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During Harry Grabiner’s four-decade-long tenure as a front-office official with the Chicago White Sox, he saw the team experience its highest highs and lowest lows. Beginning his career as a scorecard salesman in 1905 and serving for many years as the team’s secretary and vice president, Grabiner was involved with the White Sox’ first two […]

Could a friendly poker game among minor-league teammates lead to a Hall of Fame career for a 29-year-old who had been pitching in professional baseball for nine years, never had won a major-league game, and seldom had put together two good years back to back in the minors? Perhaps. Arthur Vance had earned the nickname […]

Patrick Edward Dobson Jr. was born February 12, 1942, in Depew, New York, a small village ten miles east of Buffalo. In his youth, Pat often took the bus there to watch his heroes Joe Caffie and Luke Easter, stars of the Buffalo Bisons of the International League. Pat attended Lancaster Central High School, where […]

Baseball history is filled with all variety of wonderful-sounding names. But has there ever been a more perfect name for a baseball player than Champ Summers? “With a name like that, you gotta be halfway decent anyway,” Champ would say years later. “If my name had been George, nobody would have noticed me, but Champ?” […]

Pitching in a pennant race must have seemed tame to Skinny Brown; when he was 19 years old, he jumped out of a shot-up bomber into the cold waters of the English Channel. Brown took the game seriously, but not himself. He said, “It takes a lot of guts to walk out there with the […]

To many, there can be no greater honor than to serve one’s country, but occasionally the call to duty comes at an inopportune time.  Bill Landis expresses no regrets, but history should nonetheless note that he played the full 1967 season for the 1967 Boston Red Sox, perhaps the most beloved of all Red Sox […]

Duke Maas pitched in the American League during seven seasons from 1955 to 1961, most notably with the New York Yankees. He appeared in relief in the 1958 and 1960 World Series. Maas won the game that clinched the 1958 pennant for New York. In 1959 he started 21 games, fashioning a 14-8 won-loss record […]

“Black Tank … is probably the greatest colored pitcher in Texas.”1 — Houston Post, 1915 After decades of research, historians have cataloged thousands of Negro League players, with an emphasis on those who played on prominent teams of the East Coast and Midwest.2 Negro baseball flourished in Texas, but little is known about the great […]

As major-league debuts go, Mark Grant’s did not lack in drama. On April 27, 1984, the former first-round pick got the start for the San Francisco Giants, squaring off against Joe Price and the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium. Grant took the loss despite working six innings. It was a 9-3 contest between two teams […]

On April 16, 1887, Michael J. Griffin stepped to the plate in the first inning of a game between the Baltimore and Philadelphia clubs of the American Association. In his first major league at-bat, Griffin entered the record books by homering off Philadelphia’s Ed Seward. Griffin became either the first or second player to homer […]

On August 31, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower traveled approximately two miles from the White House to Griffith Stadium take in an afternoon of baseball featuring the Washington Senators and New York Yankees, whose star, Mickey Mantle, was in pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home-run record. Mantle walloped his 47th round-tripper in the Yankees’ 6-4 victory, […]

The 1969 Miracle New York Mets will always have a special place in baseball lore. Not only are the Amazin’ Mets remembered for their stunning upset over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles, but also in the way in which they won, with some of most remarkable defense and pitching ever displayed in World Series history. […]

The small town of Gridley, California, was established five years after the Civil War. It would become known for its agriculture, eventually becoming the “Kiwi Capital of the United States.” The Northern California community would also be successful in growing such other crops as peaches, plums that would become prunes, rice and walnuts. Gridley became […]

Lefty pitcher Raleigh Aitchison had a modest major-league career, posting a 12-12 record over 34 games with Brooklyn between 1911 and 1915. He showed flashes of brilliance but control problems and various injuries and illnesses limited his opportunities for a longer career. It was once said, “Aitchison is one of those peculiar ball players who […]

Whenever the name Harvey Haddix is mentioned, there is usually a reference to a 115-pitch game he threw in Milwaukee in 1959. His career in professional baseball, however, was much more — lasting parts of five decades. Haddix was born on September 18, 1925, the third son of Harvey Haddix, Sr. and Nellie Mae Greider-Haddix. […]

Marvin Eugene Throneberry was born to be a Met. His very initials — MET — said so. As a member of the original 1962 New York Mets, Marv Throneberry’s colorful exploits (both good and bad) earned him the nickname “Marvelous Marv.” While remembered as much for his gaffes as his clutch performances, Throneberry carved out […]

George Brett entered the 1992 season as an accomplished veteran leading a rebuilding team. The 1991 Royals finished with an 82-80 record, 13 games behind the AL-West-leading Minnesota Twins and only one game removed from the basement. Kansas City hadn’t reached the postseason since winning the 1985 World Series, although the Royals won 92 games […]

“There is nothing to compare with it,” said Bobby Richardson after going 3-for-5 in Game Four of the 1961 World Series. “The World Series certainly is not another group of ballgames. I actually enjoy it. The excitement and the little tensions you feel before and after the games are beyond comparison.”1 The Cincinnati Reds were […]

The July 20, 1939, headline in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette read, “Pirates Smother Crippled Giants, 10-3,”1 alluding to the fact that “with most of his stars walking on crutches, [Giants manager] Bill Terry was forced to use patchwork in his batting array.”2 Burgess Whitehead was nursing a bruised leg, although he started the game at shortstop. […]

Montreal Expos general manager Omar Minaya had shocked the baseball world. Just over a month before the 2002 trade deadline, he acquired the most coveted player available, Bartolo Colón, in a blockbuster deal with the Cleveland Indians. The Expos paid dearly to obtain one of the best pitchers in the game. In what turned out […]

The Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves were two teams headed in opposite directions. Brooklyn, with 96 wins and the National League pennant already clinched, had a World Series date with the New York Yankees. On Saturday, September 27, 1952, Dodgers manager Charlie Dressen gave the ball to pitcher Joe Black as a final regular-season tune-up.1 […]

Right fielder Joe Ferguson’s first career assist came on a key throw to home plate in the 1974 World Series. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   The first-ever all-California World Series pitted two contrasting teams. The two-time defending American League (and World Series) champion Oakland A’s featured a new manager and experienced teammates. The National League champion Los […]

The Brooklyn Dodgers were all smiles after they swept the Yankees at Ebbets Field, leaving them just one game away from their elusive World Series championship. Duke Snider, the hero of the fifth game after hitting two home runs, was asked if it was his biggest day as a player. Snider responded, “No, that’ll be […]

It was meant to happen. At least, it seemed that way. Triggering a standing ovation from a Fenway Park crowd slightly exceeding 10,000, Theodore Samuel Williams, as he had done 519 times before, smacked a ball into the outfield seats (he also hit an inside-the-park home run in 1946.) It was the Red Sox slugger’s […]