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For more than 50 years, Mike Shannon has been a fixture in the Cardinals’ organization. He played for his hometown team and was a member of three pennant-winning teams and two World Series champions. He became a hometown hero with a game-tying home run at Busch Stadium that helped win the first game of the […]

Chicago fans were outraged when the White Sox traded their most popular player, Minnie Miñoso, to Cleveland in December 1957 with Fred Hatfield for Early Wynn and Al Smith. Wynn was a 37-year-old right-handed pitcher who had posted a losing record for the Indians that season, and his best days appeared to be behind him. […]

The elder statesman of the Baby Birds staff that vaulted the Baltimore Orioles into pennant contention in the early 1960s was a mere 22-year-old. He is the only AL pitcher to lead the circuit in wins during a rookie campaign and the only one in either league to do so since Chicago Cubs righty Larry […]

George Zuverink was a side-arming sinker-baller who topped the American League in relief appearances in consecutive years, including 1956, when he was retroactively recognized as the circuit’s saves leader.1 The righthander pitched parts of eight major league seasons. After breaking in with the Cleveland Indians (1951-1952), he hurled for the Cincinnati Redlegs (1954) and Detroit […]

During the Deadball Era, it wasn’t all that unusual for a local sandlot player to get a shot at playing in the major leagues with his hometown team. So it was with Bert Yeabsley, a two-sport standout on the fields of Philadelphia, who found himself on the 1919 Philadelphia Phillies Opening Day roster. His major […]

Nolan Ryan has more strikeouts and no-hitters than any other pitcher in history. Despite never winning a Cy Young Award, he started more games than anyone except Cy Young. Though he played mostly for mediocre teams, his 324 wins are as many as contemporary Don Sutton, who pitched for four pennant winners and just missed […]

For those of you have never heard of the Magnus Force, as first described in 1852 by the German physicist Heinrich Gustav Magnus, it is a force generated by a spinning object moving through a fluid experience with a sideways deflection in its path. The force is perpendicular to the velocity vector of an object, […]

Right-handed pitcher Eddie Stack was a collegiate and semipro standout who never played a minor league game but underachieved as a mid-Deadball Era major leaguer. Stack had ample size, a strong arm, and first-rate intellect. His debut in the big leagues in May 1910 was spectacular: a three-hit shutout of a Chicago Cubs team headed […]

In 1964 columnist Dick Young cracked, “Battered plate umps will insist upon double Blue Cross coverage if Jesse Gonder continues to do all the catching for the Mets.”1 The humor in the reference to Gonder’s league leading 21 passed balls was lost on the African-American backstop. Until later in life, when he appeared to come […]

“Jooohhnnn Bocc! — a — beelllllaaaaaaaa.” If you were a National League fan from 1969 to 1973, one of the memorable things about Montreal Expos home games was this call. Claude Mouton, the distinctive public-address announcer at old Jarry Park, loved to roll the r’s in names like Herrera and Hermoso. But he always took […]

“My father-in-law said I wasn’t worth that much,” said Garland, “and he was right. No pitcher is worth that based on one season. But if they offer it to you, naturally you’re going to take it.”1 Wayne Garland wore “it” like an albatross around his neck. “It” is how baseball fans in general — and […]

To discuss Paul Derringer is to discuss two men-a pitcher with exceptional control of his pitches and general work on the mound and a man with little or no control of himself anywhere else. Derringer (called “Oom Paul” for his 6-foot-3.1/2-inch height and admitted 205 pounds) was a belligerent man who often used his fists […]

On March 9, 1914, youthful pitching prospect Harry Juul1 took two giant strides toward adulthood. Within hours, he signed a major-league playing contract with the Brooklyn Tip-Tops of the Federal League, and he married former high school classmate Hilda Marie Johnson. Shortly thereafter, Harry informed his doubtful father, “Yes, Pop. It’s true. Hilda and I […]

A speedy line-drive-lashing lefty with a strong arm, veteran Wally Moses joined the Red Sox midway through the 1946 season, shored up right field during Boston’s run to the American League pennant, and batted .417 in four World Series games. A well-liked and respected Georgian who spent 41 seasons in the majors, 17 as a […]

Jim Ollom was in his first big-league spring training camp as an 18-year-old. He made his major-league debut in September 1966 at the age of 21. Three years later, at the age of 24, after just 24 appearances as a big-league pitcher, he retired. But he had no regrets. “The whole experience was great for […]

A roly-poly right-hander with a corkscrew motion, Víctor Cruz pitched parts of five seasons for the Blue Jays, Indians, Pirates and Rangers between 1978 and 1983. In his native Dominican Republic, Cruz was known as “El Policía” (The Policeman) for his ability to impose order on opposing hitters. The side-arming reliever saved 37 games in […]

Jason Kubel of the Minnesota Twins entered spring training in 2009 with a two-year contract that guaranteed he wouldn’t face arbitration. He had an air of calm confidence. “This is the first year I don’t have any pressure,” he said in late February.1 Drafted out of high school in 2000, Kubel showed promise at each […]

The Philadelphia Phillies returned home on September 21, 1964, holding first place in the National League after winning six games on a three-city road trip. With 12 games to play, Philadelphia’s lead was 6½ games over the second-place Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. The city and team were looking forward to the World Series. […]

Hartford, Connecticut, is among the baseball markets that has found new life in the flashy, merchandise- and promotion-driven minor-league climate of the twenty-first century. Since 2016 the city has hosted the Hartford Yard Goats, a Colorado Rockies affiliate in the Double-A Eastern League.1 The Yard Goats touch all the bases of modern minor-league ball — […]

For 20-year-old Jerry Walker, only two years removed from high school in Ada, Oklahoma, it was a fairytale ending to his third season with the Baltimore Orioles. Starting against the league-leading Chicago White Sox on September 11, 1959, Walker threw 16 shutout innings in the second game of a doubleheader at Memorial Stadium. in Baltimore. […]

David Ortiz built his Hall of Fame career and Boston Red Sox legend on clutch hits—like the back-to-back extra-inning game-winners he delivered in Games Four and Five of the 2004 American League Championship Series in a pair of win-or-go-home games on the Red Sox’ path to their first World Series championship in 86 years. Before […]

Had Fred Haney not cared about maintaining his job as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the story of one of the more improbable starts in major-league history might have turned out differently. “[Haney] said, ‘That’s it, no more – if you hurt your arm, they’ll run me out of town, so go take your shower,’” […]

If the people who devise scenarios for professional wrestling matches ever got to script a baseball game, they might come up with something similar to the July 15, 1969, throwdown between the Williamsport (Pennsylvania) Astros and the Auburn (New York) Twins of the short-season Class A New York-Penn League. Why? Because the game featured lots […]

Dick Williams was regarded as one of baseball’s premier managers and turnaround artists. He was only the second skipper to win pennants for three different teams — Boston, Oakland, and San Diego.1 As a rookie manager in 1967, Williams led the Red Sox from ninth place the year before to the World Series. Both personally […]