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A mid-August matchup between two middle-of-the-pack teams is seldom abundant with high drama or deep significance. But in this case, fate braided the threads of multiple storylines to produce a singularly fascinating game, one that marked a milestone in the St. Louis Browns’ topsy-turvy 1921 season. St. Louis had not been over .500 since the […]

Things came together nicely for right-handed pitcher Josh Beckett of the Boston Red Sox in 2007. A heralded Texas high school star when the Florida Marlins selected him second overall in the June 1999 Amateur Draft, Beckett reached the big leagues in 2001, won World Series MVP honors with the Marlins two years later, and […]

Before a Saturday Ladies Day crowd of 5,247 at Crosley Field, “Frankie and Vada waved the big sticks as the powerhouse Reds battered out a 16-4 decision over the Los Angeles Dodgers.”1 Frank Robinson hit for the cycle and Vada Pinson contributed a 3-for-4 day as the duo knocked in nine of Cincinnati’s 16 runs. […]

It was a bright spot for Giants fans, though a victory would have been nice. In the first game of a doubleheader on June 30, 1978, Willie McCovey satisfied the anticipation of baseball fans when he hit his 500th home run. The Giants lost to the Braves 10-9 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, but the smash […]

Terry Francona raised the art of self-deprecation to a new level. Decades after his playing career ended, the man who had become one of the most successful managers in big-league history loved to downplay his talents as a ballplayer. He claimed that the last thing he wanted was his players to hit like he did. […]

A packed Riverfront Stadium celebrated future Hall of Fame catcher and lifetime Cincinnati Red Johnny Bench’s career achievements. The 17-year veteran had announced his retirement earlier in the season,1 and now the Reds’ faithful enjoyed the opportunity to acknowledge his many contributions to baseball and the Queen City. The two-time MVP and 1970s Big Red […]

Baseball is a game of statistics, and there appears to be a number to objectively measure every aspect of player performance. For instance, when evaluating the effectiveness of relief pitchers, the percentage of inherited runners that score is key.1 A hurler who enters the game with the bases loaded and retires the side without giving […]

When has a criminal paid his or her debt to society? When has an apparent psychiatric disorder been cured, or at least managed? When does an offender who violated social mores deserve a second chance? These are some of society’s weightier, knottier questions, and in an ideal world, people come to baseball parks to escape […]

SABR maintains a Triple Play Database, which lists all major-league triple plays executed since 1876. Through the 2024 season, there have been 737 of them. Sometimes whole seasons go by without even one triple play. There are devoted fans who have attended hundreds of baseball games who have never seen one. Sometimes, however, triple plays […]

In the 2007 postseason, the 96-66 American League Central Division champion Cleveland Indians faced the 94-68 wild-card New York Yankees in one AL Division Series, while the 96-66 AL East champion Boston Red Sox hosted the 94-68 AL West-winning Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the other.1 From their 13th game of the season, on […]

July 4, 1921, fell on a Monday, giving baseball teams a golden opportunity for not only a potentially lucrative Sunday doubleheader, but also another twin bill on the holiday. The Atlantic City Bacharach Giants took full advantage of the calendar, hosting two games on Sunday against archrival Hilldale of Philadelphia, and two more on July […]

On the morning of Saturday, September 20, 1952, the St. Louis Cardinals had only the slimmest of mathematical chances to win the National League pennant. Since July 1, the closest the Cardinals had been to first place was on September 9, when they were within 6½ games of the league-leading Brooklyn Dodgers. When play closed […]

During the summer of 1954 the Cleveland Indians visited New York to play a three-game series against the Yankees with both teams in contention for the American League pennant. The story of the second game wasn’t the Yankees’ 4-1 victory, or Eddie Lopat outdueling Mike Garcia, but the 12-year-old batboy in the Cleveland dugout, Mike […]

America as a land of immigrants sometimes produces unexpected surprises. One of them was a Croatian nicknamed Catfish. The outfielder/first baseman George Michael Metkovich played in over 1,000 major-league games from 1943-54, with a career batting average of .261 working for six different big-league teams. He was dubbed “a meteor — never a star.”1 Metkovich […]

James1 Byrd’s major-league career started on May 31, 1993, and ended on June 1, almost exactly 24 hours later. Five-plus previous years of work in the minors had earned him his spot – however briefly – on a big-league roster. Byrd – a 24-year-old infielder whose main position was shortstop – made two appearances for […]

In the long and successful history of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball club, few people have been more important than Sam Breadon, who owned the team for 27 years and presided over nine league pennants and six World Series titles. Much of the club’s success has been attributed to Branch Rickey, the team’s genius general […]

You wind him up in the spring and he goes all summer. He hits .330 or .340 or whatever, and then you shut him off in the fall. – Yankees Hall of Fame pitcher Lefty Gomez1   Charlie Gehringer was a model of consistency throughout his major-league career with the Detroit Tigers. This Hall of […]

The manager of the Hotel del Comercio in Caracas, Venezuela, summoned George Genovese for a phone call from the San Francisco Giants in November 1963. It sent Genovese’s hopes soaring. “Maybe I’m their new manager,” he said to his wife, June. When the call was completed, Genovese was crestfallen. His career as a manager was […]

An artist by training and education, Brett Tomko also painted corners as a pitcher. Tomko’s major-league career is notable both for its longevity and its mediocrity. Over 14 seasons spanning 1997 to 2011, he accumulated 100 wins and 103 losses. He was the epitome of a journeyman, pitching for 10 clubs in the majors and 18 […]

Right-handed pitcher Merlin Nippert pitched six innings of major-league baseball for the Boston Red Sox in September 1962. He appeared in four games between September 12 and September 22. It was but a brief stint, yet he had made the grade and acquitted himself reasonably well as a big leaguer. Merlin Lee Nippert was born […]

When the Red Sox arrived at their spring training camp at Chain-O-Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Florida, in 1967, manager Dick Williams seemed to have a pretty good idea who would comprise his pitching staff. However, in its preseason outlook, Sports Illustrated was not impressed with the group, which the magazine mocked as a “prospect […]

Benny McCoy was the talk of every town in 1940 when the obscure rookie became baseball’s first big-money free agent. He failed to live up to the hype — who could? — and crumpled under the weight of great expectations. “Benny’s problem was too much attention,” Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Cy Peterman wrote.1 We’ll never know […]

“He was a missionary extraordinary for the game itself. … Wherever he went … Barrett talked and preached baseball.” i He was referred to as the King of Weeds, a play on words about scouts who “beat the bushes” for prospects. He signed the second most major-league players in baseball history, second only to his […]

Over the years, the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the nation’s leading African-American newspapers, used the following superlatives to describe Pittsburgh Crawfords infielder Chester Williams: Peppy, snappy, aggressive, hustling, scrappy, flashy. He was also referred to as sure-fielding, hard-hitting, a sparkplug, and even an inspired devil. From 1931 through the team’s demise in 1938, Williams was […]