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On July 9, 1884, the St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association played the Baltimore Monumentals in Baltimore, with both starting pitchers making their major-league debuts. Henry Boyle pitched for the Maroons, allowing just four hits and no unearned runs. “Dorsey, late of the Trentons, pitched for the home team, but was batted out of […]

“Who is the only person enshrined in both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of Fame?” Cal Hubbard first earned acclaim as a bone-crushing tackle, then as a formidable umpire, and finally as an exceptional baseball executive. For nearly half a century his name was known by every self-respecting football […]

To discuss Paul Derringer is to discuss two men-a pitcher with exceptional control of his pitches and general work on the mound and a man with little or no control of himself anywhere else. Derringer (called “Oom Paul” for his 6-foot-3.1/2-inch height and admitted 205 pounds) was a belligerent man who often used his fists […]

A bright future appeared to lie ahead for Boston Braves outfielder Max West after he became a major-league regular in 1938 at the age of 21 and was the team’s top offensive performer a year later. Following a memorable appearance in the 1940 All-Star Game, when he hit a home run to win the contest, […]

Being born in Germany and playing major-league baseball is not as rare a thing as one might imagine. There have been 42 major leaguers born in Germany, 21 of them pitchers. One of the pitchers was Tony Welzer, born somewhere in Germany on April 5, 1899. Given the changing borders over the years, one might […]

The Red Sox party boarded the train in Boston on February 28, 1927, bound for spring training in New Orleans. During a four-hour layover in Cincinnati, eight more players got on. Among them was a prospect, F. A. Bennett. He didn’t make the team, but was “loaned” to Portland, Maine.1 About 3,000 people turned out […]

Flamboyant, visionary, ego — or monomaniacal, tempestuous, alcoholic, and self-destructive — the words approach but do not satisfactorily explain Larry MacPhail. His innovative approach to the game brought about night baseball and baseball on the radio. He was a mover and shaker in the world of Major League baseball until in a fury he catapulted […]

When the curtain rose on the New York Yankees’ 1929 season, for the first time in team history each ballplayer wore a numbered jersey. Catching for New York that day was John Grabowski, the large block 8 on his back signifying his spot in the batting order. One of three backstops that Yankee manager Miller […]

John Thomas Winsett was the son of a farming couple, John D. and Ida M. Winsett, in McKenzie, Tennessee – a small community of just over 1,300 people, 120 miles due west of Nashville. He was born on November 24, 1909, the fifth child in the Winsett family. Jack (the nickname he himself reported, and […]

There are many middle infielders who are tagged by scouts as “good field, no hit.” For the most part, these players are steady performers in the field. They make all of the routine plays with ease and the more challenging ones seem as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Their offensive contributions are minimal; […]

As a young pitcher, Frank Viola frequently beat himself. But after failing to pitch to his potential for years, Viola learned to get out of his own way. Once he did, the southpaw called “Sweet Music” reached the apex of his profession — he was, inarguably, one of the best pitchers of his era. Viola […]

As of 2010 he had won more major-league games than all but one left-hander born in his native Cuba, but when considering that he had 14 victories by the end of August as a 21-year-old rookie, his 31-40 career mark could be seen as a disappointment. Though he did not establish himself further as a […]

With a major-league record of a single subpar season for one of the worst teams of the 20th century, Scotty Ingerton might seem like an obscure one-year blunder. While hitting, however, Ingerton showcased first-class power over parts of two seasons, suggesting that he might have prospered had he more quickly escaped the clutches of the […]

Entering a summer when the boxing world famously crowned a new heavyweight champion,1 baseball’s powerhouse teams met on May 14, 1919, at Comiskey Park in Chicago for an early-season clash between the game’s two most recent champions. The Boston Red Sox, led by their young hitting and pitching star Babe Ruth, came to town with […]

“Batting and playing first base for the Boston Red Sox: Mary Elizabeth Murphy. First base: Murphy.” You can almost hear Sherm Feller, the longtime Red Sox public-address voice, announce her – the first female ballplayer for the Boston Red Sox. It never happened, though. It’s well-known that the Red Sox were the last big-league team […]

While they set some offensive records during their run to the postseason in their second year of existence, 1999, the Diamondbacks have been known more for their dominant pitching over the first 20 seasons in franchise history. From Andy Benes to Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in the earlier years to the more recent exploits […]

Today, it would be called an “instant classic.” For the 41,708 fans at Wrigley Field that October afternoon, it was one of the wildest games ever witnessed, an emotional rollercoaster of an affair that never let up until the final, madcap hit. Game Six of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the […]

The first game of the Sunday doubleheader at Comiskey Park was a close, well-played, low-scoring affair until everything suddenly fell apart for the hosting Chicago White Sox. Starting for the White Sox was Buck Ross, a 27-year-old veteran wrapping up his seventh year in the big leagues. The North Carolina native was 5-5 coming in […]

When Ben Cantwell took the mound for the Boston Braves at Braves Field on Saturday, September 15, 1928, it was the start of what would become his team’s major-league record ninth consecutive doubleheader played. The first eight had not gone so well for the seventh-place Braves, who would go 50-103 for the season and finish […]

Alyssa Nakken was prepared for the possibility that she would appear in a coaches’ box during a major-league game.1 She had trained alongside San Francisco Giants first-base coach Antoan Richardson since she was hired as an assistant coach in 2020, and had served as their first-base coach in an exhibition game and a spring-training game.2 […]

The College World Series is the desired destination for every Division I collegiate baseball player. Eight teams and thousands of fans from around the country descend on Omaha, Nebraska, each June, giving the CWS an atmosphere unlike any other baseball event in America. Founded in 1947, the CWS was played in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for two […]

The 1939 Boston Red Sox fell from first place to second on their May 10 offday, when the New York Yankees won in St. Louis and advanced from second place to first, overturning a half-game deficit in the American League standings. Four months later, on September 10, the Red Sox’ demotion in the standings had […]

For the first time in seven years, the Yankees and the Dodgers resumed their World Series rivalry in 1963. In the decade from 1947 through 1956, they had met six times. Since the Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles in 1958, they had missed postseason competition with each other. The New York Yankees entered their […]

“I think these two fellows can help us make some money and win the pennant and the World Series. I am going to say one thing. I don’t care what color you are. If you can play baseball you can play on this club. That’s all I am going to say about color.” – Leo […]