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In 1960, Tony Curry became the third man from the Bahamas to play big-league baseball. He followed his close friend André Rodgers (preceding them was Negro Leaguer Ormond Sampson). Curry got just one full season and bits of two others in the majors, but he joined Rodgers in inspiring many young Bahamians. Throughout his life, […]

Baseball lifers Branch Rickey and Fred Haney described Cal Hogue’s knee-buckling curveball as one of baseball’s best — if he could control it. Seven years after signing his first professional contract, Hogue finally reached the majors in 1952, tossing a four-hitter in his first start. He never harnessed the potential of his breaking ball and […]

E.P. “Cy” Twombly Jr. never took to sports. Despite owning a nickname that evoked major-league baseball’s all-time wins leader, and having a father who might have preferred him to become a left-handed pitcher, he became a (decidedly right-handed) artist of international renown.1 It was his father whose prowess on the mound had earned the moniker […]

Sam Williams was born in a small, poor town in segregated Alabama, served his country in World War II, played in the last Negro League World Series, and then pitched for minor-league teams from California to Canada and from Mexico to the Dominican Republic. “It didn’t matter who I pitched against, I was going to […]

Shortstop Al Naples’ major-league career was limited to two back-to-back games at the end of June 1949. He doubled to right field his first time at bat. It turned out to be the only base hit of his brief time in the big leagues. Naples was born on August 29, 1926, in Staten Island, New […]

It was about a bad a brief outing as a pitcher could have, but at least it was mercifully short. Fortunately, there are other things in life that might have greater meaning than a bad outing on the mound. It was at Comiskey Park, and the Boston Red Sox were already down, 6-2, after 7½ […]

Cleveland pitcher Walter “Duster” Mails was feeling his oats, and why wouldn’t he be? He was living a dream after he was acquired by the Indians on August 31, 1920, in an effort to shore up the pitching staff. But manager Tris Speaker got much more than he bargained for when in eight starts in […]

Pitcher Paul Hartzell played four complete major-league seasons (1976 through 1979) and parts of two others (1980 and 1984). He was a swingman, starting 77 of the 170 games in which he appeared. He threw 22 complete games yet also posted 12 saves, a statistical combination that is difficult to imagine in today’s game. His […]

For a player so significant in Red Sox history, surprisingly little is known about Samuel Pond “Sad Sam” Jones. Despite his incredible contributions to the Red Sox World Series victory in 1918, the most often discussed thing about Jones is his curious nickname. Born July 26, 1892, to Delbert and Margaret Clingan Jones, in Woodsfield, […]

“What have you done for me lately?” is a common refrain heard among fans of all sports. Diehard and casual fans are known to be a fickle bunch. Any time a player has an outstanding performance in one game, he or she is the toast of the town. The next day they falter and they […]

By the time Ace Adams was born, his parents may have run out of names, because he was their eighth child. For whatever reason, they named the baby after a family friend, Ace Townsend. Many men named Adams have been called Ace, including a rapper/record producer and a pitching coach, but Ace Townsend Adams appears […]

Most commonly remembered as the pitching coach-guru who helped develop the dominating staffs for the Oakland A’s championship teams of 1972-1974, Bill Posedel had a career in Organized Baseball spanning six decades, from the late 1920s to the 1970s. He debuted in the big leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938 as a hard-throwing 31-year-old […]

In the spring of 1947, “uncertain” may have been the word that best described the New York Yankees’ prospects. The team that had dominated the American League throughout the late 1930s and the early 1940s was coming off an ignoble third-place finish in 1946, seventeen games behind— and seemingly light years removed from—the champion Boston […]

Lefty Sullivan had everything a pitcher could want: a blazing fastball, a knee-buckling curve, a disappearing spitball, and pinpoint control. The one thing he couldn’t do was field. Because he felt dizzy every time he picked up a bunt – a lifelong heart condition cut off the flow of oxygen to his brain when he […]

In his book The Boys of Summer, author Roger Kahn relates how even after leaving daily 1950s baseball coverage to write for magazines, his “journalistic identity, such as it was, lived with my [New York Herald] Tribune stories” on the then-Brooklyn Dodgers. Robert Frost consoled him, telling Kahn that “nearly everyone has to lead two […]

Charles Francis “Charlie” Berry had one of the most extraordinary sports careers of the 20th century. He was a two-sport athlete who plied his craft as a player and official for more than 40 years. He was a National Football League end, a major-league baseball catcher, a college football coach, a minor-league baseball manager, an […]

A two-out, seventh inning single by New York Mets’ right fielder Ron Swoboda was the margin between a 21-year-old left-hander and a no-hitter – a feat that would otherwise have capped the youngster’s fine, 16-win, 1965 season. Possessing one of the greatest curveballs of his time, his immediate splash in the major leagues had the […]

“What I have done after my baseball career and being able to help people with their lives — means more to me than all the things I did in baseball.” — Don Newcombe1   Don Newcombe was the third black pitcher to appear in a major-league game after Dan Bankhead and Satchel Paige. Playing at […]

Brian Daubach was a first baseman-DH who was trapped in the minor leagues from 1990 to 1998. In 1999 he played for the Boston Red Sox and became a 27-year-old rookie sensation, earning the nickname “The Bellville Basher.” From 1999 to 2002, Daubach hit 20 or more home runs for Boston in his first four […]

This infielder was the original “Sugar Bear” — several years ahead of Floyd Rayford, who bore the same nickname in the 1980s. With their pleasant, sleepy-eyed expressions, both men resembled the easygoing cartoon character in the ads for Post Super Sugar Crisp cereal. Yet contrary to popular belief, that is not how Blanks got his […]

When danger arose and duty called, mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent would duck into a telephone booth to change into Superman. The typically phlegmatic Dr. Bruce Banner, if sufficiently provoked, would struggle not to unleash his alter ego, the Incredible Hulk. The metamorphosis of Venezuelan pitcher Roberto Muñoz was far less dramatic and indefinitely less colorful; […]

Over the winter of 1909-10, Bill Schwartz refused to sign with the Nashville Volunteers, who had drafted him from Akron. The local paper opined that Schwartz was jeopardizing any chance he had of returning to the majors, writing that he was “easily as good as Tom Jones of Detroit and is a much better fielder […]

Fear. Ballplayers don’t like to talk about it. Rarely is a pitcher so fearsome that he can’t be ignored. Walter Johnson was one. Bob Feller. Randy Johnson. Ewell Blackwell was one. Batters weren’t called cowards when they admitted they were afraid of him. Ewell Blackwell was “The Whip,” a long, lanky sidearming right-hander who threw […]

 After posting a 91-71 record in the 1987 season (a 14-game improvement over 1986), Milwaukee Brewers manager Tom Trebelhorn was very optimistic about 1988. “I think we’re going to pitch better,” he said. “I think we’ll contain the opposition better. The maturity of our young pitchers from a year ago, plus our bullpen depth, gives […]