Search Results

On November 12, 1982, Joe Altobelli was named the seventh manager in Baltimore Orioles history. Piloting one of the 26 major-league teams was surely an enviable position to hold. Unfortunately, for Altobelli, he was supplanting a legend. Earl Weaver, Baltimore’s field manager from mid-1968 to 1982, led the Orioles to six division titles, four pennants […]

Chico Walker once told Boston sportswriter Peter Gammons, “Getting to the big leagues wasn’t the problem. But staying in the big leagues was.”1 Walker epitomized the utility man in baseball. From his major-league debut in 1980 through 1993, he played for four different teams, in both leagues, over 11 seasons.2 Yet it took until 1991, […]

Few paths to organized baseball were as unique as that of Joseph Mitchell Tysko’s. A collegiate pitcher in West Texas, the right-hander captured the attention of the Abilene Blue Sox after stymieing the team in an exhibition match; no other hurler had held the hard hitting Class C club to so few runs. In May […]

With a passion for problem solving fueled by an unyielding streak of empathy for his constituents, Mario Cuomo garnered allegiance from Democrats and respect from Republicans — most notably for his 1984 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. Whether on the stump or in Albany, the 52nd Governor of New York exemplified politicians being […]

Among potentially awkward encounters between semipro baseball teammates off the field, one player having to arrest another must rank very high. Carl “Sailor” Howard, who participated in spring training with the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1935 and pitched in a couple of midseason exhibition games for the team, was on the receiving end of such an […]

Nearly half of all athletes in Organized Baseball today were born outside the 50 United States. At the turn of the 20th century, Luis Castro was one of the very few. He was the first Colombian in the majors (and remained so until 1974); the first Latino-born baseball player of the modern era; and the […]

Ed Ashenbach was known as the “King of the Minors.” Who else could claim discovery of Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, and Grover Alexander? From 1890 to 1911, Ashenbach toured the minors as an outfielder and manager. During this period, minor leagues were formed and disbanded at a dizzying pace. “Ash” navigated these waters, […]

Charles Joseph Riefenhauser was born on January 30, 1990, in Yonkers, New York, to Chuck Riefenhauser, an elevator mechanic, and Mary Lou, a nurse. He was raised in Mahopac (population 7,755), 47 miles north of New York City. Unlike some ballplayers who get their nicknames after establishing a career, Riefenhauser was named for his father, […]

Like the real estate business that he would later enter, success and failure during the career of late-19th century pitcher George Haddock was often a matter of location. When on the roster of bad clubs, Haddock regularly tasted defeat, losing a staggering 72 games over his first three full professional seasons. Yet once assigned to […]

“You dream of things like this, but you never think of it happening to you. It’s something out of the movies.” — Mike Devereaux, October 15, 1995, after being named NLCS MVP1   Mike Devereaux became an instant hero on an Atlanta Braves team filled with future Hall of Famers. Having played with five different […]

On July 9, 1884, the St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association played the Baltimore Monumentals in Baltimore, with both starting pitchers making their major-league debuts. Henry Boyle pitched for the Maroons, allowing just four hits and no unearned runs. “Dorsey, late of the Trentons, pitched for the home team, but was batted out of […]

Turn-of-the-century catcher-utilityman Joe Connor belongs to a baseball fraternity whose charter members include John Ewing, Butts Wagner, John O’Rourke, a pair of Clarkson bothers, and a quartet of Delahantys. The entry requirement is not altogether a happy one: a major-league career totally eclipsed by the accomplishments of a family member bound for Cooperstown. In Joe’s […]

Dennis Lamp was a right-handed pitcher who racked up 96 major-league wins over the course of a 16-year career that saw him work for six different ballclubs. Three of his first four wins were shutouts. He worked most of his last 10 seasons as a reliever, with exactly half (48) of his wins coming in […]

Here is one of the most moving, human-interest stories in the entire history of the game—a story that exemplifies the spirit of baseball and America . . . It is the . . . dramatic story of the skinny, under-nourished, weak-visioned kid, the son of a poor immigrant family, a product of New York’s tough […]

At the Pirates’ minor-league pitching camp in 1970, Harding Peterson, the team’s minor-league director, told two pitching prospects to abandon their side-arm pitching delivery. Fortunately neither listened, as each would become a Pirate World Series hero, with Bruce Kison starring in 1971 and Kent Tekulve in 1979 with the “We Are Family” champs. During offseason […]

The 1983 film National Lampoon’s Vacation introduced moviegoers around the world to Walley World, a fictitious Southern California amusement park billed as “America’s favorite family fun place.” The film depicts Clark Griswold, played by Chevy Chase, leading his family on a cross-country journey from the suburbs of Chicago to Walley World. Following an everything-that-can-go wrong-does-go-wrong […]

Willie Stargell’s path to the top of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home-run charts began from the bench in 1963, his first full major-league season. Filling in for first baseman Donn Clendenon, Stargell hit his first big-league homer, a three-run shot off Chicago Cubs fireman Lindy McDaniel, in a five-run, game-tying eighth-inning rally on May 8 at […]

The San Francisco Giants exuded a sunny disposition for the 1985 season. They hired popular former All-Star third baseman Jim Davenport as manager – his easygoing personality a vast contrast to his predecessor, intensely competitive Frank Robinson1 – and they traded slugging outfielder Jack Clark, who had a habit of clashing with managers and netted […]

“I don’t know how you feel about it at the other end of these microphones, whether you are sitting at home, or driving a car, on the beach or anywhere, but I know sitting here watching the Giants and Dodgers apparently playing for the last time at the Polo Grounds, you want them to take […]

After a 40-year drought, the Chicago White Sox clinched the American League pennant on September 22, 1959, with a 4-2 victory in Cleveland. Sirens were activated in Chicago to announce the significant baseball happening. The long-wailing scream pierced the night and frightened many sleepy residents who thought the city was under nuclear attack. Mayor Richard […]

“Jackie has been accepted in baseball, and we of the Philadelphia organization have no objection to his playing and wish him all the luck we can. Baseball is an American game, and there are no nationalities, creeds, nor races involved. Jackie Robinson is an American.”1 This quote, attributed to Philadelphia manager Ben Chapman, was made […]

By 1986, San Diego Padres manager Steve Boros and first baseman Steve Garvey had built reputations as mild-mannered baseball men throughout their decades in the game. But during a series against the Atlanta Braves at Jack Murphy Stadium in June of that year, both suffered their first major-league ejections in back-to-back games, adding some pizzazz […]

The 1979 St. Louis Cardinals were flying high when they arrived in Los Angeles for the start of a three-game series with the Dodgers on June 11. They had won nine of their previous 11 games — all at home, including a three-game sweep of the Dodgers — ascending into first place in the National […]

In 1915, a baseball team with female players was a novelty that could attract a paying audience. One such team calling itself the All-American Girls toured western Canada that year. In Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on Saturday, July 3, 1915, this team of six women and three men were defeated by an all-male team of local semipros. […]