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Unless they announce their retirement in advance, very few players know how and when their career will end. After more than a quarter-century in their organization, Phil Niekro always assumed he would play out his career with the Braves, the only team he had ever known. But things didn’t exactly work out the way he […]

An ugly incident on July 3, 1965, between budding superstar Dick Allen and veteran bench player Frank Thomas threatened to tear the Philadelphia Phillies apart. It began with some verbal sparring during batting practice and quickly escalated. Allen punched Thomas, who responded by striking Allen on the shoulder with his bat.1 It took seven or […]

This Wednesday afternoon game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals was the rubber match of their three-game series in St. Louis. The Cardinals (6-5) were hoping to win the series after their 14-3 drubbing of the Nationals the previous night. With a dismal 2-6 start, the Nationals, who had won the series opener, […]

Scipio Spinks and Gary Nolan never faced off as starting pitchers in the major leagues during the five seasons, 1969 through 1973, when their careers overlapped in the National League. That’s a shame, because when the pitchers started against each other in the short-season Class A Northern League one night in August 1966, they combined […]

The Boston Red Sox had finished in last place in the American League East in 2012 with a record of 69-93. They were 26 games out of first place. But 2013 was another year. Through the end of July, they had already won almost as many games as in all of 2012; they were 65-44 […]

James Barton “Mickey” Vernon’s SABR biography notes that he was widely regarded as “the premier first baseman in the American League” in the 1940s and 1950s.1 His breakthrough season was 1946, when the 28-year-old Washington National won his first of two batting titles and was named to his first of seven AL All-Star teams.2 Vernon’s […]

On the first day of November 1968, minor-league baseball fans in Florida awoke to news of a new team affiliation. The expansion Montreal Expos of the National League, preparing to make their debut in 1969, were announced as the new parent club of West Palm Beach’s entry in the Class A Florida State League. The […]

  Sandy Koufax struck out 10 and beat the Phillies in his last regular-season start. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   Sandy Koufax, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar left-hander, won his final major-league game on Sunday October 2, 1966. The Phillies had taken the first game of a doubleheader, 4-3, in Philadelphia, when Chris Short came on in […]

On June 27, 1922, catcher Ray Schalk became the first player in Chicago White Sox history to hit for the cycle. Schalk was better known for his work behind the plate than for his hitting, with a lifetime .253 batting average and just 11 home runs in 18 seasons. He was elected to the National […]

The Cincinnati Reds’ Fred Toney was a big, 6-foot-2, rugged 200-pound pitcher, but even he didn’t expect to take the mound twice on a hot summer day in the Queen City. The Reds were in the midst of a grueling stretch of games when they prepared for a Sunday- afternoon twin bill with the Pittsburgh […]

Miguel Cabrera’s list of accolades is long. His manager in 2022, A.J. Hinch, said it best, “I’ve tried to remind our players that we’re playing with a living legend.”1 A native of Maracay, Venezuela, Cabrera was the first Venezuelan and seventh player born outside the continental United States to reach the 3,000-hit plateau.2 He was […]

Zack Wheat, more than four decades after playing his last major-league game, experienced a revival of fame in 1969 thanks to another Dodgers slugger who put on a hitting clinic against National League hurlers. Willie Davis tied Wheat’s 29-game streak on September 1, 1969, in a game against the Mets; it ended two games later […]

A sunny Friday afternoon in July is a perfect day for a baseball game. When the venue is Chicago’s Wrigley Field and the opposing teams are the crosstown rivals Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox, the setting is all the more idyllic. Throw in a pitching matchup of two young stars and it’s easy to […]

A potential championship baseball team should possess both a strong cleanup hitter and catcher to provide stability for the long season. One player left his mark on the 1984 Detroit Tigers by demonstrating to the blue-collar Detroit faithful that he had the strength and versatility to put on the so-called tools of ignorance and swing […]

Rick Manning, to quote journalist Steve Eby, “just might be the ultimate Cleveland Indian.”1 He was drafted by the Indians in 1972 and played center field for them from 1975 to 1983, when he was traded during the season to the Milwaukee Brewers. He played for the Brewers through 1987. Manning returned to Cleveland to […]

Ken Suarez, one of the “can’t-miss” catching prospects of the 1960s and a member of the Rangers’ inaugural squad in 1972, took a roundabout trip to arrive at his Arlington destination. Kenneth Raymond Suarez was born on April 12, 1943, in Tampa, Florida, the son of Joseph R. and Gladys M. (Wadsworth) Suarez, who married […]

He was a handsome, stylish Italian-American from the streets of Brooklyn who strutted into prominence at the same moment John Travolta’s Tony Manero did the same on the silver screen. But there was more to Lee Mazzilli than a pair of tight-fitting pants. He was a graceful athlete with a good eye who could hit […]

Amos Booth started his professional baseball career with the Cincinnati Red Stockings.1 No, not the undefeated touring team from 1869, but the tragically inept 9-56 squad from 1876. Booth was the jack-of-all-trades for Cincinnati. He opened the season as a highly-regarded third baseman, but saw as much action at catcher and shortstop as he did […]

As a teenager, Icehouse Wilson modestly aspired to become a draftsman; he did not have high hopes of attending college. Wilson also saw “no future in baseball for himself.”1 Only a few years after graduating from high school, however, he was a college football star. And shortly thereafter, Wilson became a major-league baseball player — […]

Lefty Glover was one of the players who followed the Elite Giants when they relocated from Washington to Baltimore in 1938. Though he pitched for the Elites for over seven seasons, until recently Glover’s background and even his real name were clouded in mystery. However, the discovery of his death certificate in 2020 uncovered his […]

The first of three Grillis to play major-league baseball, Guido John Grilli had the briefest career of the three. In 1966 he was 0-1 for the Boston Red Sox and 0-1 for the Kansas City Athletics.    Grilli put in his time in the minor leagues. He was first signed by Red Sox scout George […]

From the Wa-was to the Yeggs to the major leagues. The Class C Southern Michigan Association sported some unusual team monikers. (The Kalamazoo Kazoos won the pennant in 1910, then changed their names to the Celery Eaters and won it again.) It was still a rapid climb for Frank Patrick Gilhooley, who’d started out playing sandlot […]

It was one of the most bizarre batting races in National League history. Three players on the same team were competing for a batting championship, none of whom today would qualify for the honor. Not until December of 1926, nearly three months after the season ended, was it decided whether Bubbles, Cuckoo, or Rube had […]

With high-school graduation behind them, it was time for the Cates twins to decide upon a career course. Neither wanted the stable but strenuous future of life on the Cates family farm. For Levi, a painter’s job at the local cement factory beckoned. This is the bio of Eli, the brother who chose to pursue […]