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Right-handed pitcher J.B. Young celebrated his 35th birthday in unique fashion — by appearing in his first, last, and only major league game.1 Unhappily for Young, his outing on behalf of the 1892 St. Louis Browns was a nightmare: two innings-plus, 13 runs surrendered. He never appeared in another Browns game and was back home […]

“There was never a more graceful player than Bridwell.” — Sportswriter Sam Crane, 19101   Al Bridwell was a natural in the field, one of finest defensive shortstops of the Deadball Era. Hitting did not come naturally to him, but as a member of the New York Giants, he became a solid hitter under the […]

It’s called “The Imperfect Game.” On July 9, 1969, Mets ace Tom Seaver retired the first 25 Chicago Cubs to face him at Shea Stadium. Then a 22-year-old rookie utilityman named Jimmy Qualls stroked a clean base hit. Seaver came close several times more but never got a no-hitter until he was traded to Cincinnati. […]

Ed Sukla made a career in the game of baseball, first in the 1960s and ’70s as a sinker-balling reliever for the Angels and in the Pacific Coast League, and then for decades with the Major League Scouting Bureau. Though baseball was the sport in which he made his living, he was an all-around athlete, […]

A brilliant defensive outfielder who briefly starred with the Cincinnati Reds, Armando Marsáns was the first Cuban player to make an impact in the major leagues. Dubbed “an aristocrat by birth, but a big-league outfielder by choice,”1 he was among baseball’s top stars before his career was derailed by an ill-fated attempt to challenge the […]

Mike Mussina pitched consistently well over 18 big-league seasons for the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees, winning a total of 270 games and becoming the first American League pitcher to win 10 or more games in 17 consecutive seasons. With a varied arsenal of pitches including four-seam and two-seam fastballs, a slider, a changeup, […]

Outfielder Mark Corey looked like a surefire star after winning batting titles in his first two pro seasons. He tore up rookie ball in 1976, hitting .400 with 17 homers; the next year he hit .310 with 15 homers in Double-A. As it turned out, though, Corey never did break into the crowded Baltimore outfield. […]

Without the benefit of hindsight, we can imagine that John Weldon Wyckoff thought himself lucky. Fresh from college at Bucknell and with a year of seasoning in the Tri-State League, he was called up to the big leagues in 1913, to the powerhouse Philadelphia Athletics no less, for which he pitched on two pennant winners. […]

A funeral Mass was celebrated for one of Fall River’s favorite sons on Saturday, September 16, 1933, at the city’s St. Louis Church. Bouquets and tributes were sent by many of his old baseball friends and fans. Joe Harrington had been born in Fall River, Massachusetts, and he died in Fall River, having played baseball […]

Tabbed “the best young catching prospect to try for a major league berth in many years” in the spring of 1948 by Pirates rookie manager Billy Meyer, Ed Fitz Gerald went on to have a 12-year major-league career as a backup catcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Senators, and Cleveland Indians.1 The gangly, six-foot, 170-pound […]

At 3 P.M. on Tuesday, August 9, 1977, and then again at 4,1 baseball fans living in the area of Sherbrooke, Quebec, heard a mysterious message interrupt the French-language broadcast of that afternoon’s San Diego Padres-Montreal Expos game on radio station CHLT.2 “This is a message of special public interest,” radio newsman Richard Desmarais cut […]

The major leagues are often referred to as “The Show” because they represent the highest level of competition in baseball. The games of the teams’ minor-league affiliates also provide their share of entertainment, showcasing rising stars as well as the occasional major leaguer on a rehabilitation assignment. In addition, there exist independent minor-league teams that, […]

On May 21, 1990, the Cincinnati Reds visited Wrigley Field to start a two-game set against the Chicago Cubs. Jose Rijo outdueled Greg Maddux that night, the Reds winning 4-3. Andre Dawson laced a double in the home half of the second inning but was later thrown out at home to start a double play. […]

Camilo Pascual was one of the original Minnesota Twins. The hard-throwing Cuban right-hander with a big curveball was on the Washington Senators roster when the franchise moved to Minnesota for the 1961 season. In that first season in Minnesota, Pascual led the Twins with 15 wins, tied for the American League lead with eight shutouts, […]

Mike Corkins is one of many ballplayers with reason to dislike Jim Bouton’s Ball Four — not because it captured his personal indiscretions, but because it chronicled his professional failings. In his entry for September 8, 1969, Bouton summarized Corkins’ unfortunate major-league debut for San Diego against Houston, in which the rookie yielded two triples […]

It all began with a Dennis Eckersley fist pump. When the St. Louis Cardinals closer struck out Marquis Grissom with the tying run on second base to end Game Four of the 1996 National League Championship Series, he wound up his right arm and unleashed his trademark celebration on the mound, then stomped around the […]

In 1932 the MVP winners in both the American and National Leagues plied their trade in Philadelphia. A’s first baseman Jimmie Foxx won the AL award by blasting 58 home runs, more than any other hitter in the city’s professional baseball history. A mile away, Phillies outfielder Chuck Klein gained the NL’s accolade by slugging […]

Many baseball fans are familiar with the story of Armando Galarraga’s lost perfect game in 2010.1 In the days before instant replays were used to review close plays at first base, an honest mistake by umpire Jim Joyce with two out in the ninth inning was all that separated Galarraga from perfection. What is less […]

Nolan Ryan debuted in the major leagues with the New York Mets as a teenager in September 1966, joining the team full-time in 1968. It was the start of a 27-year Hall of Fame career in which he set numerous records for pitching excellence. In 1990 Ryan was the ace of the Texas Rangers pitching […]

“He can pitch,” said Montreal Expos skipper Gene Mauch about rookie right-hander Steve Rogers, who tossed a brilliant one-hit shutout over the Philadelphia Phillies to earn his first big-league win in his second start. “Rarely does a man with such experience have the confidence in his control of so many pitches.”1 Described by Pat Jordan […]

Steve Blass was arguably the best pitcher on the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1970, 1971, and 1972 seasons, when the Pirates won the National League East each year. In 1971, Blass helped the Pirates to their World Series victory over the Baltimore Orioles by pitching complete-game victories in Games Three and Seven, allowing only 11 […]

On Easter Sunday afternoon, April 19, 1981, an otherwise uncelebrated outfielder named Sam Bowen may have saved two full teams of minor-league baseball players from collapsing in sheer frustrated exhaustion. The Pawtucket Red Sox – Bowen’s team – and the Rochester Red Wings of the Triple-A International League had just played 32 innings of baseball […]

Big-league success didn’t last for Jim Hughes, but when he was hot, no one was hotter. The Minnesota Twins’ rookie pitcher won the American League Player of the Month award for May 1975, posting a 6-0 record and an 0.87 ERA in six games.1 He worked seven innings of shutout relief on May 4 to […]

High and Inside The Newsletter of the BioProject Committee Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) November 2019 Past newsletters Editor: Andrea Long From the Directors Update on BioProject Submissions Let’s be Sociable! From the Editor Project Poobahs   From Co-Directors, Rory Costello and Gregory H. Wolf New Head of Fact-Checking Team Warren Corbett recently informed […]