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In late February 1985, Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Pete Peterson signed veteran right-handed pitcher Rick Reuschel to a one-year deal with the Hawaii Islanders, Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate in the Pacific Coast League. The contract provided Reuschel an opportunity to compete for a spot with the Pirates in spring training. In June 1982 he had been […]

A sellout crowd of 52,033 fans turned out for the Houston Astros’ October 3, 1999, season finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers to commemorate the 35-year history of the Astrodome. The Astros had prepared a grand celebration to bid farewell to the venerable stadium, and many luminaries from the franchise’s past were in attendance. Craig […]

“The show gets better every nightAs Weaver’s cork blew out of sightAnother wild one to the lastToo bad the Tribe again got gassed”1   The Cleveland Indians were about as hot as they got in the 1970s. As the month of May 1979 came to a close, the Indians were in sixth place with a […]

In September 1972, the Oakland A’s were attempting to nail down their second straight American League West title. On September 19, the second-place Chicago White Sox arrived in town for a two-game set. The A’s led the White Sox by five games, with 13 to play, so the White Sox would have to sweep the […]

The Boston Red Sox began their 1990 campaign by winning three out of four games at Fenway Park against the Detroit Tigers. The Milwaukee Brewers then came to town, winning 9-5 on Friday, April 13, and losing a squeaker, 4-3, on Saturday. Sunday was an offday in advance of the traditional morning start on Patriots […]

Ending a topsy-turvy, roller-coaster ride, first baseman Joe Kuhel rapped a bases loaded 12th-inning single through the pitcher’s box to lift the Washington Senators to an 11-10 victory over the Cleveland Indians at Griffith Stadium. Kuhel’s fifth hit of the game capped a 3-hour 34-minute marathon in which the two teams combined to use 11 […]

To some observers, the 1990 major-league baseball season seemed at times like a 162-game formality, a steady march toward the Oakland A’s winning their third straight American League pennant and repeating as World Series champions. Sports Illustrated, Athlon’s Baseball, The Sporting News Baseball Yearbook, Inside Sports Baseball Preview, and Baseball Digest all agreed that everyone […]

Golf fans might remember June 17, 1962, as the day Jack Nicklaus won his first major title, besting Arnold Palmer in a playoff to win the US Open at Oakmont Golf Club near Pittsburgh.1 Soccer fans might recall that the final match of the World Cup championship was held in Santiago, Chile, in which Brazil […]

For Keith Hernandez, some reassuring words from his manager, Ken Boyer, at 30,000 feet proved significant to his career course. The St. Louis Cardinals were flying to Houston to open a three-game series against the Astros on May 8, 1979. Hernandez, their first baseman and number-three hitter, was batting a gloomy .236. And that figure […]

Through September 22, the Boston Red Sox had narrowed the New York Yankees’ lead in the 2004 American League East race from 10½ games on August 15 to 3½ games. Two days later, however, the Red Sox were 5½ games out with nine to play, after losses to the Baltimore Orioles and Yankees.1 The Red […]

Few individuals in the history of baseball can boast of a career to rival that of Clark Griffith’s. In terms of duration, as a player, manager, and executive, it was one of the longest ever, spanning nearly 70 years. Griffith is the only man in major league history to serve as player, manager, and owner […]

Best known as the host of the 1960 television series, Home Run Derby, Mark Scott’s career encompassed acting, serving as a television broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds in 1956, and five-seasons (1952-55; 1957) as the radio play-by-play voice of the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League. Scott was born Samuel Marks Solomon on February […]

The life of a ballplayer is a life on the road. Half of your season is spent traveling around the league, and even your “home” can be temporary, uprooted by a trade at any moment. Some players are lucky enough to stay in one place for more than a season or two, and it is […]

Ed Eiteljorg had just turned one year old when his family disembarked from their ship Main at Castle Garden, New York in 1872. Soon after landing in the United States, the family settled in Greencastle, Indiana, where Eiteljorg learned the ways of America, including the national pastime of baseball.  Eighteen years later, he would be […]

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. […]

A turn-of-the-century minor-league standout, Joe Bean was among those auditioned at shortstop by the pre-McGraw New York Giants. Sadly, Bean failed to impress, his hitting and fielding being deemed below big-league caliber. After appearing in 50 games, Bean was released by New York in late June of 1902. Thus came to its close the brief […]

After beginning his major-league career in 1873 as a versatile utilityman with a strong claim to being the first notable relief pitcher,1 in the 1880s Jack Manning developed into an outfielder whose primary asset was his strong arm. In his final four major-league seasons (1883-86) he tabulated 100 outfield assists, ranking him fourth among the […]

When the Orioles “threatened in the eighth, [relief pitcher] Lefty Jacobs took over and in his usual manner made short work of the rally idea.”1 — Baltimore Sun, May 9, 1938   Art Jacobs was an itinerant minor leaguer from 1923 to 1941. The southpaw began his career as a starting pitcher and in his […]

Decades before Michael Jordan stepped away from the National Basketball Association to play minor league baseball, another former first-round draft pick made a similar decision. Dick Ricketts was a two-sport athlete in high school and college, excelling at baseball and basketball. Taken number one overall in the 1955 NBA draft, Ricketts spent three seasons in […]

It takes a special kind of talent for a pitcher to lose 20 games in a season. The pitcher has to pitch both poorly enough to lose, but well enough that he keeps getting chances to pitch. If losing 20 games takes talent, how much more talent does it take to lose 48 games in […]

If you were going to make a movie of the life of Claude Alfred Thomas, you’d ask Gary Cooper to play the lead. The lanky cowboy actor and the 6’1″ left-handed pitcher bear a striking resemblance in their photographs. Lefty was a professional pitcher for most of 16 seasons, appearing in 644 games, a remarkable […]

A tall, slender 6″2″, 175 pounds, Bob Groom possessed an athleticism, cunning, and tenacity that bespoke his roots in the southern Illinois coal fields, where his grandfather and father had found success as mine owner-operators. Born on September 12, 1884 in Belleville, Illinois, to John and Mary Catherine Dickinson Groom, he was named Robert for […]

As Allie Moulton stepped onto the field for his major league baseball debut, he was no doubt already sweating. September 25, 1911, was unseasonably hot and humid—reaching temperatures not seen in Boston for decades. Then again, Allie had endured far worse early in his career playing in Mississippi and Arkansas. He had more reasons to […]

  Baseball only decrees 90 feet between bases and 60 feet 6 inches from home plate to the mound. Elsewhere, look backward, angel.“Thanks to Alexander Cartwright,” said former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, “the outfield distance, fence height, and space between the seats and lines vary. Parks could do as they liked.”1 Some have been liked better. […]