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A catcher who always seemed to be trying to win a starting spot, Barry Lyons showed occasional signs of power and a solid presence behind the plate. Described once by reporters as “quiet, conservative and even contemplative in appearance,” Lyons often found himself overlooked but still had a major-league career that spanned seven years between […]

Babe Ruth called him “Broadway” because Lyn Lary loved the theater in New York, and Lary’s obituary in The Sporting News said he “tried his best to live up to the nickname the Babe hung on him. He was one of the best dressers in the majors and drove a big eight-cylinder car that had […]

Jerry Moses aspired to become a major-league ballplayer, and declined football scholarships at Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities to pursue his dream. A 1970 American League All-Star, Jerry became the youngest Red Sox to hit a home run, at age 18 and 289 days, with a pinch-hit rocket off Jim “Mudcat” Grant on May 25, 1965. […]

Jim Johnson may have second thoughts if he grew up in today’s era of millionaire ball players. However, the southpaw who pitched for one season with the 1970 San Francisco Giants, valued family and a desire to become an educator as more important values than remaining in the big leagues. Just as he did by […]

When Gordie Sundin turned down numerous college football scholarships to pursue a career in professional baseball, it seemed the sky was the limit for the 6-foot-4 right-hander with an overpowering fastball. Instead, when injuries forced him out of the game at age 23, he went down in history with the dubious distinction of an infinite […]

On October 28, 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals prepared to play Game Seven of the World Series against the Texas Rangers at Busch Stadium. The organization asked Whitey Herzog, the manager of the last Cardinals team to play a World Series Game Seven at home, to throw the ceremonial first pitch. He had fallen ill, […]

Mary Driscoll was born in Milwaukee and was a member of the baby boom generation. While media descriptions of her would later give an approximate birth year of 1948, based upon a Social Security death index listing and certain inconsistencies in these accounts, it appears that she was actually born on May 17, 1945. Her […]

Ewell Gross was tall for a shortstop in his day (6 feet even), a native and high-school graduate of Mesquite, Texas, who spent almost his entire career in Texas – even the 1924 spring-training season in San Antonio when he first worked out for the Boston Red Sox, the one major-league team for which he […]

A member of the Washington Nationals, a short-lived 1872 National Association club, Oscar Bielaski is generally recognized as the first major league ballplayer of Polish descent. Other aspects of his five-season professional career are less noteworthy. A low-average singles hitter and a poor defensive outfielder, Bielaski holds another, less enviable distinction – that of being […]

The first game of a Saturday afternoon doubleheader between the New York Mets and Houston Astros at Shea Stadium on the last weekend of July 1985 was one of those wonderfully quirky games beloved by those who like unusual statistics. A cavalcade of errors by the Astros led to 16 unearned runs for the Mets […]

The Montreal Expos broke camp in the spring of 1978 with the strongest team in their 10-year history, raising expectations for the team’s first winning season. The dynamic trio of Andre Dawson, Ellis Valentine, and Warren Cromartie were generally considered the best young outfield in baseball, and with five of their eight starting position players […]

Before the 1986 NLCS started, many observers pointed to the greatest mutual strength of the teams: pitching. Games One through Four surpassed those expectations. “I didn’t think it would be that great a pitching series,” said Mets batting coach Bill Robinson.1 In Game Five, it got even better. Nolan Ryan pitched nine innings for the […]

Bill Gullickson arrived in the National League with a record-setting splash in 1980. On September 10, the 21-year-old Montreal Expo became the first rookie pitcher to strike out 18 hitters in a game when he beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2. On April 10, 1982, Gullickson – by then an established member of the Expos’ rotation […]

“What, me worry?” was the famous catchphrase of Alfred E. Neuman, the gap-toothed boy who regularly graced the cover of Mad Magazine.1 The motto could also have been adopted by Montreal Expos rookie infielder Al D. Newman after his 19th-inning at-bat against the Houston Astros in a game that began on the evening of July […]

Time and time again over the decades, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have met in high-stakes, high-intensity games with a direct bearing on the American League pennant race. Their game played on Tuesday night, May 18, 1965, was not one of those epochal battles. Both teams were struggling, showing early signs of […]

“When I missed that first pitch, I told myself, ‘Mo, you’re not gonna get another one like that, not in this situation.’” So thought Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Rick Monday.1 Monday, a lefty, was batting in the top of the ninth inning with two outs in a tie game with the 1981 National League […]

At the conclusion of the 1966 season, New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris considered retirement. The Yankees had participated in five consecutive World Series from 1960 to 1964, and the Minnesota-born, North Dakota-raised Maris was one of the cornerstones of the team. During that stretch he slugged 182 home runs, including a record 61 in […]

For the “Cardiac Kids,” there was no place like home. More than 1,500 screaming fans greeted their darling Red Sox at Logan Airport on their return flight from St. Louis. The following day, U.S. Marines were called in to control over 15,000 cheering fans who lined the streets in Peabody in a tribute honoring Dick […]

Hank Aaron quietly and unassumingly approached another significant career milestone. Eighteen seasons into his major-league career in April 1971, the 37-year-old Aaron was one home run shy of joining two fellow sluggers, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, as the only players in baseball history with at least 600 career homers. Ruth topped the leaderboard with […]

The high-powered Cincinnati Reds “collided head-on with [an] immovable object,” declared sportswriter Bill Ford in the Cincinnati Enquirer. That object was St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson, who “reduced the most vaunted offense in baseball to a fistful of beebees,” tossing a four-hit, 10-inning shutout.1 “His fastballs to me never were the same,” complained a […]

After finishing second in the National League East in 1984 and 1985, the New York Mets were looking to take the next step and win the division in 1986. The Mets were a formidable club with an offense anchored by Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, and Gary Carter, an excellent all-around defense, and the pitching of […]

When Monty Stratton opted to take a solo hunting trip for rabbits around the family home where he grew up during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 1938, it was supposed to be a simple venture. But the hunt around the expansive Texas farm quickly turned tragic, when the 26-year-old Chicago White Sox pitching ace failed […]

Here is a recap of the SABR Quebec Chapter meeting on May 5, 2012 at the Irish Embassy Pub in Montreal: Present: Jack Anderson; Jack Beausoleil; Jacques Doucet; Alain Dumas; Robert Duval; Norm King; Daniel Papillon; Bill Young (presiding) Guests: Johnny Elias (Guest speaker); Marlene Elias; Charles “Chuck” Poxon – a friend of Johnny’s and […]

This article appears in SABR’s “Harvey’s Wallbangers: The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers” (2020), edited by Gregory H. Wolf.   On December 12, 1980, the Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals made a seven-player trade. Three central figures on the 1982 AL pennant-winners came to Milwaukee: closer Rollie Fingers, starting catcher Ted Simmons, and frontline starter Pete […]