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Ironically, the Chicago Cubs got off to an auspicious start in baseball’s centennial year. They began the 1969 season with the National League’s best Opening Day record: 39 wins, 28 losses, 2 ties. And there was plenty of optimism on Chicago’s North Side as the newly-configured major leagues got underway. George Vass wrote of the […]

 Two weeks after the Cleveland Indians’ Larry Doby broke the America League’s color barrier on July 5, 1947, Kansas City Monarchs stars Hank Thompson and Willard Brown received a telegram from Bill DeWitt, general manager of the last-place St. Louis Browns. They were told to report to St. Louis for the following night’s game, making […]

In 2019 a record 42,823 batters struck out1 — more than 17 per game. Dozens of pitchers today average a strikeout or more every inning. Yet the single-game record of 21 strikeouts by a pitcher, set in 1962, still stands. Changes in the game — strict pitch counts and the rarity of starters going even […]

When Ned Hanlon became manager of the Baltimore Orioles in May of 1892, the team was a dysfunctional group largely composed of insubordinate and unmotivated players. They finished in last place in the 12-team National League, losing 101 games, and that was an intolerable situation for Hanlon, a man who hated to lose.  He immediately […]

Mention the name Heinie Zimmerman to followers of baseball lore and they will more than likely think of one thing above all: the New York Giants third baseman’s futile pursuit of Eddie Collins down the third-base line in Game Six of the 1917 World Series. That’s the play in which Zimmerman’s Giants teammates botched a […]

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, a time when black baseball was wide open and strapped for cash, Curtis Harris was in his element. Arriving in Kansas City as a 29-year-old rookie out of Texas in 1931, the good-looking Harris hacked his way from one end of the circuit to the other, leaving opponents, […]

Jerry Coleman was a true American war hero who played a little baseball for the New York Yankees during the times the Marines did not demand his services. He was the only major-league ballplayer to see combat in both World War II and the Korean Conflict.1 And he saw more than just a little combat […]

“The fascinating thing about baseball is that everyone knows that it is a business and you have to win and you have to draw fans to be successful, but you still have fun along the line doing all that,” Bill Rigney once said. “I don’t think I ever woke up one day in my life […]

Ask any serious Tigers fan over a certain age and they’ll tell you that the sound of Tiger Stadium was always a little bit louder than normal when Gates Brown was announced as a pinch-hitter. And why not? After 13 seasons in Detroit, not only did the “Gator” retire as the American League’s all-time pinch-hitting […]

George Kihm learned to play ball on the diamonds of the Ohio Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb in Columbus. The school sent more than a handful of men into professional baseball. By looking at Kihm it was hard to see any physical imperfections. He was gentlemanly, good looking and tall with […]

In the American League’s first-ever season-ending tiebreaker, the Cleveland Indians’ rookie sensation, Gene Bearden, faced the Boston Red Sox on October 4, 1948 at Fenway Park. At stake was who would face the Boston Braves in the World Series. Bearden’s last two starts had been shutout victories, giving him a 19-7 won-lost record for the […]

Throughout his minor league career, pitcher Lou Polchow was a notoriously slow starter, struggling with his control and effectiveness until the weather warmed. When he failed to round into shape in the spring of 1911, there were claims that he was “an indifferent sort of fellow”1 and, “not in the best of condition.”2 No one […]

A few more feet was all Clint Conatser needed. His hard shot to center with the bases loaded and the Braves trailing 4-1 in the eighth inning of Game Six of the 1948 World Series was caught by Cleveland’s Thurman Tucker against the outfield fence; had the ball hit or cleared the wall just above […]

Even the most casual of baseball fans are aware of Christy Mathewson’s on-field accomplishments, but the baseball career of his younger brother Henry Mathewson is less than common knowledge. And while the events leading to the death of the famous “Matty” have been told several times, few know of the tragic life of Henry or […]

On February 27, 1999, Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas, rededicated its baseball park Katt-Isbel Field in honor of Ray Katt, the Bulldogs’ head baseball coach from 1971 until his 1992 retirement.1 For Katt it was a bookend event to a lifetime spent in baseball, including eight full or partial seasons (1952-1959) in the majors […]

Rick Manning, to quote journalist Steve Eby, “just might be the ultimate Cleveland Indian.”1 He was drafted by the Indians in 1972 and played center field for them from 1975 to 1983, when he was traded during the season to the Milwaukee Brewers. He played for the Brewers through 1987. Manning returned to Cleveland to […]

Over a major-league career that lasted 10 seasons, Elden Auker played for Hall of Fame managers Bucky Harris, Mickey Cochrane (who called him “Mule Ears”), and Joe Cronin (who severely limited Auker’s effectiveness by calling, from his shortstop position, each pitch Auker was to throw). Auker was a teammate of Hall of Famers Hank Greenberg, Charlie […]

For Red Sox outfielder Tommy McBride, the 1946 World Series between Boston and the St. Louis Cardinals had some great moments mixed with some bad memories. One high point came on Sunday, October 6, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis when McBride, playing alongside Ted Williams and Dom DiMaggio, started in right field in the […]

Big Bill James’s involvement, if any, in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal remains curiously unexplored by most baseball historians. Yet the tall right-handed pitcher from Michigan pops up in three different game-fixing incidents during the Deadball Era. As a member of the Chicago White Sox for just two months in 1919, James saw little action […]

Smart, tenacious and personable, Nelson (Nellie) Briles attributed much of his baseball success to his strong family ties. He once called his family the “foundation” of his life.1 “With five children in the family,” he once recalled, “my parents managed to somehow keep me playing the game. I’ll never be able to repay them. Words […]

Mike Goliat has long been the answer to a popular trivia question about the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies: Who was the second baseman on the Whiz Kids? Since 1950 was the only full year that Goliat spent in the major leagues, the answer to that question eludes many.1 But Goliat was a solid-fielding second baseman (a […]

Developing a passion for umpiring began at a young age for Dave Phillips, and baseball was simply in his family’s DNA. His parents met on a St. Louis baseball field in the 1930s while his mother, Helen Creamer, was playing softball and his father, Bob Phillips, was umpiring her games. Their son grew up to […]

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Black Sox Scandal Committee’s December 2023 newsletter. Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, center left, and American League president Ban Johnson, center right, seen here in 1911, were friends and business partners when they founded the AL together at the turn of the 20th century. Two decades […]

New York Giants manager John McGraw, left, and team owner Charles Stoneham in the early 1920s. (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY)   INTRODUCTION The New York-San Francisco Giants baseball club is among the most storied franchises in the annals of professional sport. To fans, mention of the club’s name promptly evokes images of Willie […]