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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times in 1972 for Atlanta Braves superstar Henry Aaron. After signing a record-breaking contract before the season to become the first player ever to make $200,000 a year, he struggled after moving from his comfortable right-field position to a “disliked” full-time slot at first […]

Ohio Governor and Republican candidate for vice president John W. Bricker posed for photographers before the game with two fellow Buckeyes, Cardinals manager Billy Southworth and Browns skipper Luke Sewell. Pressed by a reporter for a series prediction, Bricker simply grinned and said, “I hope St. Louis wins.”1 The first intracity World Series outside of […]

“It’s true, ladies, all true. THE game did last almost until dawn’s early light and your old man was not out on the town, even if he may have looked it.”—Morris Siegel1 Open any book about baseball or any page on the SABR website to reveal myriad ways to contemplate the game. Consider that baseball […]

It was a laugher. Paul Dickson defined that baseball term as “a game with a lopsided score; a rout; an easy win.”1 Indeed. On this day with the excitement of Washington’s All-Star Game festivities fresh in the memory, attention turned first to the nonwaiver trading deadline, three hours before first pitch. Would the Nationals be […]

“As I grew up, I knew that as a building (Fenway Park) was on the level of Mount Olympus, the Pyramid at Giza, the nation’s capitol, the czar’s Winter Palace, and the Louvre — except, of course, that is better than all those inconsequential places” — Bart Giamatti1   Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park with […]

It was a sunny afternoon on the North Side of Chicago with seasonal temperatures hovering in the low 60s on that last Sunday of September, the first Sunday of autumn. The last-place Chicago Cubs hosted the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers for their last home game of the 1966 season. It was a time when $3 […]

The Florida Marlins were in their fourth season in 1996. Their record had improved each year since they joined the National League as an expansion franchise in 1993, and they hoped a series of free-agent signings in the 1995-96 offseason would make them, according to general manager Dave Dombrowski, a playoff contender.1 Veteran starters Kevin […]

The annual Patriots Day game in Boston started just after 11:00 A.M. on Monday, April 19. The Red Sox had taken two of the previous three games from the visiting New York Yankees.1 Boston made it three of four with a comeback 5-4 win, aided by contributions from some of the less-celebrated Red Sox players. […]

As the day of Game Five dawned, tragedy struck the Bucs’ extended family. Manager Chuck Tanner, a native son who had been born and raised 50 miles northwest of Pittsburgh in the town of New Castle, called to check on his ailing mother and was told, “I’m sorry, Mr. Tanner. Your mother died at 7:40.”1 […]

“I saw Robinson coming in. I didn’t move because I had to stay to make the call on the pitch first. That’s why I stayed crouched over. I saw it perfectly. Yogi put the ball at the back of the plate and Robinson slid across the plate into the glove. I’m satisfied I made the […]

After four straight losing seasons – including two last-place finishes1 – the Minnesota Twins left fans with little optimism heading into 1984. The early focus of the team’s third season in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was to draw enough fans to keep owner Calvin Griffith, whose family had owned the franchise since 1919 and […]

“Great catches are a lot like pretty girls. The last one you see is always the best one.” — Bob Sudyk of the Cleveland Press, after seeing a spectacular catch by Sandy Valdespino on June 18, 1967   In 1967 Sandy Valdespino was a bench player for the Minnesota Twins.  On June 18 the Twins […]

Born and raised in the Bronx, All-Star and Gold Glove third baseman Frank Malzone was a Red Sox fixture for more than 60 years, save for one season playing for the California Angels. Born on February 28, 1930, he was a Yankees fan growing up but was signed out of Samuel Gompers High School by […]

Waving goodbye, the impeccably dressed young man with fiery red hair and ruddy complexion hurriedly boarded the Cleveland-bound train. In the span of nine short days, The Pride of Penacook had graduated from Dartmouth, signed a contract to play for the New York Yankees, and now was en route to join his new team. Place […]

Rob Picciolo sat in the Milwaukee Brewers dugout in the early summer of 1982, watching Robin Yount and Jim Gantner execute another double play. The smooth coordination of the two fielders told Picciolo what he already knew: Barring an injury, he wouldn’t be needed in the Brewers’ middle infield any time soon. Picciolo (pronounced \PEACH-uh-lo\) […]

Right-hander Bill Castro pitched all or part of 10 big-league seasons (1974-1983) for the Brewers, Yankees, and Royals. A reliever with excellent control, he frequently induced double-play grounders with his sinker-slider repertoire. As a player, scout, and coach, Castro spent 44 years in professional baseball. In 2009 with Milwaukee, he became the majors’ first full-time […]

Nothing succeeds like success. So goes the familiar aphorism. Mel Deutsch turned that on its head, said Louisville sportswriter Tommy Fitzgerald. The “big, slow-moving, easy-going” right-handed pitcher was called up from the Colonels for spring 1946 delivery to the Boston Red Sox, and Fitzgerald marveled at how he’d built some of his reputation on pitching well in […]

“There is something inspiring to discouraged ball players in the career of William Hinchman, of the Pirates. A man who had had his show and apparently failed, it took years of patient plodding before another opportunity presented itself.”1 That’s how author J.C. Kofoed introduced his Baseball Magazine article on Hinchman, who had an all-star-worthy year […]

“Baseball had always been in my blood,” said versatile infielder Frankie Gustine, who signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a 16-year-old athletic prodigy in 1936. One of the most popular Pirates of his era, Gustine debuted as a September call-up in 1939 and was named to three consecutive NL All-Star teams (1946-1948) as a second […]

In the sizzling summer heat of the 1957 National League pennant race, Fred Hutchinson turned philosophical. “Baseball doesn’t have many naturals, a lot less than you might imagine,” said the Seattle-born-and-bred skipper of the St. Louis Cardinals. “The ones who work the hardest are the ones who make it, the ones who win. Sometimes that’’s […]

“The fascinating thing about baseball is that everyone knows that it is a business and you have to win and you have to draw fans to be successful, but you still have fun along the line doing all that,” Bill Rigney once said. “I don’t think I ever woke up one day in my life […]

Star player, manager, general manager, league president—only one man in baseball history has followed a career path like this one. Joe Cronin, one of the greatest shortstops in the game’s history, spent 50 years in the baseball without being fired or taking a year off. Every job was a promotion, and he came within a […]

Overshadowed by his more famous big brother Gene DeMontreville during most of his career, Leon was thought by many to have as much talent as his sibling. Early in his career, Chicago Cub manager Frank Selee predicted that, with more experience, Leon would turn out to be a better player than Gene.1 However, Gene played […]

On October 6, 1914, in the second game of a doubleheader, 20-year-old Bill Martin made his major-league debut against the Robins in Brooklyn. His performance was utterly unremarkable: He went hitless in three at-bats and committed an error at shortstop. No one at the time would have expected that this single game would constitute the […]