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Even in the nineteenth century, Opening Day was a much-anticipated event. When the Boston Beaneaters and New York Giants were rained out in their 1893 season opener, the New York Sun wrote: “The postponement of yesterday’s game as a consequence of bad weather was undoubtedly one of the severest disappointments ever suffered by New York […]

When the New York Yankees arrived in Boston in April 2007, the Boston Red Sox had not swept a series from the Yankees at Fenway Park for 17 years. The last time had been August 31-September 2, 1990, part of Boston’s only season home sweep of the Yankees in franchise history. The last time the […]

A breakdown of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski’s 452 career home runs makes for interesting reading. The former Red Sox captain hit 237 homers at Fenway Park and 215 on the road. He hit 65 four-baggers against the Tigers, more than any against other team. He hit 266 homers before the All-Star break, 91 in […]

Joe DiMaggio was just getting started on “this streak business”1 and was one of the hottest hitters in baseball when his New York Yankees were slugging their way toward a three-game sweep of the first-place Cleveland Indians in mid-June of 1941. DiMaggio had hit safely in 28 consecutive games, one shy of the Yankees’ club […]

The Philadelphia Phillies returned home on September 21, 1964, holding first place in the National League after winning six games on a three-city road trip. With 12 games to play, Philadelphia’s lead was 6½ games over the second-place Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. The city and team were looking forward to the World Series. […]

New Yorkers awoke to a dismal morning on June 13, 1948. Raindrops fell in spurts from low, gray clouds. A chill, unusual for late spring, filled the air. Players gathered in the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium. Where was Babe Ruth? The Yankees had scheduled a celebration on this day to mark the stadium’s 25th anniversary […]

Dick Stuart was fun – as long as you didn’t have to be on the field with him. He ran the bases head down and looking anywhere except at the third-base coach or the outfield or a teammate who might be able to tell him something, often sending his team out of the inning. As […]

The Grandstand Baseball Annual 1996 reprinted an article titled “Baseball Research Before SABR,” by Frank Phelps, which had originally appeared in the 1990 SABR membership directory. GBA’s editorial comment stated that Phelps’s article serves as the “definitive research road map,” and that “all the big names are there who contributed to baseball’s early foundation.” When […]

In April 1954, as Philadelphia Athletics third baseman Jim Finigan was launching his major-league career, The Sporting News contributor Art Morrow characterized him “as a fellow who could not miss major league stardom.”1 Earle Mack, a son of future Hall of Fame skipper Connie Mack, echoed the sentiment five months later: “[Finigan] played good, steady […]

He was not as flashy as his predecessor, Buck Weaver. But he was as refined and polished as a third baseman as one could find. He had quick and sure hands and outstanding range, and threw perfect strikes across the diamond. Hall of Fame pitcher Charles “Chief” Bender said he was the best third sacker […]

Harry O’Neill played in just one major-league baseball game, had no times at bat, and no putouts or assists. Still, he won a measure of immortality as one of only two major leaguers who lost their lives during World War II. He was killed in action on March 6, 1945, during the battle for the […]

Failed phenoms are commonplace in baseball, since it is the game of failure. Dick Wakefield, the first bonus baby, was the most expensive flop the game had ever seen. When he signed with the Tigers in 1941, he was hailed as another Ted Williams, even — blasphemy in Detroit — the second coming of Ty […]

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 […]

One might think Ed Kenna was a genteel soul who overachieved in his baseball life by appearing in two games with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1902. After all, the “poet pitcher” was a well-educated son of a US senator who authored two volumes of verse.1 Yet for years after his Philadelphia stint, Kenna starred in […]

In 1957, Valmy Thomas became the first man from the U.S. Virgin Islands to play in what were then classified as the major leagues. Since Thomas was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, some gave Joe Christopher this honor, but it really belonged to Thomas — until December 2020, when the Negro Leagues were recognized as […]

The highlight of Fred Curtis’s professional baseball career was a two-game appearance in St. Louis subbing for injured rookie first baseman Hal Chase and the 1905 New York Highlanders. Curtis’s personal life, however, hit a tragic low just four years later with the loss of his two infant children in an apartment fire. Frederick Marion […]

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 […]

Scooter Tucker was not unlike millions of boys who have aspired to play in the big leagues. It was a dream of his from an early age to play professional baseball. His influential mentors as a youth taught him how to play the game. His sports role models were former major leaguers from his hometown. […]

If You Are There had done an episode on nineteenth century baseball, Edward “Eddie” Kennedy could have been the lead character. He would play in the first World’s Series, and both the first professional game and the first American Association game in New York City. His career would also mirror the experience of many of […]

Jim Dyck’s major-league career was relatively short and undistinguished. It spanned six years, four of which involved stints in the minors, only one season with more than 400 at-bats and a mediocre .246 average. In his brief stint with the 1954 Indians, Dyck had only two plate appearances. Yet during his career Dyck helped set […]

Diminutive Texan outfielder Joe “Goobers” Bratcher had only one big-league at-bat in four games with the St. Louis Cardinals in late August 1924. Yet that was just one small facet of a baseball career spanning three decades. The happy-go-lucky outfielder played on seven pennant-winning minor-league teams in a five-year period. And no one could ever […]

The day the Yankees won Game Two of the 1953 World Series, 17-year-old Frank Leja was in New York signing a contract that made the sports pages across the country. The second-youngest Yankee ever reportedly received a $100,000 bonus.1 But like many mid-1950s “bonus babies,” Leja was a victim of the revised “bonus rule” of […]

Bert Thiel pitched four games for the 1952 Boston Braves, the extent of his major-league career. He had a long minor-league pitching career with 145 wins. He pitched two seasons of winter ball with Caguas, in Puerto Rico; managed in the minors; and scouted. His baseball mentors were George Selkirk, his manager with the 1953-55 […]

There were 54 men who played for both the Boston Braves and the Boston Red Sox, but in all of baseball history, there was only one who played for both teams in the same year. That was Gene Bailey, and the year was 1920. He hit .083 for the Braves and after he was purchased […]