Search Results

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 […]

A late summer baseball game can build confidence during a pennant race and boost momentum. Unfortunately for the crowd of 26,087 at the August 26, 2016, game between the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks, neither team was in contention. The Diamondbacks, the National League’s youngest franchise, entered the game with 53 wins and 75 defeats. […]

The St. Louis Giants, after playing as an independent team since 1906, joined the newly formed Negro National League in 1920. The Giants’ purchase of legendary outfielder Oscar Charleston from the Indianapolis ABCs helped make them into a winner in 1921 after finishing the Negro National League’s debut season with a 32-40 record.1 The Columbus […]

Oakland Coliseum in 2023. (Courtesy of Jacob Pomrenke)   After Kansas City Athletics owner Arnold Johnson died in 1960, his heirs sold the team to Charlie Finley.1 Finley was unable to make the A’s competitive on the field and decided to move them out of Kansas City. After failed attempts to relocate to Louisville, Dallas, […]

No team has ever begun its home opener with more authority than the San Diego Padres did in 1987. Their first three batters of the game all hit home runs, establishing a new major-league record for homers to open a game. But the visiting San Francisco Giants returned fire by battering five San Diego pitchers […]

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 […]

“If you pitch long enough with good enough stuff,” said Tom Seaver, “you are bound to pitch a no-hitter sooner or later.”1 But even Tom Terrific probably did not think it would take 396 starts and 211 victories into his Hall of Fame career to toss his first and only no-hitter. Seaver’s masterpiece was “more […]

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 […]

On May 23, 1976, Minnesota pitcher Bert Blyleven beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-1, and won his 99th career game, all with the Twins, for whom he debuted as a 19-year-old on June 5, 1970. He had a solid rookie season, going 10-9 with a 3.18 earned-run average in 27 games, all but two as […]

The Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at The Original Crusoe’s Restaurant in South St. Louis on Tuesday, August 26, 2014 with twenty-two members and guests in attendance. Chapter president Brian Flaspohler called the meeting to order. Items noted in “Today in Baseball History” were the first telecast of a Major League Baseball game from Ebbets Field […]

Thirteen members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at the Sports Cafe, located at 3579 Pennridge Drive in Bridgeton, Missouri, on Tuesday, November 14, 2017. Chapter president Brian Flaspohler called the meeting to order. Items noted in “Today in Baseball History”: 1957 – Hank Aaron receives 239 points from the baseball writers to […]

“One of the best and most underrated players I have ever seen.” — Joe Morgan, Hall of Famer “A Puerto Rican legend whose brilliance equals that of the stars.” — Honduran sportswriter Greg Moraga   Growing up in Houston in the 1970s and ’80s, every kid idolized Astros left fielder José Cruz. They dreamed of […]

Greg Terlecky was a starting pitcher for most of his decade-long professional baseball career, though all 20 of his major-league outings came in relief for the 1975 St. Louis Cardinals. He registered a loss in his only decision and carried a 4.45 ERA over 30⅓ innings. He began his brief tenure in the majors by […]

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 […]

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 […]

Tommy Moore was drafted as an outfielder but made it to the majors as a pitcher. He appeared with four teams in parts of four seasons from 1972 through 1977, posting a won-lost record of 2-4 and an ERA of 5.40 in 42 games, largely in relief. “He would have been a great candidate for […]

Nineteenth-century journeyman Jim Clinton logged 400-plus games in baseball’s three major professional leagues between 1872 and 1886 and, in the midst of that (1877-1881), probably an equal number in various leagues and associations we would now categorize as “minor.” He served with seven different clubs over the course of 10 seasons in the National Association, […]

Opening Day at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, April 10, 1980. Visiting Boston scores two runs in the top of the inning to tie Brewers at 5 apiece. Bottom of the inning, two outs, bases loaded. Up to the plate steps Sixto Lezcano. A packed house of 53,313 screaming as one, urging Sixto to send them home […]

Was the Federal League of 1914 and 1915 a major league? If you answer “yes” to this question, Art Queisser was a major-league umpire, by virtue of having worked a four-game FL series between the St. Louis Terriers and Kansas City Packers from September 2 through 4, 1914. Queisser’s stint as an umpire capped his […]

“Some folks give their bodies to science. I gave mine to baseball.” 1   It is no surprise that Ron Hunt uttered this classic quote, which is far from bluster. The gritty second baseman is best known for being hit by pitches: 243 times in his 12-year big-league career (1963-74). That total still ranks sixth […]

Few players in baseball history have jumped directly to the major leagues without ever playing a game in the minors. Many of these were the Bonus Babies in the years before the amateur draft was established in 1965. Before that, Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Frankie Frisch, Mel Ott, and George Sisler went directly from […]