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“THIRD DAY OF RECORD HEAT KILLS 37 IN NEW ENGLAND,” the front page of the Boston Globe boomed on the morning of July 5, 1911. Across Eastern Massachusetts, the searing heat was blamed for twisting freight rails, warping sidewalks, canceling some Fourth of July ceremonies, and causing a trolley crash that injured 33 people after […]

On October 3, 1909, when the Cincinnati Reds took the first game of a doubleheader from St. Louis, they were assured of both a winning season (their first since 1905) and a first-division finish (their first since 1904). Manager Clark Griffith celebrated by giving his regulars the rest of the day off. Griffith had been […]

In June of 1954, Phillies fans had a good idea of what they were going to see when Robin Roberts was on the mound. Although Roberts and his remaining Whiz Kids teammates had been unable to repeat their team success in the years after 1950, Roberts was at the top of his game individually. Between […]

Roberto Clemente on Opening Day of the 1960 season. (Courtesy of Dennis Morgan/Pittsburgh Courier Archives.)   An MVP, a Cy Young, two future Hall of Famers and a world championship, the Pittsburgh Pirates presaged all these honors by battering the Cincinnati Reds, 13-0, in their 1960 home opener. Pirates shortstop Dick Groat scored three runs […]

These days, a man coming from Gayville might be taunted in some circles, feted in others. There appear to be two Gayvilles in South Dakota, one an unincorporated place on the western edge of the state and the other a town in Yankton County in southeastern South Dakota. In 2010, the population was 407. In […]

Tom Ferrick was a baseball lifer. The right-hander won Game Three of the 1950 World Series, pitching in relief for the Yankees, a high point of a playing career in the majors that spanned 12 years. He served three years in the Navy in World War II and pitched for five teams from 1941 to […]

In the first 150 years of professional baseball, more major leaguers came from Pennsylvania than any state but California.1 Only one — John “Brode” Shovlin — was born in the tiny coal-mining town of Drifton.2 A diminutive middle-infielder with only 18 games spread over nine years and a .209 career batting average, Shovlin went eight […]

Frankie Frisch, the 35-year-old manager and second baseman of the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals, was an infielder for 19 years, spent 16 years managing NL teams, and put in some time as a broadcaster, all in the National League. His playing and managing exploits won him election to the Hall of Fame. Frank Francis Frisch […]

Steve McCatty, a big right-hander who pitched for the Oakland A’s from 1977-1985, was known for his fun-loving nature. Sports Illustrated said he was “the leading prankster on . . . a team of practical jokers.”1 Philadelphia infielder John Vukovich called him “a bona fide nut.”2 And A’s beat writer Glenn Schwarz described him as […]

A tall, lanky South Carolinian, Nate Snell didn’t debut in the majors until age 32. “It didn’t come as quickly as I would have liked,” he said. “But the point is that it came.”1 With good control and an outstanding sinker that induced lots of ground balls, the right-hander recorded a 3.29 ERA in 219 […]

John Woods – September 16, 1924. Pitcher Woods, back in the year 1924, appeared in just one major-league game and threw just one inning. It was late in the season, September 16, when Woods (born John Fulton Woods) was called on to pitch the eighth inning for the Boston Red Sox. The game was at […]

  The Pittsburgh Rebels visited Kansas City on May 6, 1914, and routed the Packers thanks in large part to “Eggie” Lennox’s efforts at the plate. With Pittsburgh down 1-0, Lennox doubled to right-center field to lead off the second inning and scored on an error. In the third Lennox sent a ball over the […]

The Cleveland Indians paid Pat Donahue $200 for a tip that led to the signing of Bob Feller in 1935. They later gave him another $200 to forestall him from making any claims for additional compensation. Donahue saw Rapid Robert while umpiring a semipro game in Des Moines. Before he moved on to umpiring, and […]

Bill Veeck’s one-man carnival came blaring into Chicago on March 10, 1959. He and an investor group bought a majority interest in the Chicago White Sox from Dorothy Comiskey Rigney, granddaughter of the franchise’s founder, Charles Comiskey. The 45-year-old Veeck was coming home. He liked to say, “I am the only human being ever raised […]

For baseball fans in New England, the 1967 season is known as the “Impossible Dream,” and for Russ Gibson it was doubly a dream fulfilled.. After toiling in the minors for ten years, 1967 was the year he achieved his dream of playing for the Boston Red Sox, his hometown team. Baseball writers of the […]

Although sometimes overshadowed by Andrew “Rube” Foster, lefthander Dan McClellan starred as one of the finest African-American pitchers during the twentieth century’s first decade. With his peak coming with the Cuban X Giants from 1900 to 1904, then the Philadelphia Giants from 1905 to 1910, he may have won 300 games over his career. McClellan […]

Charles Krehmeyer joined his first professional team in June 1883, signing with the Terre Haute (Indiana) Blues. When he made his major-league debut the following season, he joined a select club that even today numbers fewer than two dozen – catchers who threw left-handed and played more than one game in the majors. With only […]

Bob Osborn was a right-handed pitcher for the Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates in parts of six seasons from 1925 until 1931.  A spot starter and reliever in 1926 and 1927 for the Cubs, Osborn spent all of 1928 and most of 1929 in the minor leagues before Chicago made him a late-season call-up […]

William Angelo Consolo was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 18, 1934, the same day as Roberto Clemente. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was a child, and at the age of 8, he began playing baseball alongside his brother Horace, who preferred third base. While on the local playgrounds he met George […]

Ken Burns’s documentary Baseball opens with a line that characterizes the hard-driving spirit of Irish-blooded players like Jimmy Esmond, who came up in the early twentieth century. “The game’s greatest figures have come from everywhere: coal mines and college campuses, city slums and country crossroads. A brawling Irish immigrant’s son [John McGraw] who for more […]

Romer “Reddy” Grey made his major-league debut on May 28, 1903 at Boston, wearing the uniform of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 5’-11’, 175-pounder played left field for a club that included future Hall of Famers Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke. Veteran Beaneater southpaw Wiley Piatt faced the Pirates that day, and Pittsburgh was victorious, 7-6. A left-hand batter […]

Curt Simmons left the visiting dugout and was moving through the bowels of Yankee Stadium toward the visitors’ locker room when a roar erupted from the Yankee Stadium crowd. Simmons knew the third game of the 1964 World Series was over, but he had given the St. Louis Cardinals eight solid innings, allowing only four […]

Earl Williams’ career was one marked by achievement and controversy. During his newsworthy career, spanning parts of eight seasons, Williams reached the heights of a 1971 National League Rookie of the Year season, and the low of leaving baseball as persona non grata at the age of 29. Born July 14, 1948 in Newark, New […]

Near Boston Common and downstairs from Melville’s Seafood Restaurant,1 former Red Sox pitcher, reformed alcoholic, and unreformed ladies’ man Sam “Mayday” Malone ran a sports bar2 at 112½ Beacon Street — Cheers.3 The building that housed Melville’s and Cheers had once been a private home.4 Malone pitched five years for the Red Sox in the […]