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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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“Flynn is one of the best natural hitters who ever lived, but booze kept him in the bushes.”1 Don Flinn, the 1915 and 1916 batting champion in the Georgia-Alabama League, was the less famous pitcher-turned-position player on the league’s pennant-winning 1916 Newnan (Georgia) Cowetas. Flinn skyrocketed from the Class D loop to the majors over […]

Contemporary accounts of Cleveland second baseman Bill Wambsganss’ fielding almost universally used the word “slick” to describe his play. Ever since his final year in the majors, 1926, he’s largely been remembered as the man who pulled off the only unassisted triple play in World Series history but he was also an important member of […]

John J. McHale Sr. was a highly esteemed major-league executive from 1948 through 1989. He worked for the Detroit Tigers, the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, the Commissioner’s office, and the Montreal Expos. On two occasions, McHale received significant support as a possible commissioner himself. Jim Fanning, a colleague for many years with the Braves and […]

There was never an Alex Grammas question on Family Feud. However, if Richard Dawson, the late and long-time host of the popular game show, were to have asked a hundred of his contemporaries how they remembered Grammas, the survey would invariably point to three answers: flawless fielding, excellence as a third-base coach, and his Hellenic […]

Bob Short was a buyer and a seller. Involved in law, business, and politics, he bought and moved two sports franchises. He earned the ire of the two cities that he left, but earned millions when he sold the teams. Robert Earl Short was born on July 20, 1917, in Minneapolis. His father, Robert Lester […]

As the owner of the Boston Red Sox for 43 years, few if any people have influenced the history of the team as much as Tom Yawkey. He was a man of immense wealth who spent millions on the Red Sox and on gifts to dozens of charitable organizations. He saved a dying franchise in […]

Despite having a lifetime .236 batting average, Randy Hundley is one of the most beloved Chicago Cubs of all time. The Virginia native played 10 seasons with the Cubs in the 1960s and 1970s and was considered a leader on the field for the team that endured a historic collapse in 1969. Hundley also introduced […]

As a player on the great New York Yankees teams of the 1950s and later as a manager with five different major-league clubs, Billy Martin was known to be brash, bold, and fearless. He played the game hard and made no excuses for the way he handled himself on or off the field. Many people, […]

Ask casual baseball fans which Tigers player drove in the run that clinched the 1984 World Series, and you can’t blame them if they answer Kirk Gibson. After all, Gibson’s blast off Goose Gossage gets replayed time and again and is perhaps the most memorable hit in Tigers history. But the game-winning RBI, an official […]

Pack your bags. Frank Lane’s in town. The compulsive trader known as Frantic Frank shuffled at least 690 players in 414 transactions with five teams.1 Wherever Lane went, turmoil followed. He traded one manager for another. He traded a home run champion for a batting champ. He traded local heroes and future Hall of Famers. […]

One of baseball’s eternal debates is naming the hardest-throwing pitcher of all time. A dark horse in the field is Harry “The Flame Thrower” Fanok. Harry appeared in just 16 big-league games for St. Louis in 1963-64 — but his fastball branded the memories of those who saw him. Just ask Joe Morgan. The former […]

The story of baseball in the nation’s capital is interlinked with the career of Arthur P. Gorman, a name unrecognizable to today’s fans. Long before Clark Griffith made his annual trips to the White House to present the Commander-in-Chief with his season’s pass, Gorman actually befriended and entertained the President of the United States and […]

Dick Siebert seemed destined for a life as a Lutheran minister but instead devoted more than 50 years of his life to the game of baseball. Stuck in the minor leagues as a player, he finally got a chance at the big leagues when Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and Philadelphia Athletics owner/manager Connie Mack […]

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 […]

Sportsman’s Park was home of the St. Louis Browns from 1902 to 1953. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.)   Introduction Achieving on-field success has often proved elusive to owners of the Baltimore Orioles and its predecessor teams, the St. Louis Browns and Milwaukee Brewers. The franchise, dating back to the inception of the American […]

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 […]