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In the 1926 Negro World Series, pitcher Claude “Red” Grier threw a no-hitter for the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants, setting a Negro League milestone that one would have thought would last for a long time. But almost exactly a year later, another Bacharach, Luther “Red” Farrell, again hurling for the team in a World Series, […]

It would have been fitting if Rod Serling had gone to a baseball game in Geneva, New York, on August 22, 1961, and found himself trapped in some kind of twist ending – hit in the head by a foul ball, perhaps, to wake up alone in a deserted ballpark. After all, the danger of […]

Hall of Famer Wade Boggs’ illustrious 18-year career included 12 consecutive All-Star Game appearances, eight Silver Slugger Awards, and five batting titles. The 240 hits he collected in 1985 are tied for the 13th highest in a major-league season (as of 2023). Boggs was a member of the 1996 New York Yankees team that won […]

It was a crazy week for Orioles fans in mid-May of 2012. The Sunday series finale in Boston on May 6 had them trying to complete a three-game sweep in Fenway Park after a three-game series win at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles had not won consecutive series in New York and Boston in 20 years.1 […]

A lot can happen in a year. Miguel Fuentes was proof of that. On September 8, 1968, he wore the Guerrilleros (Warriors) of Río Grande uniform and tamed the Polluelos (Chicks) of Aibonito 7-1 to secure the Puerto Rican Double-A championship. A few weeks later, the jersey read “Puerto Rico” as he represented the island […]

The St. Louis Cardinals returned to the postseason for the first time in 14 years when they clinched the 1982 National League East Division championship with a 4-2 win over the Montreal Expos on September 27. With the victory, the Cardinals (91-66) eliminated both the Philadelphia Phillies (84-72), who lost to the Chicago Cubs, and […]

The Triple-A Rochester Red Wings’ home opener against the Richmond Braves on April 22, 1971, brought together some baseball names on their way up, others on their way out – and one caught intriguingly in the middle. The future stars on the rise included Rochester’s Don Baylor and Bobby Grich and Richmond’s Darrell Evans, who […]

The Yankees were glad to have prevailed in Game One of the ALCS. While they had finished first in the AL East in 2004, with 101 wins, three games ahead of the wild-card Red Sox, the Red Sox had won 11 of 19 regular-season games. And after digging themselves into a very deep hole, Boston […]

A strong, quiet, and athletic 205-pounder who stood 6-feet-2, wore glasses, batted from the left side, and threw right-handed, Norm Siebern split time between first base and the outfield for six major-league teams. Originally a Yankee, he played in two World Series for New York, and was part of the package the Yankees sent to […]

By late in the 1884 season, the amateur Fall River (Massachusetts) City League had placed five recent graduates in major league baseball. The star of this quintet was Charlie Buffinton, a right-handed pitcher then on his way to compiling numbers nearly worthy of the Hall of Fame. Fellow city league alumnus Frank Fennelly became a […]

Daryl Irvine worked in 41 major-league games for the Boston Red Sox in the years 1990-1992. He was a right-handed reliever pursued by both the Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays before signing with Boston. He won four games and lost five in his work in the big leagues. Irvine came from Grottoes, Virginia, […]

A lefty reliever with a devastating curveball, Tippy Martinez pitched for 14 major league seasons from 1974 to 1988. Between starting his career with the New York Yankees and ending it with the Minnesota Twins, he spent 11 years with the Baltimore Orioles, where he was an All-Star and World Series champion in 1983. That […]

Steve Ontiveros played in 10 major-league seasons (1985-1990, 1993-1995, 2000). A long and lithe right-handed pitcher, Ontiveros played for the Oakland Athletics (1985-1988, 1994-1995), Philadelphia Phillies (1989-1990), Seattle Mariners (1993), and Boston Red Sox (2000). A model of perseverance, the right-handed-hitting Ontiveros twice overcame injuries and struggles in the minors to return to the major […]

Dick “Cannonball” Redding pitched professionally from 1911 to 1936 and got his nickname from his blazing fastball that knocked back catchers.1 Redding claimed he once fired a brand-new baseball against the side of a building and the ball broke apart.2 His velocity was so legendary that some historians have wondered if Redding was the hardest-throwing […]

A Marist College star, starting shortstop candidate for the 1914 Philadelphia Phillies, and 1919 Atlanta Crackers swatting savior, future Army lieutenant Milt Reed was a fellow Peach State Ty Cobb look-alike from the 1910s. Milton D. Reed Jr. was born on July 4, 1890, in Atlanta to Milton Reed Sr., a railroad depot clerk and […]

“One of the most durable and dependable catchers in the Negro Leagues era, Larry ‘Iron Man’ Brown was a master behind the plate, yielding a quick release and an arm to be envied.”1 Brown never pulled his mask off for a pop fly. Never staggered under foul balls like other catchers. Brown described the art […]

Frank Thomas played during an era when team owners looked upon their players as chattels. By their standards, Frank Joseph Thomas was considered a rebel. Much of his career was spent bickering with management over his worth to them. In his early career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thomas’s adversary in such battles was the man […]

Right-hander Bob Purkey learned the knuckleball from Branch Rickey and fashioned a 13-year big-league career with a smorgasbord of pitches plus excellent control. Robert Thomas Purkey was born in Pittsburgh on July 14, 1929. His father, Edward, was an insurance agent and his mother, Anna, a homemaker. The Purkeys had two other sons, Edward and […]

In the Roaring Twenties a new breed of coed sprouted on college campuses across the nation. She smoked, drank, and danced the night away at fraternity parties. She cut her hair, wore make-up, and was a gleeful participant in panty raids. She was giddy, was often called a flapper, and could be persuaded to engage […]

Cory Lidle pitched for seven teams in the major leagues, primarily as a starter, during nine seasons from 1997 to 2006. His life was cut short on October 11, 2006, when the Cirrus SR20 airplane he was piloting struck a building while attempting to make a turn over the East River in New York City.1 […]

In his book The Boys of Summer, author Roger Kahn relates how even after leaving daily 1950s baseball coverage to write for magazines, his “journalistic identity, such as it was, lived with my [New York Herald] Tribune stories” on the then-Brooklyn Dodgers. Robert Frost consoled him, telling Kahn that “nearly everyone has to lead two […]

In the first years of the 20th century, almost anyone with the given names Frederick Nicholas had a good chance to be nicknamed “Fritz,” and so it was with Fritz Coumbe, though his ancestry was British rather than Teutonic. But most of the papers of the day called him Fred. Fred’s father George Coumbe had […]

On Monday, July 18, 2022, members of SABR’s Larry Dierker Chapter met via Zoom or in person at the Spaghetti Western restaurant in Houston. Video: Click here to watch a replay of this meeting on YouTube As President Joe Thompson opened the meeting, there was considerable chitchat about the new draftees, the All Star game […]

The Larry Dierker Chapter held its most recent meeting on August 11, 2018, at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Adam Brodie, an analyst on the Houston Astros research and development team, was on hand to speak in lieu of GM Jeff Luhnow.   Adam said he was a philosophy major who intended to get his […]