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When the New York Giants won seven National League pennants and three World Series between 1921 and 1937, Frank “Pancho” Snyder was a player or coach on each of those clubs. A strong-armed catcher, Snyder’s playing career spanned all or part of 16 major league seasons (1912-1927), beginning and ending with the St. Louis Cardinals. […]

On July 28, 1994, Texas Rangers left-hander Kenny Rogers had been perfect for eight innings and needed three more outs to make baseball history. A crowd of 46,581 fans was standing and cheering at the brand-new Ballpark in Arlington as Rogers warmed up to face the bottom third of the Angels’ order. Rookie outfielder Rusty […]

Right-hander Edwin Correa spent parts of three seasons (1985-1987) as a starting pitcher with the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers before suffering a career-ending shoulder injury. Only 19 when he earned his first victory, he was the majors’ youngest player for all but one of his big league appearances.1 Although he pitched some Friday […]

A manager remembered for trying to convert Christy Mathewson to a first baseman. A sportswriter considered “a loudmouthed front-runner with little-to-no credibility.”1 A team president banned from his league. Such is Horace Fogel’s place in baseball history, with much of this colorful reputation well deserved.2 Yet Fogel is also a tragic figure, led to heights […]

On July 30, 1968, Washington Senators shortstop Ron Hansen pulled off one of baseball’s rarest and most difficult feats when he turned an unassisted triple play against the Cleveland Indians. This diamond rarity took place at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland during the bottom of the first inning after leadoff hitter Dave Nelson singled and Russ […]

After the Seattle Mariners joined the American League as an expansion team in 1977, the team and its fans endured 14 consecutive losing seasons. However, one player from this era emerged having made such an impact that he earned the nickname “Mr. Mariner.” Alvin Davis was the franchise’s first homegrown star and won the Rookie […]

Haywood Cooper Sullivan was many things during his life: passing record holder at Dothan High School (Alabama), college All-SEC quarterback and baseball standout (Florida), bonus baby, American League catcher, manager, general manager, and major-league ballclub owner, and to top it off, a self-made millionaire. Sullivan was born in Donalsonville, Georgia on December 15, 1930, and […]

Longtime Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray once wrote that Ralph Garr was as hard to get out as an impacted tooth.1 Getting “The Road Runner” out was an especially difficult task in his signature year, 1974, in which he won the National League batting title, hitting .353. This came after finishing second to Joe […]

In 1896, the Des Moines Prohibitionists were dismantled in the middle of a season while cruising to the Western Association pennant after having won 25 straight games.1 Their utter domination had drained fan support in competing cities, prompting league officials to slash salaries in a failed attempt to keep the league afloat. The ace of […]

Left-handed pitcher John Michaels had a pretty straight shot right to the major leagues, advancing through three years of minor-league baseball and signed by a Boston Red Sox team desperately in need of pitching. The first years of his professional career were with his hometown team in the Eastern League, the Bridgeport Bears, beginning in […]

Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, speaking to Negro League historian James Riley, had this to say about his teammate Johnny Davis’s talent: “Perhaps too many gifts. Had Davis not divided his time between pitching, catching and playing the outfield, Johnny might have starred in the Majors.”1 John Howard Davis was probably born on February 6, […]

In the eyes of Pittsburgh Pirates fans, Don Robinson showed up right on time for a city and a team looking for homegrown talent to fill out the Pirates pitching staff and add a piece to a team capable of winning a pennant in the late 1970s. Had the Philadelphia Phillies selected Robinson in the […]

Tucked in the northwest corner of Rhode Island, just 10 miles from both Massachusetts and Connecticut, is the village of Chepachet, where Phillips Steere Paine was born on June 8, 1930. When Paine was a teenager in the 1940s Chepachet didn’t have a high school, so each school day Paine traveled five miles north to […]

Prior to Edgardo Alfonzo and José Altuve, three Venezuelan second basemen stood out for their skills: Manny Trillo, Remy Hermoso, and Gustavo “Gus” Gil. Trillo was the most complete player of the trio and Hermoso was likely blessed with the most speed – but Gil was peerless with the glove. He executed split-second double plays […]

Jim Busby was a speed merchant when teams were buying power. In the station-to-station baseball of the 1950s, sluggers drove Cadillacs and base stealers hitched rides. Busby never stole more than 26 bases, but he was in the American League’s top 5 in steals four times. He used his sprinter’s speed in center field, covering […]

In the months leading up to his graduation from high school in 1968, Bill Greif, a 6’5″, 200-pound, multi-sport athlete, was in demand. He starred in track and field, started on the basketball team, led the football team to a state championship as the starting quarterback. As a pitcher he had been attracting baseball scouts […]

Sam Mele managed the Minnesota Twins to the American League pennant in 1965, but just a year and a half later was fired by the team. Subsequently, his former team rallied to finish the 1967 season tied with the Tigers, just one game out of first place in the American League. The record books show […]

When the 1910 calendar page turned to March, prospects seemed bright for Alan Storke – in both his professional endeavors. On the baseball front, the young infielder had already placed four major-league seasons on his résumé, mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Recently acquired by the Cincinnati Reds, Storke was penciled in as the club’s third […]

The Minnesota Twins’ home opener on Tuesday night, July 28, 2020, was like many others in the major leagues. The delay in starting the 2020 season because of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID), meant an empty ballpark since no fans were allowed. Face masks were prevalent; procedures for distancing from one another were in place. The […]

“Cupcake,” a euphemism for a should-be-easy-to-beat opponent, entered the sports lexicon in the 1970s.1 Forty-some years earlier, the New York Yankees would’ve agreed it applied to their September 23, 1932, opponent: the cellar-dwelling, 63 games back2 Boston Red Sox. The hapless 1899 Cleveland Spiders were the last major-league team to face an opponent 60 or […]

The San Francisco Giants entered 1986 coming off three straight losing seasons, including back-to-back last-place finishes in the National League West Division. In 1985 they had lost 100 games for the first time in franchise history. But when the Giants began a six-game road trip with a weekend series against the Cincinnati Reds in late […]

Versatile players can help give a manager a bit more flexibility. When a team is losing a not-that-important game 10-1 heading into the ninth inning, a position player who takes a stint on the mound can help spare a beleaguered bullpen. When Boston Red Sox shortstop Tzu-Wei Lin pitched the ninth inning on September 24 […]

While the Giants and Yankees played Game Four of the 1921 World Series in New York City, another series captured the attention of baseball fans in St. Louis. The Cardinals barnstormers and the Negro National League Giants resumed their scheduled six-game postseason exhibition with a Sunday afternoon twin bill at Sportsman’s Park. Commencing the day […]

This multi-purpose facility has been called “The Madison Square Garden of Puerto Rico.”1 Its use in boxing and basketball is a big reason, but the parallel extends to track and field, as well as political conventions. Baseball, however, forms an especially rich chapter in the history of Estadio Sixto Escobar (as it is known to […]