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Scott Podsednik made his money stealing bases, distracting defenses, and putting pitchers off their game, but it’s his unlikely and now legendary walk-off home run to win Game Two of the 2005 World Series that he’s most remembered for and that will forever endear him to White Sox fans. The Chicago White Sox had gone […]

Walter Paul Gautreau was born on July 26, 1901 in Cambridge, MA. His parents, Henri and Bibienne Gautreau, came to the United States from Sorel, Quebec, Canada after having lived earlier in New Brunswick. The Gautreau brood consisted of Walter, three other brothers and a sister. His first words as a child were spoken in French and he […]

Recounted and savored over generations, four iconic moments share a single connective thread. In each tableau, Chicago Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett was not only present at the moment, but was an active participant in the various scenes.  Even without those brushes with what came to approach mythological status, Gabby Hartnett was a Hall of Fame […]

In Game Four of the 1932 World Series — the last major league game of his 14-year career — he struck out Babe Ruth two consecutive times. A decade earlier, he won 35 games in one (very long) minor league season. Later a tobacco farmer and the best player to ever hail from Wendell, North […]

On July 27, 1948, Hank “Bow Wow” Arft’s major-league career began for the St. Louis Browns against the New York Yankees at Sportsman’s Park. He was called up to St. Louis from the Toledo Mud Hens at the end of July. Arft tripled and homered in his first major-league game and batted .400 in his […]

Jeff Newman had a long career in professional baseball, spanning 36 years from 1970 to 2006. After six years in the Cleveland Indians’ minor-league system, he played nine years in the major leagues, mostly as a catcher for the Oakland Athletics and the Boston Red Sox. After his playing days, he was a coach for […]

Although he hurled but a single game in the major leagues, Lefty Clarke achieved a measure of fame for his many successful years in the Blue Ridge League, both before and after World War I, and later for his career as a horse breeder and trainer in his native Maryland. Clarke was born Allen Thomas […]

George “Bo” Strickland was the starting shortstop on the 1954 Cleveland Indians team that won the American League pennant and compiled one of baseball’s finest records ever, 111-43. He went hitless (0-for-9) in that season’s World Series, the only one he ever played in, as the Indians were swept by the New York Giants. Strickland […]

In the long and successful history of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball club, few people have been more important than Sam Breadon, who owned the team for 27 years and presided over nine league pennants and six World Series titles. Much of the club’s success has been attributed to Branch Rickey, the team’s genius general […]

He was a slender Venezuelan outfielder whose defensive skill and joie de vivre earned him a 21-year professional career, highlighted by one of the postseason’s all-time most memorable plays. A reminder of Endy Chávez‘s magnificent catch in Game Six of the 2006 National League Championship Series greets entrants to the left-field gate at Citi Field […]

Chuck Dobson might be best remembered as one of the first white players to room with an African-American on road trips, and as the first active player to admit using “greenies” (amphetamines) while playing. But that would be a disservice to the hard-throwing right-hander who seemed destined for a long career in the big leagues […]

Bobby Young grew up near Baltimore when the city had no major-league team. But like his grandfather, who remembered the Orioles’ championship clubs of the late 19th century, he longed for big-league baseball to return. When that did happen, Young became the first player to sign a contract with the modern-day Orioles. His major-league career […]

Unlike Leo Durocher, the man he replaced as Brooklyn Dodgers manager for the 1947 season, Burt Shotton was no gruff, umpire-baiting field general. He was instead a calm, serious baseball lifer who, like the more illustrious Connie Mack, wore his street clothes in the dugout during his tenure in Brooklyn. His quiet demeanor did not […]

The last position player who played with a major-league club for an entire season and hit .400 was not Ted Williams, but it was a fellow Red Soxer: Roger LaFrancois. Roger used to go to Red Sox games as a kid. He signed with the Red Sox and came up in their system, even receiving […]

Perhaps the greatest example of the old baseball cliché “good field, no hit,” Raymond Francis Oyler was the regular shortstop for two late-1960s Detroit Tigers teams, including the world champion 1968 squad, as well as the original Seattle Pilots the following season. Ray compiled a sub-”Mendoza line” .175 career batting average—the lowest of any player […]

Ed Connolly Sr. was a catcher for the Boston Red Sox; his son, Ed Jr., was a pitcher for the Red Sox. Edward Connolly Sr. had been born in Brooklyn in 1908. He played for the Red Sox 1929-1932, with a career batting mark of .178 (he garnered precisely 100 plate appearances in 1931 despite […]

Nearly forgotten today amid the pantheon of great Deadball Era hurlers, Earl “Crossfire” Moore–so nicknamed for his unorthodox method of shooting a sidearm pitch from the very end of the rubber–ranked as one of the American League’s most promising young players during the first five years of its existence. Six feet tall, square-jawed, and with […]

To be an everyday player for nearly every year of a 13-year career with just one team, a player must be doing something right. For Pete “Pecky” Suder, a career .249 hitter, a dependable glove and versatility were the keys to that longevity. Playing only for the Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics from 1941-1955 (with 1944-45 spent […]

Righty Elías Sosa was a useful reliever for eight different big-league teams. He appeared in 601 games at the top level from 1972 through 1983. He posted 83 saves, with a high of 18 in both 1973 and 1979. Though Sosa was never a big strikeout pitcher, “he’s got a good fastball and excellent slider,” […]

“There was no better teammate. … He’ll do anything to win.” – James “Cool Papa” Bell1   When legendary pitcher Satchel Paige became the first to be inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971 based on his Negro League accomplishments, he told Afro-American reporter Sam Lacy that he thought there were others […]

Cal Ripken Sr. spent 36 years in the Baltimore Orioles organization as a player, manager, coach, scout, and minor league instructor. Hundreds of Oriole prospects benefited under the tutelage of the man who once said, “Don’t just practice. Practice right, and you’ll do things right in the game. Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes […]

Ray Moore was the long reliever and an occasional starter for the pennant-winning 1959 Chicago White Sox. Control problems that plagued Moore, especially early in his career as a highly-regarded Dodger prospect, resurfaced in 1959, limiting the big right-hander’s effectiveness. Raymond Leroy Moore, the ninth of 10 children of Clarence and Mary “Maggie” Moore, was […]

He had underdog appeal and looked like a big Pacific teddy bear. But that alone didn’t make Benny Agbayani such a fan favorite in New York City – the Hawaiian backed it up with some strong major-league performance. “You have to understand,” said his biggest backer, Mets manager Bobby Valentine, in 1999. “I’ve never seen […]

Plummeting through a disastrous homestand in 1950, the onset of an eight-season purgatory in the lowest rungs of the National League standings, the Pittsburgh Pirates called up Vern Law from their Double-A affiliate in New Orleans. In Law’s first big-league start, on June 11 at Forbes Field, the 20-year-old right-hander outlasted Philadelphia Phillies ace Robin […]