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The Baltimore Orioles were flying high as June 1997 approached. The 34-15 Orioles carried the AL’s best record, and a 7½-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East Division, into a two-game weekend showdown against the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians. Baltimore opened the 1997 season with a four-game winning streak and maintained […]

Ask a Tigers fan of recent vintage to associate “Blue Jays” and “extra innings” and the memories will not be positive. On August 10, 2014, Detroit squandered a 5-0 victory, eventually losing when Jose Bautista sliced a game-winning single in the 19th inning. Thirty years before, the Tigers and Blue Jays faced off in an […]

Len Boehmer spent most of this Sunday afternoon in the New York Yankees’ bullpen, just hoping for the opportunity to play. The 27-year-old infielder had spent nearly eight years in the minor leagues, save for three at-bats for the 1967 Reds, before surprisingly making the Yankees in the spring of 1969. For the season’s first […]

In the middle of an instant classic between the Red Sox and Yankees, Derek Jeter made the most dangerous catch of his career, hurtling headfirst into the stands to catch a popup off the bat of Trot Nixon. The play kept the score tied in a game New York went on to win on a […]

The headline writer for the front page of a daily newspaper is challenged to provide the reader with glimpses of tragedy and joy, victory and defeat, worry and elation, all appropriately befitting the day’s news. When Pittsburgh awoke on the morning of July 26, 1956, the headline spread across the front page of the Pittsburgh […]

“It’s nice just because I’m helping the team out more than I did in 2012 and 2013. It’s not a good feeling to get your butt whupped. I vowed to myself I was going to get better.” — Dallas Keuchel1   Dallas Keuchel more than helped the Astros in 2015. The eventual American League Cy […]

Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau started the 2006 campaign – his second full season in the majors – with a .248 career batting average. After going 1-for-12 in the season-opening series in Toronto, Morneau decided to ditch his 35-inch, 33-ounce cudgel for one of teammate Joe Mauer’s 34-inch, 31-ounce bats.1 The decision paid immediate […]

The 1974 baseball season had arrived and all eyes were focused on Hank Aaron. Hammerin’ Hank had finished 1973 with 713 career home runs, one behind Babe Ruth’s total. Aaron’s Atlanta Braves were scheduled to open on the road with a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds before returning to Atlanta for an 11-game homestand. […]

Two solo home runs – and excellent pitching – helped the streaking Boston Red Sox win their 10th game in a row and 16th of their last 17, in the opener of a three-game Labor Day weekend series with the Texas Rangers. The winning streak had started on August 24, with a 5-4 win over […]

A month into the 2008 season, the top two teams in the American League’s Central Division battled in the second game of a three-game series. The 16-15 Minnesota Twins held a one-game lead over the 15-16 Chicago White Sox. The Wednesday-night contest before a crowd of 21,092 fans at U.S. Cellular Field was delayed by […]

The Boston Red Sox had the opportunity to sign Jackie Robinson at a supposed tryout at Fenway Park in April 1945.1 Instead, it was more than 14 years later – after every one of the other 15 teams in the American and National leagues had integrated, and after Robinson himself had been retired for nearly […]

Father Time remains undefeated, but for one day in June 1966 at Houston’s Astrodome, 35-year-old Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs turned back the clock to a decade earlier, when he was in the top 10 in triples in the National League.1 The Houston Astros (30-25) had won the opening game of the three-game series […]

While Neil Young began the year singing, “Keep on rockin’ in the free world,”1 millions around the globe were seeking freedom by the spring of 1989. One day before Toronto and Boston concluded their weekend three-game series, the Chinese government used lethal force to crush a seven-week pro-democracy protest in Beijing.2 In Poland, citizens voted […]

During the Philadelphia Stars’ 1934 championship season, a pitcher named “Blackwell” poured himself a cup of coffee but didn’t stick around for a refill. Blackwell has been described as a “fringe player” who “pitched briefly” with the Stars that year, but that “his playing time was severely restricted.”1 His only documented appearance with the Stars […]

There is a dream of baseball that most Americans know. A small-town boy from a working-class family making it to the major leagues and pitching. Few realize their dream. David Sanders did. He progressed from being an all-state player for his high school in rural Kansas to contending for pitching records at the collegiate level […]

Nicknamed the “Iron Man,” the remarkably durable Ray Mueller caught an average of 153 games per season between the Pacific Coast League and National League from 1942 to 1944. He set the NL record by catching 233 consecutive games, including all 155 for the 1944 Cincinnati Reds. Mueller was a backstop for 1,598 total games […]

A tall left-handed pitcher, Henry Keupper pitched seven years in professional baseball, but just one year in the majors — 1914, when he was 8-20 for the last-place St. Louis Terriers of the short-lived Federal League. Henry John Keupper was born on June 24, 1887, in Staunton, Illinois. Staunton, the second largest city in Macoupin […]

Tall left-hander Frank Scanlan was a top-flight prospect who reached the 1909 Philadelphia Phillies while still a teenager. Prior to that, he had been an underage pitching standout at the University of Notre Dame. In addition to a talented arm, the Phillies phenom also had impressive ballplayer bloodlines, having three brothers in the professional ranks. […]

Roy Evans was an impressive prospect; he had a devastating curveball and worked his control and change of pace with authority. For a big guy, he wasn’t noted for his fastball. Regardless, Evans was routinely striking out 15, 20 or more hitters a game as a teenager playing semipro ball in his hometown of Emporia, […]

With Aaron Ward at second base, the New York Yankees won three consecutive American League pennants from 1921 to 1923. He was a capable hitter, but he drew comparisons with Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins, and Frankie Frisch for his splendid fielding. “Next to Babe Ruth,” Ward “is the most valuable man” on our team, said […]

“They used to say Brantford could put its left-fielder five feet from the foul line, the right-fielder five feet from the other line and Jimmy Wilkes would cover the rest.” — Bob McKillop1 “Riding the bus again!” Jimmy Wilkes said, his voice cracking with excitement. “I love it. Now, that brings back memories.”2 The 69-year-old […]

 The fourth man from the Bahamas to play in the major leagues, Ed Armbrister was a spare part in Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine. His career was modest (265 at-bats in 224 games), but he won World Series rings in 1975 and 1976. Yet for Boston Red Sox fans, Armbrister was in the wrong place at […]

“Gary [Bell] has come up with a good nickname for Freddy Velázquez,” wrote Jim Bouton in Ball Four. “Freddy just sits there in the bullpen, warming up pitchers, and he never gets into a game and just looks sad. So, Gary calls him Poor Devil.”1 Although Velázquez saw action in just 21 major-league games for […]

Cuban infielder Giraldo Sablón – known in the U.S. as Chico Ruiz – ignited two tinderboxes. On September 21, 1964, his steal of home scored the game’s only run, starting the collapse of ten straight losses that cost the Philadelphia Phillies the National League pennant. On June 13, 1971, he waved a handgun in the […]