Search Results

For a player who had excelled so consistently for the prior three seasons, Don Mattingly’s 1987 was unusually streaky. After leading the American League in hitting in 1984 and finishing first and second respectively in the 1985 and 1986 MVP voting, Mattingly got out of the gate slowly, batting .175 without a home run in […]

The expansion Montreal Expos had finally developed their first Canadian player. In an attempt to find a major gate attraction, the fledgling team had signed 18 Canucks − 14 of whom were pitchers − in their first six years.1 None of them panned out until 21-year-old Larry Landreth walked out to the mound on September […]

Larry Bowa and Joe Hoerner crossed paths for the first time as teammates on the 1970 Philadelphia Phillies. Bowa, signed and developed by the Phillies’ organization, was a 24-year-old rookie shortstop batting leadoff for a mainly veteran team. Hoerner, a 33-year-old lefty reliever, was acquired in an offseason trade with the St. Louis Cardinals to […]

“That’s ridiculous,” exclaimed Mets slugger Dave Kingman. “Do you have to hit it out of the stadium to be ruled a home run?”1 Kingman had good reason to be annoyed after the June 1, 1977, game at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium.2 He had just become the first player to hit a ball off the concrete service […]

Wes Ferrell is perhaps the best-hitting pitcher in baseball history. Over his 15-season major-league career, Ferrell hit .280 with 38 home runs, 57 doubles, and 12 triples.1 Ferrell put together his best season in 1935, with the Boston Red Sox. Based on the combined strength of his pitching and hitting, his 10.6 Wins Above Replacement, […]

Between May 5, 1969, and July 22, 1973, Freddie Velázquez went 0-for-4 as a major leaguer. Not hitless for four at-bats, but hitless for four years. A big-league debutant at 31, Velázquez collected two hits in six appearances for the Seattle Pilots in the early weeks of the 1969 season.1 He then returned to the […]

The San Diego Padres advanced to the 1984 World Series by defeating the Chicago Cubs, 6-3, on October 7 at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium in front of a crowd of 58,359. After dropping the first two games of the best-of-five National League Championship Series in Chicago, the Padres came from behind in each of […]

The baseball season is long enough that on any given day, a team like the 1962 New York Mets can channel the power of the 1927 Yankees. And when the lousy team lays it on the good one, the sweetest revenge is a shutout win the next night, with a triple play thrown in for […]

It was June 28, 1969. The San Diego Padres were about halfway through their inaugural season in the major leagues. With his pitching staff wrecked by injuries and retirements, Padres manager Preston Gomez opted to give a 23-year-old rookie, who missed spring training because he really wanted to be a dentist, a start against a […]

On September 19, 1988, the Pittsburgh Pirates paid tribute to the Homestead Grays by hoisting a black-and-white commemorative flag over Three Rivers Stadium. The occasion commemorated an event from 40 years earlier, when the Negro National League’s Grays defeated the Birmingham Black Barons, champions of the Negro American League, four games to one in the […]

The most coveted player in the September 1907 minor league player draft was 23-year-old Bill Lattimore. All 16 National and American League clubs placed the name of the Toledo Mud Hens lefthander on the player wish lists submitted to the National Commission. The winner of the Lattimore lottery was the AL Cleveland Naps, a stroke […]

One of the most charismatic players of his era, Bill Monroe starred for several leading African-American professional teams from 1899 until his untimely death in 1915. In the field, he excelled at third, short, and second. At the plate, his speed and power enabled him to shine either as a lead-off man or in the […]

“Who is the only person enshrined in both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of Fame?” Cal Hubbard first earned acclaim as a bone-crushing tackle, then as a formidable umpire, and finally as an exceptional baseball executive. For nearly half a century his name was known by every self-respecting football […]

The 1969 Miracle New York Mets will always have a special place in baseball lore. Not only are the Amazin’ Mets remembered for their stunning upset over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles, but also in the way in which they won, with some of most remarkable defense and pitching ever displayed in World Series history. […]

Reliever John Wyatt may have been considered a journeyman reliever in his day, but his journeys led him to two fortuitous stops. One was in Boston, where he anchored the bullpen of the “Impossible Dream” Red Sox, who came within one game of winning their first World Series in nearly a half-century. The next year […]

During his days with the Baltimore Orioles at the end of the 1970s, Pat Kelly talked a lot with skipper Earl Weaver. While Weaver spoke about baseball strategy, Kelly – who became a born-again Christian in 1975 – persisted in talking about Jesus Christ. In one of those dialogues, Kelly proposed to Weaver, “Why don’t […]

Roger McDowell kept his locker stocked with comedy props, costumes, and fireworks, blew bubbles while he pitched, played the notorious “Second Spitter” on Seinfeld and was known to set teammates’ shoes on fire. But he knew a little about pitching too. McDowell racked up 70 wins and 159 saves pitching almost exclusively in relief over […]

James Edward “Ed” Goodson (nickname: Goody) had an eight-year major league career in the 1970s, beginning with the San Francisco Giants, followed by a stint with the Atlanta Braves and ending with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His final contract was a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians’ AAA Portland team in 1978. Goodson, who […]

Gary Mielke’s journey into major-league baseball wasn’t your typical, run-of-the mill story. Growing up in south central Minnesota, he wasn’t a widely known, hyped-up youth superstar. He attended the nearest college by default, not scholarship, and once there, spent more than a year playing on the junior varsity team. Despite outstanding collegiate credentials, he never dealt with entourages […]

The list of National League batting champions from the 1930s and early ’40s contains many familiar names: Hall of Famers like Joe Medwick, Johnny Mize, and Stan Musial and stars such as Pete Reiser and Dixie Walker. Amid this listing is an obscure name, Debs Garms. Little known, he is now recalled as the answer […]

Maple Leaf Stadium, circa 1929. (City of Toronto Archives)   Toronto is a world-class city with a proud baseball history, but its ballparks have not always met a high standard. Exhibition Stadium, the American League Blue Jays’ home from 1977 to 1989, was a converted football stadium whose seating arrangements were not entirely suited to […]