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Being enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown puts a player in an elite class among their peers. Achieving the required 75 percent of votes in their first year of eligibility is something only 60 players have done. Frank Thomas was one of those 60; he also did things in his career […]

Mike Kahoe appeared on major league rosters mostly as a catcher for eleven seasons. In that time he played in an unremarkable 410 games and batted a mere .212. Yet his career is forever joined with some of baseball history’s most celebrated individuals, unique events, and folklore. Kahoe’s acquisition by the Chicago Nationals in 1901 […]

Fernando Viña’s story could easily have been quite different. Instead of a 13-year major league career, he could have played in the Cuban Serie Nacional.1 Rather than the red, white, and blue US uniform, he could have donned the burgundy Cuban threads. He could have played with Lourdes Gurriel, Omar Linares, and Germán Mesa in […]

Maurice Joseph McDermott, Jr. was a hard-throwing southpaw teenage “can’t miss” prospect who devolved into a journeyman reliever. Slated as the next Lefty Grove, Mickey McDermott played 12 seasons in the big leagues with the Red Sox, Senators, Yankees, Athletics, Tigers, and Cardinals. He spent the first half of his MLB career in Boston where […]

On July 27, 1917, Cliff Brady was involved in an automobile accident that could have ended his career. Two cars smashed into each other shortly after 11 PM at the intersection of Third and Cheyenne in Tulsa. Ticket seller Eddie Quigley’s leg was broken; Brady’s knee was hurt but not to the point he required […]

Ralph Foster “Cy” Perkins was a baseball lifer, playing major-league baseball for 17 years, managing in the minor leagues (and briefly in the big leagues), and coaching for the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and Philadelphia Phillies. Although he was an ironman catcher who was universally thought to be one of the best in the […]

The Red Sox faithful’s devotion to Nomar Garciaparra, cultivated through multiple All-Star seasons and batting titles, had seemingly reached its breaking point after a July 1, 2004, loss to the Yankees. While Garciaparra sat out the game due to his Achilles tendon injuries, his perennial rival Derek Jeter reached base twice and dove headfirst into […]

Kenneth Smith Harrelson was born on September 4, 1941, in Woodruff, South Carolina. In the sixth grade, he moved to Savannah, Georgia, where he and his older sister would grow up. Harrelson was the youngest child of a single mother, Jessie, who was his biggest supporter, closest confidante, and best friend. Jessie worked hard to […]

Known for his fielding prowess and head-first slides, Terry “Cotton Top” Turner was the Cleveland franchise’s all-time leader in games played (1,619) through the end of the twentieth century. The quintessential utility player, the 5-foot-8, 149-pound Turner was, in the words of sportswriter Gordon Cobbledick, “a little rabbit of a man with the guts of […]

One of the early relief specialists in the majors, George “Sarge” Connally started just 67 times in 304 games across a 12-year big-league career (1921; 1923-29; 1933-34). Connally never shied away from hard work. In 1933, at the age of 34, he exemplified his other nickname—“Rubber Arm”—by making eight relief appearances for Cleveland from June […]

Southpaw Ernie Koob attracted national attention in mid-1915 by jumping from college to the big leagues with the St. Louis Browns. Less than two years later, the highly-touted curveballer tossed the first no-hitter by a Brownie in Sportsman’s Park, in 1917. But he never achieved the stardom many expected, compiling a 23-31 slate in parts […]

As a big leaguer, Ed Charles was perhaps the most accomplished player in the brief history of the ill-fated Kansas City Athletics, and he achieved fame as a baseball poet, reciting his poetry on television a few times per year and mailing verse to young fans with requested autographs. But he is best remembered today […]

Was the Federal League of 1914 and 1915 a major league? If you answer “yes” to this question, Art Queisser was a major-league umpire, by virtue of having worked a four-game FL series between the St. Louis Terriers and Kansas City Packers from September 2 through 4, 1914. Queisser’s stint as an umpire capped his […]

As a 25-year-old Chicago Cubs outfielder and pinch-hitter Babe Twombly hit .377, a figure that usually warrants further employment at the major league level. Instead, it was the last season in the big leagues for the young man, who was shipped out west to the Pacific Coast League and didn’t look back. Clarence Edward Twombly […]

It was 1925; the Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were frequently referred to then) were assembled for spring training in Clearwater, Florida. They were a veteran team that had won 92 games the previous year and finished second in the National League, and hopes were high entering the spring that they could better that performance. […]

“He is another Vance, another Dazzy, I’m telling you. Hasn’t the best disposition in the world. You know some of those Carolina fellows get funny ideas sometimes, but he certainly can buzz that ball over. Best young pitcher I’ve seen since Rube Marquard. Only he is faster than Rube was. Say, maybe he is another […]

After college Bill Essick had to choose between life as a musician and one in baseball.  He chose baseball and left his native Illinois to begin his minor-league pitching career in Salt Lake City.  After a brief promotion to the major leagues and roughly a dozen years as a successful minor-league manager, Essick joined the […]

In baseball history there have been certain street corners that through the years have become synonymous with the ballparks located at them. At the corner of Michigan and Trumbull was Detroit’s Tiger Stadium. 21st and Lehigh was Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Findlay and Western was Cincinnati’s Crosley Field. On the South Side of Chicago, 35th […]

On the Astrodome field, it was business as usual for Tony Gwynn. It was August 11, 1994, and he was on yet another run towards a batting title. Possessing an uncanny ability to hit the ball between the third baseman and the shortstop, what Gwynn called the “5½ hole,” the four-time batting champ was sitting […]

The 1964 Aberdeen (South Dakota) Pheasants dominated the Class A Northern League, compiling an 80-37 record and finishing the year 12 games ahead of their closest competition. For all that success, though, the most memorable game of the 1964 campaign for the Pheasants and their fans was probably a game the team lost. On June […]

Going into the 1940 season, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Reds were expected to battle again for the National League pennant. The bookmakers deemed St. Louis a slight favorite, but weeks into the season the team had yet to meet expectations. When the teams met at Crosley Field on May 13, their seasons were […]

After the 2002 All-Star Snafu in Milwaukee — which ended in a tie when the National League ran out of pitchers — Major League Baseball took steps to prevent a recurrence. One was telling managers to hold back some pitchers in the case of extra innings. The other was to let the outcome of the […]

  After losing a tight 2-1 decision in Game One of the 1973 World Series, the New York Mets hoped to salvage a split of the first two games against the Athletics in front of 49,151 spectators on a Sunday afternoon in Oakland. The starters for Game Two, the Mets’ Jerry Koosman and the Athletics’ […]

Losers of seven straight and 14 of their last 15 games, the Houston Astros were desperate to get off the merry-go-round as April 1969 drew to a close. Looking up at the rest of the National League West Division from last place, what they got over the next five days was a round trip for […]