Search Results

Arthur Rhodes forged a 20-year major-league career by establishing himself as a reliable left-handed reliever for nine franchises. He is the career leader (as of 2020) in holds since it became an official statistic in 1999, with a total of 231. Rhodes overcame family tragedy to become one of the oldest first-time All-Stars at the […]

The 1965 World Series moved to Metropolitan Stadium for Game Six. The Los Angeles Dodgers were holding a 3-2 series lead, and Walter Alston’s crew was looking to close out the Twins. Standing in the way of the championship was Minnesota ace Jim “Mudcat” Grant. Claude Osteen took the hill for the Dodgers. Grant, who […]

Baseball fans generally remember players who are involved in some of game’s most famous events. The same can be assumed of players who are the first to accomplish a particular feat in the game. However, George Hall was both a central figure in one of major-league baseball’s earliest scandals and the first major-league player to […]

By the end of the 1957 major-league season, Ed Bouchee had made good on all his early athletic promise with a fine rookie season as the first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies. His slash line was .293/.394/470, with 17 home runs and 76 RBIs. The 24-year-old Bouchee, a former high school sports hero from Spokane, […]

Right-hander Ray Scarborough pitched for the Senators, White Sox, Red Sox, Yankees, and Tigers during his 10 years in the major leagues. His longest stretch was with the Washington Senators, pitching in seven of those seasons, from 1942 into 1950. He was 80-85 for his career, with a lifetime 4.13 earned run average. Scarborough’s best […]

There are numerous examples of young ballplayers with great potential whose careers may have been ruined due to mismanagement by team owners or other circumstances. In the 1950s, the opportunity for bonus babies to gain experience in the minor leagues was delayed because the rules required them to stay on major-league rosters. At other times, […]

Although he had far from the best year of his career in 1948, Connie Ryan was a valuable utility infielder for the Boston Braves that season — primarily backing up incumbent Eddie Stanky (and later his replacement, Sibby Sisti) at second base. Ryan was an intense competitor as well as an occasional sparkplug for the […]

Any conversation about the greatest hitter in baseball history must include Rogers Hornsby in the opening gambit.1 His .358 lifetime batting average in 23 big-league seasons is second all-time to Ty Cobb’s .367 and well ahead of such all-time greats as Tris Speaker (.345), Ted Williams (.344), Babe Ruth (.342), Lou Gehrig (.340), and Stan […]

Tommy Bond was a pitching star in the infancy of professional baseball. Then batters could request a high or low pitch from an underhanded pitcher whose arm was supposed to be perpendicular to the ground. “By 1875, Hartford’s Tommy Bond was living at the edge of the rule by throwing low sidearm with tremendous speed.”1 […]

 “If you do stink it up today, you get to come out the next day and get another shot,” said Scott Radinsky. “That’s why I love being a reliever.”1 A hard-throwing left-hander, Radinsky was never afraid of failure, or a challenge. He made a big jump from Single A to the majors, debuting with the […]

This slender sidearm righty appeared in just two big-league games, in 1950. Nonetheless his career is more significant than it appears. “Limonar” – so called for the country town where he learned to play ball – was one of the icons of Cuban amateur baseball in its most glorious, romantic, and competitive era, the early […]

John McGraw was perhaps the National League’s most influential figure in the Deadball Era. From 1902 to 1932 he led the New York Giants to 10 National League pennants, three World Series championships, and 21 first- or second-place finishes in 29 full seasons at their helm. His 2,763 managerial victories were second only to Connie […]

“I certainly had no idea of ever being a pitcher. I had never pitched as a kid,” said 13-year big-league veteran Big Jim Hearn, who won 109 games for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Phillies from 1947 through 1959.1 A college basketball player, Hearn was signed by the Cardinals as a […]

Though his major league career consisted of only five hitless at-bats for the 1980 Baltimore Orioles, Drungo Hazewood remains a legendary baseball cult figure, chiefly because of his unique moniker. Eyewitnesses to Hazewood’s feats of power and speed, however, wondered what might have been had the muscular outfielder learned to hit a curveball before leaving […]

“Considered by many to be the nonpareil umpire of the Post-War Era. A model of consistency with invariable accuracy both behind the plate and on the bases.” Those words on Nestor Chylak’s Baseball Hall of Fame plaque describe him well. An American League umpire from 1954 through 1978, Chylak was highly respected by managers, players, […]

“I know it’s happening, but I can’t believe it,” said a fan in the stands in a hushed voice, trying to suspend disbelief.1 “Thirty-nine years and here we are at last,” marveled longtime Chicago columnist Mike Royko.2 It was the opening game of the best-of-five National League Championship Series, and the first postseason game at […]

When the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Mets met in Game Four of the 1969 World Series, the sports world was watching closely. The Mets had taken the lead in the Series after winning Game Three, 5-0, behind the pitching of Gary Gentry and Nolan Ryan. When the teams took the field on the […]

Max Kepler drilled a four-seam fastball to deep left-center field. Aaron Hicks took off from his spot in center. Hicks had nearly 75 feet to travel in the 3.6 seconds it took the drive to travel 376 feet. No one — not the players, coaches, fans, writers, broadcasters, viewers, bloggers, or game officials — knew […]

When Jamie Moyer was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Seattle Mariners during the 1996 season, the well-traveled left-hander said, “I know I’m not a number 1 starter, but I can certainly help a team win in a lot of ways.”1 Under Seattle skipper Lou Piniella, the first major-league manager he felt ever […]

It is not uncommon for a major-league club to change managers in the middle of a trying season, but when the Cleveland Indians parted ways with Jeff Torborg in July 1979, it was more than a simple change in the dugout.1 The decision closed the book on a nearly monthlong drama on the shores of […]

In the 1880s, the Educational Home for Boys in Philadelphia was a boarding school housing about 100 Native Americans from the Chippewa, Mohawk, and Sioux tribes.1 They learned to read, write, and speak English; obtained skills needed in farming and carpentry; and received religious and music education. “For after taking away the lands and hunting-grounds […]

The Minnesota Twins were struggling going into the final game of a series versus the Chicago White Sox. Minnesota had lost six straight games and nine consecutive road games. The Twins had an American League-worst road record of 4-14.1 While the temperature was warm and the skies were sunny in Chicago, both teams were facing […]

The mood in Ottawa was somber in the fall of 1916, more than two years after Canada had declared war on Germany. The bloody Battle of the Somme in northern France was into its fourth month, and a lengthy list of the local soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in action appeared daily in the Ottawa […]

If the 1975 Tacoma Twins had been as good at winning baseball games as manager Cal Ermer was at winning protests, they would have gone undefeated. The Twins’ June 8 loss to the Hawaii Islanders, their top rivals in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League’s Western Division, was temporarily put on hold after Ermer mounted a […]