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Harry O’Hagan owns two distinctions that will never be equaled. The lesser of the two is that he had the longest stretch between his first and second major-league appearances of any position player who debuted in the nineteenth century. Born in Washington, D.C., on September 30, 1869, O’Hagan was catching for a Washington YMCA team […]

Don Leppert signed his first professional contract shortly after his 23rd birthday, scouted on Korean War-era military-service teams in a sport he had not intended to play as a pro. He reached the majors a few months before his 30th birthday, when the defending World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates sought to strengthen their bench. He […]

This infielder was the original “Sugar Bear” — several years ahead of Floyd Rayford, who bore the same nickname in the 1980s. With their pleasant, sleepy-eyed expressions, both men resembled the easygoing cartoon character in the ads for Post Super Sugar Crisp cereal. Yet contrary to popular belief, that is not how Blanks got his […]

During the Deadball Era, physical size was considered a huge asset for a catcher. A big man was thought to be better able to withstand the physical demands of the position and thus be more durable than a smaller man. The success of Detroit’s Charlie “Boss” Schmidt (5’11”, 200 pounds) was probably one of the […]

The 1974 Oakland Athletics pitching staff was a dominant bunch. Led by the trio of starters Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, and Ken Holtzman, and the brilliant relief work of Rollie Fingers, the A’s led the majors in six pitching categories, won 90 games, and claimed their third consecutive world championship. They were not without good […]

J. Lee Richmond, major league baseball’s first full-time1 left-handed pitcher; is best known for pitching the first perfect game. He also accomplished a number of other noteworthy firsts during his six-year major league career. Because he played concurrently as an amateur and as a professional, the first rules were promulgated that banned a professional from […]

Mike Paul, a veteran of a half-century in professional baseball, was born on April 18, 1945, in Detroit. Michael George Paul was the oldest of seven children born to George and Theresa Paul. George Paul was a police officer in Detroit, but thought it was becoming too dangerous there and moved the family to Compton, […]

Jack Gleason is the older of the two Gleason brothers who played on the inaugural St. Louis Browns team (the forerunner of today’s St. Louis Cardinals) in the American Association in 1882. Known as “Brudder Jack”1 and as one of the handsomest players in the league, he covered third base for the Browns for their […]

Just before Christmas 1971, Don Rose was included in what many baseball experts consider one of the worst or best trades of all time. Rose went on to play in only 19 big-league games over the next three years for three different teams. But in one of those games, he did something that very few […]

During the years before American entry into World War I, Pittsburgh native Al Mamaux was a hometown athletic prodigy. He first came to public attention as a gridiron and pitching standout at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Staying local when he turned baseball professional, the hard-throwing right-hander thereafter posted back-to-back 21-win seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates. […]

Though Galen Cisco pitched in nearly 200 games over his seven-year major league career, his athletic accomplishments were much more substantial than that, appearing in the Rose Bowl as a young man, and still helping major league pitchers four decades later. Galen Bernard Cisco was born on March 7, 1936, to Beryl and Esther Cisco […]

On Saturday, September 27, 1924, with the New York Giants locked in a battle for the National League pennant with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Giants were set to meet the seventh-place Philadelphia Phillies at the Polo Grounds in a critical end-of-season game. Phillies shortstop Heinie Sand was standing on the field during batting practice when […]

The casual fan of the game might know Ron Swoboda for “The Catch“ in the 1969 World Series, or for his home run heroics in a game against Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, or for Casey Stengel’s early summation: “He will be great, super, even wonderful. Now if he can only learn to catch a […]

Urban “Red” Faber, one of the last pitchers to legally throw a spitball, persevered through illness and injury, a world war, and the Black Sox Scandal to win a place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The right-hander played his entire 20-year major-league career with the White Sox, one of the league’s strongest teams […]

A season-high 50 SABR members and friends of the Larry Dierker/Houston Chapter gathered Monday evening, March 18, at the Inn at the Ballpark for our monthly meeting. We were pleased to have former players and executives Tal Smith, Jimmy Wynn, Larry Miggins, Bill Heath and Red Mahoney on hand in addition to Larry Dierker and […]

Twenty-two people attended the April 22, 2013, monthly roundtable of the Bob Broeg St. Louis SABR Chapter. The meeting was held at the regular location, The Original Crusoe’s in South St. Louis. Jim Rygelski gave a presentation on “Significant Things About the 1928 Cardinals.” It wasn’t a day-by-day recounting of the season but a listing […]

As the 1986 season dawned, the New York Mets occupied the doorstep of greatness. A potent collective of young talent and established stars, the 1984-85 Mets equaled the Tigers and Blue Jays for the major leagues’ most regular-season wins over those two seasons, but experienced the postseason as spectators in both years. The 1984 Mets […]

The Mets and the Braves had become intense rivals towards the end of the 1990s. The 1999 season ended with the two teams playing a dramatic league championship series that the Braves won in six games. With the Mets’ fortunes rising, the Braves finally returned to Shea Stadium on June 30, 2000. It was Fireworks […]

From 1946 through 1965, the Hearst newspaper chain sponsored events in as many as 13 cities culminating in the annual Hearst Sandlot Classic between the New York Journal-American All-Stars and the United States All-Stars. Chicago sent two players to the games from 1946 through 1957, and the players were selected based on their performance in […]

The Saturday night game of the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC) Pool D in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara in Jalisco, Mexico, started at 8:40 on March 11, a little under two hours after the end of the 10-inning Venezuela-Italy game.1 Crews had to hustle to let the stadium empty out and then refill, and […]

After the 2002 All-Star Snafu in Milwaukee — which ended in a tie when the National League ran out of pitchers — Major League Baseball took steps to prevent a recurrence. One was telling managers to hold back some pitchers in the case of extra innings. The other was to let the outcome of the […]

After sweeping a six-game road trip at Pittsburgh and St. Louis, the Houston Astros returned to the Astrodome on June 1, 1989, for an 11-game homestand that was full of drama and featured four walk-off wins in a six-game span. They took the first two of a four-game series against Los Angeles – the second […]

George Foster experienced American League baseball for the first time in his 18-year career on August 15, 1986, a little over a week after his tumultuous relationship with the New York Mets ended after controversial remarks.1 With 347 career home runs, the 1977 National League Most Valuable Player joined a youthful Chicago White Sox roster […]

Press previews of the opening game of the 1968 World Series understandably focused on the two starting pitchers.1 In what by midseason had been called the “year of the pitcher,”2 Detroit’s Denny McLain finished with a 31-6 record to become the first 30-game winner in 34 years,3 while Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals […]