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John Sullivan probably caught 10,000 to 100,000 baseballs during his professional baseball career, but none more significant than the last one he caught in the Toronto Blue Jays’ bullpen on October 23, 1993. It was Game Six of the 1993 World Series; the ninth inning. Sullivan, the Blue Jays bullpen coach from 1982 through 1993, […]

A scrappy outfielder, Nemo Leibold had a 13-year major-league career and played on four World Series teams, winning a championship with the Chicago White Sox in 1917 and another with the Washington Senators in 1924. Later a distinguished manager in the minor leagues from 1928 to 1948, Leibold is best known for passing through the […]

Serving as the pitching coach for the Big Red Machine is a bit like being the drummer in Billy Joel’s band. Even if you’re an integral part of an exceptional team, only the most devoted and hard-core observers will ever know your name as opposed to the headline-grabbing main attraction. While the Reds’ offense and […]

Once a coveted young left-handed pitching prospect, Eddie Eayrs was nearly 30 when he finally received some regular major league playing time with the 1920 Boston Braves. Always a good contact hitter, Eayrs promptly capitalized on outfield assignments accorded him by manager George Stallings, and by season’s end he led Braves batsmen in batting average […]

From the predicted goat to the arguable hero of the 1931 World Series was quite an accomplishment for a somewhat stoic Dib Williams. Dr. Earl Williams, an Arkansas country doctor, really enjoyed baseball, and a couple of the players he helped develop made it to the major leagues: Otis Brannan, an infielder for a couple […]

He could have been nicknamed “Tugboat” or, for that matter, “Giuliani the Magician,” for the many varied and workmanlike roles Angelo John Giuliani played during his life dedicated to baseball.  From a fledgling full-time backstop in the minors to sharp-eyed scout in the majors, Giuliani’s resume was a convincing testimonial of a player who, having […]

In the foreword to Chuck Hinton’s autobiography, My Time at Bat, Sam Lacy said of Hinton, “He is a family man – one who does his baseball thing as a sideline.”1 Hinton’s devotion to family grew from the large and close-knit one into which he was born, but his life and that of his brothers […]

Charles C. Crabtree was born on January 31, 1888, in Farmersville, Texas. His father, Jim, was a carpenter, and his mother, Susie (Burns) Crabtree, was a housewife and helped with chores on their farm.1 When Charles died on March 30, 1943, at the age of 52 in Houston, his death certificate gave his name as […]

In the late 1980s the story of DeWayne Buice was one of success through rare determination and perseverance. He spent nine seasons in the minor leagues before he finally reached the majors. Twice the righty suffered a broken bone in his arm while pitching. After recovering, no team would give him a chance – but […]

The adage “You can’t win for losing” fits the 1962 New York Mets. That team lost 120 games, the most in one season in major league history — many close and winnable. Yet the performance of one pitcher on that team, Ken MacKenzie, deserves recognition. The Canadian-born, Yale-educated, control-oriented, bespectacled lefty reliever emerged as the […]

The astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson estimates that the slowest pitch that could reach home plate on the fly would travel around 30 miles per hour.1 Stu Miller didn’t defy the laws of physics, but he challenged the equation that says Velocity = Success. “He’s got three speeds of pitches – slow, slower and reverse,” the sportswriter […]

Prior to 1923, the largest attendance at a baseball game was 47,373 at Game 2 of the 1916 World Series. This record was shattered on Opening Day, April 18, 1923, when 74,200 fans filled the brand-new Yankee Stadium to see the New York Yankees play the Boston Red Sox. The Seventh Regiment Band, led by […]

Many famous major-league players had their careers interrupted by military service in World War II, and we wonder what records men like Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Pee Wee Reese, Hank Greenberg, and others might have achieved if it hadn’t been for those lost years. Furthermore, a large group of younger men […]

When 25-year-old Humberto Robinson appeared on the mound for the Milwaukee Braves on April 20, 1955, he became the first Panamanian ever to play in the major leagues.1 A quick glance through the statistics he compiled in the majors would indicate the oft-told story of the journeyman just hanging on in the majors for parts […]

Joe Girardi had the big hit in the deciding game of the 1996 World Series, caught a perfect game, won a Manager of the Year Award with one team, and skippered another to a World Series win. An above-average major leaguer for 15 seasons, Girardi will be remembered most for his time helming the post-Joe […]

Gene Autry was the kind of man who paid the bills for old friends in their old age, rode in the front seat beside his chauffeur, and showed up in the bar of his resort hotel to lead guests in a sing-along. During his heyday as a singing cowboy, his fans ranged from the obvious […]

Nothing in the early spring of 1951 gave any clue that this would be the New York Giants’ season of miracles. The year when the Giants overtook the Dodgers in baseball’s most dramatic pennant race saw the New Yorkers drop 12 of their first 14 games, and by the end of April they were in […]

Stan Musial approaches home plate after hitting the game-winning home run in the 1955 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at County Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   From the day in 1953 when the National League’s Braves arrived in Milwaukee and took up residence in County Stadium, until the early 1960s, there was never […]

Jackie Robinson’s potent bat and Carl Erskine’s sore right arm led the Dodgers to a 1-0 win in 10 innings against the Boston Braves on September 20, 1952. Brooklyn took a five-game lead in the National League pennant chase with seven games to play. Erskine, “who has been complaining about his pitching elbow for the […]

No matter how much the residents around Shibe Park loved the Athletics, their proximity to the ballpark was a mixed blessing the night before the fourth game of the 1913 World Series. Not long after Philadelphia won the third game in New York and took a two-games-to-one lead, fans started gathering outside the ticket windows. […]

“In other years, the cynics expected the Red Sox to go nowhere. This year the experts say they’ll go halfway to somewhere.” — Editorial, Boston Globe, April 11, 1967   “I don’t care where people say we’re going to finish,” grunted new Red Sox manager Dick Williams. “Let them pick us for 10th. But I […]

To tell the story of Robin Roberts’s 286th and final major-league victory is to tell a tale of a fading star passing the baton to a future star and of two old friends in the twilight of their careers patching together one more winning effort. The rising star was Ferguson Jenkins. The old friends were […]

When the Houston Astros hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers for a midseason series in July 1967, struggle and disappointment were themes applicable to both clubs. For the 28-47 Astros, their 10th-place standing represented an all-too-familiar spot. The Sporting News cited relief pitching that failed to materialize, bad infield defense, and overall poor team play as […]

“I remember these summer days when it was hot and that cool air coming out of the mountains just felt so good.”1 — Danny Godby For the better part of the 20th century, baseballs disappeared against the lush foliage of the mountainside, and the crack of the bat competed with the drone of passing trains. […]