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The champagne was on ice while 15,443 waited to erupt after their Minnesota Twins defeated a Seattle Pilots team they had already beaten 11 times in 14 games, including eight of eight at Metropolitan Stadium. At 91-60 with an 11-game lead over the second-place Oakland A’s, the Twins saw that the clinching of the first-ever […]

This Monday night game was the first of a four-game series as part of a nine-game West Coast swing for the New York Yankees (11-10, second in the AL East, 2½ games back of Tampa). The Yankees were definitely not at full strength. They had 13 players on the injured list, including Aaron Judge, Giancarlo […]

When Ned Hanlon became manager of the Baltimore Orioles in May of 1892, the team was a dysfunctional group largely composed of insubordinate and unmotivated players. They finished in last place in the 12-team National League, losing 101 games, and that was an intolerable situation for Hanlon, a man who hated to lose.  He immediately […]

It is perhaps fitting that the National League played its first game in Philadelphia, 100 years after the country was born in the same place. As with the nation itself, the new league’s founding fathers had multiple agendas. While ostensibly providing a solution to the National Association’s many ills, Chicago owner William Hulbert, the driving […]

After the Cardinals took two out of three games from the Yankees in New York, the World Series returned to St. Louis with the home team on the verge of capturing its seventh championship. Each of the games in New York had been tightly contested, and each game’s outcome had been determined by a home […]

Honus Wagner was one of the greatest players in baseball history. Bill James’s 2001 New Bill James Historical Abstract listed the Pennsylvania native and longtime Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop as the second best player of all time, with only Babe Ruth ranked ahead of him.1 Elsewhere, James wrote, “Wagner was a legendary figure in that era, […]

Wabishaw Spencer “Doc” Wiley played in the Negro Leagues for 15 seasons and earned his nickname by becoming a practicing dentist. He was an offseason dentist during his playing career and transitioned to dentistry full time once his playing career ended.1 Various sources give various birthdates for Wiley. Baseball-Reference lists him being born on February […]

Right-hander John Leister (pronounced Lister) worked in 10 major-league games for the Boston Red Sox: eight in 1987 and two in 1990. He’d been considered for a career in professional football — but baseball proved to be his calling. After his six-year pro career (1984-90) ended, he became a college coach. John William Leister was […]

Prominent in the baseball circles of his time but now forgotten, Bill Watkins spent more than thirty years as a player, manager, front office executive, and team owner of various major and high minor league franchises. His playing career short-circuited by a near fatal beaning in 1884, Watkins thereafter assumed the manager’s post for the […]

Was Joe Giannini potentially the wealthiest player ever to appear in the Red Sox lineup? Joseph Francis Giannini was born in Drytown, Amador County, California, on September 8, 1888 (per the California Death Index – though according to his World War I draft card, he was born on that date in 1889). He had played […]

On December 14, 1977, the Boston Red Sox traded pitcher Fergie Jenkins, who had clashed with manager Don Zimmer, to the Texas Rangers for 6-foot-5, 210-pound left-hander John Poloni and $25,000 cash.1 Poloni had made his major-league debut with the Rangers in September after spending the season at Triple-A Tucson. “It’s not that we wanted […]

Some players have a lifetime, while others earn only a brief moment in the spotlight. For Harry Joseph Hulihan, the record falls somewhere in between. His own time for baseball glory came and went in a short burst. Yet he also played a crucial role in determining the last world championship for a Hall of […]

He was a sports broadcaster and former college football player from the Midwest. Tall and grey haired, he sported a crooked nose as a football injury badge. Answering to the name Harmon, he called gridiron action working for ABC telecasts. It would be understandable to many if he were often mistaken for the great Tom […]

Rubén Gómez was the second pitcher from Puerto Rico to reach the majors — and the first to start and win a World Series Game. He led the New York Giants to a 6-2 win in Game Three at Cleveland on October 1, 1954. A limber 6 feet even and 170-175 pounds, Gómez was amazingly […]

Hard-throwing Bill Caudill pitched in the majors from 1979 through 1987. The righty struck out a batter per inning at a time when that was much less common. “Caudill doesn’t have much finesse,” said The Scouting Report annual for 1983, the year after he emerged as a closer with the Seattle Mariners. “He throws a […]

Two relief appearances for the 1950 Brooklyn Dodgers were the extent of left-handed pitcher Mal Mallette’s major-league career. An Air Force captain during World War II before entering professional baseball, he became an esteemed journalist after leaving the game. Malcolm Francis “Mal” Mallette was born on January 30, 1922, in Syracuse, New York, and grew […]

“We didn’t just want to win. We wanted to step on the opponent’s neck,” Mookie Wilson said.1 “What you saw was what you got, like it or hate it,”2 said Bobby Ojeda of the cantankerous New York Mets of 1986. Any championship team is pieced together over time, although it can appear that the success […]

For many years, “Hartford” Jack Farrell’s baseball record showed him making three appearances as an 18-year-old for his hometown club in the National Association in 1874. Eventually it emerged that the remainder of his big-league career consisted of two games in 1882. And when one looks under the surface, one finds that Farrell enjoyed 15-plus […]

Like his father before him, John Michaelson may have been destined for a life working in the copper mines had it not been for his ability to throw a baseball. After the right-handed pitcher was discovered by scouts, he had a spring training invitation from the Detroit Tigers and a two-game trial with the Chicago […]

Right-hander Don Erickson pitched for 10 minor league seasons around two years of service in the U.S. Army. His major league career consisted of nine relief appearances for the Philadelphia Phillies in September 1958. Donald Lee Erickson was born on December 13, 1931, in Springfield, Illinois, the last of Charles “Todd” and Mary (Jacaway) Erickson’s […]

Bobby Guindon’s major-league career spanned nine days in 1964, but he worked hard for six more years hoping for another shot, even converting from a first baseman/outfielder to a pitcher after a horrific encounter with a snow blower permanently hampered his ability to grip a baseball bat. Robert Joseph Guindon was born just down the […]

John McNamara ran a big-league team six times, plus another as an interim skipper. He kept getting hired because he was well respected by everyone in the game, including general managers and players. “Any player with an ounce of decency in him will play his heart out for John,” said one of his San Diego […]

By Mary Groebner The Northwest Chapter of SABR met on Saturday, February 19, 2011, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Hillsdale Library in Portland. Twenty-five members and guests were in attendance. Chapter president John Henshell announced that Rick Solomon has agreed to serve as Vice President. After introductions, member John Simpson made a presentation […]

Montreal mayor Jean Drepeau with (from left) John Bateman, Jim “Mudcat” Grant, and Maury Wills on Opening Day in New York, April 8, 1969 (COURTESY OF THE McCORD MUSEUM, MONTREAL)   It somehow seemed inevitable when it all came to an end in 2004. Fate didn’t really smile on the ’Spos (Les Expos de Montreal) […]