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At times his nerves compelled him to almost give up the game he loved, but Billy Myers always came back with grace and good humor. Nicknamed the Jaguar, he helped Cincinnati win two consecutive National League pennants. Myers never won the affection of the fans, but he was popular with his teammates and with knowledgeable […]

During an eastern road trip in the middle of the 1912 season, Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey made two moves to strengthen his thin pitching staff. One was the purchase of Eddie Cicotte from the Boston Red Sox. The other was the acquisition of a hard-throwing youngster from the Burlington, Iowa club of the […]

Sherry Smith was a laconic Georgian who narrowly lost a World Series game to the young Bambino, fashioned a long mound career despite missing a season as a doughboy during World War I, and later nabbed small-town scofflaws as efficiently as he had baserunners who’d strayed too far off the first sack. Sherrod Malone Smith […]

The career of turn-of-the-20th-century pitcher Red Donahue presents a study in contrasts. Toiling for the woeful National League St. Louis Browns in his early years, the auburn-haired right-hander posted dismal numbers. Indeed, in 1897 Donahue set a still-standing major league record for single-season losses from the modern pitching distance of 60 feet, six inches: 35. […]

Baseball writer Jack Ryder covered the Cincinnati Reds with unfailing dedication. He was a keen observer and witty commentator. From 1905 to 1936, his eloquent prose graced the pages of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The Reds were mostly mediocre during this period. Managers came and went, 14 in 32 seasons. Through thick and thin, fans could […]

Alvin O’Neal McBean – for decades, the only big-league pitcher from the Virgin Islands – was a good one. His hard sinker and limber, resilient arm made him valuable as a starter and even more as a reliever. Throwing from various arm angles as the spirit moved him, McBean was somewhat reminiscent of Orlando “El […]

In a brief trial with the 1909 Cincinnati Reds, Clare Patterson compiled the entirety of his major league record: four games, eight at-bats, one hit, one RBI, four put-outs. A quick washout—or so it would seem. In truth, Major League Baseball did not finish its evaluation of the outfielder’s talents. Patterson would later earn a […]

“You automatically go all out, regardless of pain or what.”1 This was the guiding principle of New York Yankees pitcher Bill Stafford’s baseball career. Never had his philosophy been more tested than on the afternoon of October 7, 1962. After a screaming liner off the bat of San Francisco Giants outfielder Felipe Alou smashed into […]

During a fifteen-year major-league career that spanned the Deadball and Lively Ball Eras, Jack Fournier was one of the premier power hitters in baseball. His batting accomplishments were impressive: While compiling a lifetime .313 batting average, he led the National League in home runs once; led the American League in slugging percentage once; hit three […]

Between the two of them, the baseball-playing Bender brothers embodied much of the popular turn-of-the-century American Indian stereotype, both positive and negative. Tall, dignified, and stoic, Charles “Chief” Bender epitomized the Noble Savage. He was also one of the finest pitchers of the Deadball Era. Never the staff workhorse, Chief Bender was manager Connie Mack’s […]

Josh Gibson has often been called “the black Babe Ruth” since he, like the Sultan of Swat, was his league’s most-feared home run hitter, but Wilmer Fields – Gibson’s teammate during four of his seasons with the Homestead Grays – had much more in common with the Babe than Gibson did. On the surface, this […]

Long before the term “multitasker” made its way into our language, Paul Des Jardien epitomized the word. While a student at the University of Chicago, his goal was to win twelve letters in varsity competition.i In the fall he was an All-American football player, student, and line coach for his alma mater’s football team. Come […]

“As wild as Ishi”1 Trilingual gold and gravel miner Luke Glavenich’s major-league pitching career lasted but one erratic inning on April 12, 1913. It started with eight straight balls and got much worse from there. Small wonder that he’d drawn prior comparisons to a minor celebrity of the day: the “wild Indian” Ishi, the last […]

An often overlooked pitcher on successful Chicago Cubs teams of his era, Guy Bush was among the National League’s winningest pitchers from 1928 to 1934 and finished with 176 victories in his 17-year career. Success was far from foretold when the 21-year-old Mississippi Mudcat made an unlikely debut for the North Siders in September 1923. […]

Al Sothoron was a spitball pitcher and a master of trick deliveries. When the moist pitch was outlawed, Sothoron was one of 17 practitioners of the art who were exempted from the ban under a grandfather clause. Whether he continued to use other trick pitches, some of which were now illegal, is a matter of […]

These were heady days for the Houston Astros. In 1979 the franchise had mastered just two winning campaigns in its 17-year existence yet found itself in first place through a majority of the season. Manager Bill Virdon accurately predicted this success in a preseason interview with columnist Harry Shattuck. Emphasizing a needed reliance on its […]

Kansas City designated hitter Mike Sweeney strode to the plate with two men on base and two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Father’s Day in 2003. Reliever Tim Worrell stood on the mound for San Francisco, on its way to a 100-win season and its third playoff appearance in four years. By […]

As a big leaguer, Ed Charles was perhaps the most accomplished player in the brief history of the ill-fated Kansas City Athletics, and he achieved fame as a baseball poet, reciting his poetry on television a few times per year and mailing verse to young fans with requested autographs. But he is best remembered today […]

Bobby Hofman spent a lifetime in baseball. Over a career roughly divided into three distinct phases, he played major-league baseball for parts of seven seasons, and then managed and coached at various levels, including Oakland, for the next 20. He transitioned from there into a career as a big-league executive until his retirement in 1989 […]

Gil Coan was heralded as a speed merchant who could hit for average with some power after two spectacular minor-league seasons as World War II wound down. But beyond baseball, his life was and always remained rooted in his family and his community. An unusual skin allergy significantly hampered his rookie season. Injuries bedeviled him […]

“Some people say he was the greatest African American player ever. That may be so — I don’t know — but what seems clear is that he was the best black player of his time.” — Monte Irvin   The story of John Henry “Pop” Lloyd has many facets. It is a story of communities […]

For Larry Colton, one night in June 1968 seemingly devastated everything he had worked for. Just a few weeks after making his big-league pitching debut with the Philadelphia Phillies, a bar fight led to Colton’s shoulder separation, ending his time in The Show. During his one outing at the top level, he allowed one run […]

Steve Gromek, left and Larry Doby celebrate after Cleveland’s win in Game Four of the 1948 World Series. Cleveland would go on to win the championship in six games, and the franchise is still looking for its first World Series title since. (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY)   Introduction Cleveland had a history of […]