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Robert Cannon came to love baseball as a boy growing up in Milwaukee. His father, Ray Cannon, represented several of the accused Black Sox in salary disputes and took Charles Comiskey to court in 1924 on behalf of Joe Jackson. Ray Cannon also fought on behalf of all the players as head of a short-lived […]

The first major-league ballplayer to play on championship teams in both the United States and Japan was John Logan, Jr., known to the baseball world as Johnny. For 14 straight years (1948-1961) he was Milwaukee’s shortstop, the first five with the American Association Brewers, the last nine with the National League Braves. A four-time All-Star, […]

Joe Black helped lead the Brooklyn Dodgers to the 1952 pennant, going 15-4 with 15 saves, and a 2.15 ERA. He won the NL’s Rookie of the Year Award and became the first African American pitcher to win a World Series game. “Let’s put it this way,” Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen told reporters, “Where would […]

You’ve seen him on television and in movies. You’ve perhaps enjoyed his beer or seen him on his web series. Oh yeah, he was a pretty good baseball player too. Kevin Edmund Youkilis was born on Thursday, March 15, 1979, in Cincinnati to Carolyn (Weekley) and Mike “Bear” Youkilis, who was himself a “well known […]

On September 17, 1920, a group representing 11 different professional football teams congregated in Ralph Hay’s automotive showroom in Canton, Ohio, to discuss the formation of the very first professional football league. Among those who were present was a young man who was representing a professional football team from Decatur, Illinois. “That meeting in Hay’s […]

“I’m lucky to be alive. I’m happy to be alive. I’m doing everything I can to play again. It would be a plus. But there are more important things.” — Dickie Thon (1985)1   Some baseball careers are remembered for a single moment. It could be a hit to win the World Series, a strikeout […]

When the expansion Kansas City Royals hired Cedric Tallis as the team’s GM, he assumed an almost impossible task. Before the first expansion season was even half over in 1969, Kansas City owner Ewing Kauffman was proclaiming that a glorious future was not far away. A hard-driving yet generous pharmaceutical entrepreneur, Kauffman publicly stated that […]

Wid Curry Matthews was born October 20, 1896, in Raleigh, Illinois, to William Henry Matthews Jr. and Lillie Belle (Stilley) Matthews. The family relocated to Metropolis in southern Illinois 18 months later. William had worked in the tobacco business in Raleigh, but moved the family to Metropolis for a factory job. Harry Newcomb, a family […]

The cover of the March 20, 1978, annual baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated featured a picture of Kansas City Royals rookie Clint Hurdle looking ready for action, with the caption “This Year’s Phenom” in bold yellow letters right next to his smiling face. Keeping with the “phenom” theme, the article described the 20-year-old Hurdle […]

Speedy outfielder Jim Rivera was one of the great characters of 1950s baseball. As Chicago White Sox general manager Ed Short put it, “Jungle Jim may not have the fattest average in baseball, but he gives the fans a show with his daredevil running and sliding, his terrific fielding, and clutch hitting.”1 His all-out style […]

“The rumors are that [rookie] Allen is not returning with the Phillies to Connie Mack Stadium on Wednesday. He’s going directly to the Hall of Fame.”1   The Philadelphia Phillies’ first black superstar, Dick Allen was one of the most feared hitters in baseball in the 1960s. In an era dominated by pitching, he slugged […]

Gonzalo Márquez, one of the earlier Venezuelans in the majors, never played a full year in “The Show.” From 1972 through 1974, he got into just 76 regular-season games with Oakland and the Chicago Cubs. Márquez’s primary position was first base, and he was a good fielder — but he lacked power. Across his entire […]

Murray “Skeeter” Watkins was a baseball lifer. He was a Negro League all-star on the left side of the infield in the 1940s for the Cincinnati Clowns, Newark Eagles, and Philadelphia Stars, and when opportunities disappeared he played in the Canadian ManDak League in the early 1950s. He would continue to play baseball for local […]

“Yes, I knew him. He had huge hands with crooked fingers. He was a catcher, you know.” “Hell Yes, Babe was here. When? I don’t know, maybe on Ben Egan day? No! I don’t recall ever seeing him. No! I don’t know of anyone who did.” “Yes, I knew Ben. A great guy, everyone liked him. He […]

A certain amount of mystery surrounds Jacob Lewis Englehart, an American whose never-say-lose attitude and substantial resources lay behind the stunning success of the London Tecumseh Base Ball Club in the 1870s. Under his leadership, the Tecumsehs finally bested the archrival Guelph Maple Leafs after years of frustration to become Canada’s baseball champions, and one […]

The Johnny Appleseed of baseball, Timothy Paul “Ted” Sullivan, set up baseball leagues wherever he traveled. Like the American folk hero, Sullivan didn’t stick around to ensure what became of his projects — but they took root anyway. Sullivan was a self-made baseball manager, league organizer, promoter, sage, and scout. A small man with a […]

American League Park / Oriole Park (IV), July 18, 1907. (Courtesy of David B. Stinson and Bernard McKenna.)   American League Park was the home of the first American League Baltimore Orioles in 1901 and 1902.1 From 1903 to 1914, the ballpark was known as Oriole Park (IV) and was home to the Eastern League […]

Baseball links geography, and rivalry. In 1908 Philadelphia constructed the sport’s first concrete and steel double-decked field: Shibe Park. Three hundred miles to the west, the Phillies’ main foe turned green. That fall Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss began a search for an idyll that “will make people forget about Shibe,” he told friend and business […]

Lexington Park served as the home of the St. Paul Saints from 1897 through 1956, opening one year later and closing one year after its counterpart in Minneapolis, Nicollet Park. It was built by Edward B. Smith, who operated a St. Paul real estate company (and had been a part-owner of a National League team […]

Nearly a half-century after its publication, one does not encounter much negative criticism of Ball Four, Jim Bouton’s 1970 journal mainly recounting his previous season pitching in the major leagues. A best-seller at the time of its publication, the book fundamentally changed sports literature and journalism, and the way we view our sports heroes. In […]