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August 1945 was a whirlwind month for US Army Air Corps Sergeant Ed Walczak. At the beginning of the month, he was a soldier with no Organized Baseball experience. By month’s end, he was signed to a major-league contract by the Philadelphia Phillies. And September was no less remarkable for Walczak, as he earned the […]
Right-handed pitcher Roy Wilkinson reached the pinnacle of his modest baseball career in only his second major-league game. A capable seven-year minor-league veteran, Wilkinson had been acquired by the Chicago White Sox late in the 1919 pennant chase to provide some respite for a strained pitching corps. Given a September start against the Philadelphia A’s, […]
The fifth-winningest pitcher of all time, Warren Spahn went 363-245 over parts of 21 years from 1942 to 1965. Only by remaining in the game two seasons too long did he fail to finish with an ERA under 3.00 (3.09) and a winning percentage over .600 (.597), and his totals are all the more impressive […]
Marc Sullivan started 35 games in 1986 as backup to All-Star catcher Rich Gedman. He made the squad in spring training because of his defensive skills, but many critical Red Sox fans and beat writers would not overlook his offensive shortcomings. He hit only .193, with 23 hits in 119 at-bats, and seemed to be […]
He entered this world on Friday the 13th and exited on April Fools Day. In the 37 intervening years, Rube Waddell struck out more batters, frustrated more managers, and attracted more fans than any pitcher of his era. An imposing physical specimen for his day, the 6-foot-1, 196-pound Waddell possessed the intellectual and emotional maturity […]
On July 27, 1917, Cliff Brady was involved in an automobile accident that could have ended his career. Two cars smashed into each other shortly after 11 PM at the intersection of Third and Cheyenne in Tulsa. Ticket seller Eddie Quigley’s leg was broken; Brady’s knee was hurt but not to the point he required […]
Only 20 years old when the Washington Senators broke camp in spring 1914, right-hander Jim Shaw was deemed a can’t-miss pitching prodigy. The youngster had impressed the previous September during a brief late-season audition with the club, and his spring work had left some onlookers near-swooning, with favorable comparison to renowned staff ace Walter Johnson […]
When Bob Uecker was sent down to the minor leagues in 1961 after breaking camp with the Milwaukee Braves, manager Charlie Dressen told him, “There is no room in baseball for a clown.” 1 Dressen could not have been more wrong. While no one would dispute that professional baseball is a business, Bob Uecker has […]
Before the designated hitter, the major leagues had little use for a slugger who could not field, such as Moose Clabaugh. One of the greatest hitters in minor-league history, Clabaugh received only a “cup of coffee” in the big leagues – 15 plate appearances with the Brooklyn Robins in 1926. That opportunity came after he […]
Everyone knows about John Smoltz’s dominance as both a starter and as a reliever. Same with Dennis Eckersley. Little do people know they were hardly the first people to be widely praised at both spots in the pitching staff. Though he started his career as a highly touted starting-pitcher prospect, Jim Slaton eventually moved to […]
Lefty Gomez made a lasting mark on baseball for two reasons. Not only was he one of the two or three finest pitchers of his generation, but he was probably the wittiest person ever to wear a major league uniform. In a 14-year big league career spanning 1930-43, all but one game of which was […]
Bill McKinley was a steady, dependable American League umpire whose 20-season career, from 1946 to 1965, was marked by numerous highlights and one well-publicized low point. The highlights included four World Series assignments, three All-Star Games, five no-hitters—one behind the plate—and other historic moments. McKinley was working home plate in 1947 when Larry Doby of […]
Bob Bescher amassed 428 career stolen bases even though he played regularly for only eight seasons in the major leagues. The switch-hitting leadoff hitter and left fielder pilfered 81 bases in 1911, still the Cincinnati Reds single-season record. In 1912 F.C. Lane of Baseball Magazine declared him the “King of Basestealers,” not only for his […]
Right-handed pitcher Rube Schauer had one of the most rapid ascents to the major leagues in baseball history. In 1912 he was playing for his hometown semi-pro team in rural North Dakota, and by the end of 1913, his first season in professional baseball, he was a member of the pennant-winning New York Giants. His […]
Day after day at Salt Lake City, Utah in 1925, Bill Essick, a scout for the New York Yankees, watched a young infielder named Tony Lazzeri. Essick reported to Ed Barrow, the Yankees’ business manager (general manager) that Lazzeri was hitting the ball exceptionally well, batting .355 and hitting 60 home runs. “But the air […]
“I got the name Show Boat in St. Louis with the Cards in 1930,” wrote George “Showboat” Fisher in a 1985 letter. “The show ‘Showboat’ was in St. Louis most of the summer, the fans liked what they saw, so they started to call me ‘Show Boat.’ I hit .374 to lead the club, and we won […]
Pete Vuckovich was a menacing figure. He was big: 6-feet-4 and 220 pounds (or more). He glowered over a Fu Manchu mustache and often had a few days’ growth elsewhere to go with his long, unkempt hair. While pitching, he had “a streak of calculated weirdness.”1 Rasputin comparisons arose, and he encouraged them, applauding the […]
He was an eight-time All-Star, batted .300-plus seven times, and upon his retirement after the 1988 season, held the major-league record for hits (2,472) and doubles (483) by a catcher, to go along with 248 home runs and 1,389 RBIs. In December 2019, 25 years after receiving only 3.7% of the vote in his first […]
In 1951 The Sporting News encapsulated the career of Frank Hiller stating, “This is the human story of the man who stands outside looking in … with desperation, pathos, perseverance as its theme … [Once] one of the ‘anointed,’ a hand-picked [New York] Yankee prospect from the start … And then, as the Fates snipped […]
In the spring of 1962, Meredith “Moe” Morhardt was in an enviable position. The left-handed hitting first baseman was starting his first full season with the Chicago Cubs and had been assured that he wasn’t going to be sent back to the minors. There was only one problem – he wasn’t playing. By mid-May, Morhardt […]
The first Boston Red Sox no-hitter at Fenway Park was by right-hander George “Rube” Foster in 1916, the fifth season of play at the ballpark.1 A member of the Red Sox ever since his major-league debut in 1913, Foster – also known as “Goose Egg” – had thrown five shutouts in 1914 and five more […]
The Louisville Colonels didn’t have many bright spots during their major-league-record 26-game losing streak1 in 1889, but Pete Browning’s cycle on June 7 was one of them. Browning’s feat came in Louisville’s 9-7, 11-inning road loss to the Philadelphia Athletics. The Colonels entered the game losers of 13 straight American Association games and followed it […]
The 1915 Detroit Tigers owed their long, quiet offseason in part to pitcher Carl Weilman of the St. Louis Browns. The Tigers finished in second place in the American League, 2½ games behind the Boston Red Sox, and the Browns’ left-hander beat Detroit eight times that season – including three times in the span of […]
During the 1926 American League season, there were a handful of instances where the capacity of Comiskey Park in Chicago was exceeded by the demands of the public, usually when the New York Yankees came to town.1 In these situations, the excess attendees were allowed onto the playing field and rather ineffectively roped off from […]