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Gus Greenlee, famed owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, came from a family that valued education. His three brothers earned medical or law degrees, but Gus left college after a year and moved away from his family at age 19 to work in Pittsburgh. He soon purchased his own taxi and began running bootleg liquor out […]

In the winter of 1981-1982 the Cincinnati Reds began dismantling remnants of the powerful Big Red Machine. Outfielder George Foster’s contract was scheduled to run out after the 1982 season and the slugger was rumored to be seeking a $20 million renewal. On the heels of the departures of Ken Griffey and Ray Knight, Foster […]

In the days before players routinely wore gloves, the ability of a catcher to handle a fast pitcher or one with big curves was valued far more than his hitting. Bart Cantz was such a man. During three seasons in the majors (1888-90), Cantz finished with a batting average of just .157 with five extra-base […]

He grew up in a small Nebraska town with a high school that did not field a baseball team. He signed professionally with an organization that notoriously signed hundreds of prospects with the expectation that such quantity would yield quality. Yet Johnny Hopp diligently overcame these obstacles to carve out a successful 14-year career in […]

Clay Carroll was a popular relief star in the heyday of the fireman, a bullpen workhorse who could be used in a variety of difficult situations. From the end of June 1968 through the 1975 season, he saved a then Cincinnati Reds record 119 games and compiled a 1.39 earned-run average in 22 postseason games. […]

August 27, 1968. Yankee Stadium. Bottom of the sixth. Angels 1, Yankees 0. Bases loaded, two out.  The crowd of 21,419 lets out a tremendous roar as Mickey Mantle is called upon to pinch hit. Although it was the last year of The Mick’s career, he’d already hit 16 homers and was still a threat […]

Perhaps the greatest example of the old baseball cliché “good field, no hit,” Raymond Francis Oyler was the regular shortstop for two late-1960s Detroit Tigers teams, including the world champion 1968 squad, as well as the original Seattle Pilots the following season. Ray compiled a sub-”Mendoza line” .175 career batting average—the lowest of any player […]

Nineteen forty-five was the happiest year in American history. The end of World War II brought millions of Johnnies and Joans marching home. Families were reunited. The high barely lasted past Christmas. Nineteen forty-six brought inflation, store shelves bare of many basic consumer goods, and a severe housing shortage. The result was an unprecedented epidemic […]

Thomas Turner, a Chicago American Giants first baseman, heard with mixed emotions the news about Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He appreciated this momentous breakthrough, but he did not allow the report to draw his attention away from the game underway that day in the […]

When Jess Barnes was at the top of his game, the right-handed pitcher from Circleville, Kansas, held his own with the elite of his day. Named to Baseball Magazine’s All-American team following the 1919 season, Barnes shared the honor with such luminaries as Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, George Sisler, and Joe […]

In 1972 Hank Morgenweck achieved a long-held dream—a full-time umpiring job in the major leagues. Four seasons later, in bitter and disputed circumstances, he lost it. An experienced minor-league ump with a National League playoff game on his résumé, Morgenweck was named to the American League’s umpiring staff in spring 1972. But his contract was […]

Twelve managers have won more games than Bill McKechnie. None has won more respect. Deacon Bill McKechnie was the first to lead three different teams to the World Series and the first to win championships with two different teams. In 25 seasons as a manager, between 1915 and 1946, he earned respect as a baseball […]

“If we had one game to win, we wanted Leon to pitch.” — Monte Irvin   So much of Leon Day’s story is caught up in his last years and his long wait for the Hall of Fame call. For Day, who spent a lifetime exceeding at his professional calling, punching his card at every […]

“I don’t think there’s any play in baseball that excites more than someone really making a long home run. It’s one of the two best feelings a man can have.” – Sam Horn1   The beauty of his lefty swing had scouts swooning, epitomizing lethal power. At 6-feet-5, 215 pounds2, he seemed to tower over […]

Billy Horne was a Negro League second baseman and shortstop who played for several clubs in his 15-season career, from 1935 to 1949. He was a left-handed hitter, threw right-handed, stood 5-feet-5 and weighed 152 pounds. Nicknamed Little Grumbler and Aussa, Horne was regarded as a fine defender and appeared in several all-star games.1 William […]

Some said that baseball owners found Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis on the federal bench, but Leo Durocher got it right when he said, “They got him right out of Dickens.”1 Ruth put the fans back in the parks, but Landis made sure what they witnessed was honest. The Sultan and the Czar worked different sides […]

Steve Barr pitched parts of 24 games in the major leagues. Though he was unable to carve out a longer career, he was nonetheless able to achieve more at this game than most of the rest of us. Born in St. Louis on September 8, 1951, Barr, a left-handed pitcher, was signed fresh out of Carson […]

New Orleans’ first professional baseball team was the Pelicans, which began participating in Organized Baseball in 1887 in the Southern League.1 The team played at Sportsman’s Park and Athletic Park before moving to its namesake, Pelican Park, in 1908. That park was ultimately dismantled and relocated to its final destination in 1915, where it became […]

The New York Yankees entered Game Six of the 1953 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers looking to secure a record fifth consecutive World Series title. The Yankees had taken control of the Series by beating Brooklyn 11-7 in Game Five at Ebbets Field to take a three-games-to-two lead. Billy Martin had been the star […]

The 1985 All-Star Game – a 6-1 National League win at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis – lacked drama. For the crowd of 54,960, that may have been disappointing. But for members of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which operated the stadium, it was a relief. In its fourth season as home of […]

Several themes were evident for All-Star games played in the 1960s. First was the National League’s crushing superiority during the midsummer classics. Of the 13 games played (two games were played from 1960 through 1962) the National League took 11; the American League won only once (the second game in 1962 was a tie). Toward […]

The East-West All-Star Game was the highlight of the Negro Leagues’ season, bigger even than the Negro World Series. Begun in 1933 at the Chicago White Sox’ Comiskey Park, in the same year as the All-Star Game in the then-segregated White major leagues, the Black game regularly outdrew its counterpart during World War II, when […]

Mel Ott began the 1946 season, the 21st of his career with the New York Giants, with 510 lifetime home runs, more than anyone else in National League history. He had led or tied for the NL lead in home runs six times, most recently in 1942, and hit 20 or more home runs 15 […]

“How good was Stan Musial? He was good enough to take your breath away.” — Vin Scully, on-air radio broadcast (1989)1   Early in the 1957 season, the St. Louis Cardinals were off to a sluggish start. But their star first baseman, Stan Musial, at 36 years old and playing in his 16th season, was […]