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In the opening contest of the most pivotal series of their baseball lives to that point, the Houston Astros lost on a Joe Ferguson walk-off blast in the 10th inning that breathed new life into the Los Angeles Dodgers’ fading 1980 playoff hopes. Yet, despite those heroics, momentum was still the greatest ally of the […]
As the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles prepared to meet in the winner-take-all Game Seven of the 76th World Series, there arose a commotion over a column written by Baltimore Sun sports editor John Steadman. The Pittsburgh media provided the Pirates and their fans with the gist of Steadman’s opinion, which was that the Bucs […]
Roger Maris connects for his 60th home run of the season in the third inning on September 26, 1961, as Baltimore Orioles catcher Gus Triandos looks on. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library) Sometimes it’s the statistics few know that tell the story. Or at least part of the story. If nothing else, they […]
Frank Robinson wasn’t used to seeing Olympic Stadium so full. He looked up at the structure’s Teflon sky and told himself, “Hey, there’s fans in the upper deck!”1 Indeed, throughout Robinson’s three years as manager of the Montreal Expos, big crowds had been rare. Yet to many of the 31,395 spectators, some who recalled the […]
Some days home-run power makes the difference in a baseball game. Other days speed wins games. Every so often, a team lucks into both at once, and the outcome is (usually) a dominant win. The Rochester Red Wings of the Triple-A International League benefited from bursts of both power and speed on July 1, 1982. […]
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 […]
The Pirates were in New York for their first series against the Mets in 1971. Pittsburgh had defeated New York six times the previous September to claim the National League East crown and keep the Mets from returning to the postseason. Both teams were vying along with the St. Louis Cardinals and Montreal Expos for […]
Keith Hernandez of the New York Mets had three five-hit games from August 8 to October 3, 1985.1 The third game in this stretch occurred in the finale of a three-game set with the St. Louis Cardinals, whom the Mets were battling for first place in the National League East. After winning the first game […]
The Mets have an unusual affinity for finding themselves in notable marathons. Take that late May 1964 game at Shea Stadium, for instance — a nightcap of a doubleheader that went on for 23 innings and nearly 7½ hours and ended in a San Francisco Giants victory behind Gaylord Perry’s 10 frames of relief. Fast-forward […]
“You know what they say about Chicago. If you don’t like the weather, wait fifteen minutes.”1 As Warren Corbett noted in his SABR biography of Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, the longtime New York Mets broadcaster became famous for his “verbal strikeouts.”2 Although this one of the many Ralph Kiner quotes3 was uttered after the […]
Harry Arthur “Cookie” Lavagetto is best known for one swing of the bat against Bill Bevens of the New York Yankees on an October day in 1947. But his baseball career, as a player and manager, was much more than that. The six-feet, 170-pound Lavagetto played professional baseball for ten seasons over a fourteen-year span, […]
If Calvin Schiraldi had never been called upon to pitch in the sixth game of the 1986 World Series, we might think of his career in baseball as a story of encountering and overcoming adversity — a series of comebacks. But Red Sox manager John McNamara did call Schiraldi in from the bullpen in the […]
As fast as he was on the bases and in the outfield, at times it seemed Ken Henderson couldn’t outrun an expectation first pinned on him at age 17. While it came with a big name, Henderson said the expectation was never one he sought. Instead, he often considered it unfair and unrealistic. But it […]
In his short major-league career, Albert Edward Kaiser played only 155 games and batted only .216. Yet from 1909 through 1914, he was known in the Midwest as an exceptionally fast outfielder, daring baserunner, and somewhat reckless player. In fact the Indianapolis Star, reviewing the 1913 season, said that “his great speed enabled him to […]
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 […]
The Atlanta Braves’ three aces may be the greatest pitching combination in history: the artist Greg Maddux, the stylist Tom Glavine, and the electric John Smoltz. In seven seasons, from 1993 through 1999, the Braves won almost two-thirds of the games started by their Big Three. Maddux claimed four straight Cy Young Awards, Glavine two […]
Pitcher Brian Kingman compiled an 8-20 record with the 1980 Oakland Athletics. Prior to 1980, instances of pitchers losing 20 games in a season occurred with great regularity. After Kingman’s 20-loss season, however, his place in baseball lore was cemented for 23 long years until it finally happened again. The stinging effects of Kingman’s 20-loss […]
The right-hander stood on the pitcher’s mound in Tucson, Arizona, watching his manager Rocky Bridges walk out for a visit. It was the eighth inning; the bases were loaded with his team in the lead. Bridges grabbed the ball and gave it a good rub. After placing it back in his pitcher’s glove he offered […]
“Running! turning! leaping! like little Al Gionfriddo — a baseball player, Doctor, who once did a very great thing.” The great thing novelist Philip Roth described took place on October 5, 1947. It was Game Six of the World Series. Outfielder Al Gionfriddo, a little-used reserve, made a racing, twisting catch in deep left-center at […]
“He’s a quality player who’s getting better all the time. A year ago, he played on talent alone. Now he’s doing it on talent and know-how. His potential is unlimited.”1 — Pittsburgh Pirates manager Jim Leyland No word better describes Bobby Bonilla’s baseball career than “potential.” He was selected as an All-Star six times. […]
Chuck LaMar once commented, “I’m a baseball guy and my heart lies with the people out in the field. … I was one of those and I started out in professional baseball as an area scout and I drove 50,000 miles a year away from the wife and those kiddos as much as anybody so […]
White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillén once said of A.J. Pierzynski: “If you play against him, you hate him. If you play with him, you hate him a little less.”1 Pierzynski was a fierce competitor with a strong desire to win. This desire at times could rub teammates the wrong way and many times would get […]
Ronald Michael Diorio was born in St. Mary’s hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut, on July 15, 1946. His parents, Charles and Gilda (Follachio) Diorio, were first generation Americans, with roots in the Calabria and Abruzzi regions of Italy. Charles, a Waterbury native born in 1906, worked as a plumber. Gilda worked in the shop as well. […]
Kevin Millar has a phrase he keeps close. “Against All Odds,” tattooed on his upper left arm, captures the unlikeliness of a 12-year career in major-league baseball that began with the Florida Marlins in 1998 and led to a position on the Boston Red Sox team that broke an 86-year world championship drought to win […]