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The story of Jack Lohrke is the type of tale that would be rejected by Hollywood producers and major publishers if you were to make it up. The odds are too long, the events too improbable, the luck a little too good. The fact that a man born in the 1920s lived to be 85 […]

The dreaded trip to the woodshed altered many a young life; however, in the case of a young Washington, D.C., native, the effort was futile. Luzerne Atwell Blue was born on March 5, 1897, in the District of Columbia. Lu always claimed he was the youngest of seven sons; however, a look at the 1900 […]

Wilbur Good was a Deadball Era pitcher (5 games) and outfielder who posted pedestrian statistics (.258/.322/.342) in 749 games for six major league clubs. He left the majors as that era ended and became a feared hitter in the minors where he posted a career .335 average while playing into the 1930s. When his playing […]

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, […]

“He’s got that slow, easy delivery, and then – poof! – it’s on you. It’s very tough to hit. Very tough.” – Dave Winfield1 Winfield was far from the only hitter who found Tom Henke’s lively fastball problematic. Henke, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound right-hander, was one of the most dominant closers of his era. He debuted […]

The careers of Jerry Stephenson and his father Joe embrace over 100 years of major-league experience. Jerry broke into the big leagues in 1963 and has been involved with the game ever since. Joe broke in with the New York Giants during World War II and scouted for the Red Sox from 1948 until nearly […]

When it comes to two-way players, Babe Ruth was the archetype. Martín Dihigo, Bullet Joe Rogan, and Leon Day became Hall of Famers. Another Negro Leaguer, Ted Radcliffe, was renowned as “Double Duty.” In recent years, Shohei Ohtani has also attracted widespread attention. A lesser-known example of the breed is Joe Pactwa. The lefty reached […]

It’s an old story. A player comes on the scene, dazzles in his rookie year, and is gone seemingly as fast as he came. Then there’s Jimmie Hall. Hall burst on the scene with a bang with the Minnesota Twins in 1963. Actually, he had 33 of them, which broke Ted Williams’s AL record for […]

Shortstop Craig Robinson retired with 755 fewer career homers than his Braves teammate Hank Aaron. But only six men can say they joined Aaron in the starting lineup on the nights Hammerin’ Hank tied and broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record. Robinson is one of those special six.1 Craig George Robinson was born on […]

When Willie Royster debuted for the Baltimore Orioles in 1981, he was already 27. The catcher only saw action in four major league games, but he was fortunate to be able to see at all. Seven years earlier, he had been almost blinded in one eye by a bunt gone awry in Single-A ball. Willie […]

Among the classic baseball records, Ty Cobb’s 4,191 hits and Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs have fallen, but Cy Young’s 511 victories remain ingrained in the pantheon. And yet, many modern-day fans have shed their fascination with pitchers’ wins, understanding that the sport is a team-wide effort, rather than an individual competition. However, when a […]

A few years ago, baseball fans were amazed by the story of Jim Morris, a thirty-something father of three who arrived at a tryout camp with a baby carriage, lit up the radar gun and subsequently made his major league debut at age 35. The story was so quirkily implausible that a book deal and […]

George Caster was a “gay and delightful fellow who went laughing through the summers, doing what was asked of him as well as he could.”1 He was the ace and backbone of the Philadelphia Athletics pitching staff in 1937 and 1938 despite losing 19 and 20 games respectively in the two seasons. He tossed 513 […]

With a 1½-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals and just two games to go in the second half of the bastardized 1981 split season, the Montreal Expos needed just one more win to clinch their first postseason berth. Montreal would have to triumph on the road, but had the good fortune to face the […]

The first and only season of the Union Association was coming to a merciful conclusion. Founded in September 1883 by St. Louis millionaire Henry Lucas, the league was beset by franchise and financial instability, as well as inequitable talent distribution. Despite conflicts of interest, Lucas purchased the best available players for his team, the St. […]

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ all-time roster boasts several home-run sluggers of historical significance, including Willie Stargell (who hit 475 home runs as a Pirate), Ralph Kiner (301), Roberto Clemente (240), and Barry Bonds (176).1 The Pirates have existed continuously since 1882, when they joined the major-league American Association as the Pittsburgh Alleghenys. In 1887 the Alleghenys […]

On Monday, August 10, 2020, the New York Mets played the Washington Nationals at Citi Field. Entering the game, the Mets were 7-9, unusual given the month, but the COVID-shortened 60-game 2020 season had not begun until July 23. The Mets were a game ahead of the cellar-dwelling Nats, who were defending their 2019 World […]

Salary arbitration can drive a wedge between a player and team ownership. If the player is eligible for arbitration and the two sides are unable to agree on a salary for the coming season, each submits an amount to a panel of arbitrators and makes a case for its appropriateness. The panel then selects the […]

It would be fair to say that the Kodak World Baseball Classic … never fully developed. The tournament, played in September 1972, featured a balky five-way round-robin setup that included the champions of the three Triple-A minor leagues, Honolulu’s Triple-A team as host, and an unaffiliated team of Latino minor leaguers. All games were played […]

When a franchise endures two consecutive decades of sub-.500 seasons there are bound to be some close calls to breaking the cycle over the ignominious years (1997 and 2012, when Pittsburgh finished 79-83), and then there are seasons that are outright catastrophes (like 2001 and 2009, when they finished 62-100 and 62-99). The Pirates’ 2009 […]

The St. Louis Cardinals had been favored to win the 1934 World Series. But after dropping Game Four to the Detroit Tigers in a humbling beat-down, 10-4, the Series was tied at two games apiece and the status of the Cardinals’ de-facto leader, Dizzy Dean, was uncertain. Had momentum swung in favor of the Tigers? […]

Bucky Harris’s Washington Nationals had swept a Fourth of July 1940 doubleheader from the visiting Philadelphia Athletics. They were still in seventh place in the American League, though, as they welcomed the Boston Red Sox for a weekend series – single games on July 5 and 6, and a Sunday doubleheader on July 7. Their […]

It was early in the 1961 season; the Red Sox were 9-12 and the Senators (having played five more games) were 10-16. There was no reason to think either team was going anywhere.1 It was a Friday night in Washington and the 1961 Senators were a brand-new team, the Angels and Senators having joined the […]

“Nobody has ever called Shea Stadium a cathedral,” wrote George Vecsey of the New York Times after the last major-league baseball game was played there on September 28, 2008.1 Even so, for many it inspired love and loyalty that its handsome but dull replacement, Citi Field, could not. When New York City Mayor Robert F. […]