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He was the Bill Buckner of his era. Mickey Owen only committed four errors during his best year as a major league catcher, the 1941 campaign with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Three came in the regular season and one in the postseason. That last error, a dropped third strike with two out in the ninth inning, […]

Everyone has his baseball dream when growing up, but few get the opportunity to realize that one special moment. On October 12, 1956, the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers played the seventh game of the World Series. The Yankees had lost the first two games but had come back to win the next […]

Until the Negro Leagues were officially recognized as major leagues in December 2020, Dan Bankhead was on record as the first African American to pitch in the majors. He remains best known for that fact, as well as another: he and four brothers all played in the Negro Leagues. However, Bankhead’s big-league career was brief […]

Bobby Grich was one of the best second basemen in baseball over a 17-year major-league career that began in 1970. During his first season, Grich played with the Orioles primarily as a utility infielder. Known for his sharp fielding and consistent hitting, Grich became a regular in 1972 and played in his first All-Star Game […]

“Because Temple and I had once exchanged swings during a clubhouse scuffle, most people figured we had little use for one another. Actually, we were good friends. Temple was a high-strung individual … with an inferiority complex, which he attempted to conceal beneath a cover of braggadocio.“1— sportswriter Earl Lawson One of the top second […]

The game meant nothing. Well, virtually nothing. The Detroit Tigers were ending a three-game series in Cleveland looking for a sweep after taking the first two contests. But that was all that Detroit was playing for on August 14, 1958. The Tigers and Indians were playing out the string, holding down fourth and fifth place […]

When Charles A. Stoneham came home one night in October 1918 and told his teenage son Horace, “Horrie, I bought you a ballclub,” he set in motion a family commitment.1 For the next 58 years the Stoneham family name was synonymous with the New York and San Francisco Giants, one of the most storied franchises […]

This righty pitcher’s big-league career consisted of just one game with the 1968 Chicago Cubs. His baseball days ended after the following season because of a rotator cuff injury – but the Grambling alumnus then turned to an exciting new life as one of Hollywood’s top stuntmen. Jophery Clifford Brown was born on January 22, […]

Earl Jesse Battey, Jr. was one of the top defensive catchers in the American League in the early 1960s. His Twins teams were in contention for the pennant in 1962 and 1967, and won the pennant in 1965, losing the World Series to Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games. Battey was […]

The Moose from Moosup – an easy nickname to pin on a 6-foot-5, 220-pound ballplayer who hailed from the village of Moosup, Connecticut. Right-handed-hitting Walt Dropo played for parts of 13 major-league seasons, with a solid .270 average (.326 on-base percentage, .432 slugging average), and 152 career home runs.  Dropo easily won the 1950 Rookie […]

“They used to say Brantford could put its left-fielder five feet from the foul line, the right-fielder five feet from the other line and Jimmy Wilkes would cover the rest.” — Bob McKillop1 “Riding the bus again!” Jimmy Wilkes said, his voice cracking with excitement. “I love it. Now, that brings back memories.”2 The 69-year-old […]

Raising a family of nine surviving children, Henry and Sarah Jane Wiltse seemed destined to field a team of baseball players. Originally farmers in the vicinity of Richfield Springs, New York, the Wiltse name would soon be associated more with the playing of baseball than the family business of growing hops. Louis Dewitt Wiltse was […]

One night at Toots Shor’s restaurant, Edward Bennett Williams was asked what he wanted to do when he grew up — an odd question for a man in his mid-30s who’d already gained a reputation as a distinguished trial lawyer. “I want to own a ball club and be president,” said Williams,1 who as a […]

When 21-year-old Charlie Beamon debuted for the Baltimore Orioles on September 26, 1956, he became the youngest of the majors’ 15 pitchers of color since Jackie Robinson integrated the sport in 1947.1 The righthander throttled the mighty Yankees, 1-0, with a complete game, but earned only two more victories in his three-year (1956-1958) big league […]

Bill Renna was a journeyman outfielder who played in 370 games over six seasons for four American League teams. He batted over .300 for the Yankees, served as a backup for Boston’s Ted Williams, and in 1954 led the league in turning double plays as a right-fielder. His career, Rich Marazzi once wrote, was “a […]

Many young boys will ponder the important matters of the day, and some young boys will just daydream as they skip rocks across the surface of a lake. In the case of Fred Lasher, the enjoyment of skipping rocks across a tranquil lake helped transform Fred into a nasty submarine pitcher that minor and major […]

Shortly after his birth, Fred Lee Valentine’s aunt dubbed him “Squeaky” for the noises he made as a toddler. Since he was too young to argue with her about the name, it stuck and remained with him through high school and college and even into his pro career. It bespeaks the constancy of the man, […]

From 1946 through 1951, Sheldon Jones pitched in 199 games for the New York Giants. He started 98 times during that span and made 101 appearances in relief. His willingness to accept any mound assignment earned him the nickname “Available.” The moniker was derived from Al Capp’s Available Jones, who first appeared in the Li’lAbner […]

If “Who was Joe Tipton?” was the answer on Jeopardy!, the writers might have struggled to provide the clue. Perhaps only the savviest of baseball fans would be able to recall the backup catcher of seven seasons in the majors. Tipton’s seven years, all in the American League, were highlighted by 1948. In his rookie […]

After his retirement, Fritz Peterson recalled, “When I signed with the Yankees, the scout told me, ‘Heck, you’re a lefthander working in Yankee Stadium, you can count on a World Series check at least every other year.’”1 The Yankees hadn’t finished in last place since 1912, when they were still the New York Highlanders. However, […]

New York Giants manager John McGraw, left, and team owner Charles Stoneham in the early 1920s. (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY)   INTRODUCTION The New York-San Francisco Giants baseball club is among the most storied franchises in the annals of professional sport. To fans, mention of the club’s name promptly evokes images of Willie […]

“Sooner or later you have to say, it’s my ball and half the plate is mine. Only I never let on which half of the plate I wanted.” – Don Drysdale1 As the calendar turned to September, the heated 1956 National League pennant race had one month to go. The Dodgers found themselves in second […]

The Zanesville (Ohio) Greys were a Class C minor-league baseball team affiliated with the Cleveland Indians. In 1935 Earl Wolgamot led the Greys to the best overall record in the eight-team Middle Atlantic League, and he was voted the league’s manager of the year for the second year in a row.1 His best players, though, […]

Moping about the lobby of Boston’s luxurious Hotel Statler, Harvey Hendrick began talking about the dreary, pluvian commotion outside. “Boston weather is like this,” he said as he and his Brooklyn teammates watched sheets of rain and sleet blow past the hotel windows. “Sometimes it stays this way for two whole weeks. And then it […]