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“I didn’t know if I’d ever play ball again,” Eddie Waitkus understated during spring training in Clearwater, Florida, “not even when I came down here in November. Once I got down here I felt better. I didn’t do too much for the first month, just picking up weight. I weighed 140 when I got out […]

On the afternoon of June 10, 1944, just 3,510 individuals came out to Crosley Field for a contest between the Cincinnati Reds and the league-leading St. Louis Cardinals, who were working toward a third straight pennant. Cincinnati was tied for second place, percentage points behind the Pittsburgh Pirates and 3½ games behind St. Louis. The […]

1915 Holy Cross Baseball Team   Coming off a 16-2 victory over Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the College of the Holy Cross baseball team traveled to Annapolis, Maryland, to play St. John’s College for the first time on March 30, 1915, the second day of Holy Cross’s nine-game Southern Trip.1 This was likewise […]

Lew Burdette had been close twice before. He had hurled two one-hitters — in 1954 and 1957 — but the third time proved to be charmed as he no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 the night of August 18, 1960, in front of 16,338 fans. The day of the game had been a difficult one for […]

Chuck Tanner is a household name in much of Western Pennsylvania, after a 19-year major-league managerial career that included nine seasons with the Pirates and a championship in 1979. He was a much more remarkable manager than he was a player. In eight major-league seasons with four teams between 1955 and 1962, Tanner batted .261 […]

The great jazz trumpet player Bill Dixon refused to do encores. He allegedly said, “When I have finished playing, I have nothing left; there has been no reserve.”1 The same cannot be said of Henry Aaron. On Tuesday night, September 24, 1957, Aaron performed what is perhaps the greatest encore of his storied career. The […]

The fourth-place Philadelphia Phillies seemed to have the upper hand on the defending World Series champion Milwaukee Braves once again. The Phillies had defeated the Braves in their previous five meetings in 1958, including come-from-behind victories in the bottom of the ninth the past two evenings. They threatened to make it six straight wins when […]

The September 24, 1920, edition of the Akron Beacon Journal blared the following headline across its sports section: “Ban Johnson Called to Stand Today; Tell Plot Against Chicago.” Johnson, the American League president, was testifying before a Cook County (Chicago) grand jury about a plot to blackmail Chicago White Sox players. Johnson predicted that the […]

Outside of the sixth inning, Walter “Monk” Dubiel of the Chicago Cubs held the first-place Philadelphia Phillies scoreless on three hits on July 26, 1950, at Shibe Park. But oh, that sixth inning. Dubiel walked six batters, including four in a row with the bases loaded – all while his manager, Frankie Frisch, watched passively […]

Billy MacLeod was a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. He faced 10 batters in two games in September 1962, walking one, striking out two, and allowing four base hits. He only gave up one run, an earned run, but it was in the bottom of the 12th inning and resulted in him bearing […]

It was Game Six of the 1964 World Series. The Mayor and the town Treasurer of Alba, Missouri were relaxing in box seats behind the St. Louis Cardinal’s dugout at Busch Stadium. Both His Honor and the Treasurer enjoyed a singular advantage over all of the other spectators in the ballpark on this autumn day. […]

If the fates had been kinder to George “Kiddo” Davis, he would have had the opportunity to display his skills in five World Series during his eight major-league seasons. In two Series with the New York Giants, 1933 and 1936, the center fielder complemented his outstanding defensive work with 8 hits in 21 at-bats, a […]

Traded for Ted Williams. That’s the sort of distinction one could well dine out on for years. The trade occurred in December 1937. Al Niemiec’s major-league career was over at the time, though he was only 26 and naturally hoped to get back to the big leagues. He played five more years in the Pacific […]

He is Dick Culler in the baseball encyclopedias, but at home in High Point, North Carolina, he was Broadus Culler, star athlete, schoolteacher, basketball referee, entrepreneur and civic leader. Richard Broadus Culler was born on January 15, 1915, in High Point, a community in the state’s central Piedmont region that today calls itself “the Home […]

Marty McManus lived a life in baseball, spanning the years 1920 through 1948. He played as a major-league infielder for 15 years and was player-manager for the Boston Red Sox for most of the 1932 and 1933 seasons. When women began to play pro baseball during World War II with the launch of the All-American […]

Third-string catcher Charlie “Legs” Dorman played in his lone major-league game on May 14, 1923, for the Chicago White Sox only after the starting catcher was removed and the backup split his finger open on a foul ball. Dorman took quite the circuitous route to his one moment on the big stage: from a San […]

As of 2016, 14 men from the U.S. Virgin Islands had played in the major leagues.i Calvin Pickering was the tenth, and the third of seven from the island of St. Thomas. He was an intriguing talent, with power to match his enormous size. “Picko” stood 6’5” and weighed 260 pounds at his fittest. As […]

Alex Konikowski’s pitching career in major-league baseball was comparatively brief, but the three seasons – or portions thereof – he spent with the New York Giants are etched in diamond lore: 1948, 1951, 1954. As a 20-year-old rookie of promise, Konikowski was promoted from Jersey City of the International League to New York in June […]

Hannah and Ernie Wright (Courtesy of Hagen History Center)   In an era when many African Americans lived in poverty and were treated as second-class citizens, Ernest Pearle Wright managed to rise and persevere as a successful businessman.   Born on October 7, 1901, in Zanesville, Ohio, Ernest was the only child to mother Jessie (Forney) […]

Do we call him Junior or Gene? Was Junior his given name or a nickname? Could it be both? No matter. As a fresh-faced youngster Junior Thompson helped the Cincinnati Reds win two consecutive National League pennants. As a mature veteran Gene Thompson impacted the game of baseball for half a century. Junior Eugene Thompson […]

Over his 22-year career, fleet-footed center fielder Bernard “Frenchy” Uhalt knocked out more than 3,000 hits and was elected to the Hall of Fame. His name might not be familiar to many baseball aficionados, though, since 21 of those seasons and all but 40 of his hits came in the minor leagues, and because he […]

Since 1931, Earl Webb has held the major-league record for the most doubles hit in a single season – 67. It is one of the longest-lasting records in baseball, despite the fact that when it was set, the season was eight games shorter than today’s 162-game schedule. As it happens, Earl’s team that year – […]

The tale is familiar to followers of baseball legend: Young boy growing up in rough-and-tumble circumstances, running roughshod over parents and teachers, unrepentantly scoffing at law and decency, finally ends up in front of the local magistrate who has him declared incorrigible and packed off to the nearest reformatory. There, the lad discovers an outlet […]

Long before Babe Ruth revolutionized the game with the home run, during a period when hitting a baseball was likened by some to swatting a cabbage, Harry Davis was one of the country’s most feared sluggers. Known today primarily for leading the American League in home runs four consecutive seasons, the right-handed Davis was as […]