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An undersized one-game pitcher for the 1885 Cincinnati Reds, Bill McCaffrey has been elusive quarry for baseball genealogists. The brevity of his major league stay has not been the only obstacle in the McCaffrey quest. Inconsistent spelling of his surname as well as the existence of equally obscure baseball contemporaries with the same or similar […]

Joe Quinn’s 17 seasons between 1884 and 1901 marked the first appearance by an Australian in major league baseball. For 102 years, Quinn was the only player from “Down Under” to feature at the top level of American pro ball, and he remains the only Australian to manage in the major leagues. He played on […]

Pitcher Mike Prendergast toiled over 600 innings in back-to-back seasons with Peoria in the Illinois-Iowa-Indiana League. He followed that up with a 180-game major-league career. His work ethic earned him the nickname “Iron Mike,” but he would likely be long forgotten had he not been included in the Chicago Cubs-Philadelphia Phillies trade that sent Pete […]

During a five-season career (1963-1967) spent mostly with the Washington Senators, right-hander Buster Narum tossed shutouts at Yankee Stadium and White Sox Park, and he struck out six future Hall of Famers.1 But Narum, owner of a .059 career batting average, is perhaps better remembered for homering in his first major-league at-bat. He was just […]

From the 1890s through the 1950s, textile-league baseball was a fixture in many upstate South Carolina mill towns. Each mill had its team, and rivalries were keen. Teams sometimes recruited men just for the summer baseball season, working them little if at all in the mills themselves, and paying them much more than the average mill […]

Roy Partee’s career as a scout rivaled that of his career as a catcher. He caught for the Boston Red Sox for five seasons, 1943-48, and he scouted (mostly for the Mets) for more than a quarter of a century. He also managed in the minor leagues and helped win World War II. Partee was […]

Dwight Bernard took an unusual path to the major leagues. He played one year of high-school baseball, in which he pitched just a few games and won only one, then went to a tiny Baptist college that did not offer intercollegiate sports. He transferred to another small college that had a baseball team but to […]

Herbie Moran, a late-season acquisition in the Boston Braves’ pennant drive in 1914, acquired for his speed and outfield defense, was one of the heroes of the Braves’ unexpected Series sweep: The winning run in Game Three scored when his bunt with runners on first and second in the 12th inning was fumbled by Philadelphia […]

William H. Powell is not a household name like Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, or Satchel Paige. He never matriculated into the majors, is not listed in the pantheon of Negro League greats, and failed to acquire a nickname other than Bill. He had a good fastball and claimed, “I was the hardest-throwing pitcher on the […]

It’s a common tale. A major-league prospect falters after being celebrated as a highly significant addition to the team. So goes the story of Albert LaVerne “Bunny” Fabrique, who played in 27 games for the Brooklyn Robins in 1916-1917 and enjoyed a reported, though improbable, familial lineage to King Louis XVI.1 In 1917 spring training […]

Bert Husting was pitching in the 1897 Wisconsin state amateur tournament in Fond du Lac when discovered by Connie Mack, the Milwaukee Brewers manager in the Class A Western League. The following year the 5’-10”, 185-pounder hurled the University of Wisconsin to the Western Conference title, and four years later, was a 14-game winner with the […]

Joe Cicero had everything going for him. The Atlantic City, New Jersey, native led his Holy Spirit High School football team in scoring in each of his first three years at the school (two of which saw the squad undefeated), led the basketball team in scoring in each of his first three years, and led […]

“Oh, Puddin’ Head Jones was fat and funny Dumber than sticks and stones. Now that is just why the kids all called him, Wooden head, puddin’ head Jones.”   Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees sang these words in 1933. Legend has it that Willie Edward Jones’s nickname came from the song. Wherever it came […]

Hard-throwing right-hander Clay Bryant went 32-20 in parts of six seasons for the Chicago Cubs before chronic elbow and shoulder pain ended his career at the age of 28 in 1940. But for one summer, the affable Alabaman caught lightning in a bottle. En route to winning 19 games and leading the National League in […]

Right-hander Kenny Hill flashed the kind of stuff that made batters think twice before they came to the plate. He had a wicked split-finger fastball which made his low-to-mid-90s heater look even faster, and his hard slider was generally regarded as one of the best in baseball. Three times he won a career-best 16 games, […]

Joe Cascarella was the son of a fruit merchant and grocer who had come to America from Italy in 1886. Joseph and Freda Cascarella were both Italian natives, and they gave their four children standard biblical names: Mary, James, Joseph, and John. The younger Joe’s 2002 obituary in the Baltimore Sun characterized his father as […]

Right-handed pitcher Lev Shreve was a nineteenth-century baseball rarity: an affluent young man descended from a distinguished and prosperous family whose American roots dated from the late 1630s.1 Early generations included settlement founders, Revolutionary War heroes, judges, lawyers (including a reputed law partner of Thomas Jefferson), civic leaders, and the founders of Shreveport, Louisiana. Lev’s […]

Going from convicted felon and star athlete at Sing Sing Prison to Albany Senators center fielder, Alabama Pitts ventured into a firestorm of controversy, provoking a spirited national debate on the merits of prison rehabilitation in 1935. Allowing the ex-convict Pitts to play professionally set a precedent whose influence continues to pervade professional sports, with […]

On graduation day in 1954, San Diego High School star athlete Floyd Robinson was signed personally by Bill “Chick” Starr, the owner of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres, for a reported $500 bonus.1 He appeared in three games — two in the outfield. He was 3-for-6 at the plate, and handled all eight […]

Southpaw submariner Ike Van Zandt was a rarity at the turn of the twentieth century. The motion was deceptive to batters simply because it was uncommon. Van Zandt, variously known as Isaac, Ike or Izzy, played in organized baseball for a decade beginning in 1898. Despite his unique pitching motion, he mainly played in the […]

In a tight contest that lasted almost five hours on May 28, 1979, the Kansas City Royals defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4, ending what was then the longest game in Royals Stadium history. George Brett launched a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 16th inning to give the Royals their fifth consecutive victory. […]

“It was a tremendous day for me, a day I’ll always remember, the biggest day of my life in baseball.” — Frank Robinson1 On August 21, 1974, the Cleveland Indians were in second place in the American League East Division, trailing Boston by six games. Although they were only three games over .500, it was […]

Johannes “Joe” Blyleven, the youngest of seven Blyleven siblings,1 admitted that he didn’t have his older brother Bert’s legendary curveball. Perhaps as a result, Joe didn’t have his brother’s Hall of Fame-level professional success, either. Pitching in the lowest reaches of the California Angels’ minor-league system in 1977 and 1978, he posted a 6-8 record […]

The major-league season started 18 days late in 1995 because of the players strike, which had begun in August 1994 and forced cancellation of the 1994 postseason. Each team played a 144-game schedule in 1995. As the season progressed, one of the most compelling races took place in the American League West Division. The California […]