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Outfielder Steve Salvato never played a day in the major leagues, but he once got three hits in a regular-season game at a big-league ballpark. Same thing with pitcher Henry Bunnell: He never appeared in the majors, but he once earned a win in a big-league park. These unusual events happened in June 1972, when […]

On June 24, 1946, the Spokane Indians, a Class B Western International League team full of World War II veterans and promising prospects, traveled by bus across Washington state for their next series in Bremerton. While the team stopped for dinner in Ellensburg, word came that third baseman Jack Lohrke had been recalled by the […]

The 53,302 fans at Dodger Stadium for Clayton Kershaw Bobblehead Night1 in July 2022 were treated to a cute opening act – the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers ace’s oldest three kids threw first “pitches” to their dad before the Dodgers-Washington Nationals game. (The 40,000 bobbleheads were apparently a big draw since the crowd exceeded the […]

Nineteenth-century baseball often suffered game delays, suspensions, and even cancellations due to weather or dusk. But a game between the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Beaneaters on May 15, 1894, at Boston’s South End Grounds concluded prematurely for a more life-threatening reason: fire. “It was a hot game, sure enough,” the Boston Globe reported.1 Spalding’s Guide […]

Right-handed knuckleballer Charlie Zink put in his time, rising through the Boston Red Sox organization. He pitched for seven-plus years in the minors before finally getting the call to the big leagues. He was with the Boston team for only one day and got into just one game, but he did accomplish something that tens […]

Patsy Tebeau was a pugnacious competitor from the mean streets of St. Louis who sought any advantage he thought he could gain. His tactics delivered a brand of baseball that clearly was much dirtier than you see in the modern game. Bill James has written about 19th century baseball: “The tactics of the eighties were […]

“Fred Wenz Provides Red Sox Mysticism” — how can the reader resist responding to a newspaper headline like that? The article in a 1969 issue of Boston Herald Traveler discussed “the Wenz enigma — a situation which has found Fireball Fred blinding minor league hitters and then getting bombed in the majors.”1 It wasn’t the […]

Eddie Yost was a slick-fielding, high-on-base-percentage third baseman, an athlete who continued to make his name at the hot corner after his playing days were over, as the third base coach for the Washington Senators, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox. Known as “The Walking Man” for his propensity at getting bases on balls, […]

His name was Clarence Charles Isreal. That’s Isreal, not Israel. His name should not be conflated with the country of the Middle East. Most of the newspapers of his time did not grasp that distinction. Consequently, often the misspelling has carried over into subsequent baseball records. In his six-year professional baseball career, Clarence Isreal spent […]

Eddie Lee Dixon was born on May 16, 1916, in Bonifay, Florida, in the Florida panhandle region, approximately 100 miles northeast of Pensacola, where Dixon spent most of his formative years. Except for his years in the Negro Leagues and while serving in the US Army during World War II, Dixon spent his entire life […]

“They say I’m a good pinch-hitter, but maybe if I ever came to the plate 500 times, they might learn I’m a good hitter, period.” — Jim Henneman, The Sporting News1   Terrence Michael Crowley was born on February 16, 1947, in Staten Island, New York, and grew up rooting for the Yankees. Despite his […]

Ervin Fowlkes was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on January 18, 1922, and grew up in the Brownsville section of that humid city on the banks of the Calcasieu River.1 He was the seventh-born of Richard and Rosa Fowlkes’ 10 children. Richard and Rosa were both natives of southeastern Louisiana, although Richard’s paternal line traces […]

Personifying perseverance, Dyar Miller spent more than 50 years in professional baseball despite being released three weeks after signing his first contract. A right-hander with an effective fastball-slider combination, he pitched for the Orioles, Angels, Blue Jays, and Mets after debuting at age 29. Over parts of seven seasons (1975 to 1981), Miller was 23-17 […]

Despite missing two of his prime seasons while serving his country during World War II, Marlin Carter played professional baseball for nearly a quarter-century in major and minor Negro Leagues. Nicknamed “Pee Wee,” the 5-foot-7, 160-pounder threw right-handed and batted lefty. Primarily a third baseman, he also saw action at second base and shortstop, and […]

At age 17 he signed his first professional baseball contract. Several years later he helped the Cincinnati Reds win two National League pennants. For a while, Jim McGlothlin was one of the best pitchers in baseball. However, a series of injuries and a debilitating illness brought his career to a premature close. At the age […]

A sufferer from locomotor ataxia, a painful disease of the nervous system that caused him to walk with two canes, John T. Brush was a successful retail magnate who owned the New York Giants from 1903 until his death in 1912. Though the Giants became the most valuable franchise in professional sports during his tenure, […]

In a 15-year major-league career filled with great stories and accomplishments of various stripes, Earl Torgeson was well known for getting in brawls. Even before he reached the major leagues, in the winter before his rookie season, he had faced assault charges for decking two men on a Seattle street who had used vulgar language […]

Although he was a catcher in 527 of his 922 major league games, Mike Grady is best known as a third baseman who made a record number of errors on one ground ball, a play that never happened. At 5’ 11” and a muscular 190 pounds, Grady was a versatile player for the Phillies, Browns, Giants, […]

Cupid Childs was one of the best hitting major league second basemen during the late nineteenth century, not to mention a better-than-average fielder who possessed great range on the diamond. Only four other second basemen in the history of major league baseball have averaged more total chances per game than Childs. His all-around outstanding play […]

“The rumors are that [rookie] Allen is not returning with the Phillies to Connie Mack Stadium on Wednesday. He’s going directly to the Hall of Fame.”1   The Philadelphia Phillies’ first black superstar, Dick Allen was one of the most feared hitters in baseball in the 1960s. In an era dominated by pitching, he slugged […]

Born on January 22, 1976, in Portsmouth, Virginia, Jimmy Anderson became a star pitcher at Western Branch High School. As a senior, the left-hander was “practically unhittable”1 with an ERA of 0.11, and was named Virginia High School Player of the Year.2 In the major leagues Anderson compiled a career record of 25-47 (.347) and […]

John Park Henry, nicknamed “Bull,” was a catcher for the Washington Nationals from 1910–1917. The team was often called the Senators prior to, during, and after Henry’s career. Henry was recognized for his excellent fielding, throwing arm, and ability to call a game, eventually becoming Walter Johnson’s preferred catcher. The weakest part of Henry’s game […]

In the midst of a successful career in the major leagues, Jim “Nixey” Callahan quit the Chicago White Sox after the 1905 season, pinning his fortunes on a plan to establish a semipro club in Chicago. He first purchased the rights to an old amateur playing field in Logan Square, a section of Chicago. Then […]