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It seems that the Expos wanted to give their fans a lifetime of memories as quickly as possible. As if the inaugural game at Shea Stadium or the first home win at Jarry Park weren’t memorable enough, the Expos quickly adopted a flair for the dramatic in just the franchise’s ninth game, on April 17, […]

Over the course of a 162-game season, there will invariably be games in which a team squanders a lead in the late innings and suffers a painful loss. When the season draws to a close and that team narrowly misses the playoffs, it’s only natural to look back upon the games that slipped away and […]

The mighty New York Mets held a 19-game lead over their closest National League East competition, the Philadelphia Phillies, at the start of September 1986. But the Mets, trying to stay in top shape for the playoffs, didn’t slack off the rest of the way. From September 1 to the end of the season, they […]

The slumping Ottawa Senators were in need of a spark heading into their Victoria Day doubleheader against the Trois-Rivières Trios.1 The Senators, who had joined the Class B Eastern Canada League for its inaugural season of 1922, were on a six-game losing streak and mired in last place with a woeful 1-11 record.2 A promising […]

On April 27, 2000, the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox were completing a four-game series in front of “a sun-splashed crowd of 13,225”1 at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Both teams had experienced success in the early part of the season. Baltimore (12-8) had already put together winning streaks of five and six games, while Chicago […]

“He was everything a ballplayer should be: dark, handsome eyes, and a raw-boned build – and he hit home runs at a remarkable rate.” — Terry Pluto1 If you were to stroll by a Little League field in greater Cleveland in the late 1950s, you might have seen a trend among the players. You might […]

The Angels came into the August 29 game with an AL West-leading record of 71-56. Three weeks before, they had lost three straight and saw their four-game lead shrink to 1½ games. But now they had won four games in a row and 15 of 22, and were back in front by 4½. The Tigers, […]

On September 3, 1985, 21-year-old righthander Troy Evers capped a dominant season in fitting style, pitching a postseason no-hitter in the Class A New York-Penn League. Evers’ 2-0 no-no enabled the Oneonta (New York) Yankees to eliminate the Geneva (New York) Cubs in the first round of the league playoffs, sending Oneonta to the championship […]

Before Game Four of the 1984 National League Championship Series, Chicago Cubs manager Jim Frey and San Diego Padres manager Dick Williams were scrutinized for their starting-pitcher choices. A headline in one newspaper said, “Padres Go With Lollar, a Questionable Starter.”1 The writer said, “An entire San Diego Padre season rests this evening on the […]

One professional season, one professional win. In the pros, the ride doesn’t last long for some players, and Ken Flowers is an example. The 18-year-old lefty was chosen by the Washington Senators in the 24th round of the June 1971 amateur draft and pitched in 15 games that season – nine for Geneva in the […]

As of September 2020, when this story was originally published, the two oldest living major leaguers were Eddie Robinson and George Elder, both veterans of WWII. Robinson served in the Navy but because of a leg operation was never in a combat zone. Elder served as a Marine artilleryman in the Pacific theatre. He served […]

Though acknowledging that Fred Luderus “is not a Stuffy McInnis on defense, nor a Jake Daubert in batting, nor a Fred Merkle on the baselines,” J. C. Kofoed in the July 1915 issue of Baseball Magazine called the Phillies first baseman “the most under-rated man in baseball today.” A pure fastball hitter who feasted on […]

He was the second overall pick in the June 1976 amateur draft. In his major-league debut his brother was the opposing pitcher. He was the winning pitcher on Disco Demolition Night. Pat Underwood accumulated only 13 victories over four big-league seasons, but he had a remarkable baseball career. Patrick John Underwood was born on February […]

Joe Burt Scott’s professional baseball career intersected with the emerging opportunities in the sport following Jackie Robinson’s 1947 debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the waning years of the Negro Leagues. This left-handed first baseman and outfielder was 26 years old in 1947, when he hit .400 for the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro […]

Right-hander Brandon Puffer pitched in 85 major-league games, but is perhaps better known in some circles for the World Series Championship ring he earned in 2004 as a member (however briefly) of that year’s legendary Boston Red Sox – despite the only pitches he threw at Fenway Park being against the Red Sox, rather than […]

Oscar “Heavy” Johnson was briefly one of the premier power hitters of the Negro Leagues. After spending nearly eight prime seasons playing for the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Wreckers (where he was the batterymate of Hall of Famer Wilber “Bullet” Rogan), Johnson joined the Kansas City Monarchs in 1922 and immediately won back-to-back Negro National […]

Like a multitude of others, right-handed pitcher John Fitzgerald owed his ascension to the major leagues to the turmoil of the 1890 season. Among the consequences of the arrival on scene of the upstart Players League was the enlistment of previously minor league clubs into the major league American Association. Among those so elevated was […]

Consider the two nearly identical rookie seasons below:   AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG Player #1 464 59 127 22 5 20 68 .274 Player #2 482 75 128 23 5 20 56 .266   These highly acclaimed prospects started 18 years apart. Both were center fielders, blessed with power and speed. […]

Mike Kreevich was 22 years old before he came out of the Illinois coal country to play his first game of professional baseball. He was 28 before he shed his major-league rookie status in 1936, following two brief trials earlier in that decade. He faced the obstacles of small stature, a teenage injury to his […]

The major-league baseball career of George Abrams was a drop in the bucket compared to his career and accomplishments in golf. Abrams served as a mop-up reliever in three games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1923, his last season of pro ball. He continued to pitch and manage in semipro leagues in the Pacific Northwest […]

Although he displayed a strong batting eye and some extra-base power during his minor-league career, Bobby Brooks had a relatively brief major-league career over parts of four seasons. Nicknamed “The Little Hammer,” Brooks may have been hurt by his short stature (he stood 5-feet-8 and was listed at 165 pounds), which may have led some […]

Correlation is not causation, as statisticians never fail to state, but it’s hard to tell which one was at play as Gene Michael and the Yankees brass enjoyed freedom from George Steinbrenner during the Boss’s suspension. Although originally issued as a lifetime ban by Fay Vincent in 1990, it was lifted after less than three […]

In the spring of 1989, the movie Field of Dreams introduced the public to an obscure figure in baseball history named Archibald Wright “Moonlight” Graham. His time in the major leagues amounted to two innings in one game played on June 29, 1905. This piece of baseball trivia has fascinated both moviegoers and fans of […]

When Mel Harder guided 13 Indian arms through an astonishing 111-win season, there was no “How-To” book for pitching coaches. That’s because he was still writing it. During Harder’s two-decade stint as an active hurler, pitchers were often treated like zoo animals—objects of curiosity, the care and feeding of whom was left to whichever coach […]