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The Twins-Senators game on June 18, 1968, had many ebbs and flows and featured almost every play you could imagine. Minnesota starter Jim Merritt had a no-hitter for 5⅔ innings, and then bullpen implosions by both teams led to four lead changes in the last two innings. Among the 26 hits in the game were […]

Sam Rice broke into the major leagues in August of 1915 as a 25-year-old pitcher with the Washington Nationals. After moving to the outfield midway through the following season, he became one of the leading hitters in the American League. Over the course of a 20-year career, most of which he spent in Washington, Rice […]

Early Deadball Era outfielder George Barclay crammed significant achievement into a sadly abbreviated life. He first gained prominence as captain and star halfback for an 1896 national champion football team at Lafayette College. He later found success coaching college and pre-NFL professional elevens. Barclay is also generally recognized as the inventor of the football helmet. […]

When Jess Barnes was at the top of his game, the right-handed pitcher from Circleville, Kansas, held his own with the elite of his day. Named to Baseball Magazine’s All-American team following the 1919 season, Barnes shared the honor with such luminaries as Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, George Sisler, and Joe […]

When Evan Scribner flew from Phoenix to Seattle in early September of 2017, he had a lot to look forward to. The veteran relief pitcher for the Mariners had been told to rejoin the team in Seattle after making three rehab appearances in Triple A, completing his recovery from an elbow injury that had sidelined […]

Mexico had given two pairs of brothers to Major League Baseball as of 2018: the Romos (Vicente and Enrique) and the Treviños.1 Of this quartet, U.S. fans saw the least of Carlos Treviño, also known as “Bobby.” The outfielder played in just 17 games for the California Angels in 1968, and he spent just three […]

Connie Creeden’s life in baseball was defined by two events seven and a half years apart. The first gave him a solitary moment of major-league glory. The second tarnished his reputation and sent him to prison. On May 2, 1943, at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, Creeden’s ninth-inning pinch-hit single drove in the winning run in the […]

When Bob Uecker was sent down to the minor leagues in 1961 after breaking camp with the Milwaukee Braves, manager Charlie Dressen told him, “There is no room in baseball for a clown.” 1 Dressen could not have been more wrong. While no one would dispute that professional baseball is a business, Bob Uecker has […]

The man of a zillion words, summer after summer, just … “Rolling Along.” The air at Crosley Field in Cincinnati was thick with tension for the final game of the 1964 season, for the opponents, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds, still had a shot at winning the pennant. “[If] we beat Cincy, the […]

Steve Garvey was the epitome of the Southern California cultural icon in baseball spikes. Photogenic, fan-friendly, and media accessible, he projected the image of an All-American success story and devoted family man. As a Los Angeles Dodger in 1974, he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award after starting the All-Star Game at first […]

Buddy Kerr was one of the nice guys who finished last. Loyal to the New York Giants since he was in short pants, Kerr was the club’s regular shortstop during and after World War II until manager Leo Durocher, whose opinion of nice guys was well advertised, banished him. Kerr’s career outlasted Durocher by 20 […]

Climbing a tree is a common childhood activity. Dexterity, effort, and determination all play a role and afford kids the opportunity to admire the horizon from a higher perspective. As such pursuits give way to teenage interests, youths may choose to remain on firmer ground to determine their possible adult career. In Don “The Rook” […]

Every life has a moment that reshapes its course, often without warning. For pitcher Jeff Randazzo, that turning point came on a cold Tennessee highway just after 2 a.m. on February 18, 2002. Randazzo – the Minnesota Twins’ fourth-round pick in the 1999 draft – was asleep in the passenger seat of his SUV, bound […]

Paul Doyle toiled in the minor-leagues for a decade before making his major league debut for the Atlanta Braves on May 28, 1969. He helped Atlanta win the 1969 National League West Division. Doyle’s stellar relief pitching for the 1969-70 Ponce Lions was a factor in that team winning the Puerto Rico Winter League title. […]

Ken Bolek had an idea. The former Cleveland Indians coach and longtime Baseball Director at IMG Academy believed, in 2008, that after John Ryan Murphy’s junior year at the Pendleton School, the promising infielder-outfielder should shift to a new position: catcher.1 The suggestion was unconventional because Murphy was about to enter his senior year, but […]

When the 1952 season ended, Hank Sauer, the heavy-hitting left fielder of the Chicago Cubs, had enjoyed a career year. Even though he averaged just .213 with three homers and seven RBIs during the month of September (due to a neck injury), the 35-year-old right-handed batting slugger was tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Ralph Kiner […]

He had just 11 big-league at-bats in 1990, but Brian Traxler was still a cult figure. Over 13 years as a pro, the first baseman delighted fans across the minors, the Caribbean winter leagues, Asia, and independent circuits. His immediate appeal was visual. “Trax” was rotund — leniently listed at 5-feet-10 and 200 pounds, he […]

John Edward Kennedy was born in Chicago on May 29, 1941, the 24th birthday of future President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. John Edward came to the major leagues with the Washington Senators during John Fitzgerald’s administration. A love letter to baseball’s Kennedy from his fiancée once was sent to the White House (where that type of […]

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 […]

Pitcher Jim Hannan appeared in 276 major-league games as a starter and reliever from 1962 through 1971, winning 41 of his 89 decisions. During both his playing days and post-playing days, he participated in and had an impact on several historic baseball moments. On the field, he was a senior member of the Washington Senators […]

Second base was a revolving door for the Oakland A’s during their 1972-74 dynasty – the team used 17 players at that position. The closest thing to a regular was steady veteran Dick Green. Though he missed most of 1972 after surgery on a herniated disc in his back, he recovered in time for the […]

“I know what everyone knows: Cuba is the worst place on the globe to be an athlete today. But I’m sure I know something even stranger. It is also the best.” — S.L. Price, Pitching Around Fidel   Cuban “defectors” have been one of the biggest MLB stories of the early twenty-first century and the […]

High and Inside The Newsletter of the BioProject Committee Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) December 2016 (Special Festivus Edition), Volume 1, Number 7 Past newsletters Editor: Stew Thornley From the Director From the Editor Guest Columnists: Norm King and Rory Costello Project Profile: Leslie Heaphy Project Poobahs   From the Director Would you like […]

  Baseball only decrees 90 feet between bases and 60 feet 6 inches from home plate to the mound. Elsewhere, look backward, angel.“Thanks to Alexander Cartwright,” said former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, “the outfield distance, fence height, and space between the seats and lines vary. Parks could do as they liked.”1 Some have been liked better. […]