Search Results

On his 18th birthday, righty Chris Haughey appeared in his only major-league game, pitching for the Brooklyn Dodgers on October 3, 1943. He appears to be one of only three players in big-league history whose lone appearance came on his birthday.1 It was a Sunday afternoon game in Cincinnati, the last game of the season. […]

Left-handed pitcher Spike Merena had a rather brief baseball career – four games in the big leagues and 77 games in all. His major-league career began with the Boston Red Sox on September 16, 1934, and ended exactly two weeks later, on the last day of the month. John Joseph Merena had grown up in […]

He was perhaps named after one of the German emperors named Friedrich Wilhelm, or after German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. Frederick William Muller was born on December 21, 1907, a son of German immigrants George and Mary Muller. George Muller worked as a laborer in a varnish factory at the time of the 1920 US […]

Eddie McFarland was one of the most talented catchers of his day but suffered badly from alcoholism, many years missing big chunks of playing time during the course of a season. Despite ultimately drinking himself out of the game, he still had a long career. He must have had a strong constitution, because he also […]

Ed Ashenbach was known as the “King of the Minors.” Who else could claim discovery of Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, and Grover Alexander? From 1890 to 1911, Ashenbach toured the minors as an outfielder and manager. During this period, minor leagues were formed and disbanded at a dizzying pace. “Ash” navigated these waters, […]

Paul Snyder was the indispensable man behind the scenes of the Atlanta Braves’ success. If anyone has said a bad word about him, it has not been recorded in the hothouse world of baseball. A baseball lifer since he started his career as a Braves minor-league outfielder-first baseman in 1958, Snyder is a rarity in […]

Through an extremely unlikely, almost unbelievable set of circumstances, a twenty-year-old college junior with virtually no baseball experience and little athletic ability found himself on the pitcher’s mound one bright, sunny Saturday afternoon facing the World Champion Philadelphia Athletics. The date was May 18, 1912–surely one of the most bizarre days in major league history–and […]

Is Rollie Naylor the unluckiest pitcher in baseball history? Pitching for the then-hapless Philadelphia Athletics from 1917 through 1924, he amassed a 42-83 career record and an ERA+ of 101. Through 2016, more than 800 pitchers with at least 100 decisions to their credit have earned an ERA+ of at least 100. (With this retrospectively-calculated […]

Among the classic baseball records, Ty Cobb’s 4,191 hits and Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs have fallen, but Cy Young’s 511 victories remain ingrained in the pantheon. And yet, many modern-day fans have shed their fascination with pitchers’ wins, understanding that the sport is a team-wide effort, rather than an individual competition. However, when a […]

Dave Danforth (1890-1970) is one of the most fascinating and controversial figures in the history of the national pastime. He was “the icicle of the swirling vortex” for most of his career, and the mystery of what he threw and how he pitched has never been resolved.1 “Danforth, if you believe the boys in the […]

Eddie Yost was a slick-fielding, high-on-base-percentage third baseman, an athlete who continued to make his name at the hot corner after his playing days were over, as the third base coach for the Washington Senators, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox. Known as “The Walking Man” for his propensity at getting bases on balls, […]

Though his major league career consisted of only five hitless at-bats for the 1980 Baltimore Orioles, Drungo Hazewood remains a legendary baseball cult figure, chiefly because of his unique moniker. Eyewitnesses to Hazewood’s feats of power and speed, however, wondered what might have been had the muscular outfielder learned to hit a curveball before leaving […]

Paulino Casanova — known to English speakers simply as Paul — enjoyed his two best big-league seasons straight away. In 1966, the Cuban set a career high in homers with 13 and was named catcher on The Sporting News American League All-Star team. In 1967, he went to the midseason All-Star game for the AL. […]

John J. McHale Sr. was a highly esteemed major-league executive from 1948 through 1989. He worked for the Detroit Tigers, the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, the Commissioner’s office, and the Montreal Expos. On two occasions, McHale received significant support as a possible commissioner himself. Jim Fanning, a colleague for many years with the Braves and […]

“That night might have been the best thing anyone has done in baseball in the last 10 years.” — Mike Downey, August 28, 1985 ***** In 1985 Eddie Murray drove in a career-high 124 runs, had a career-high 37 doubles (a total he matched in 1992), and reached the 30-home-run mark (31) for the fourth […]

The first four men inducted into the Boston Braves Hall of Fame after its formation by fans of the long-defunct National League club were Warren Spahn, John Sain, Tommy Holmes, and Sebastian “Sibby” Sisti. In order, that’s one Hall of Famer, two All-Stars, and one .244 hitter who lasted for 14-plus years in the majors […]

He lost more games than he won. He had trouble getting the ball over the plate, leading the National League in wild pitches five times and in bases on balls four years in a row. He was a minor figure in the most reviled trade in baseball history. Yet Jimmy Ring has been compared to […]

The Moose from Moosup – an easy nickname to pin on a 6-foot-5, 220-pound ballplayer who hailed from the village of Moosup, Connecticut. Right-handed-hitting Walt Dropo played for parts of 13 major-league seasons, with a solid .270 average (.326 on-base percentage, .432 slugging average), and 152 career home runs.  Dropo easily won the 1950 Rookie […]

Fern Shollenberger was the third baseman on the All-Star team in six of her nine seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She first evidenced her talents on the family ball field in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. This small town is in a rural area of Berks County, 17 miles north of Reading. Fern’s father, Alvas R. […]

The 1955 National League pennant race had already been decided when the Milwaukee Braves and the Cincinnati Redlegs met in the Queen City on the steamy afternoon of September 21. The Braves entered the game 13 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers with only three games remaining, and the Redlegs were five games under. 500 at […]

If the impending departure of the Milwaukee Braves was considered “big news” in their hometown on the morning of September 22, 1965, one might not have known it from reviewing the local newspapers. Both the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel focused on the previous day’s visit of Lady Bird Johnson and her dedication of the […]

Hank Aaron was batting just .242 when he enjoyed his breakout 5-for-6 game as a Braves rookie. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   It was less than two weeks into the 1954 season and 20-year-old Milwaukee Braves rookie Henry Aaron was in danger of being relegated to the bench. Aaron wasn’t even supposed to be on the Braves […]

Manager Casey Stengel was back at the helm for the fourth consecutive season as the American League took on the National League in the 1953 All-Star Game at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field. Stengel’s Yankees had won their fourth consecutive World Series the prior October, and his star young center fielder, Mickey Mantle, was elected by the […]

The Philadelphia Athletics were on Cloud Nine as they pulled out a come-from-behind victory in 11 innings over the New York Giants in Game Three of the 1911 World Series and led the Series two games to one. As they took the field on October 24, they had been soaring for an entire week, thanks […]