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A bellicose player whose large stature cast an imposing shadow, Frank Boyd was tailor-made for rough-and-tumble late nineteenth-century baseball. Though he was a well-regarded and sturdy catcher, his big-league career spanned only two games – in which he improbably caught two future Hall of Fame pitchers. Without some unlucky contractual happenstances that befell him, however, […]
Metropolis, Illinois, is the hometown of Superman, the comic-book character who leaps tall buildings in a single bound. Back in the day, Robert Dale “Hawk” Taylor was the genuine article when it came to baseball. Unlike mild-mannered Metropolis Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, who left his office, entered a phone booth and came out as […]
By the time Ray Knight leapt down the third-base line on the night of October 25, 1986, landing on home plate and forever cementing his legacy in New York baseball history, he was already an 11-year veteran. He had seen much in his professional career, including a trip to the postseason in 1979, but he […]
In 1935 Cy Blanton broke in with the Pittsburgh Pirates in a blaze of glory. The hard-throwing right-hander with an array of screwballs, curves, and sinkers led the National League in ERA and tied for the lead in shutouts, and was the hardest-to-hit pitcher in the big leagues. In his first four seasons he averaged […]
Though “never very strong in stick work,” his Deadball Era contemporaries believed that Billy Sullivan’s “brilliant performances behind the bat … more than offset his weak hitting.” Although his paltry .213 lifetime batting average is the second worst all-time (next to Bill Bergen) among players with at least 3,000 at bats, Sullivan developed a reputation […]
A master of the one-liner, Billy Grabarkewitz once claimed that “Abner Doubleday dreamed up this game [of baseball] to drive people crazy.”1 Perhaps no one knew this more than the diminutive right-handed hitting infielder whose entire career pivoted on injuries. It was injuries that slowed Grabarkewitz’s march to the big leagues; injury to fellow infielder […]
He was a high-school phenom who found himself pitching in the major leagues while barely out of his teens. Connie Mack had heard about him when he was just 16 years old.1 But for every Bob Feller there are countless Lafayette Henions. Unlike Feller’s long and successful career, Henion’s experience in the major leagues consisted […]
A tall, rangy, 6-feet-4 Don Demeter played major-league baseball for 11 seasons, mostly patrolling the outfield grass, while also spending time at the infield corners. A man of deep abiding faith, he was a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and a pastor in his hometown, Oklahoma City.1 A very highly regarded player during […]
It was one of the most famous trades in baseball history. On December 11, 1959, the Kansas City Athletics sent Joe DeMaestri, Kent Hadley, and Roger Maris to the New York Yankees for Hank Bauer, Don Larsen, Norm Siebern, and Marv Throneberry. For Hadley, the trade effectively ended his major-league career. Kent William Hadley was […]
Buddy Myer was the “cocky little second baseman” of the Washington Senators when they won their last American League pennant in 1933. In 17 seasons in the majors, he won a batting title and was a two-time All-Star. Myer was often cited as one of the few Jewish baseball stars and was chosen for the […]
“He was a beautiful person. Yes he was. Cool Papa Bell. He was a lovable person. And still is. And always has been. I love him. My goodness, that’s one beautiful man.” – Dave Barnhill (hard-throwing ace pitcher and all-star of the New York Cubans)1 “He had time for everybody. Never hurried. Signed autographs, talked […]
The Philadelphia Phillies’ World Series victory in 1980 was the culmination of a long rebuilding process. From 1968 to 1974, the Phillies suffered through seven straight losing seasons and had six different managers. While things seemed grim, the Phillies had a plan. They drafted well and stocked their farm system with good players, many of […]
“People don’t know how good the Pacific Coast League is,” a onetime miner named H.V. “Hardrock Bill” Lane said in 1935. “There’s Oakland, or San Francisco.”1 A year later he moved the then-Double-A Hollywood Stars to San Diego, renamed them Padres for a nearby mission, opened single-tier 9,100-seat Lane Field, and began to fill a […]
The Houston Astros were moving up in the world. On the morning of July 2, 1983, their record of 37-40 placed them fifth in the NL West, the same position they had finished the year before. Beginning that day, they won six of seven, to close in on third place. Montreal came to Houston for […]
Four years after Dave Eiland’s major-league career began with an inauspicious start — he gave up a home run to the first batter he faced — he turned the tables, and made history, by hitting a homer the first time he came up as a batter. On August 3, 1988, the first batter the New […]
Major-league baseball saw four Hall of Fame careers come to an end after the 1993 season: George Brett, Carlton Fisk, Nolan Ryan, and Robin Yount. The Hall of Fame elected Ryan (491 votes), Brett (488), and Yount (385) to the Class of 1999 in their first year of eligibility. Fisk was elected in 2000, receiving […]
The outlook was not good for the Texas Rangers when they squared off against the Baltimore Orioles in the finale of an early-season three-game series at Arlington Stadium. Not only was Texas winless in four home games to start the season, the Rangers had yet to even have a lead while allowing first-inning runs in […]
On April 18, 1987, it rained seat cushions at Busch Stadium, as Tommy Herr’s 10th inning walk-off grand slam gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 12-8 win over the New York Mets and sent Cardinals fans into a state of euphoria on “Seat Cushion” night. It was the only grand slam of Herr’s career, and […]
The 1961 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Yankees moved to Cincinnati’s Crosley Field for a pivotal third game with the Series tied at a game apiece. The Reds, under temperamental manager Fred Hutchinson, had won the National League pennant by four games over the Los Angeles Dodgers.1 They were in […]
It was an epic pitchers’ duel between the Philadelphia Athletics’ Jack Coombs and the Chicago White Sox’ Big Ed Walsh. “Sixteen scoreless innings of desperate pastiming with dusk the winner,”1 declared the Philadelphia Inquirer, while the Chicago Tribune opined, “[N]either side had the shadow of a right to win against such pitching.”2 Windy City sportswriter […]
Two teams with losing records and subpar pitching staffs slugged it out in a back-and-forth contest that featured 13 runs, 9 pitchers, 4 errors, and half a dozen ties and lead changes before the first-year Royals finally prevailed 8-5 over the White Sox. Royals rookie Don O’Riley won his only major-league victory in front of […]
Baseball can be a cruel game. Just ask the members of the Batavia Trojans of the Class A New York-Penn League, who lost both a close-fought game and a chance at a sensational triple play on a single wayward throw on the night of August 7, 1974. The Trojans, a New York Mets farm team, […]
SABR Bibliography Committee Research Guide No. 1: Baseball Figures in Current Biography Editor’s note: This guide was first published by the SABR Bibliography Committee in 1986. To download the original in PDF form, click here. By Joseph Lawler June 1986 Current Biography is a reference service of the H. W. Wilson Company of New York, publishers […]