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Wayne Bromley “Rasty” Wright spent his entire adult life pursuing his two passions, baseball and his alma mater, The Ohio State University. Wright was a star collegiate pitcher for the Buckeyes from 1915 through 1917. Going directly from college to the majors — a rarity throughout baseball history — he went on to pitch for […]

During a 16-year professional baseball career spanning 1959 to 1974, Roberto Peña was a stalwart shortstop in his homeland, the Dominican Republic. He played for two winter league champions and earned posthumous retirement of his uniform number by the Santiago-based Águilas Cibaeñas. Over parts of six big-league seasons (1965-1971), Peña broke in with the Chicago […]

Dick Brown signed his 1966 contract with the Baltimore Orioles in January, shortly after his 31st birthday.1 During his nine-year major-league career with Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox, Detroit, and Baltimore, the catcher typically entered spring training battling for a starting job – most often ending up as a reserve. However, with the trade of […]

In a brief trial with the 1909 Cincinnati Reds, Clare Patterson compiled the entirety of his major league record: four games, eight at-bats, one hit, one RBI, four put-outs. A quick washout—or so it would seem. In truth, Major League Baseball did not finish its evaluation of the outfielder’s talents. Patterson would later earn a […]

Victor Starffin’s life reads like a Hollywood novel and, in a way, so do his pitching statistics …” — Richard Puff   It is highly probable that no professional baseball player — from any era, country or league — ever lived a more erratic, dramatic, and in the end tragic life than did the pitcher […]

Ray Collins might have been on his way to the Hall of Fame but for an abrupt and mysterious end to his career after only seven seasons. In 1913-14 he won a combined 39 games for the Red Sox, and his lifetime 2.51 ERA is impressive even for his low-scoring era. Collins was a good […]

Eddie Dyer was one of the “Rickey men” who built baseball’s first farm system. He managed the St. Louis Cardinals to their last World Series championship of the Branch Rickey era. Edwin Hawley Dyer was born October 11, 1899, in Morgan City, Louisiana, the fourth of seven children of Joseph M. and Alice Natalie Dyer. […]

In his 92 years of life, Clarence Eldridge wrote for big-city newspapers, practiced law, held leadership roles at an automobile manufacturer, worked in New York’s advertising world, occupied senior positions at two well-known food companies, and served as a marketing and management consultant with such sagacity that he was eventually elected to the American advertising […]

At age 17, outfielder Greg Blosser was a prime prospect. The Boston Red Sox made him their first selection in the June 1989 draft, ahead of both Mo Vaughn and Jeff Bagwell. Scout George Digby said of the Sarasota (Florida) High School product, “He’s the best hitter to come out of this state since Mike […]

At 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds (or more), burly Joey Meyer could really lay into a ball. The Hawaiian was a very promising minor-league slugger. On June 2, 1987, he unloaded a homer that is still talked about today — a shot into the second deck of the left-center stands at Denver’s Mile High Stadium that […]

John Beckwith was a tremendous slugger who has received more attention for home runs hit outside of regular season Negro League play than for his superlative production during Negro League games. However, he has yet to receive induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This lack of recognition may reflect his frequent position and team […]

Delos Daniel “Del” Drake was born on December 3, 1886, in Girard, Ohio, to William H. Drake, a dentist, and Mary E. (Schuck) Drake. A younger brother, William, died in infancy. Dr. Drake was credited for his son’s athletic prowess, and one article discovered by the author makes the claim, which the author has been […]

October 9, 1961. Game Five of the World Series, at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field. All that separated the New York Yankees from another championship was outlasting the Cincinnati Reds. New York scored five runs in the top of the first, chasing Reds starter Joey Jay. A home run by Roger Maris in the top of the […]

Erv Dusak, whose prodigious power in the minor leagues earned him the nickname “Four Sack,” came up in the St. Louis Cardinals organization in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Some considered him a better prospect than his minor league teammate, Stan Musial. Like many of his contemporaries, Dusak missed three seasons in the prime […]

For nearly a quarter century, Gussie Busch simultaneously led a nationwide brewing company and the St. Louis Cardinal franchise. Nicknamed “The Big Eagle”, Gussie lived life to its fullest. His enemies called him profane, tyrannical, hot-tempered, a philanderer, and a huckster. His friends saw him as soft-hearted, congenial, open, personable, philanthropic, and loyal. In 1953, […]

It is rare for a single moment to pivot a career. Dick Stockton is an exception, not rule. Before 1975, Stockton moved from Syracuse University via KDKA Pittsburgh’s revolutionary news to pro basketball’s Boston Celtics. After 1975 he aired a Klondike of more national sports, including the Red Sox, A’s, and network baseball postseason and […]

“That crazy kid in Cleveland” is what Rod Carew called Kevin Rhomberg in the early ’80s.[1] Whenever the subject of baseball superstition comes up, this man inevitably stands as the extreme. It’s the main thing for which many people remember him, and that’s too bad. The one-sided portraits call out for balance. The reality is […]

Which New York Yankees player had the highest batting average in 1964? Mickey Mantle hit .303 and Elston Howard .313 – but nobody topped Elvio Jiménez’s .333 mark. “Look it up,” he said.1 Despite batting .309 over 13 seasons in the minors, however, Jiménez appeared in just one major-league game, going 2-for-6. Following a 17-year […]

One of the most influential figures in the history of the sport, Charles Comiskey had a 55-year odyssey through professional baseball that ran the gamut: captain of one of the greatest teams of the nineteenth century; league-jumper during the 1890 players’ rebellion; one of the chief architects of the American League’s emergence in 1901 as […]

Catcher Merv Shea played professional baseball from 1922 to 1944, starting in Sacramento at age 21 and finishing as the oldest man in the majors in 1944 with seven games for the Philadelphia Phillies. He was a sturdy 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, a right-hander like almost all catchers, and the son of Irish immigrants. Born […]

Editor’s note: This article was published in 2016. The popular national sport of baseball maintained and even tightened its hold on the island nation of Cuba in the aftermath of the 1959 socialist revolution. In fact the national game actually expanded in popularity and elevated in talent level during several decades immediately after Fidel Castro’s […]

There was much ballyhoo when, in 1962, Major League Baseball made its long-overdue move into the Deep South by awarding an expansion franchise to Houston, Texas. This was swiftly followed by a club moving to Atlanta and by two more expansion franchises in Florida. Yet in all the ballyhoo, it was largely forgotten that Major […]

As a founding franchise of the American League, at least in its major-league incarnation, the Boston club has had its share of colorful and fascinating owners. Though the club enjoyed considerable on-field success at the beginning of each century, it is perhaps most famous for its 86-year championship drought, a period dominated by its most […]