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Despite his status as a budding star for the St. Louis Cardinals, a month into the 1955 season rookie pitcher Luis Arroyo longed to be home in Puerto Rico with his pregnant wife. As only the fifth pitcher in the formerly segregated major leagues to hail from Puerto Rico, he had no army of fellow […]

On September 3, 1964, Don Larsen of the lowly Houston Colt .45s tossed a four-hit shutout against the first-place Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.1 Larsen allowed only six baserunners en route to his first whitewash in more than five years.2 Phillies third baseman Dick Allen, who was favored to win the National […]

Milwaukee Braves right-hander Joey Jay made baseball history in 1953 when he became the first former Little Leaguer to play in the major leagues. A native of Middletown, Connecticut, Jay had joined the town’s Little League team at age 12 in 1948, nine years after Little League’s 1939 founding in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Jay signed with […]

When the Brooklyn Tip-Tops and Newark Peppers met in Brooklyn on September 6, 1915, for a repeat performance of the two states/one-day doubleheader they had played on Memorial Day, any hopes for Federal League box-office success were long since gone, especially in Brooklyn. Not only was Robert Ward’s Brookfeds team offering a lower-quality product, their […]

After 15 seasons of pitching for the New York Giants, many of them dominant, Christy Mathewson was clearly not himself as the 1915 season began. The revered “Matty” lost his first three starts, posting a 4.50 ERA over that span. He was reported to have taken up the spitball for the first time – though […]

On April 15, 1972, New York Mets fans filed into Shea Stadium with somber faces on Opening Day, an occasion usually inspiring smiles, laughs, and hopes. But rooters in blue and orange from Montauk to Monmouth County felt the weight of absence; Mets manager Gil Hodges had died on April 2, when a fatal heart […]

Tommy Moore was drafted as an outfielder but made it to the majors as a pitcher. He appeared with four teams in parts of four seasons from 1972 through 1977, posting a won-lost record of 2-4 and an ERA of 5.40 in 42 games, largely in relief. “He would have been a great candidate for […]

One might expect to find “Sir” before the ever-so-posh name of Percival Edmund Wentworth Ford. If not knighthood, then perhaps an OBE would be in order. The reality was humbler, though — Wenty Ford was a soft-tossing little pitcher from the Bahamas who took the mound for just four games in the majors in 1973. […]

Stories about Art Quirk’s golden arm and Ivy League degree accompanied the left-handed pitcher on his rise to the major leagues. There were double-digit strikeout games and a no-hitter. Most newspaper profiles mentioned the rarified source of his college diploma. But the excitement of his 1962 debut was short-lived when he was bumped from the […]

At the turn of the century, professional baseball players had a general reputation for fast living and coarse behavior. While there were some notable exceptions, like Christy Mathewson, most players had little formal education, and many were poorly equipped for the transition after their playing careers ended. One exception to this portrayal is Simon Burdette […]

Early in his career on the baseball diamond he was a man without a position. Luckily for him, the power emanating from his bat allowed him to hang around the major leagues long enough to settle into the only position he could play reasonably well. He came from Native American – or, in the common […]

Spittin’ Bill Doak still ranks second in career shutouts for the St. Louis Cardinals, behind only Bob Gibson. In 1914, his first full season in the majors, Doak came out of nowhere to lead the National League in ERA as the Cardinals achieved third place, their best NL finish ever. He followed with solid but […]

Some said that baseball owners found Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis on the federal bench, but Leo Durocher got it right when he said, “They got him right out of Dickens.”1 Ruth put the fans back in the parks, but Landis made sure what they witnessed was honest. The Sultan and the Czar worked different sides […]

Which pitcher earned the first win for the expansion Montreal Expos in 1969? If you said left-handed reliever Don Shaw, you would be correct. Besides the Expos, Shaw, a journeyman pitcher, applied his craft in parts of five seasons between 1967 and 1972 for the New York Mets, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Oakland […]

In the minors from 1902 to 1914, pitcher Rube Vickers achieved an impressive 217-134 record.1 His numbers were extraordinary in 1906: 517 innings pitched, 409 strikeouts, and 39 wins for Seattle in the Pacific Coast League.2 In 1908, his only full season in the majors, he posted an 18-19 record for the Philadelphia Athletics. Vickers […]

As of September 2020, when this story was originally published, the two oldest living major leaguers were Eddie Robinson and George Elder, both veterans of WWII. Robinson served in the Navy but because of a leg operation was never in a combat zone. Elder served as a Marine artilleryman in the Pacific theatre. He served […]

A versatile fielder who could play second, third, or short, Heinie Zimmerman rose to prominence with the Chicago Cubs during the early teens as a lovable eccentric whose aggressive batting style won the loyalty of fans and the respect of opposing pitchers. But despite winning the National League’s Triple Crown in 1912, the lifetime .295 […]

James “Farmer” “Slab” Burns, “the Ashtabula Midget,” had two more nicknames than innings pitched in Major League Baseball. Standing 5-foot-7 and weighing 168 pounds, it’s easy to assume how he earned one of those, but the origin of the other two monikers is not the only mystery presented by James Burns.1 As of 2017, no […]

One of the most popular players ever to play for the Boston Red Sox, Rico Petrocelli will always be remembered for his familiar “Fenway Stroke” that sent many an opposing hurler’s offerings into the net atop the left field wall. Although he was not physically imposing at 6-feet and 175 pounds, he hit 210 home […]

Though known today as “Nixey” Callahan, the slim, 5-feet-10, 180-pound, right-handed jack of all trades rarely used that moniker during his big league days. Nixey was a childhood nickname that Jimmy largely left behind when his baseball skills took him from his native Fitchburg, Massachusetts to the pinnacle of the sport — although the local […]

Even though David Matranga’s major-league career featured just one hit – a home run in his first at-bat – it gave him credibility for his post-playing job. “It changed the course of a lot of things for me,” said Matranga. “I played (professional baseball) for 12 years. Some people can say I was one of the […]

Four swings made Dusty Rhodes famous. The pinch-hitting hero of the 1954 World Series, when the underdog New York Giants swept the Cleveland Indians, Rhodes delivered key hits in three of the four victories. And he never had to pay for another drink in New York. “You know what Rhodes was?” his manager, Leo Durocher, […]

Dick Williams was regarded as one of baseball’s premier managers and turnaround artists. He was only the second skipper to win pennants for three different teams — Boston, Oakland, and San Diego.1 As a rookie manager in 1967, Williams led the Red Sox from ninth place the year before to the World Series. Both personally […]

This article appears in SABR’s “Go-Go to Glory: The 1959 Chicago White Sox” (2019), edited by Don Zminda.   On May 7, 2000, Dodgers announcer Vin Scully gave Fordham University’s 155th commencement speech. “Don’t let the winds blow away your dreams or your faith in God,” he said. “And remember, sometimes your wildest dreams come […]