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Al Barlick rose from a Midwestern coal-mining family to a long career as a major-league umpire and eventual election to baseball’s Hall of Fame, the sixth umpire to be so honored. He gave his adult life to baseball and umpiring, working 57 years (1936-1993) in the game. Albert Joseph Barlick was born on April 2, […]

During his three seasons in the National League, from 1898 to 1900, Walter Woods was a highly flexible utility player, playing seven of the nine field positions (all except first base and catcher). In his 91 games played in the major leagues, Woods appeared 60 percent of the time as a pitcher (54 games) and […]

Stan Javier’s baseball heritage included his former major-league father and a Hall of Fame teammate of his father’s. One might think that situation would propel a youngster from the Dominican Republic to relentlessly pursue a major-league career for himself. Instead, baseball was viewed by Javier as just another sport he played while growing up, and […]

Many players played for National and American League teams in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia or St. Louis. Just a dozen men played for Washington teams in both leagues. Some of the best known are John Anderson, Jack Doyle, Win Mercer and Kip Selbach. Most of the rest are recognizable to fans of Deadball Era […]

As was the case with other late 19th century journeymen, the major-league playing career of catcher Tom Gunning was not the signal accomplishment of his life. Upon leaving the game in 1890, he completed his medical school studies and returned to his hometown of Fall River, Massachusetts, where he practiced medicine for almost 40 years. […]

He was called the Wizard of Oz for his phenomenal fielding feats. A 15-time All-Star, Ozzie Smith won 13 consecutive Gold Gloves and is usually regarded as the greatest defensive shortstop in the history of baseball. Yet he said that his tumble into the Springfield Mystery Spot on The Simpsons TV show was one of […]

Playing with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1910 through 1913, Jimmy “Runt” Walsh became one of the most notable utility players of his era. In 1911 he became the third major leaguer to that point to play every position during a single season.1 Recruited by his ex-Phillies teammate Otto Knabe, the colorful Walsh jumped to the […]

Dubbed the “Volga Batman” for his Russian heritage, Mike Chartak seemingly possessed the tools for a long and illustrious career. “He can hit the ball as far as Ruth … [and] has the Jimmy Foxx stride … [the] Joe DiMaggio swing.” But despite such lofty observations by The Sporting News, Chartak managed just four years […]

For 34 years TV broadcaster Jerry Remy was a familiar presence in the living rooms of Red Sox Nation. Genial and relaxed, Remy (rhymes with “hemi”) conveyed his professional expertise without arrogance – the ideal companion for watching baseball. As team chairman Tom Werner described him, “He’s the guy you’d like to have a beer […]

Lee Fohl managed 11 seasons in the major leagues in his own unobtrusive manner. “Fohl is unusually quiet. He never seeks the limelight and is inconspicuous in all his acts,” a sportswriter said of him.1 His greatest strength was developing talent. He took the job in Cleveland in 1915 and meticulously built a contending squad. […]

When Sammy Stewart was asked by the National Baseball Hall of Fame what he considered to be his most outstanding achievement in baseball, he quite justly answered that it was the rookie record he set in 1978 when he threw seven consecutive strikeouts in his major-league debut. No rookie has matched Stewart’s totals. It was […]

Joseph J. Lannin owned the Boston Red Sox for less than four full years, but in that short span, the team won two world championships in the back-to-back years 1915 and 1916. A native of the Province of Quebec, he came to the United States at a very young age – the story says he […]

The Mick Each scout is typically associated with his top signee, that marquee player no one else took note of but him. For Tom Greenwade that player was Mickey Mantle. How the two became forever linked has been retold many times, but the most accurate recollection can be found in an October 1952 letter from […]

Versatile in the field and with some extra-base pop in his bat, Don Savage overcame a chronic knee injury and other health problems to become a wartime member of the New York Yankees. In many ways, the arc of Savage’s baseball career can be traced through his physical condition. The knee injury, as well as […]

Romer “Reddy” Grey made his major-league debut on May 28, 1903 at Boston, wearing the uniform of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 5’-11’, 175-pounder played left field for a club that included future Hall of Famers Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke. Veteran Beaneater southpaw Wiley Piatt faced the Pirates that day, and Pittsburgh was victorious, 7-6. A left-hand batter […]

“He’s worth a bonus,” Cleveland Indians scout Jimmy Gruzdis told farm director Walter Arthur “Hoot” Evers.1 “He” was Tyrone Alexander Cline, a 1960 first-team All-American outfielder for the Clemson University Tigers who batted .335 in two varsity seasons, including a career-best .348 for the 1959 Atlantic Coast Conference champions. He also won five of six […]

Tall, trim Oklahoma native Ralph Terry won 107 major-league games over 11-plus seasons, from 1956 into 1967. His most stellar and productive campaign was 1962, when he led the American League in wins, with 23, and compiled a 4.0 WAR for pitchers. Yet, he is most notably recalled for being on the mound in crucial, […]

Jim Boyer was born and raised in Maryland. He died in Maryland and is buried there. And when he left the American League’s umpiring staff in 1950 after almost seven seasons, it was to take a job in the Old Line State. Unfortunately, Boyer never umpired a major-league game in Maryland, since the St. Louis […]

Mel Nelson entered professional baseball as a right-handed-hitting outfielder, spent parts of six seasons in the major leagues as a left-handed pitcher, and when his playing days were over served as a scout for several teams. He spent more than half a century in professional baseball, including 17 years as a player. Although he didn’t […]

Art Shires arrived on the major league scene in 1928 with much fanfare, almost all of it of his own making.  The Italy, Texas native nicknamed himself “Art The Great,” once boasted that, next to Babe Ruth, he was the biggest drawing card in the American League, and frequently stopped passersby on the sidewalk to […]

One of the doubleheader’s several previews in the New York Tribune said the games were part of the “Little World Series.” Interestingly, the two paragraphs did not mention the race of Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants and the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants, much less note that the Chicago club was the champion of the Negro […]

The Philadelphia Phillies were leading the National League East by 4½ games over the Chicago Cubs when they arrived in Houston to play the Astros for the first of a two-game series at the Astrodome. The 48-36 Phillies had their sights set on their third consecutive NL East title, led by future Hall of Famers […]

It was not an ideal day for baseball, with temperatures in the mid-60s and a 30 percent chance of rain. Despite the foggy conditions, 51,901 Tigers fans flocked to the corner of Michigan and Trumbull in great numbers on October 14, 1984. It was Game Five of the World Series, the Tigers vs. the San […]

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitchers Don Sutton and Andy Messersmith began the 1974 National League Championship Series by frustrating the Pittsburgh Pirates’ potent offense in back-to-back wins. With a third standout starter, Tommy John, sidelined after reconstructive surgery on his elbow, the Dodgers turned to Doug Rau to close out the series in Game Three. […]