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Canadian-born Gus Dugas was an injury-plagued journeyman major leaguer for parts of four seasons in the 1930s, but a hard-hitting minor-league slugger for 14 years. Born on March 24, 1907, in the small central Quebec village of Saint-Jean-de-Matha, Joseph Augustin Dugas was the sixth of seven children of Azarie Dugas and his wife, Marie (Archambault) […]

Dusty Baker has spent a lifetime in baseball. After a productive career as an outfielder for four teams over a 19-year career, Baker joined the managerial ranks. As a major league manager over most of the period since 1993, he developed a reputation for helping teams win, although it took him until 2022 to capture […]

In many ways Doug Clarey was an accidental major leaguer, someone who got there largely because of the convergence of a number of circumstances that allowed him to make the leap all the way from Class A ball to the big leagues for a few weeks in 1976. In those weeks, however, he managed to […]

James “Red” Moore had a long and distinguished career in the Negro Leagues, from 1936 to 1948. Best known for his fine fielding, Moore held his own at the plate as well. Playing primarily at first base, Moore anchored the infield for nearly two decades in Atlanta, Baltimore, Indianapolis, and Newark. Born on November 18, […]

A hard-throwing right-hander, Fred Beebe began and ended his major-league career in fine style. As a rookie in 1906, he posted 15 wins and led the National League in strikeouts. Ten years later, he provided excellent spot starter-relief work as a midseason Cleveland Indians call-up. In between, Beebe suffered from bouts of wildness, arm problems, […]

Assumption High School in Windsor, Canada, must have had some pretty good ballplayers in 1956 and 1957. “I never made the baseball team. I was cut in both my junior and senior years,” said Pete Craig. “They had two really good pitchers and didn’t need a third. I could throw hard, but had no control.”1 […]

“Now, if I can just get the chance…” an optimistic Pat Dodson remarked during spring training with the Red Sox in 1988.1 Dodson excelled at the Triple-A level, becoming the International League MVP, and was a top prospect in the Red Sox farm system. However, his chances were limited, and success didn’t translate to the […]

Fate: “The supposed force, principle, or power that predetermines events.”[1] Some people believe in it, some do not, though no one can be certain of its existence. But Fred Clarke was a believer in fate. In an interview with a reporter from the New York Herald in 1911, Clarke admitted, “I attribute my success to […]

Matt Young’s place in baseball history is secure. On April 12, 1992, the 33-year-old left-hander became only the third pitcher to throw a complete-game no-hitter and lose the game. Pitching in the first game of a doubleheader for the visiting Boston Red Sox against the Indians in Cleveland, Young lost 2-1. Since his complete game […]

Despite frequent citations over the years, it is not common knowledge that the Braves got their nickname and first Indian-head logo under James E. Gaffney. Then again, nearly a century and two franchise moves have gone by since the owner of yesteryear (December 1911 to January 1916) rechristened his team. The change celebrated his ties […]

Baseball teams rely on their stars and regulars to make the greatest impact. Of course, backups also play important roles, giving starters a rest and filling in when injuries occur. Oscar Boone assumed the role of second-string catcher behind future Hall of Famer Roy Campanella for the Baltimore Elite Giants in 1939 after Biz Mackey […]

Baseball was part of the long and varied life of John W. Dickins for only a few years, and it seems to have played no role at all after the 1869 advent of open professionalism. Nevertheless, he made important contributions to the post-Civil War spread of the game in the South, a development that lent credence […]

The Toronto Blue Jays’ “former shortstop of the future,” Eddie Zosky, a first-round draft choice, selected 19th overall in 1989, played in 44 major-league games for four teams over five seasons and hit .160.1 His baseball “future” came up very short. Is his story a tragedy in which a collegiate star, named All-American by The […]

Through the 2019 season, only nine men born in Saskatchewan, Canada, have appeared in a major-league game. The most prominent were pitcher Reggie Cleveland and outfielder Terry Puhl. The first was Ralph Buxton, a right-handed pitcher who made his debut with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1938. The second, pitcher Aldon “Lefty” Wilkie, debuted three years […]

A hard-throwing, fast-living left-hander, Rube Benton pitched professionally for 24 years, compiling a 150-144 record and 3.09 ERA in his 15 seasons in the National League. Benton had a reputation for drinking, gambling, and driving too fast, all three of which combined in various ways to interrupt his major-league career. He eventually died at age […]

John Fowler was one of the true pioneers of American baseball, one overlooked by the National Baseball Hall of Fame for more than a century after his death until he was elected in 2022 to Cooperstown — the same village where he had grown up as a teenager. In Black baseball history, he is the […]

Catcher Jack Zalusky’s major-league career was brief; seven games for the New York Highlanders during a September trial in 1903. His defensive skills were in demand for more than a decade, but constant squabbles with team management over his salary eventually soured each team he played for. If nothing else, he played on teams with […]

Howard Johnson was a solid major-league player for several years. He was probably best known for a combination of power and speed that made him the darling of fantasy baseball owners as that variant of the national pastime took off in the 1980s. He was a member of two World Series championship teams, the 1984 […]

Fred Downer led an interesting life, one that included being friendly with major league legend Ty Cobb. Downer was a star baseball player at a historically Black college who spent about seven years playing semipro ball in the segregated South and in the Midwest during the 1910s and 1920s. During his career, he was a […]

“What other player is there who bats like [Carl] East, fields like East, throws like East from right field and then can pitch the kind of a game that Carl did yesterday?” — Wichita Beacon, July 6, 19211   Carl East was a pitcher and an outfielder in the minor leagues. Like Babe Ruth, he […]

The neighborhood surrounding 11th and Wharton Streets in South Philadelphia is known for producing entertainers Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Fabian Forte, and Chubby Checker. John Marzano wasn’t a teen idol. He didn’t star in Beach Blanket Bingo and he didn’t invent “The Twist.” However, at one point in his baseball career, Marzano was considered the […]

Marcus Thames made an unforgettable debut with the New York Yankees on June 10, 2002, when he hit a home run off future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson in his first major-league at-bat. Hitting home runs became the trademark for the right-handed slugger, not because of the total number he amassed over his 10-year major-league […]

Brooks Robinson, the Baltimore Orioles’ Hall of Fame/Gold Glove third baseman, almost single-handedly defeated Chicago with a 5-for-5 performance at the plate, driving in three runs and hitting for the cycle as the Orioles beat the White Sox, 5-2, on July 15, 1960. A crowd of 43,704 at Comiskey Park in Chicago saw the Orioles […]

The Stolen Base King was in the twilight of his magnificent career. Lou Brock had shattered the all-time stolen base record on August 29, 1977, when he stole two bases to surpass Ty Cobb with his 892nd and 893rd stolen bases. Now, he had accumulated 929 in his great career. But as the saying goes, […]