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Ten weeks into his rookie season, Sandy Koufax finally made his long-awaited debut. Brooklyn’s $20,000 bonus baby1 had missed most of March with a sore back,2 and then the 19-year-old left-hander had a disastrous outing in an exhibition game against Brooklyn’s Double-A affiliate, the Fort Worth Cats, on April 3.3 Two weeks later, before Brooklyn’s […]

On Wednesday evening, September 25, 1974, Ralph Houk was managing an aging Tigers squad trapped in last place in the AL East at 71-83, 12½ games behind the first-place Orioles. The season’s high point had come the previous night. Al Kaline reached “his promised land,” becoming the 12th player to get 3,000 hits.1 Earl Weaver’s […]

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 […]

Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers came to Chicago’s Wrigley Field in mid-May of 1947 amid a grand experiment that changed professional sports, opening the gates to a stream of talented Black athletes and advancing the cause of racial justice. The experiment proved an emotional stress test for Robinson, the Dodgers team, and the National […]

The warning signs about Lou Gehrig had been accumulating all spring of 1939: The New York Yankees’ venerable iron man suddenly wasn’t what he used to be. Gehrig wasn’t necessarily ancient. He was still just 35 years old — past retirement age for ordinary ballplayers, but still comfortably within career range for all-time greats, and […]

A packed Riverfront Stadium celebrated future Hall of Fame catcher and lifetime Cincinnati Red Johnny Bench’s career achievements. The 17-year veteran had announced his retirement earlier in the season,1 and now the Reds’ faithful enjoyed the opportunity to acknowledge his many contributions to baseball and the Queen City. The two-time MVP and 1970s Big Red […]

“Sal Maglie sat in the Dodger clubhouse and performed the ritual of anointing his pitching hand. First he applied a base of liquid rosin. Then he sprinkled the fingers with powdered rosin. And when he was done he was ready to pitch.”1 September is the time when pennant races are decided. Just months earlier, could […]

In 1926 the St. Louis Cardinals began their 35th season as a member of the National League. The franchise, known as the Browns from 1892 to ’98 and as the Perfectos in 1899, had not finished better than third place in the league standings. Second baseman-manager Rogers Hornsby, who had recorded his second career Triple […]

\ Babe Ruth made a public appearance at Fenway Park on July 12, 1943, where he met with Red Sox star Ted Williams. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   There once was a day – at Fenway Park in Boston – when Babe Ruth and Ted Williams played on the same baseball team and batted in the same […]

Right-handed pitcher David Weathers played professionally in small towns and large cities across the United States and Canada but his origins and present life are firmly rooted in southern Tennessee. He was an integral relief pitcher on the 1996 World Series champion New York Yankees and after playing for nine teams in 19 major-league seasons, […]

Dutch Leonard rode his knuckleball to a 20-year big league career, baffling batters, catchers, and umpires until he was 44 years old. As Jackie Robinson described Leonard’s knuckler, “It comes up, makes a face at you, then runs away.”1 Emil John Leonard was born on March 25, 1909, in Auburn, Illinois, the first of five children […]

A superb college basketball player, Charles Nash became the University of Kentucky’s career scoring leader in the early ’60s. Yet baseball was his first love. “Cotton” — as he was known for his bright blond hair — was also a slugging first baseman/outfielder. He juggled the two sports as a pro, and though his time […]

To many, there can be no greater honor than to serve one’s country, but occasionally the call to duty comes at an inopportune time.  Bill Landis expresses no regrets, but history should nonetheless note that he played the full 1967 season for the 1967 Boston Red Sox, perhaps the most beloved of all Red Sox […]

In June 1947, three months before his husky right-handed hurler delivered the fifth no-hitter in franchise history, Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack forecast the expected stardom of 26-year-old Bill McCahan. “[Y]ou will see another great pitcher in this boy,” Mack said. “Let me make a prediction. He will be another [Spud] Chandler.”1 Being compared to […]

Billy Hunter played shortstop with a flashy glove, great team spirit, and a zest for the game. The Brooklyn Dodgers thought he could someday succeed Pee Wee Reese. But as things turned out, they traded Hunter away before he reached the major leagues, and by the time Reese retired, Hunter was playing out the string. […]

John Henry Johnson — the lefty pitcher, not the Pro Football Hall of Famer or the baseball executive1 — pitched in eight big-league seasons from 1978 to 1987. He enjoyed his greatest success as a 21-year-old rookie. Primarily a starter in his early years, Johnson moved to the bullpen and was effective at times, though […]

Most people who have become baseball fans since 1990 have never heard of Cot Deal. If they look hard, they will find his major league career summarized in six lines of print in the baseball encyclopedias. If they look harder, they will find something about him as a minor league manager or major league coach […]

John J. Quinn spent 47 years working for major-league baseball teams, 28 of those as a general manager. During his tenure as GM of the Boston and Milwaukee Braves (1945-58), the franchise won three National League pennants and the 1957 World Series. After owner Bob Carpenter brought Quinn to Philadelphia in 1959, the savvy executive […]

Fritz Ostermueller was 41 years old when he took the mound on September 30, 1948, to make the final start of his 15-year major-league career. The Pittsburgh left-hander had played with four big-league teams; his lifetime ledger was even at 114 wins and 114 losses. In early September the Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers, and the surprising Pirates had […]

Infielder Billy DeMars broke into professional baseball at age 17, had his career interrupted by service in the Navy during World War II, then came back and played parts of three seasons in the majors (80 games with the Athletics and Browns), and extended his minor-league career by turning to managing through 1968. He assigned […]

“I got traded for him and now he’s my insurance broker,” said Bill Buckner in 2011.1 Buckner was recalling a January 1977 trade when the Los Angeles Dodgers sent both him and Ivan de Jesus to the Chicago Cubs for Mike Garman, Rick Monday, and a minor-leaguer. Buckner settled in Boise after his baseball career; […]

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 the surface, it’s difficult to imagine a major-league ballplayer with more disappointing statistics — a pitcher with a career winning percentage of .000, a batting average of .000, and a fielding percentage of .500. But Pete Magrini had six very good seasons in minor-league baseball and, after all, attained a goal that most professional […]

Having lost no fewer than nine pitchers to the armed forces during World War II, the St. Louis Cardinals invited 28-year-old rookie Ken Burkhart to spring training in 1945. Owning a 91-64 record in seven minor-league seasons, Burkhart became one of the season’s big surprises, winning 18 games, third best in the senior circuit. But […]