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It was the “most astonishing piece of pitching,” gushed sportswriter John Drebinger about New York Giant Cliff Melton’s 13-strikeout performance in his major-league debut.1 The New York Daily News commented that Melton’s “fireball had plenty of zip, but the Giants bats had no zing,” as they lost a heartbreaker in the final frame.2 The reigning […]

The New York Mets were at the end of a brief but miserable road trip. They had lost four of the previous six games and were ready to return home to Shea Stadium. Their time on the road was marred by Vince Coleman’s misdeed on July 24 when he threw a powerful M-100 firecracker out […]

John Caruso’s short-lived professional career was not packed with highlights, but he knew how to pick his spots. The third baseman played a single season in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization in 1971, as a member of the Niagara Falls (New York) Pirates of the short-season Class A New York-Penn League. In 54 games and 142 […]

Mike Piazza had come a long way since 1988 when the Dodgers drafted him in the 62nd round of the June draft. He was only drafted when Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda urged the team to take a chance on him at the request of Piazza’s father, who was a friend of Lasorda’s. At the time, […]

Jim Hutto may be best remembered among baseball trivia buffs for a game in which his biggest accomplishment was simply not getting hurt. On May 2, 1970, when the Phillies lost catchers Tim McCarver to a broken hand and Mike Ryan to a broken finger in the same half-inning, rookie utilityman Hutto was called on […]

April 16, 1978, was not an ideal day for baseball in St. Louis. As a sparse crowd sauntered into Busch Memorial Stadium (Busch II) that afternoon, the temperature was under 45 degrees.1 The Cardinals had been losing crowd appeal throughout the 1970s. Their home opener, six days earlier, had drawn only 19,241. Only 11,495 showed […]

In 1976 Minnesota Twins center fielder Lyman Bostock was in his second season in the majors. Part of his rookie season (as well as some time in winter ball) had been cut short by ankle injuries, and he had started his sophomore year platooning in center with Steve Brye. However, the 25-year-old Bostock quickly raised […]

Among more than two dozen men credited with at least 3,000 career base hits, the first to do it is also easily the most controversial. Cap Anson broke through the 3,000-hit barrier in 1897. Or did he? More than any other achievement in the statistically obsessed game that is baseball, Anson’s hit totals are subject […]

When Willie Montanez walked to the plate from the on-deck circle he would flip his bat end over end like a baton. When he swung and missed he had a high, circular finish reminiscent of a matador twirling his sword at a charging bull. At first base, he would sometimes tap runners on the rear […]

“Fred Wenz Provides Red Sox Mysticism” — how can the reader resist responding to a newspaper headline like that? The article in a 1969 issue of Boston Herald Traveler discussed “the Wenz enigma — a situation which has found Fireball Fred blinding minor league hitters and then getting bombed in the majors.”1 It wasn’t the […]

For 11 years Tim Flannery was an infielder for the San Diego Padres. During his childhood, he sang and played guitar with other family members. He took his guitar with him on the road while playing for the Padres and after retiring from his playing days, decided to take his musical career seriously. While coaching […]

Red Sox right-hander Gordie Mueller was in the big leagues for a little more than three months in 1950. He worked a total of seven innings, over eight games, without a decision, facing 45 batters. He walked 13 of them and struck out only one. Eleven of the batters secured base hits off him, one […]

Santo Alcala was born and raised in the so-called “baseball capital of the world,” San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic.1 At the age of 16, the tall righty pitcher became a professional baseball player. He won 11 games and a World Series ring with Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine in 1976—his one year of […]

Brooklyn–born Gennaro Joseph Casale, better known as Jerry, played 11 seasons in professional baseball beginning in 1952 and concluding in 1963. During a five-year stretch, from 1958-1962, he pitched for three major-league teams, a hard-throwing right-hander and recorded his best season in 1959 as a 13-8 rookie with the Boston Red Sox. Casale was a […]

Through an extremely unlikely, almost unbelievable set of circumstances, a twenty-year-old college junior with virtually no baseball experience and little athletic ability found himself on the pitcher’s mound one bright, sunny Saturday afternoon facing the World Champion Philadelphia Athletics. The date was May 18, 1912–surely one of the most bizarre days in major league history–and […]

A leading slugger of the 1930s, Zeke Bonura was “one of baseball’s best-loved figures.”1 He was a colorful first baseman with an indomitable spirit, and his great enthusiasm resonated with fans. In seven major-league seasons, he hit .307 and averaged 100 RBIs per season. During World War II, he received the Legion of Merit medal […]

Osborne Llewellyn Timmons, better known as Ozzie Timmons, learned to love baseball when he grew up watching some of the terrific hometown players. After his playing career, Timmons joined the coaching ranks to continue to share his knowledge and love of the game with the young players just starting their careers. Timmons was born on […]

It was as much a psychological move as a baseball one. Game Five of the 2004 American League Championship Series at Fenway Park was tied, 4-4, heading into the bottom of the ninth. Red Sox pitchers Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe, and Tim Wakefield, gloves in hand, began walking from the team’s first-base dugout out to […]

Catcher/first baseman Don Pavletich broke into the big leagues on April 20, 1957, but had to wait until April 29, 1962 — a little more than five years — before he got his first base hit. He was only 18 at the time of his debut with the Cincinnati Redlegs. Just a couple of months […]

Henry Berthrong lived an amazing and varied life – some small part of it as a baseball player. At the time of his retirement, he was likely the longest serving US civil servant (certainly among the oldest); at the time of his death, he was the oldest living major-league baseball player. Henry Washburn Berthrong arrived […]

Back in an era when a manager’s responsibilities often included both the duties of a modern skipper plus those of today’s general manager, Pat Moran excelled at each role. In a span of six years Moran took over two mediocre franchises with little history of winning, rebuilt and reassembled their players, and managed each to […]

In 1976, Dennis Martínez became the first Nicaraguan to play in the big leagues – and he remains by far the most successful. Indeed, his 245 major-league wins stood for more than 20 years as the most by any Latino pitcher, two ahead of Juan Marichal. (Bartolo Colón finally broke that record in August 2018.) […]

Fans cheer on their favorite team on June 29, 2021, at Dodger Stadium. (Copyright: Steven Cukrov / dreamstime.com)   On October 8, 1957, the stockholders and directors of the Brooklyn Baseball Club announced that the franchise would move to Los Angeles for the 1958 season.1 A welcoming parade jammed downtown LA streets.2 On the steps […]