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The Houston Astros owned a 3½-game lead in the National League West when they hosted the Atlanta Braves on August 3, 1979. Their starting pitcher, ace J.R. Richard, took the ball with a 9-11 record. As is often the case with pitchers’ won-lost numbers, though, the sub-.500 record failed to reflect the overall strength of […]

In the 30-year period from 1957 to 1986, the Baltimore Orioles compiled the best record in the major leagues, collecting three World Series championships, six American League pennants, and eight division titles along the way. And then suddenly, after winning the 1983 World Series, the team went into a rapid decline, winning progressively fewer games […]

One of the most charismatic players of his era, Bill Monroe starred for several leading African-American professional teams from 1899 until his untimely death in 1915. In the field, he excelled at third, short, and second. At the plate, his speed and power enabled him to shine either as a lead-off man or in the […]

Despite missing two of his prime seasons while serving his country during World War II, Marlin Carter played professional baseball for nearly a quarter-century in major and minor Negro Leagues. Nicknamed “Pee Wee,” the 5-foot-7, 160-pounder threw right-handed and batted lefty. Primarily a third baseman, he also saw action at second base and shortstop, and […]

A 22-win season in his second year of professional baseball earned righthander Lou Koupal a trial with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1925. The eventual World Champions featured a starting rotation of Lee Meadows, Ray Kremer, Vic Aldridge, Johnny Morrison, and Emil Yde, so the inexperienced Koupal was unable to get consistent work. He later also […]

Even if Pete Varney had never strapped on a chest protector and shin guards for Harvard, he would have had a place in the hearts of the Crimson sports faithful forever from one momentous football game in 1968. But baseball was his game, as he gained All-American recognition and led Harvard into the 1971 College […]

Bert Blyleven’s career statistics speak for themselves: 287 victories, 4,970 innings pitched, 3,701 strikeouts, and 60 shutouts accumulated over the course of 22 seasons in the big leagues (1970-1990, 1992). However, some sportswriters questioned whether the Dutch-born right-hander, whose curveball was regarded as the era’s finest, was Hall of Fame material when he retired. In […]

“Oh, Puddin’ Head Jones was fat and funny Dumber than sticks and stones. Now that is just why the kids all called him, Wooden head, puddin’ head Jones.”   Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees sang these words in 1933. Legend has it that Willie Edward Jones’s nickname came from the song. Wherever it came […]

First on the field, then as trade fodder, Charlie Babb played a useful part in the events that catapulted the turn-of-the-century New York Giants from worst to first in National League standings. In remaking the roster of the 1902 cellar dwellers, recently-installed Giants manager John McGraw envisioned the shortstop position being manned by George Davis, […]

Jess Pike’s story isn’t one of glory, fame, or the ascent to the top of the baseball world. Pike’s story is, instead, about a persistent commitment to the game that paid off in small victories and one short stint in the spotlight. Born in a tiny Great Plains town to a large family of Native […]

“He’s one of the icons of the industry, no question.” – Dan Moushon, President of the Appalachian League (2020)1   In the early 1970s, Miles Wolff raised a concern about having a career befitting a graduate of Johns Hopkins University. That concern was unfounded. Over the course of half a century as a commissioner, executive, […]

Standing 6-feet-1 at 185 pounds with dark good looks, the young Charley Hall cut an imposing, often intimidating figure on the mound. Early in his baseball career, he combined his “swarthy” appearance with a blazing, high-voltage fast ball. Later, with diminished speed but more consistent control, he deftly packaged a wide array of pitches thrown […]

It can rarely be said that a major leaguer has more success with homers after his playing days than during them, but the careers of George Twombly provide an example. Though he lacked for homers in baseball’s Deadball Era, he later found success in raising homing and fancy pigeons and as an author and publisher […]

Henry Chadwick, the esteemed “Father of Baseball,” observed William Selden in 1889 and called him “an excellent strategic pitcher.”1 Selden was an ace of the Cuban Giants, a pioneering African-American team. Two years later, he pitched a shutout with President Benjamin Harrison looking on.2 Selden had come a long way since his days as the […]

The weather in Boston had been nothing short of miserable all week. It had arrived just in time to stifle weekend Independence Day festivities, and the heat and humidity enveloped the Hub like a blanket and sent citizens by the thousands clamoring for area beaches in search of relief. At nearby Camp Bedford, cavalry horses […]

Marvin Miller, the great labor leader of major-league baseball, shared fond memories of his youth: “One of my biggest thrills was sitting in the old left-field bleachers … at Ebbets Field in the 1920s. We’d watch the Dodgers take fielding practice. When fielding practice was over, Rube Bressler, the Dodger left fielder, would throw a […]

In an era when poetry commonly appeared in sports pages, and these pages themselves were the sole media for sports, few chronicled baseball as William F. Kirk did. Beginning in 1905, his poems, game accounts, and comic pieces graced the New York American. Satire, whimsy, and empathy characterized his work. John McGraw’s Giants and raucous […]

Joe Cambria was one of the most prolific scouts in major-league history, signing hundreds of men to professional contracts as a scout for Clark Griffith and the Washington Senators. He also inked countless others as a promoter of semipro and Negro Leagues baseball in Baltimore and minor-league teams throughout the country. He was one of […]

Boston fans who liked the way Jason Varitek handles the Red Sox pitching staff would have loved Sammy White. Sammy, who was selected as an American League All-Star catcher in 1953, was the team’s number one catcher from 1952 to 1959. White was a credible hitter, averaging .264 during his eight full seasons with the […]

“There is a catcher that any big league club would like to buy for $200,000. His name is Gibson. He can do everything. He hits the ball a mile. He catches so easy he might as well be in a rocking chair. Throws like a rifle. Too bad this Gibson is a colored fellow.” — […]

“When he pitched, he looked like a spider doing aerobics,” one witness said.1 Lanky right-hander Pascual Pérez entertained fans and infuriated opponents with his spontaneous, emotional style over all or parts of 11 seasons (1980-1985, 1987-1991) with the Pirates, Braves, Expos and Yankees. Perhaps best known for getting lost on the way to his home […]

Heading into the 2004 season, it seemed as if Randy Johnson had accomplished all he could in his 16-year career. At 40 years old he showed no signs of letting up. He had won five Cy Young awards and was one of only five pitchers to win the award in both the American and National […]

Frank “Lefty” Hoerst was one of Philadelphia’s best high-school and college basketball players of the 1930s at a time when there was no viable national basketball league. Upon graduating from LaSalle in 1939 he turned to his second best sport, baseball, and signed with the local Phillies. A year later, he debuted with the lowly […]