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During the first half of Hoyt Wilhelm’s major-league career, the attention he received usually focused on his freak pitch — a knuckleball — which he likely threw better than any man in history. In the latter half of his career, he was equally renowned for his advanced age — he had become an “old” knuckleballer. […]

Arnold Carl Earley wound up in the same field of work his father had pursued — a policeman. His father, Walter Earley, was a city policeman in Lincoln Park, Michigan, at the time of the 1940 United States census. Born in Lincoln Park on June 4, 1933, to Walter and Edna (Tiedeman) Earley, Arnold was […]

After several trials as a starter with the Atlanta Braves in the 1970s and out of the big leagues in 1980, southpaw Jamie Easterly emerged as a dependable reliever for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1981, helping them to their first-ever postseason berth. He suffered a strained knee in 1982 and was not on the pennant-winning […]

Pitcher Mike Nagy jumped from Class A to the Boston Red Sox in 1969 and became the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year. The 21-year-old righty was 12-2 with a 3.11 ERA. Yet he never recaptured that form, winning only eight more games in fractions of five more seasons in the majors. Nagy hung […]

In his lifetime Herman Bell was a highly regarded defensive catcher for the Birmingham Black Barons, but one who could not catch a break. His career in the Negro Leagues was marred by untimely injuries and complicated by unexpected happenstances and the harsh reality of being an African-American baseball player in the Jim Crow South. […]

One of the best pitchers of the 1970s, Dock Ellis feared success nearly as much as he feared failure. He both angered and amused. His antics cut across racial and cultural lines, as he challenged old prejudices and “normal” ways of doing things. Ellis pitched a no-hitter in 1970 and the next year led the […]

Owing to their 87 wins in 1965 and their first winning season since 1959, the Cleveland Indians braced for an even more successful 1966. They started the season red hot and won their first ten games. Getting ready for the rubber match of a three-game series against the California Angels in the Angels’ newly christened […]

“My father-in-law said I wasn’t worth that much,” said Garland, “and he was right. No pitcher is worth that based on one season. But if they offer it to you, naturally you’re going to take it.”1 Wayne Garland wore “it” like an albatross around his neck. “It” is how baseball fans in general — and […]

Noted for his versatility, John Melvin “Bubba” Phillips started games at third base and all three outfield positions for the 1959 American League champion White Sox. That year, he played 117 games and had 379 at-bats with five home runs, 40 RBIs, and a .264 average while batting anywhere from the second to the eighth […]

“I got the name Show Boat in St. Louis with the Cards in 1930,” wrote George “Showboat” Fisher in a 1985 letter. “The show ‘Showboat’ was in St. Louis most of the summer, the fans liked what they saw, so they started to call me ‘Show Boat.’ I hit .374 to lead the club, and we won […]

Harry Byrd Highway runs west from US 401 for about five miles along South Carolina Route 34/151, and past Darlington Raceway, NASCAR’s first paved superspeedway. The 1.25-mile egg-shaped oval, built in 1950, is a shrine for stock-car racing comparable to what Wrigley Field is for baseball. Many racing fans visiting the Darlington Raceway Stock Car […]

Throughout his career, Ray Coleman was beloved by nearly every manager, coach, and sportswriter for his ability to “put a lot of spirit into his game . . . [displaying] much of that ‘Gashouse Gang’ baseball.”1 After coming up as an outfielder with the St. Louis Browns in 1947, Coleman was traded to the Philadelphia […]

Left-handed pitcher Jim Abbott is probably the most celebrated athlete with a major disability of his era. Born with a deformed right arm, Abbott was already a national hero before signing a professional contract with the California Angels in 1988. As a sophomore pitcher for the University of Michigan in 1987 he was named the […]

Bill Monbouquette grew up just a few miles from Fenway Park and was signed by his hometown Boston Red Sox, but his first day with the team, the cops threw both him and his father into a holding cell at the ballpark. “I remember sitting out in the right-field stands at Fenway watching a game […]

John Henry Johnson — the lefty pitcher, not the Pro Football Hall of Famer or the baseball executive1 — pitched in eight big-league seasons from 1978 to 1987. He enjoyed his greatest success as a 21-year-old rookie. Primarily a starter in his early years, Johnson moved to the bullpen and was effective at times, though […]

His story is typical of many pitchers in the early history of the game. A blazing fastball provided an opportunity to escape a life of working the local coal mines. But wildness and constant conflicts with team management over his salary limited him to just ten major league games. His talent allowed him to pitch […]

Catcher “Oil” Smith, a bench-jockey and brawler extraordinaire, played on five World Series teams in the 1920s. Behind the plate, he perfected tactics that distracted and intimidated hitters. A potent left-hand batter himself, he finished his 12 seasons in the majors with a .303 lifetime average. “He probably was involved in as many fights as […]

Tom Butts stood 5-feet-8 and weighed just 142 pounds, but his size was not the reason he acquired the nickname Pee Wee. Rather, the strong-armed shortstop’s defensive prowess reminded observers of his White contemporary, Pee Wee Reese.1 “I’d compare Butts with Reese or [Phil] Rizzuto or anyone I’ve seen in the big leagues,” opined Roy […]

Each night followed the same routine. Carolina and Mark Murphy logged onto MiLB.com, expecting to see their son, John Ryan Murphy, behind the plate for the New York Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. But on Saturday, August 31, 2013, the lineup told a different story. Murphy was listed as a late scratch. Instead, he […]

In 1939 both the Baltimore Elite Giants and the Newark Eagles were “resolved to improve on the results”1 of the previous season. The 1938 season had been the maiden campaign for Baltimore in the Negro National League II (NNL2), as the franchise had moved up the road from Washington.2 Under player-manager George Scales, the Elite […]

“Bob Trice has richly earned this reward,” proclaimed Ottawa Athletics manager Frank Skaff, in response to Trice’s September 1953 call-up by Philadelphia’s American League club.1 There was no doubt that Trice’s promotion was warranted. The 27-year-old right-hander had successfully made the jump from the Class C (Québec) Provincial League to the International League that season, […]

In 1975 Dave Parker became the Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting right fielder and began a half-decade reign as baseball’s best outfielder. His loudest declaration of onrushing superstardom came on May 9 against the defending National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers, when he bashed out run-producing extra-base hits in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings and drove […]

Jim Manning’s career as a big-league pitcher lasted only 17 days from first game to last. What makes it noteworthy was Manning’s age at the time. He was 18 years and 268 days old when he first took the mound for Minnesota on April 15, 1962. Sixty years later, he remained the youngest player in […]

In 1911, Angie Tullar, a prominent resident of Wellsville, New York, gave her community the use of a parcel of land for public recreation. Over time, this generous donation provided the residents of her small village with a front-row seat to watch baseball players ranging from Ty Cobb to Tony Conigliaro. Tullar Field, a ballpark […]