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“Me a pop-off? Aw, that’s bunk.” — Mickey Harris, Boston Post, May 20, 1941 Mickey Harris is well known for an impressive amount of self-confidence and for posting a 17-9 record as one of the key components of the starting staff that carried the 1946 Boston Red Sox to their World Series showdown with the […]

The son of a blacksmith becomes a major-league baseball player, and then a medical doctor. This quintessential American success story belongs to Merle Theron Adkins, who was born in Troy, Wisconsin on August 5, 1872. He was the son of Susan and Emery Adkins. While growing up, Merle was known as Addie or Babe or […]

Ray Rippelmeyer pitched 39 1/3 innings in 18 games for the 1962 Washington Senators. Over 11 minor-league seasons, the right-hander compiled a .579 winning percentage with a record of 114 wins and 83 losses in 330 games. He also played winter ball in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. After his playing days, Rippelmeyer’s work […]

“He was a faithful, conscientious player, who always worked to win and could always be depended upon.”1 To have something very complimentary said about you at your passing is gratifying, but the person who says it can be as telling about your life. This testimonial was made by 1870s star ballplayer (and future Hall of […]

Fred Osborne was a Canadian pitcher and outfielder who won three consecutive minor league batting titles, played for the worst Pittsburgh team in National League history, and had to be institutionalized in his early 40s. His death details were unconfirmed until 2019. Frederick W. Osborne was born in May 1865, in Alberta, Canada. His father […]

Bob “Bucky” Oldis wasn’t an All-Star, or even a journeyman major leaguer, but he had much more than just a “cup of coffee.” He was a true lover of the game who liked to have fun. Along the way, he played in 135 games, hit a major-league home run, got three hits in one game, […]

Ted Wilks burst on the national scene as a 28-year-old rookie pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1944 by winning a league-best 11 games in a row en route to a 17-4 record and helping lead the Redbirds to their second World Series title in three years. When the hard-throwing right-hander developed career-threatening chronic […]

The world champion 1968 Detroit Tigers were largely “homegrown—signed and sealed by Eddie Katalinas and his staff.”1 Working tirelessly as a scout and director of scouts, Katalinas was instrumental in the discovery and recruitment of prospects. Not all of the recruits panned out, of course, but some became Tiger greats, including Al Kaline, Mickey Lolich, […]

Of the two pitching Bennett brothers, briefly teammates on the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies, Dave was the tall one (6-feet-5), the young one (by six years), the right-handed one, the reserved one, and the most sought-after one, having received a $70,000 bonus upon signing in 1963. They briefly drew comparisons to Dizzy and Paul Dean, the […]

Rube Walberg was “discovered” throwing chunks of coal at fence posts at his brother’s coal yard in Seattle, Washington, according to Walberg’s son, George Jr. He was throwing those chunks with great velocity and accuracy. He was 25 years old at the time. Fewer than two years later he was in the major leagues. George […]

J. Leslie Wilkinson (1878-1964) was one of the most respected and influential figures in the history of Black baseball. His trailblazing role in helping to found the Negro National League in 1920, in addition to his establishing and operating the renowned Kansas City Monarchs for many years, earned him a plaque in the National Baseball […]

Don Lock was a strong defensive center fielder who twice placed in the top 10 in homers in the American League. He played in 921 major-league games from 1962 to 1969. Lock was originally signed in March 1958 by New York Yankees scout Tom Greenwade, the same scout who signed Mickey Mantle. Greenwade signed Lock […]

“I have never seen a recruit pitcher with a more deceptive hook,” gushed syndicated sportswriter (and AL umpire) Billy Evans about rookie right-hander Sam Gray of the Philadelphia A’s in 1924.1 Gray rode his impressive curveball to a 10-year career, the final six with the St. Louis Browns. Three years after winning 20 games for […]

The velocity of his fastballs earned him the nickname “The Hoosier Thunderbolt.” Amos Rusie played long before the invention of the radar gun, so we don’t know how fast his pitches were. John McGraw said of Rusie’s fastballs, “You can’t hit ’em if you can’t see ’em.”1 Sportswriters of the day claimed that batters were […]

Pitcher Charles Flint “Shad” Rhem is part of a notorious baseball species. While he put together 12 seasons in the majors, and had a 20-win season in 1926, most of the stories told about him revolve around alcohol. Some sportswriters, like Bob Broeg, go so far as to say that Rhem “boozed away the greatness […]

A collegiate star at the University of New Orleans, outfielder Ted Wood also stood out for Team USA in international competition in the late 1980s. The first-round draft pick never got an extended trial in the majors, as he appeared in just 47 games from 1991 to 1993. He continued to chase the dream longer […]

“He would come in and relieve Satchel, and when they put Johnson out there, we thought we’d have it easy then. And he would come in and throw harder than Satchel did! Just like jumpin’ from the frying pan into the fire.” – Warren Peace, Newark Eagles1   Connie Johnson made his White major-league debut […]

Dick Brodowski’s career was interrupted by the Korean War at what was perhaps a crucial point in his development as a right-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. He was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, on July 26, 1932. His father, Andrew Brodowski, had emigrated to the United States from Poland at about age 10 […]

“Only twice in my life has my spine actually tingled. Once was when I saw the Sistine Chapel. The other was when I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball.” — Al Campanis scouting Koufax1   You’re a 19-year-old pitcher, injured and sitting on the bench for more than two months before your major-league debut, a […]

The fall classic, the world’s championship of baseball, was not yet regarded as an integral part of the national pastime in 1905. While there was a championship series in 1903 between the American League-winning Boston Americans and the National League champion Pittsburgh Pirates, whether this interleague postseason series would become a regular event was far […]

Jim Bouton’s Ball Four is full of cutting personal commentary on players, coaches, managers and front-office staff. One of the most memorable and damning criticisms is credited to Bouton’s roommate, pitcher Gary Bell: “Carl Yastrzemski is for himself first and second and the hell with everybody else.”1 While Bouton depicted the longtime Red Sox star […]

“Never was Paige more tantalizing,” mused the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about 45-year-old “Old Satch’s” remarkable 12-inning shutout of the Detroit Tigers. “[He] wins games [and] entertains in the process.  He whirled his arm twice in a full windup; sometimes just once. His slow ball … seemed to hang in the air, as though manipulated by […]

Sandy Koufax’s devastating mix of fastballs and curveballs fooled San Francisco Giants batters at a furious pace on August 31, 1959. Koufax, a talented but erratic left-hander for the Los Angeles Dodgers, broke the National League single-game strikeout record by one and tied the major-league mark. Wally Moon hit a three-run home run in the […]

A photo in the August 12, 1979, edition of the Chicago Tribune summed up the previous day’s bizarre baseball action at Comiskey Park. White Sox right fielder Claudell Washington stood alone amid an apparent moonscape—on a field covered by a pocked layer of dust, rather than a carpet of grass.1 Faced with a soggy and […]