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It was like old times in New York City. Both of Gotham’s professional baseball teams were in late-season division races. A quirk in the schedule had both the Mets and Yankees as home teams on September 12. And both clubs were hosting their closest adversary in their respective divisional races. The Mets had a matinee […]

A pair of rare events were accomplished by a pair of future Hall of Famers at the Hubert. H. Humphrey Metrodome on August 1, 1986. The Minnesota Twins were spending the weekend celebrating their 25th anniversary, beginning with this contest against the Oakland A’s. In a rout of the Athletics, the Twins’ Kirby Puckett and […]

The New York Mets were in a bad mood. After bolting out of the gate and looking seemingly invincible with a 20-4 record to start the 1986 season, they had appeared all too human, posting just a 6-5 record on their recently concluded 11-game road trip. Manager Davey Johnson, in his third season as the […]

The 1968 Chicago White Sox opened the season with 10 straight losses; they then followed up the disastrous start by winning 11 of their next 17 games. An astute fan might not have been surprised by either set of events.1 The previous season’s team had finished in fourth place, three games behind the league-leading Boston […]

In 1922, pitcher Karl Schnell became the first graduate of Palo Alto High – a school with several notable alumni in athletics1 – to make it to the majors in baseball. The son of German immigrants had starred in college for the Saint Mary’s Phoenix ball club. Playing with and against future Hall of Famers, […]

The accolades surrounding Philip Daniel Bradley place him among stars of Blackball’s Deadball Era. “For second catcher, Phil Bradley of the (Brooklyn) Royals is easy (sic) the second-best catcher in colored baseball. He is a better hitter than Bruce Petway, and has a head along with a true snap throwing arm,” according to reporter Harry […]

Debuting in the second game of a double-loss doubleheader on June 17, 1927, John Edward Freeman was a pinch-hitter for Slim Harriss with two out in the bottom of the ninth, officially in the game but seeing no actual action. On June 27, he took over in center field for Ira Flagstead and collected his […]

“He has a brain in his arm.” – Syd Thrift1 That high baseball IQ was a critical part of Rick Reuschel’s success. It led him to trust a pitch-to-contact approach that was not flashy but required supreme control and unwavering confidence. He defied the stereotypes of a star pitcher. “Big Daddy” was unathletic-looking, with an […]