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Chris Short won 135 games in his major-league career. He pitched 15 big-league seasons and was arguably the National League’s second-best left-hander in the 1960s after Sandy Koufax. From 1964 through 1968, an average season for Short consisted of 250-plus innings pitched, 190-plus strikeouts, and 17 wins. He was twice named to the All-Star team. […]

The word “grinder” is used to define a player who may not have great natural ability but succeeds through hard work and perseverance. “He grinded out a career” or “he was a real grinder.” Jeff Torborg was that type of player. Noted as a defensive catcher who could handle a pitching staff, Torborg’s offensive capability […]

“He’s too young to throw a no-hitter!”1 With the words of Cincinnati Redlegs manager Birdie Tebbetts still ringing in his ears, 17-year-old southpaw Dave Skaugstad took the mound on September 29, 1957 at Milwaukee’s County Stadium. Appearing in his second major-league game, he relieved 20-year-old rookie Jay Hook, who’d held the National League pennant-winning Milwaukee […]

Tall, powerful, and fleet-footed, Burnis “Wild Bill” Wright was one of the Negro Leagues’ brightest stars for nearly a decade before embarking on a lengthy and successful Hall of Fame career in the Mexican Leagues. A towering 6-foot-4, 220-pound switch-hitter who slashed for average and slugged with power, he bunted effectively, ran like the wind, […]

As Allie Moulton stepped onto the field for his major league baseball debut, he was no doubt already sweating. September 25, 1911, was unseasonably hot and humid—reaching temperatures not seen in Boston for decades. Then again, Allie had endured far worse early in his career playing in Mississippi and Arkansas. He had more reasons to […]

Ferocious shortstop Bill Dahlen was ejected 65 times by umpires as a player and manager. This and other behavior earned him the nickname “Bad Bill.” Yet his rowdy character tended to overshadow his contributions—a reliable hitter; excellent, aggressive baserunner; and one of the finest fielders of his era (the 1890s and early 1900s). During his […]

Al Barlick rose from a Midwestern coal-mining family to a long career as a major-league umpire and eventual election to baseball’s Hall of Fame, the sixth umpire to be so honored. He gave his adult life to baseball and umpiring, working 57 years (1936-1993) in the game. Albert Joseph Barlick was born on April 2, […]

During Welcome Back, Kotter’s run as a popular television sitcom, one of the “Sweathogs” – Robert Hegyes’ fictional Epstein character – routinely identified himself as a “Puerto Rican Jew” to comedic effect. Less than a decade after the show aired its final episode in 1979, a real-life Dominican Jew commenced his nine-season (1988-1991, 1993-1997) big-league […]

Floyd Rayford’s soft hands and even softer belly, combined with his underrated athleticism and good nature, made him an Orioles’ fan favorite in the 1980s. With the skills to play six positions — primarily third base and catcher — during his professional career, and what one manager called the “perfect temperament for baseball,” Rayford spent […]

Left-hander Drake Britton had one win and one loss in his time in the big leagues, but he has a World Championship ring to treasure forever as a member of the 2013 Boston Red Sox. It was a year in which he almost lost the opportunity to pitch. John Drake Britton was born in Waco, […]

A big man with a famous scowl and a name that felt ripped from a James Bond film, Mo Vaughn was a hulking 6-foot-1, 225-pound lefty hitter whose frame dangled over home plate. Baseballs seemed to disintegrate on impact when he exploded out of his crouched stance, extending one arm to the sky on his […]

1952 Globe Printing Dave Hoskins baseball card   Entering the 1952 season, the Texas League had never seen a player like Dave Hoskins, neither in talent nor complexion. Like Jackie Robinson five years earlier, Hoskins was an experiment. Dallas Eagles owner Richard Burnett wanted a Black man on his team.1 As evidenced by the 200 […]

It was Juan wild night in an otherwise sad and dreary 2004 season at Olympic Stadium as the balls were flying out, even if the fans weren’t filing in. And it’s a game neither the Expos’ Juan Rivera nor the White Sox’ Juan Uribe was likely to forget. This was a weird one in many […]

On December 23, 1958, the Philadelphia Phillies, after finishing last in the eight-team National League, made a trade to fill a pressing need at second base. The Phillies sent three players (Jim Golden, Rip Repulski, and Gene Snyder) to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Sparky Anderson, a 25-year-old who had spent the last six seasons […]

It was anybody’s game heading into the bottom of the fifth on the sunny Saturday afternoon of October 8, 1966 in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The Dodgers’ southpaw, Claude Osteen, had surrendered only two hits through the first four innings, and if Los Angeles could find a way to win this game, they might yet recover […]

On August 11, 1951, the second-place New York Giants trailed their rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, by 13 games. From that point until the end of the season, the Giants won 39 of their final 47 games, an incredible .830 clip. The 154-game season ended with both clubs tied for the top spot in the National […]

American League fans in the 1970s were accustomed to the sight of Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver arguing with the umpires. Weaver never cheated the fans out of their hard-earned dough. His protests with the arbiters were legendary. No matter what his grievance was, he was going to have his say. And in most cases, […]

The moment had been coming for a while. No one wanted it to arrive, but when it did, it became much more about the man who had done so much for the game, than the game itself. It became official back in June, when Cal Ripken Jr. announced he would retire from professional baseball at […]

John McGraw, the third baseman-manager of the Baltimore Orioles, led a team that included future Hall of Famers Wilbert Robinson, Roger Bresnahan, and Joe McGinnity as well as himself. Also a member of the team was Turkey Mike Donlin. Donlin got his nickname because of his strutting walk and red neck.1 Donlin had played for […]

“The pressure is on him, man. It’s not on me. I’m supposed to get out.”  — Ryan Zimmerman1   Baseball games are filled with moments of great theater. Before the curtain rises, Washington Nationals third-base coach Bob Henley emerges from the dugout and trots to his position, but not before presenting a baseball to an […]

“This was the best I’ve put all my pitches together this season,” said Jim Bunning of his overpowering victory over the Cincinnati Reds.1 In what Philadelphia Phillies beat writer Allen Lewis described as a “dandy display of power pitching,” Bunning matched his personal high with 14 strikeouts to win his eighth straight decision, equaling his […]

On a stormy Friday night in Cincinnati, the Reds won a dramatic victory over the Milwaukee Braves on a grand slam by catcher Ed Bailey in a tie game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Reds overcame a five-run deficit built by two home runs from the Braves’ Eddie Mathews […]

A starting pitcher’s offday routine includes — but is not limited to — stretches; warm-up tosses; advanced scouting notes; and, on occasion, batting practice. It’s not often that the latter task would prove vital to the outcome of a game. On September 22, 1974, pitcher Tom Griffin pinch-hit for another pitcher, Ken Forsch, and smashed […]

This article appears in SABR’s “When the Monarchs Reigned: Kansas City’s 1942 Negro League Champions” (2021), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin.   Were it not for the Chicago Defender, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, Baltimore Afro-American, and other African American newspapers, there would have been scant coverage of Black professional baseball. […]