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Johnny Markham must have looked long and hard at Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe. He knew what the signal meant and it must have been somewhat of a relief, even though it would load the bases. After all, who would want to pitch to Josh Gibson at all, let alone with freezing hands in Game Three […]

It had been a tight and well-pitched game throughout, with the Boston Red Sox one run behind the New York Yankees after eight innings on a Friday night at Yankee Stadium. Yankees manager Joe Torre was turning the lead over to closer Mariano Rivera, as he had done routinely for the past eight seasons. At […]

With a legendary starting pitching staff featuring a trio of future Hall of Famers, the 1996 Atlanta Braves didn’t usually need large outbursts of runs to accumulate their 96 regular-season wins. John Smoltz (24-8), Tom Glavine (15-10), and Greg Maddux (15-11) accounted for 54 wins; they, a pair of back-of-rotation starters,1 and an effective bullpen […]

Jean Faut was having another outstanding season for the South Bend Blue Sox. Not only was she the best pitcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) in 1953, but her contributions as a two-way player were invaluable. When she wasn’t on the mound, Faut was South Bend’s regular third sacker, leading the team […]

Baseball fever found its way to Comiskey Park on October 7, 1983, for the first time since the final game of the 1959 World Series. The White Sox hosted the Baltimore Orioles in Game Three of the American League Championship Series. Both teams ranked in the top three in their league in runs scored, home […]

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 […]

Game Three of the 1975 World Series featured six home runs and plenty of late-inning heroics, but the outcome turned on a bunt by a reserve outfielder with a .185 batting average. With five future Hall of Famers on the field (Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Joe Morgan, Tony Pérez, Carl Yastrzemski) plus the all-time hit […]

Box scores don’t lie. But sometimes they cannot tell the whole truth. Like a classic novel, whose layers are best understood by reading its criticism, a box score’s secrets can be revealed through game stories. Context enables a deeper understanding of history, allowing the pieces of the puzzle to expose the entire picture. The April […]

“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 […]

“Probably my favorite part of the day is when I get up in the morning and put my feet on the floor. Because there were a couple of different times when I was told that would never happen. My legs were the two things that I was either not going to have or were not […]

Right-handed pitcher Ed Phillips appeared only briefly in the big leagues, working in 18 games for the 1970 Boston Red Sox. His record was 0-2, a win proving elusive. Phillips was both born and died on September 20. He was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma, on September 20, 1944, as Norman Edwin Phillips Jr., the son […]

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 […]

In 1976, Mark Fidrych made his major league debut at the age of 21 and took the city of Detroit by storm in a spectacular rookie season. He started the All-Star Game for the American League, won the Rookie of the Year Award, and finished second for the Cy Young Award. Of course, Mark Fidrych’s […]

Edmund John Miller was born on August 30, 1894, on a farm in the vicinity of Urbana, Iowa. He was the second of eight children born to Norman and Philomena Miller, both of French and German descent, who had migrated to Iowa from New York City. The family moved to another farm near Vinton when […]

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 […]

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), […]

For generations of fans, the sound of an organ evoked a trip to the ballpark. One of the best-known, best-loved, and simply best baseball organists was Jane Jarvis (1915-2010). Jarvis attracted most attention during her long tenure with the New York Mets (1964 through 1979). However, the one-time child prodigy had a career in jazz […]

Right-hander Ray Kremer can lay a legitimate claim as being the best pitcher in big-league history to debut in his 30s. After failing in a spring-training tryout with the New York Giants in 1916, Kremer logged more than 2,100 innings and won over 100 games in the Pacific Coast League in the late 1910s and […]

“No one, and I mean no one, knows the game better than Jimy,” said Hall of Fame executive Pat Gillick.1   Jimy Williams became a baseball lifer, signed to his first professional contract by the Boston Red Sox. After a brief big-league playing career, he won a world championship ring as the third-base coach for […]

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 […]

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; […]