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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 […]

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 […]

“He has that old stroke back and he’s swinging a fast bat again.” — Pittsburgh Pirates batting coach George Sisler on Bob Skinner during spring training in 1960.1   A new decade of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball dawned in 1960. One couldn’t blame the team for bidding a fond farewell to the 1950s. From 1950 to […]

The best baseball players return reliably year after year until they seem as much a part of the game as bleacher seats and foul poles. But a career’s end comes to every player, no matter how beloved or talented they are. For Hoyt Wilhelm, the major leagues’ longtime leader in pitching appearances, that moment came […]

Pumpsie Green’s successful Millers debut was nearly set back when the car in which he was riding in a morning parade down Nicollet Avenue in downtown Minneapolis ran out of gas.1 The parade was the idea of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce as a way to introduce fans to an entirely new 1958 Millers team. […]

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 […]

Way back in the 1930s and ’40s, radio fans listened to a horror program designed to scare the daylights out of people, called Lights Out. During the show’s weekly introduction, the announcer advised people to turn off their radios if they couldn’t handle the creepy happenings to come in the next 30 minutes. While they […]

“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 […]

The idea of Luis Tiant pitching at Chicago’s Wrigley Field doesn’t seem unusual. Perhaps that’s because Tiant pitched some of the most memorable seasons of his long career at Fenway Park – like Wrigley, a cherished remnant of the “jewel box” era – as a member of the Boston Red Sox from 1971 through 1978. […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

The first owner of the St. Louis Browns, Robert Hedges was a visionary leader, years ahead of his time. He was also a shrewd businessman who maximized the value of his baseball franchise, in spite of its mostly losing ways. Hedges’ innovations and financial success in baseball contrasted vividly with his teams’ lack of success […]

Ramón “Wito” Conde spent just over a month in the majors, in July and August 1962. At age 27, he got into 14 games for the Chicago White Sox and went hitless in 19 plate appearances. Conde had earned but did not get a big-league trial before that, and he was never called up again, […]

A switch-hitter with speed and the patience to draw walks, Pete Stanicek appeared to be an ideal leadoff hitter when he debuted with the Baltimore Orioles. A succession of injuries limited the second baseman/outfielder to parts of two big league seasons (1987-1988), however, and he played his final professional game at 27. Peter Louis Stanicek […]

Though his major-league career was limited to parts of four seasons, Rod Gaspar was anything but a footnote player. While he played in only one full year in the majors, it was as a World Champion. Gaspar led National League outfielders in double plays while scoring a pivotal run in the 1969 World Series. Six […]

A long-time left-handed pitching ace for one of baseball history’s best staffs, Dave McNally was also a legend and hero in his native Billings, Montana, where he lived his entire life outside of baseball. Though a World Series pitching (and hitting) star, he might be best known in some circles for the role he played […]

With a flattened nose and the grim jaw of a heavyweight boxer, Steve O’Neill looked like someone born to be a catcher, and for much of his 17-year major-league career he was arguably the best all-around backstop in the game. An extremely smart man, O’Neill did all the things a good catcher is supposed to […]