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The 1935 edition of the Boston Braves weren’t just bad, they were historically bad. Many people credit the hapless 1962 New York Mets as being the worst team of the modern era with their 40-120 record, but the 1935 Braves actually finished with a slightly worse won-lost percentage than that Mets squad (.250 for the […]

The 1890 Louisville Colonels – dubbed the “Cyclones” in newspapers in Louisville and other American Association cities1 – had already doubled their 1889 win total when the Syracuse Stars came to town for a three-game series on August 9. Baseball’s first-ever 100-game losers at 27-111-2 in 1889, a season that included the majors’ first players […]

When Jack Maloof walked down the street in Auburn, New York, people said, “There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived.” OK, that’s an exaggeration. An outright fiction, in fact. But Maloof shares a rare distinction with Ted Williams, the man who famously wanted to be recognized in public as the greatest hitter of all […]

By late June 1979, the once-proud Oakland Athletics had fallen into baseball’s basement. After 13 wayward seasons in Kansas City without a winning record, the franchise arrived in Oakland in 1968 with future stars Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Bert Campaneris, and Catfish Hunter on the roster. The early 1970s saw five straight division titles and […]

Van Lingle Mungo was off to a better start than his team as the 1935 calendar hit June 13, easing out of spring and toward summer. The 24-year-old fireballing righty, workhorse of Casey Stengel’s Brooklyn staff, already had eight wins in 13 starts. He was three games over .500, but the Dodgers were only 23-22, […]

Three Rivers Stadium was Dave Parker’s home field for the first 11 seasons of his Hall of Fame career, until he left the Pittsburgh Pirates and signed with the Cincinnati Reds in December 1983. Parker’s first home run as a visitor to Pittsburgh came in his second season with Cincinnati. As the Reds and Pirates […]

Despite Elmer Flick’s accomplishments on the diamond and his selection to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1963, he remains relatively obscure to all but the most ardent baseball fans. That is unfortunate; Flick put up outstanding numbers in both the National League and the American League before contracting a “mysterious gastrointestinal illness” that […]

In late January of 1901, American League President Ban Johnson convened a series of organizational meetings at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago. The purpose of the gatherings was to iron out the final details in preparation for the launching of his new major league. Seven years earlier, Johnson, a Cincinnati sportswriter, had become president […]

Promoted as a Father’s Day game because Sunday ball still ran afoul of Pittsburgh’s blue laws, the Saturday Robins-Pirates matinee drew an impressive crowd of 18,000 (about 8,000 more than the Forbes Field average in 1925).1 The holiday throng would be treated to an orgy of offense that commenced shortly after the conclusion of a […]

While most of his Astros teammates in the clubhouse were celebrating the 3-1 victory secured by Alan Ashby’s two-run walk-off home run in the opening game of the National League Division Series, pinch-hitter and utility player Denny Walling sought out the speed bag and weightlifting equipment. “The speed bag is my way of releasing my […]

Nolan Ryan had been here before, but it was never like this. For the fourth time in two years, inquiring baseball writers pounced on the easygoing Texan for his thoughts about potentially joining Johnny Vander Meer of the 1938 Cincinnati Reds as the only major leaguers to throw back-to-back no-hitters. After he no-hit the Baltimore […]

Jerry Cram’s signature moment in the big leagues came on September 11, 1974. He threw eight scoreless innings in relief for the New York Mets — the 17th through the 24th of what became a 25-inning loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. If the Mets could only have scratched across a run, Cram would have […]

What’s in a name? Jacob Walter Miller’s nickname was Jake,1 but contemporary sportswriters preferred to call him J. Walter or Lefty. He pitched for the Cleveland Indians from 1924 to 1931. Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Gordon Cobbledick referred to him as Jake on only two occasions, once in 1929 and again in 1931. Miller, a […]

Baseball writer Jack Ryder covered the Cincinnati Reds with unfailing dedication. He was a keen observer and witty commentator. From 1905 to 1936, his eloquent prose graced the pages of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The Reds were mostly mediocre during this period. Managers came and went, 14 in 32 seasons. Through thick and thin, fans could […]

Vern Hoscheit’s career in professional baseball spanned six decades. Signed as a catcher by the New York Yankees in 1941, he had little hope of making the major-league roster with Bill Dickey and later Yogi Berra ensconced behind the plate. The Yankees front office took notice of Hoscheit’s leadership potential and made him a player-manager […]

Eddie Waitkus was a slick-fielding first baseman who in an 11-year big-league career for three teams batted a solid .285 and struck out only 204 times in 4,681 plate appearances. Although a fine ballplayer, he would today likely be little remembered but for what happened to him on June 14, 1949, in a room at […]

 Cub Stricker was a nineteenth-century second baseman who played for seven different clubs over an 11-year major-league career (1882-1885, 1887-1893). Affectionately referred to as Cub because of his diminutive stature – he was 5-feet-3 inches tall and weighed between 135 and 140 pounds – the right-handed-hitting and -throwing Stricker was considered an average hitter with […]

Jim Gosger was a hustling, hard-working ballplayer for 13 professional seasons, years that took him all over the baseball map, and to the majors for parts of 10 seasons with five different teams. He played a good center field but never really established himself as a good enough hitter to stay in a lineup long. […]

If any player could be called Mr. Brewer it is Robin Yount. He played his entire 20-year major-league career with the Milwaukee Brewers, debuting as an 18-year-old shortstop in 1974, and helped reinvigorate and re-energize a fan base that had been reeling since the Braves abandoned Milwaukee for Atlanta in 1966. Yount led the Brewers […]

Ken Hogan, whose first game as a professional came in the major leagues, but who played in only three more games thereafter, was probably the fastest, most instinctive outfielder ever to roam the amateur and semipro ballfields of Cleveland. He drew raves for his ability to cover ground in center field. The Cincinnati Post said, […]

They called him “The Blazer.” As a minor leaguer he drew comparisons to Jackie Robinson. Don Blasingame wasn’t as talented as Robinson, but he was good enough to play 12 years in the major leagues, with appearances in an All-Star Game and a World Series. He married a Miss America finalist, who was the daughter […]

Signed by the Minnesota Twins in 1961, left-hander Jim Roland debuted as a 19-year-old in a September call-up the following season and tossed a three-hit shutout in his first big-league start, in 1963. “[He] has a blazing fast ball and is effectively wild,” wrote Twins beat reporter Arno Goethel.1 Battling injuries and control issues throughout […]

Imagine being stationed in center field when your team records the final out of the World Series. To experience that twice is less likely than pitching a perfect game or hitting 500 career homers.1 Even rarer – being in center field for clubs from both the American and National Leagues when they became champions, something […]

Here are The SABR Bookshelf listings for Summer 2013. To get your NEW book listed on The SABR Bookshelf, make sure a review copy is sent to: SABR, 4455 E. Camelback Rd., Ste. D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018. To ensure a listing in The Baseball Index — SABR’s online catalog of baseball research materials at www.baseballindex.org […]