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Superstitious? Not me. Although there was a time in my life when I thought I could alter fate merely by avoiding black cats, knocking on wood, or even by talking to baseball bats. The latter practice occurred in the spring of 1968, when I was 12 years old and batboy for the Minnesota Gophers baseball team. Saturday, […]

Mike Piazza entered the 1998 season, his last under contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, hoping to work out an extension that would, for all practical purposes, make him a Dodger for life. But when negotiations stretched into the season and he got off to a poor start,1 the 29-year-old catcher, who had finished second […]

“We won the game, and we went back to the hotel. I woke up at 4 o’clock the next morning, sat up in bed and screamed as loud as I could. I knew I would never have a chance to do that [pitch a perfect game] again.” – Brian Holman1   In May 1989 the […]

Clayton Kershaw pitched a magnificent game on April 13, 2022, but did he leave too soon? The Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace left-hander threw seven perfect innings against the Minnesota Twins on a cold afternoon at Target Field. Kershaw, making his debut in the Dodgers’ fifth game of the lockout-delayed season, threw 80 pitches and struck […]

Hall of Famer Paul Molitor’s illustrious 21-year career included seven All-Star Game appearances and four Silver Slugger Awards. He was instrumental to the Milwaukee Brewers’ only American League pennant, in 1982, and the Toronto Blue Jays’ repeat World Series title, in 1993.1 A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a product of the University of […]

Earmarked for greatness during his rapid rise through the Pirates’ farm system, Aramis Ramirez mixed promise with struggle for three seasons after reaching the major leagues as a teenager in 1998. On the first Sunday of the 2001 season, Ramirez’s career countdown hit liftoff with a three-home-run barrage at Houston’s Enron Field, igniting his breakthrough […]

While fans at baseball games 100 years from now watch as their starting pitcher is removed after reaching his pitch limit of 25, an old-timer will regale them with stories he heard at his pappy’s knee about pitchers who actually pitched nine innings in a single game, and not just in their entire Cy Young […]

In his novel You Can’t Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe tells the story of a man returning to his hometown in search of his identity. In May 1972, Willie Mays was sort of a George Webber-like character when he came to the Mets after spending the first 21 years of his career with the Giants — for 15 years […]

It was the best of teams, it was the worst of teams. On August 29, 1980, the Durham Bulls – the first-place team in the North Division of the Class A Carolina League – met the Rocky Mount Pines, just a few days away from finishing one of the worst seasons in professional baseball history. […]

Bill Dahlen’s ferocious temper earned him the nickname Bad Bill and got him thrown out of dozens of games. His 34th and final ejection as a player came on July 31, 1909, in the Boston Doves’ 3-2 road loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.1 Dahlen in 1909 was in his 19th major-league season and his […]

Lou Gehrig became the second New York Yankees player to hit for the cycle at least twice in his career, as the Yankees routed the St. Louis Browns, 14-5, on August 1, 1937.1 The Yankees hosted the Browns before a Sunday crowd of 18,924 at Yankee Stadium and came away with 17 hits. However, the […]

There are many middle infielders who are tagged by scouts as “good field, no hit.” For the most part, these players are steady performers in the field. They make all of the routine plays with ease and the more challenging ones seem as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Their offensive contributions are minimal; […]

In April 1954, as Philadelphia Athletics third baseman Jim Finigan was launching his major-league career, The Sporting News contributor Art Morrow characterized him “as a fellow who could not miss major league stardom.”1 Earle Mack, a son of future Hall of Fame skipper Connie Mack, echoed the sentiment five months later: “[Finigan] played good, steady […]

For the 1968 season, the major leagues sought to strictly enforce a rule prohibiting a pitcher from going to his mouth while on the mound. An especially unusual application of the rule took place at Shea Stadium in New York on May 2. Philadelphia Phillies reliever John Boozer entered a game against the New York […]

One of the first tragic figures in major-league baseball, Charles Ferguson might have become one of the greatest players of all time had it not been for his untimely death at the age of 25. An all-around natural athlete who starred for the Philadelphia Quakers of the National League from 1884 through 1887, Ferguson had a […]

On May 26, 1956, the Cincinnati Redlegs and Milwaukee Braves faced off in the second game of a three-game series in Milwaukee. The result was one of the most unusual and memorable games in the history of each franchise. On the mound for the Redlegs was Johnny Klippstein, a hard-throwing right-hander in his seventh season […]

“The best birthday present I ever got.” – Ralph Mauriello, September 6, 19581 Ralph Mauriello had been born on August 25, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York, and less than two weeks after his 24th birthday, after six minor-league seasons, he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers. Within two weeks of joining the club, he had his […]

Marty Sullivan was a ballplayer who, at his prime, “was second to no left fielder in the country,” according to Hall of Famer Cap Anson.1 In his five-year major-league career, Sullivan played for four different teams, compiling a .273 lifetime batting average. Martin C. Sullivan was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on October 20, 1862, the […]

Arguably one of the slowest runners in baseball, Edward Frank Burtschy earned the nickname “Molasses Shoe,” or “Moe” for short. The bulky 6’3”, 208-pound hurler may have tarried on the base path but the hard throwing righty, in the vernacular, could bring it. The problem was where. Blessed with a blazing fastball and cursed that […]

The “Iron Man” of the Texas League1 “A spitter jumping like a West Texas jackrabbit”2   Baseball history is quite familiar with Burleigh Grimes, the last legal spitball pitcher in the major leagues; and maybe Urban “Red” Faber, the final American Leaguer. But what about minor-league pitchers who were grandfathered in? Enter Paul Wachtel (WAH-tell), […]

A backup catcher who amassed only 984 plate appearances in 12 seasons, Wallace Larry Haney nevertheless was a member of some historic teams, including the 1974 Oakland Athletics. Upon retiring as an active player, the right-handed hitting Haney spent an additional 34 years in professional baseball as a coach and scout, and his dedication to […]

In September 1959, after the Buffalo Bisons, the Philadelphia Phillies Triple-A affiliate, captured the International League pennant, The Sporting News noticed Jimmie Coker, the club’s All Star catcher. He “has the assets to become … the top catcher produced in the International League since Roy Campanella graduated from the Montreal Royals,” Cy Kritzer predicted in […]

John Ryn’s career was spent in the Midwest, South and West far from the eyes of the major East Coast newspapers and fans. All of it was spent in the minors or below. Considering this and the fact that his career ended more than a century ago, few have heard of him. Physically, he was […]

Suter Sullivan was a standout player on what was arguably the worst ballclub in major league baseball history, the woefully inept 1899 Cleveland Spiders. After the Spiders lost their 100th game of the season, the New York Times wrote, “Sullivan seems to be out of place on such a poor team as the Clevelands. He […]