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If not for the existence of a similar game involving Hollywood actor Kevin Bacon, one would’ve had to be invented marking the numerous degrees between Denis Menke and Cooperstown. For although he got not a single vote in his only year of Hall of Fame eligibility, the Hall shadowed Menke throughout his four decades of […]

The US Soccer Hall of Fame credits Dick Spalding with scoring the first goal for America in an international soccer tournament, in 1916.1 Newspaper articles at the time indicated that it was John Heminsley, not Spalding.2 Regardless, Spalding was considered one of the best soccer players in America while at the same time honing baseball […]

Right-handed Jack O’Connor used his competitiveness and baseball intelligence, along with a penchant for playing multiple positions, to appear in the major leagues during 21 different seasons. His longevity includes him in the group of 29 players who have appeared in a game in four or more different decades. “Peach Pie” was his rookie handle, […]

Bill Phillips’s professional baseball career spanned a quarter century from 1890 to 1915. A right-handed pitcher, he was a five-time 20-game winner in the minors and pitched for the Cincinnati Reds for six seasons. A smart and respected baseball man, Phillips managed several teams, most notably the Indianapolis Hoosiers, champions of the Federal League in […]

On July 27, 1955, the players and staff of the Cleveland Indians presented a brand-new $3,000 Oldsmobile to coach Red Kress for his untiring work with the team. The Indians’ third baseman, Al Rosen. summed it up by saying that the team wanted to do something for Red to pay him back for all he […]

Central Indiana proved a fertile spawning ground for late-nineteenth-century baseball talent. Among those from the region making their mark in the game were future Hall of Famers Amos Rusie and Sam Thompson. Soon thereafter, early Deadball Era standouts, including Cooperstown-bound Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown and 204-game winner Al Orth, joined their ranks. The subject of […]

A 26-year-old rookie who came up in August, George Earl McNeely drove in the winning run in the 12th inning of the seventh game in the 1924 World Series, Washington’s only championship. Before his playing days ended, McNeely, known by his middle name, managed—and owned—a Pacific Coast League team. McNeely was born on May 12, […]

“Baseball isn’t statistics; it’s Joe DiMaggio rounding second.” — attributed to Jimmy Breslin by Herb Caen, San Francisco Chronicle, June 3, 1975.   Joe DiMaggio was one of the most recognizable and popular men in mid-twentieth century America. He was celebrated in song and literature as an iconic hero, and he was married, briefly, to […]

Only three pitchers have maintained earned run averages below 1.00 for a full season. Ferdie Schupp did it in 1916. Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley duplicated the feat in 1990. The third person? Chris Hammond.1 In 2002, he pitched 76 innings and gave up a miniscule eight earned runs, resulting in a 0.95 ERA. Making […]

“Who the heck is Eddie Lake?” That is the title of a booklet written and published by Karen Elizabeth Bush in 2003. Bush is Executive Secretary of the Eddie Lake Society, an invitation-only society originally founded by Hall of Fame sportswriter Joe Falls. “We are made up of people who in some way or another […]

He was known as “The Tall Tactician” and was baseball’s grand old gentleman for more than a generation. Statuesque, stately, and slim, he clutched a rolled-up scorecard as he sat or stood ramrod straight in the dugout, attired in a business suit rather than a uniform, a derby or bowler in place of a baseball […]

Hustling isn’t just for ballplayers. It’s for novelty salesmen, too. Danny Goodman wasn’t just a guy to crank out caps and keychains, but one who was always looking for a fresh opportunity to transfer money from the customer’s pocket to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ cash registers. For 25 years he presided over an operation that […]

“It was all so new,” reminisced Pete Broberg about suiting up for the Texas Rangers in their inaugural season in 1972. “A new city, new stadium, a new look. We weren’t wearing the flannels anymore; we had the new stretchy ones.”1 It was the dawn of a new era in football-crazed Texas as the Washington […]

Miguel González enjoyed a long and prolific career as a major-league catcher and coach, and along with Adolfo Luque is considered to be one of the two true patriarchs of baseball in Cuba, where he was a player, manager, and owner in the Cuban League from 1910 through 1960. He was a coach on the […]

In the early 21st century, Jerry DaVanon is probably best known as the father of eight-season big leaguer Jeff DaVanon, but he played as many years in the majors himself, starting in 1969. In contrast to his son, who played somewhat regularly for four years, Jerry appeared in just 262 games at the top level, […]

Paul Gillespie was a high school second-team catcher at 17, a minor-league all-star outfielder at 19, and a major-league catcher at 21. In a career that spanned 89 games from 1942 to 1945, he became the first big-leaguer to hit a home run in both his first and last regular season at-bat. Only one other […]

In 1915, America’s leading syndicated sportswriter, Hugh Fullerton, published a forgettable baseball novel in which a star left-handed pitcher named Williams is bribed and threatened by gamblers to lose the pennant for his team.1 Fullerton, who dedicated the novel to his friend and mentor, Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, had been writing about the […]

Francis Isaiah “Monkey” Foreman’s life began and ended in Baltimore, Maryland. In between he played virtually everywhere in the Northeast and Midwest and seemingly forever. He was one of 19 men who played in four major leagues: the Union Association, the American Association, the National League, and the inaugural seasons of the American League. His […]

In an era filled with pitching stars, many of them working for the Baltimore Orioles, it took Jim Palmer a few years to rise to the top of the heap. Once he did, he became the greatest pitcher in his league for a number of seasons, and one of the best pitchers who ever lived. […]

Near Boston Common and downstairs from Melville’s Seafood Restaurant,1 former Red Sox pitcher, reformed alcoholic, and unreformed ladies’ man Sam “Mayday” Malone ran a sports bar2 at 112½ Beacon Street — Cheers.3 The building that housed Melville’s and Cheers had once been a private home.4 Malone pitched five years for the Red Sox in the […]

On an unusually warm October day in Philadelphia in front of more than 20,000 fortunate fans, the Boston Braves moved halfway toward winning the World Series for the first time with a dramatic 1-0 whitewashing of the Philadelphia Americans behind the brilliant two-hit pitching of Bill James, the unlikely ninth-inning offensive outburst of substitute third […]