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Arthur Daley of the New York Times once wrote that Mike Ryba had been “too good for his own good.”1 One way or another, Mike Ryba seemed to be associated with saints for a great part of his life. He went to St. Adrian’s in DeLancey, Pennsylvania, a coal-mining town of about 2,000 people, for […]

With almost a century having passed since the end of his fitful professional career, right-handed pitcher Hi Jasper is an elusive subject, a hard man to pin down. But two Jasper characteristics are unmistakable. He had ability — such astute talent evaluators as Jimmy Callahan, Frank Chance, and Pants Rowland recognized his merits. Yet Jasper’s […]

Signed to the Boston Red Sox by Frank “Bots” Nekola, the same scout who signed Carl Yastrzemski, outfielder Joe Lahoud faced some stiff competition trying to break into the majors. At the time, his path intersected with those of both Yaz and local Boston favorite Tony Conigliaro. Lahoud came from Danbury, Connecticut, born there on […]

During Hank Peters’ 12 seasons (1976-1987) as the Baltimore Orioles’ general manager, his teams won at least 90 games six times. Twice he was named The Sporting News’ Executive of the Year – following Baltimore’s 1979 American League pennant and 1983 World Series championship. But Peters accomplished much more over his 45 years in professional […]

Bob Chance – a lefty-hitting, righty-throwing right fielder and first baseman – played on three major-league teams in six seasons in the 1960s. At 6-foot-2, Chance was big and powerful. Gripping the bat with his right palm wrapped around the knob of the bat, he hit colossal home runs, some of which allegedly traveled over […]

Luman Harris said, “I wish baseball went on 12 months a year.”1 He spent 35 years in the game as a pitcher, coach, and manager, and enjoyed most of it, despite more losing seasons than winners. Chalmer Luman Harris was born in New Castle, Alabama, on January 17, 1915, the third of six children of […]

Despite having a lifetime .236 batting average, Randy Hundley is one of the most beloved Chicago Cubs of all time. The Virginia native played 10 seasons with the Cubs in the 1960s and 1970s and was considered a leader on the field for the team that endured a historic collapse in 1969. Hundley also introduced […]

Bob Cerv survived kamikaze attacks in World War II and put all 10 of his children through college. In between, he was a three-time New York Yankee. The Yankees signed him, traded him, brought him back, let him go, and brought him back again. His claim to Yankee fame came in 1961, when he shared […]

Bob Bruce was a promising prospect with the Detroit Tigers in the 1950s, but his progress was delayed because he missed most of 1957 and 1958 while serving in the Army. The 6-foot-3 righty pitched in just 50 games for the Tigers as a swingman from 1959 through 1961. He got a chance to become […]

Venezuela has been a cradle of shortstops since 1950, when Alfonso “Chico” Carrasquel made his debut in the majors with the Chicago White Sox. In his steps followed Luis Aparicio, the only Venezuelan in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Dave Concepción, Ozzie Guillén, and then another shortstop who played more games at that position […]

Charlie Jamieson was a star American League outfielder during the 1920s. In a career spanning 1915-1932, the speedy singles hitter achieved a .303 batting average with 1,990 hits in 1,779 games. In addition to being a very good leadoff man, he also had a fine reputation in the field. Jamieson initially struggled to find his […]

When the Baltimore Orioles announced their 2015 Hall of Fame class, it seemed fitting that Gary Roenicke and John Lowenstein would be inducted together. The two previously shared left field duties for the Orioles in the late 1970s and early 1980s, not an ideal situation for Roenicke – a former first-round pick still in the […]

“Honest Jack” Boyle was a “19th century multi-position sensation.”1 He was the first of only five major-league players to log 500 games at catcher and at least two seasons of 100 games or more at first base (with Joe Mauer, Joe Torre, Gene Tenace, and Mike Napoli).2 Boyle abandoned boxing to become a major-league catcher […]

Neither team had much of a problem getting runners on base during this Wednesday Ladies Night game between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis in August 1951. It was scoring that presented the problem. Manager Zack Taylor’s eighth-place Browns were already well out of the pennant race […]

Harmon Killebrew was the face of the Minnesota Twins during the team’s first 14 years in the Twin Cities. He hit 475 home runs as a member of the Twins, 244 of which came at Metropolitan Stadium.1 On this day, Killebrew was making his final appearance in Minnesota, wearing an unfamiliar Kansas City Royals uniform. […]

The 1958 season was one of change in minor-league baseball, especially at the highest level. With the migration of the two New York National League teams to California, there was a realignment of locations and affiliations. New Pacific Coast League teams were established in Spokane, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City. Minneapolis of the American Association […]

On September 30, 1982, a recovering alcoholic and former Red Sox reliever was working at his bar on Beacon Street when a Boston University graduate student came in for a drink with her fiancé—and boss. Much to the student’s surprise, her fiancé decided to leave the bar and return to his ex-wife. Now unemployed, she […]

Forty thousand fans turned out at Navin Field on a cloudy and chilly Tuesday afternoon to witness an extraordinary homecoming: Ty Cobb, the greatest Tiger of them all, was returning to Detroit – in the uniform of the visiting team. The Tigers had fallen from fourth to sixth place in 1926, and to many it […]

The New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals were ready to square off in Game One of the 2015 World Series. A crowd of 40,320 packed Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium on October 27. This was a special date for both clubs. The Royals’ last Series championship came on October 27, 1985, and the Mets […]

The Chicago Cubs’ Hack Wilson jogged out to his position in center field to start the home half of the seventh inning. Turning toward the diamond, he again took note of the late afternoon sun, which had descended to a point almost directly above Shibe Park’s double-decked grandstand behind home plate. The dazzling orb’s slanting […]

The Pittsburgh Pirates “played headier baseball this afternoon than they have at any time in the series,” gushed Smoky City sportswriter Chester L. Smith, as the NL pennant winners beat the Washington Senators, 6-3, in Game Five of the fall classic to stave off elimination.1 The Bucs’ offense, which had scored only seven runs in […]

Wait ’til Next Year? The cry became a euphemism for a baseball season gone awry and nowhere did it receive greater play than in the 1940s and 1950s with the Brooklyn Dodgers and their long-suffering fans.1 The 1955 World Series title meant that next year was finally here. All the suffering was relegated to the […]

Baseball fans in the small-town New York-Penn League discovered an extra reason to go to games in the summer of 1975. On certain nights, there was a chance that beloved Hall of Famer Yogi Berra might join them in the stands at one of the short-season Class A loop’s modest ballparks. Yogi and his wife, […]

“The Grand Old Dame of 7th and Florida, familiarly known as Griffith Stadium, gave up the ghost quietly,” proclaimed sportswriter Bob Addie about the final baseball game in the storied history of the ballpark in the nation’s capital. “There were no eulogies, no ceremonies, no tears.” A sparse crowd of just 1,498 spectators showed up […]