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Marty McHale was hardly a household name as a baseball player, singer, or writer. However, he led a full, enjoyable life because he was unafraid of living it to the limit. His many endeavors and accomplishments are a tribute to a person who was blessed with joie de vivre. As a right-handed pitcher, McHale was […]
Right-handed pitcher Howie “Spud” Krist overcame a series of ailments and potentially career-threatening injuries to post an undefeated season (10-0) for the Cardinals in 1941 after a three-year absence from the major leagues. As an important member of the Cardinals’ World Series teams in 1942 and 1943, Krist sported a 37-11 lifetime record before a […]
Until Hugo came along in 1989, Hurricane Hazel (1954) was the strongest storm ever to strike the South Carolina coast. Thus it is fitting that a man from the Palmetto State should be the mighty storm’s namesake: right fielder Bob Hazle, who hit the National League with a bang late in the 1957 season. Although […]
The 1914 home run leader in professional baseball wasn’t Gavvy Cravath or even Frank “Home Run” Baker, but an unassuming 21-year-old Georgia lumber farmer named Everett Bankston, who banged out 31 homers with Cordele in the Class D Georgia State League in his very first professional season. He never came close to matching that production […]
After being stuck in the New York Yankees minor-league system for seven seasons, Lee Thomas spent 1961 through 1968 as a big-league player. The first baseman/outfielder was an All-Star in his best year, 1962 – but his finest day came in the final month of his rookie season. On September 5, 1961, Thomas (then with […]
A “short, stocky, active, aggressive” second baseman, Otto Knabe teamed with shortstop Mickey Doolan to provide the Phillies with one of the most notorious double-play tandems of the Deadball Era.1 After seven years in Philadelphia, Knabe jumped to the Federal League in 1914 to lead the Baltimore Terrapins. But in Baltimore and two later minor […]
Spin rate and rotation are buzz words of 21st century pitching, but they were just as important in the 19th century. Left-hander Toad Ramsey, who began his career in 1885, was renowned for the motion on his drop ball. “Toad Ramsey, beyond all doubt, had a patented drop ball rotating faster than any other, and this […]
In September 1970, amid a woeful stretch for Cleveland baseball, a David and Goliath battle played out in front of 7,857 fans in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The 97-win Orioles, who had already clinched the American League East, started Dave McNally in pursuit of his 24th victory. Cleveland gave local flamethrower Jim Rittwage his first big-league […]
Pat Gillick served four different stints as a general manager, and during each his task was different. That he succeeded at all four marks Gillick among the very best in the history of the game. In Toronto, he built an expansion team into one of baseball’s best organizations (winning 86 or more games for 11 […]
When the curtain rose on the New York Yankees’ 1929 season, for the first time in team history each ballplayer wore a numbered jersey. Catching for New York that day was John Grabowski, the large block 8 on his back signifying his spot in the batting order. One of three backstops that Yankee manager Miller […]
If there were a Hall of Fame for baseball comedians, it would surely include legendary funnymen like Arlie Latham, Germany Schaefer, and Nick Altrock – and perhaps also Carl Sawyer. This fun-loving comic with his own brand of tomfoolery entertained major-league audiences as a member of the Washington Senators in 1915 and 1916. He later […]
The Philadelphia Phillies’ World Series victory in 1980 was the culmination of a long rebuilding process. From 1968 to 1974, the Phillies suffered through seven straight losing seasons and had six different managers. While things seemed grim, the Phillies had a plan. They drafted well and stocked their farm system with good players, many of […]
On June 24, 1945, seven weeks after the German Wehrmacht surrendered to the Allied armies and on the e day more than 40,000 Russian troops paraded through Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate their victory over the Nazi invaders, a son was born to Mary and Ralph Zeigler in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, on June 24, 1945. William […]
John Edward Kennedy was born in Chicago on May 29, 1941, the 24th birthday of future President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. John Edward came to the major leagues with the Washington Senators during John Fitzgerald’s administration. A love letter to baseball’s Kennedy from his fiancée once was sent to the White House (where that type of […]
Harry Walker was born to baseball and spent his life in the game. The son of one major leaguer and the brother of another, he was an All-Star outfielder, the lightning-rod manager of three teams, and a controversial hitting guru. Harry and Dixie Walker are the only brothers to win batting titles. When Harry came […]
José Luis Meléndez García was born on September 2, 1965, in Naguabo, a small town on the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. The municipality is famous for its empanadillas de chapín, a tasty fried turnover stuffed with cowfish. Blessed with a powerful right arm, Meléndez was destined to toil not as a fisherman, but rather […]
The fourth man from the Bahamas to play in the major leagues, Ed Armbrister was a spare part in Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine. His career was modest (265 at-bats in 224 games), but he won World Series rings in 1975 and 1976. Yet for Boston Red Sox fans, Armbrister was in the wrong place at […]
After a breakout 1961 season during which he won 18 games and struck out a National League modern-day record 269 batters,1 Sandy Koufax was even better during the first months of the 1962 campaign. Prior to a Dodgers’ mid-June three-game series in Milwaukee, the 26-year-old had compiled an 8-2 record (3.02 ERA), with 131 strikeouts […]
With the 1983 World Series knotted after two games, Philadelphia played host for Game Three. Both teams were concerned about their offense as the key hitter in each lineup was in a slump. Eddie Murray of the Orioles had been hitless since his single in the first inning of Game One. More importantly, he failed […]
For decades the Braves traditionally started each big-league season in Boston with a handful of “City Series” games against their crosstown rivals, the Red Sox.[fn]A complete history of the City Series may be found in Frank J. Williams, The Battle for Baseball Supremacy In Boston: A Chronicle Of The Annual City “Championship Series” Between The […]
It was a warm spring day in Pittsburgh as 2,861 fans filed into Forbes Field to watch two struggling teams, their hometown Pirates and the visiting Boston Braves. They were witness to the National League debut of an exceptional talent whose arrival was delayed by segregation: 37-year-old shortstop James “Buster” Clarkson of the Braves.1 Born […]
Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart grew up in Oakland, playing youth baseball together.1 Whether it was at Bushrod Field in North Oakland or on diamonds in East Oakland,2 they played regularly with buddies who also made it to the majors, such as Gary Pettis and Lloyd Moseby. The Oakland area has a proud tradition of […]
Over the course of his 13-year major-league career spent entirely with the Detroit Tigers, Gates Brown established himself as one of baseball’s all-time best pinch-hitters. Brown, nicknamed The Gator, possessed a classic profile for a pinch-hitter: a good but not great bat with questionable defensive skills. Brown’s first pinch-hit success came in his major-league debut […]
Sometimes all of the elements of the story of a ballgame are not known right away. The score is known but quite often the story of the game goes far beyond the score and so it was on April 22, 1947. For the record, the Brooklyn Dodgers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 in the opener […]