Willie […]

Babe Ruth was irreplaceable. So when the end finally came for Ruth during the first game of a doubleheader on May 30, 1935, Boston Braves manager Bill McKechnie sent in outfielder Hal Lee to replace the irreplaceable. Lee was accustomed to playing in the shadows of other stars of the 1930s, including Chuck Klein and […]