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“Sure, I’d love to get 400, 500 at-bats and prove myself. But if I complain about my role, it’s not going to help the team or me. My job right now is to fill in wherever I can, to pinch-run, stay ready. If there’s an opportunity to throw a guy out or dive for a […]

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 […]

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 […]

“Some in the press and in the stands considered him too casual about his job, but that was a misperception. In fact, he was driven, not merely by a desire, but by a rage to succeed.” David Halberstam, “October 1964”1   When the June 15 trading deadline rolled around in 1964, Cardinals general manager Bing […]

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 a few years as a young man he was the most noted second baseman in all of baseball. But a combination of factors prevented Charlie Sweasy from fulfilling the promise of his youth. He played his final major-league game at the age of 30 and is all but forgotten today. Charles James Sweasy1 was […]

“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 […]

Catcher Jack Warner worked ten years in the National League and five years in the American League, ranging from 1895 to 1908. He caught more than 1,000 games, hitting a solid .249, with a .303 on-base percentage. One of the most noted moments of his career came when he assaulted his own manager under the […]

Over the years, the Red Sox have had players on their roster who were perhaps better known for the uniqueness of their name than for anything they did on the playing field. You may recall Jennings Poindexter, Carmen Fanzone, Creighton Gubanich, Gar Finnvold, Izzy Alcantara, Win Remmerswaal, Osee Schrecongost, Hipolito Pichardo, and Arquimedez Pozo, to […]

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 […]

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 […]

Ed Williamson is most famous for setting the major league single season home run record in 1884, when he hit 27 homers for the National League’s Chicago White Stockings. The record was a bit of a fluke – for during that season, the White Stockings declared new ground rules saying that balls hit over short […]

Prologue In 1877, the Columbus (Ohio) Buckeyes joined with six other teams to form the International Association, as a rival to the National League. The Buckeyes played more games, 20, than any other IA team, but managed only a 9-11 record. Two other professional leagues operated in 1877 – the League Alliance and the New […]

Sandy Koufax made a habit of holding teams scoreless in 1963. He did it for a record-breaking 11th time on September 17 against the St. Louis Cardinals. No left-handed pitcher had ever thrown that many shutouts in one season. Koufax eclipsed the mark set by New York Giants Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell in 1933. […]

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 […]

The Mets were playing poorly in July 1973. They arrived in Atlanta with a 6-10 record and their struggles continued when they lost the first game of the series, 8-6. The loss had led to speculation that Mets management might make some changes. Guido Cribari wrote in the White Plains Journal News, “One thing is […]

After foundering with fastballs and curveballs for the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates in the first half of the 1960s, Wilbur Wood transformed himself into a quality knuckleballing reliever for the Chicago White Sox from 1967 to 1970. He then improbably metamorphosed into one of the top pitchers in baseball as an innings-eating workhorse […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]