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Hard-throwing left-hander Herb Hippauf’s major-league career was confined to three brief, ineffective relief appearances within a six-game span during the Braves’ 1966 inaugural season in Atlanta. Forced out of baseball the following season by chronic elbow pain, Hippauf parlayed his passion for the game, a keen eye for talent, and an exemplary work ethic into […]

Tony Lucadello was one of the best “ivory hunters” of all time — a scout with a keen eye for talent and street-smart in the way he watched and signed players. He was generally a quiet man, never drank or swore, and always dressed sharply in jacket, tie, and hat — a “gentlemen’s gentleman.”1 But […]

Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter Jr. was born August 13, 1915 in Montchanin, a community in New Castle County, Delaware. A month later, in nearby Philadelphia, the Phillies captured the first National League pennant in the team’s 32-year history. There was no connection then between these two events, but in time the Carpenter name and the […]

The Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse was filled with press and well-wishers the evening of June 3, 1968, all there to celebrate the fifth consecutive shutout of veteran right handed pitcher Don Drysdale. Amid the throng came longtime clubhouse man Nobe Kawano, holding a telegram for Drysdale that had just come in from Silver Spring, Md. […]

A life in baseball is how one might best describe the life of Fred Mitchell. He pitched in the very first game ever played by the Boston Red Sox franchise (an exhibition game in Charlottesville, Virginia), and 18 years later managed the Chicago Cubs against the Red Sox in the 1918 World Series. His major-league […]

He had just 11 big-league at-bats in 1990, but Brian Traxler was still a cult figure. Over 13 years as a pro, the first baseman delighted fans across the minors, the Caribbean winter leagues, Asia, and independent circuits. His immediate appeal was visual. “Trax” was rotund — leniently listed at 5-feet-10 and 200 pounds, he […]

A veteran of 12 major-league seasons, Alvaro Espinoza played a variety of roles for five different teams. He went from prospect with the Minnesota Twins to starting shortstop with the New York Yankees to utility infielder with three other teams. He is best remembered by Cleveland Indians fans as a versatile backup on the 1995 […]

Ted Sepkowski was still a student in high school when he started a game at second base for the Cleveland Indians in 1942. Unfortunately for Ted, his Major League career would consist of only nineteen games, played over three seasons. Sepkowski was a speedy runner but a defensive liability, and by the time he got […]

An era closed for both the Cuban and North American versions of a shared national pastime on April 23, 2014, when the oldest surviving former big-leaguer, Conrado Marrero, passed away quietly in his beloved native homeland.11 The news of the Cuban legend’s passing came less than 48 hours before a planned national celebration of the […]

Reliever John Wyatt may have been considered a journeyman reliever in his day, but his journeys led him to two fortuitous stops. One was in Boston, where he anchored the bullpen of the “Impossible Dream” Red Sox, who came within one game of winning their first World Series in nearly a half-century. The next year […]

When Tom Brokaw wrote about the “greatest generation,” he might have easily selected the life of Sid Hudson as one of its shining examples. Although he was never a baseball great, Hudson’s work in the sport spanned seven decades, stretching from the humble beginnings of Depression-era sandlot ball to the multibillion-dollar game of the present […]

The Cleveland Naps met the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on July 11, 1914. The pitching matchup was intriguing: The Naps started Willie Mitchell, a 24-year-old left-hander with a biting curveball, and the Red Sox sent a 19-year-old lefty, Babe Ruth, to the mound for his major league debut. The Naps were anxious to […]

Camp Skinner played in 1922 for the first-place New York Yankees. The next year, he played for the last-place Boston Red Sox. That was the sum total of his major-league experience. He didn’t play long for either team – 27 games for the Yankees and just seven for the Red Sox – and even though […]

In his last major-league at-bat, after 29 failed attempts spanning three months, Cleveland Naps rookie spitball pitcher Harry Fanwell finally got a base hit. Two innings later, the injured Fanwell limped off the field, never again to play in a major-league game. He ended up as a one-for-30 “one-hit wonder.” But Fanwell fans will always […]

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to be able to contribute to a team like this. I see how hard these guys work, and when I come up here from Triple A it’s not a vacation.” — Andy Dominique, after his first major-league hit with the 2004 Red Sox1   Andy Dominique played nine games in the […]

The game of baseball attracts all types of personalities, from the angry to the stoic to the eccentric to the comedic and everything in between. William M. “Big Bill” Brown, who played in the majors from 1887 through 1894, definitely falls into the comedic category, though he was also quite serious about the game. Though […]

Versatile in the field and with some extra-base pop in his bat, Don Savage overcame a chronic knee injury and other health problems to become a wartime member of the New York Yankees. In many ways, the arc of Savage’s baseball career can be traced through his physical condition. The knee injury, as well as […]

On June 24, 1946, the Spokane Indians, a Class B Western International League team full of World War II veterans and promising prospects, traveled by bus across Washington state for their next series in Bremerton. While the team stopped for dinner in Ellensburg, word came that third baseman Jack Lohrke had been recalled by the […]

Monday, August 10, may well have been the most important day of the entire 1981 baseball season. This was the day that regular season play would resume after a two-month players strike had wiped out more than one-third of the schedule. Furthermore, in Philadelphia that night, Pete Rose would become the all-time National League hits […]

“The Greatest Rhubarb In The History Of Braves Field” So said Boston Traveler sportswriter John Drohan in the September 28, 1951, edition of his newspaper, remarking upon the happenings at the previous day’s Braves-Dodgers tilt at the Wigwam. Brooklyn’s Dodgers were struggling to retain the top spot in the senior circuit’s standings. Their advantage over […]

When second baseman Bill Ripken was named to the Double-A Southern League All-Star team in 1986, the stars seemed to be aligning for him to join his father, Cal Sr., and older brother, Cal Jr., in the big leagues with the Baltimore Orioles. The elder Ripkens had already spent several years together in the majors, […]

This article was originally published in the December 2020 edition of the SABR Black Sox Scandal Committee Newsletter.   Eddie Cicotte expressed remorse later in life for his role in the 1919 World Series fix, but his words and actions at the time may indicate he was more of an instigator in the Black Sox […]

Editor’s note: This article was first presented at the 2003 SABR convention and was republished in the June 2013 edition of SABR’s Black Sox Scandal Research Committee newsletter.   By Ralph J. Christian Most people’s visions of Iowa and its connection to the Black Sox Scandal have been shaped by the movie Field of Dreams. […]

Sportsman’s Park was home of the St. Louis Browns from 1902 to 1953. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.)   Introduction Achieving on-field success has often proved elusive to owners of the Baltimore Orioles and its predecessor teams, the St. Louis Browns and Milwaukee Brewers. The franchise, dating back to the inception of the American […]