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Jim Landis had a memorable stint with the Go-Go White Sox of the late 1950s, and is considered to be one of the best defensive center fielders in big-league history. He also played with the Kansas City Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, and Detroit Tigers before finishing his career with a short but memorable stint […]

Even the most casual of baseball fans are aware of Christy Mathewson’s on-field accomplishments, but the baseball career of his younger brother Henry Mathewson is less than common knowledge. And while the events leading to the death of the famous “Matty” have been told several times, few know of the tragic life of Henry or […]

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 […]

But for a bucket kick, Bill Werber might reside in the Hall of Fame rather than be remembered as a good major-league ballplayer of the 1930s who helped lead the Cincinnati Reds to National League pennants in 1939 and 1940 and to the world’s championship in 1940. It happened in 1934, toward the end of […]

Robert Charles Christian was born on October 17, 1945, in Chicago to a family of Dutch and Scots-Irish descent. His family would move to Southern California early on in his childhood and would remain in the city of El Cajon throughout his childhood. It was there that he would begin to be involved in sports […]

These days, a man coming from Gayville might be taunted in some circles, feted in others. There appear to be two Gayvilles in South Dakota, one an unincorporated place on the western edge of the state and the other a town in Yankton County in southeastern South Dakota. In 2010, the population was 407. In […]

During a road trip late in the 1904 season, Brooklyn Superbas manager Ned Hanlon found his staff without an arm available to start a series finale in Chicago. His solution was the emergency recruitment of Joe Koukalik,1 a young right-hander prominent in the semipro Chicago City League. Although visibly nervous and constantly surrounded by Cub […]

Few players have been as coveted by professional clubs as Paul Pettit was in the spring of 1949. During that high school season, the hard-throwing left-handed pitcher drew crowds to the small southern California town of Lomita. They echoed the influx to the region after oil was discovered there in the early 1920s. Pettit’s powerful […]

Smoke. That’s what they called him. He was respected and admired, but first he was humiliated and discarded. Down to his last chance, Dave Stewart had a stunning rebirth in his hometown and became a four-time 20-game winner, a two-time ALCS MVP, a World Series MVP, and a three-time World Series champion. But before all […]

Few players have been as synonymous with a team as George Brett and the Kansas City Royals. Yet the amiable, self-deprecating, and sometimes volatile Brett never viewed himself as being greater than the team he loved. A throwback to an earlier time, Brett favored pine tar over batting gloves, chewing tobacco over bubble gum, and […]

During the winter of 1911-1912, Dr. William D. Scanlan was obliged to make a life-altering decision. For the past seven years, he had been a pitching mainstay for the woeful Brooklyn Superbas. But during that same period, Doc Scanlan had also completed his medical studies, satisfied New York state licensing and internship requirements, and begun […]

“He’s got that slow, easy delivery, and then – poof! – it’s on you. It’s very tough to hit. Very tough.” – Dave Winfield1 Winfield was far from the only hitter who found Tom Henke’s lively fastball problematic. Henke, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound right-hander, was one of the most dominant closers of his era. He debuted […]

Ray Lankford made his major-league debut on August 21, 1990, as the center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, pushing 1985 National League MVP and four-time All-Star Willie McGee over to right field. Lankford went 2-for-4 with an RBI against the Atlanta Braves. The next day he went 2-for-2, adding two bases on balls. St. […]

Eight-time Gold Glove winner Mark Belanger was celebrated for his wondrous defense at shortstop but jeered for his weak offense. A lifetime .228 hitter, Belanger was pinch-hit for 333 times in his 18-season career, retiring as the American League’s all-time leader in that category.1 Belanger’s Baltimore manager Earl Weaver even devised a strategy to limit […]

San Diego Padres staff ace Gaylord Perry was the National League’s most dominant pitcher during September 1978. Taking the hill for a Thursday night matchup against NL West Division rival San Francisco, Perry was seeking his 20th win in a season for the fifth time in his career, and was only 20 strikeouts shy of […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

The 1959 season marked 57 years since the Minneapolis Millers became charter members of the American Association in 1902. The Millers had independent ownership until Mike Kelley sold the franchise to the New York Giants in 1946.1 They were a Triple-A farm team for the Giants from 1946 through 1957, then became a Boston Red […]

On Saturday, August 2, 1975, in the midst of a ferocious regional heat wave, the western Massachusetts town of Chester reported a temperature of 107 degrees. So did the city of New Bedford, on the state’s southern coast.1 As of January 2021, these readings remained the hottest officially recorded temperatures in the history of Massachusetts.2 […]

On September 25, 1934, the Boston Red Sox – appearing at Fenway Park for the first time since August 28 – hosted the Washington Senators in a doubleheader. While away, Boston had visited all seven American League rivals, compiling an 8-13 record (with one tie). Despite the losing road trip, by the time the Red […]

When baseball returned to Washington in 2005 after an absence of 33 seasons, RFK Stadium became the home of the transplanted Montreal Expos, now the Washington Nationals. Its cookie-cutter design was of its era — round and multipurpose.1 As this baseball finale approached, the state of RFK Stadium could best be described as leaky and […]

The idea of a winter retreat appealed to many in the baseball business. The men the game attracted were by their nature sportsmen. Unless a man resided in a remote area during the winter, he gravitated towards his baseball companions, especially if he was a bachelor, to partake in any number of activities such as […]

Entrance to Four Mile Run Park in Arlington, Virginia, in the twenty-first century. (City of Arlington)   Take a flood-prone elementary school. Add a peppery, baseball-mad mayor and a group of disgruntled neighbors. Mix in dozens of minor-league ballplayers, ranging from top prospects to unwanted, unsigned good-enough-to-dream types. Oh, and throw in a bunch of […]