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A nickname like Squanto is a pretty good clue that George Francis Wilson was portrayed as Native American. Newspaper stories remarked on Wilson’s dark complexion and Indian nickname, though it is possible that people just dubbed him Squanto the way they might call another player Nig (Nig Cuppy, for instance) or another such name. There […]
Growing up in the shadow of his father – a Los Angeles Dodgers star and the 1962 National League MVP – could be a challenge for Bump Wills. Often referred to as the “son of Maury Wills,” Bump did not let that sway his focus and competitiveness. He spent six seasons (1977-1982) of his own […]
From 1950 to 1955, Robin Roberts was the top right-hander in the National League while pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies. For most of the remainder of his 18-year career, he was a crafty veteran who had a remarkable resurgence with the Baltimore Orioles. Either way, he would go out, take his turn on the mound […]
Hitting mammoth home runs and striking out ten hitters a game look great in highlights or on the back of a baseball card, but those who excel at these feats are few and far between. The soul of the game is the baseball lifer. Lifers count their number of spring trainings in decades, not just […]
He took a long time to find his place in the major leagues. After four brief callups, a successful emergency start in 1963 gave Gary Peters a job with the White Sox on his fifth and final trial. He still managed to put up a few big seasons and 124 wins, coming agonizingly close to […]
Alex Konikowski’s pitching career in major-league baseball was comparatively brief, but the three seasons – or portions thereof – he spent with the New York Giants are etched in diamond lore: 1948, 1951, 1954. As a 20-year-old rookie of promise, Konikowski was promoted from Jersey City of the International League to New York in June […]
Massachusetts-based contractors Lou Perini, Joseph Maney, and Guido Rugo became majority owners of the Boston Braves baseball club in 1944. In 1947, through a working relationship with Perini, Massachusetts native Joseph Cairnes shifted his career path from construction engineer, in the private and public sectors, to major league baseball administrator with the Braves. Perini, familiar […]
When Wally Moon came to bat for the first time in the majors, some of the home fans in St. Louis booed. Others yelled, “We want Eno.” Two days earlier Enos Slaughter, a Cardinal favorite for 16 years—the hustling, hard-nosed, red-necked Country Slaughter, who left the dugout running and kept running until he hit the […]
Approximately 200 diehard fans returned to a cold and cloudy Ebbets Field on February 23, 1960. Among those present were former players Ralph Branca, Roy Campanella, Carl Erskine, and Tommy Holmes, reminiscing about the glory days in the iconic ballpark — opened in 1913 and vacated following the close of the 1957 season. Attendees sadly […]
From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, a visitor to Detroit’s Tiger Stadium would hear many crowd noises. One noise in particular could confuse spectators unless they were attuned to the Tigers stars of this period. Often, after the visiting team had been retired in the top of the first inning, a distinctive “ooooooooo” sound […]
Who was the last player to bat for the Washington Senators in the franchise’s final game and also the last active player from that team? Who played both complete games of a doubleheader at shortstop without handling a single chance? Who became one-half of the first set of American League teammates – and only the […]
“He came back from the war, raised seven kids, practiced law and life moves on.”1 So said Madison (Wisconsin) attorney John Gerlach in a 2012 interview about his late father and law associate, Johnny Glen “Henna” Gerlach, who captained the 1937 and 1938 University of Wisconsin baseball teams (a .415 hitter his senior season of […]
The Chicago Cubs “swished home run bats that belted big George Munger out of the box within three innings”1 and went on to crush the St. Louis Cardinals 15-3 at Wrigley Field, behind the hitting-for-the-cycle performance of Roy Smalley. The overcast skies “and a few drops of rain”2 before game time did not deter the […]
The mood was gloomy and subdued at Sportsman’s Park in the Gateway City on October 4, 1930, as the Cardinals prepared to face the seemingly invincible Philadelphia Athletics in the third game of the World Series, having lost the first two contests in the City of Brotherly Love. There was “none of the concerted cheering, […]
Time was running out for the Detroit Tigers to keep the Chicago White Sox from running away with the 1919 pennant. Ten years after manager Hughie Jennings took his Tigers to their last World Series, their third straight appearance and third straight loss in the fall classic, he knew his team had a narrow margin […]
On the eve of the 1926 season, the venerated New York Giants were the consensus pick to win the National League pennant, while the Cincinnati Reds were expected to finish in fourth place.1 But when the two teams met on September 17, the underachieving Giants were mired in fifth place − 15½ games out − […]
Kicking off a string of unfortunate events for the 1942 Cincinnati Reds, an injury during May 24 pregame warmups shelved first baseman Frank McCormick with an ailing back. Hank Sauer, moving in from his usual outfield position, was “doing very well” as the perennial All-Star’s temporary fill-in before being sidelined himself with a sprained ankle […]
The second game of a Sunday doubleheader on June 3, 1951, at Ebbets Field, began shortly after Brooklyn Dodgers starter Don Newcombe beat the Chicago Cubs 8-3 in the opener. Gil Hodges and Billy Cox, helped out by hitting home runs, while Duke Snider drove in three.1 Amid a career year, Preacher Roe, of spitball […]
True, a hitter going for .400 doesn’t like outs – but was this taking things a little too far? Bob Dunbar of the Boston Herald let it be known that Boston Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams had “bored a couple of holes through the left-field fence with his new rifle. … Teddy’s sharp-shooting ability […]
After winning the American League Most Valuable Player Award with the Chicago White Sox in 1972, Dick Allen needed some rest. “Toward the end of the season, I was completely exhausted, a nervous wreck,” he admitted. “I’d been carrying the team for months. … I didn’t think I could play anymore.”1 The newly adopted designated-hitter […]
In 1972 the Boston Red Sox finished a half-game behind the Detroit Tigers in the American League East. It was a strike-shortened season and Detroit played one more game than Boston, finishing 86-70 to Boston’s 85-70, the win in that one extra game making all the difference. The Red Sox had lost 16 one-run games […]
On a dreary Monday night at Cleveland Stadium, 22,456 fans “shivered through 3 hours and 1 minute of action,”1 including errors, arguments, ejections, a rain delay, poor pitching, and, finally, great pitching. On May 10, 1954, the Indians prevailed over the New York Yankees, 8-7. The game began with an explosion of runs in the […]
Heavy hitters for the 1930 Brooklyn Robins (L to R): RF Babe Herman (.393, 35 HRs, 130 RBIs), CF Johnny Frederick (.334, 17 HRs, 76 RBIs), 2B Jake Flowers (.320, 2 HRs, 50 RBIs), 1B Del Bissonette (.336, 16 HRs, 113 RBIs), and C Al Lopez (.309, 6 HRs, 57 RBIs). (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive) […]
When Ebbets Field locker-room attendant Dan Comerford arrived at work on the morning of July 12, 1929, several packages were waiting for him at the clubhouse door. The five boxes – each containing a dozen new baseballs – had been sent from the office of National League President John Heydler. Seeing the parcels did not […]