Search Results

“Chicken Strikes Again” was a newspaper headline after Garey Ingram had a particularly good game with the Pawtucket Red Sox. His manager, Gary Jones, called him “Chicken.” The nickname came from a college teammate who first called him “Blue Chicken” about 10 years earlier. He wondered where that name came from since the team colors […]

Tom Bradley was a Latin scholar, a coach and teacher, and for three seasons in the early 1970s, a workhorse pitcher for would-be contending teams desperate for quality innings. Bradley pitched in seven major-league seasons, most notably for the Chicago White Sox in 1971-72 and for the San Francisco Giants in 1973. Over that span, […]

The baseball epitaph for Deadball Era right-hander Del Mason might well be the familiar: Minor League Star/Major League Bust. Twice the best pitcher of a minor-league circuit, Mason was a disappointment in ensuing trials with the Washington Senators (1904) and Cincinnati Reds (1906-1907). In retrospect, it appears that Mason lacked that extra level of pitching […]

When Joe Nathan graduated from high school, he seemed destined for great things. Just not necessarily on the baseball diamond. “He was one smart dude,” recalled Tom Walraven, his baseball coach at Pine Bush (New York) High School, describing Nathan as a “thin little kid who batted .230” while playing shortstop his senior year.1 “I […]

As a young player, Jason Giambi advertised his ideals on a T-shirt: “Party Like a Rock Star, Hammer Like a Porn Star, Rake Like an All-Star.”1 Whatever his proclivities toward pleasure seeking, Giambi certainly could “rake” (hit). From 1999 to 2002, Giambi was arguably the second-best player in the American League, accumulating 30 wins above […]

If you were going to make a movie of the life of Claude Alfred Thomas, you’d ask Gary Cooper to play the lead. The lanky cowboy actor and the 6’1″ left-handed pitcher bear a striking resemblance in their photographs. Lefty was a professional pitcher for most of 16 seasons, appearing in 644 games, a remarkable […]

“In my mind’s eye, I can still see Joe Torre – he was playing third base for the Cardinals – jumping and the ball going over his glove. Jerry Reuss was pitching. He threw me a slow curve. It was a clean hit. A single down the left-field line. When you get only one hit, […]

Mike Rochford pitched in eight games over parts of three very good seasons — 1988-1990 — for the Boston Red Sox. The team finished in first place in 1988 and again in 1990, and in third place in the year in between. It was a tough time for the left-handed native New Englander to try […]

On Friday, June 13, 1958, the Milwaukee Braves, holding a 1½-game lead atop the National League standings, opened a weekend series in St. Louis. The Braves’ starting pitcher was Joey Jay. Connecticut native Jay had not yet succeeded as a major-league pitcher, but he already held two distinctions: He was one of the original “bonus […]

Pitcher Paul Hartzell played four complete major-league seasons (1976 through 1979) and parts of two others (1980 and 1984). He was a swingman, starting 77 of the 170 games in which he appeared. He threw 22 complete games yet also posted 12 saves, a statistical combination that is difficult to imagine in today’s game. His […]

“It’s the starting pitcher’s job to win the game. My job is to save it. Sure the starters make more money. They don’t have as much fun.” — Don “Every Day” Elston1   If a Chicago Cubs skipper picked up the bullpen phone during the late ’50s or early ‘60s, chances are he was calling […]

In 1962 the Los Angeles Times veteran sportswriter Braven Dyer offered in three short sentences an apt analysis of the brief career of Ron Moeller: “Moeller is something of a problem pitcher. At times, he seems to have everything. The next time out, he seems devoid of confidence.”1 Emerging on the major league stage in […]

Howard Johnson was a solid major-league player for several years. He was probably best known for a combination of power and speed that made him the darling of fantasy baseball owners as that variant of the national pastime took off in the 1980s. He was a member of two World Series championship teams, the 1984 […]

“By now, I’ve been around long enough not to be surprised at anything.” That’s what former pitcher Walt Ripley told newspaper columnist Ed Bridges in 1982.1 Ripley was talking about the sudden interest in his autograph at the time. After all, he’d only pitched in two major-league games, way back in 1935, both for the […]

Veteran broadcaster Lanny Frattare was the “Voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates” for two generations of fans. He belongs to a special roster of long-serving Pirates on-air talent that includes Rosey Rowswell, Bob Prince, and the team’s current play-by-play man, Greg Brown.1 Frattare served the Bucs from 1976 to 2008. He never called a World Series […]

When introducing the Orioles’ new manager in 1968, general manager Harry Dalton said, “In short, I believe Earl Weaver is a winner.”1 Weaver was short. And he was a winner. For the next 14½ seasons the Orioles won more games than any other team, piling up six division titles, four pennants, and one World Series […]

Father Time remains undefeated, but for one day in June 1966 at Houston’s Astrodome, 35-year-old Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs turned back the clock to a decade earlier, when he was in the top 10 in triples in the National League.1 The Houston Astros (30-25) had won the opening game of the three-game series […]

“He did his job. He got 27 outs. … Not to put Joe Cowley down, but it wasn’t impressive.” – Wally Joyner, 0-for-2, 2 BB1   It had been nearly two years since the major leagues had seen a no-hitter.2 Just 11 days shy of the anniversary of Mike Witt tossing the 11th perfect game […]

Jason Kubel of the Minnesota Twins entered spring training in 2009 with a two-year contract that guaranteed he wouldn’t face arbitration. He had an air of calm confidence. “This is the first year I don’t have any pressure,” he said in late February.1 Drafted out of high school in 2000, Kubel showed promise at each […]

The Philadelphia Phillies returned home on September 21, 1964, holding first place in the National League after winning six games on a three-city road trip. With 12 games to play, Philadelphia’s lead was 6½ games over the second-place Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. The city and team were looking forward to the World Series. […]

Manny Mota is frequently considered to be the Montreal Expos’ first player.1 Although Mota was the initial player chosen by the Expos in the National League expansion draft in October 1968, he wasn’t the first player under contract with the fledgling organization. That honor went to pitcher Dave Hartman, who was drafted by Montreal in […]

A bouncer to the first baseman leading off the game called a hit. This judgment call remains the only hit until two out in the ninth inning when the potential last batter singles to right, replacing the lonely ‘1’ that had sat on the scoreboard for more than two hours. “That’s about as far down […]

Jim Bouton’s Ball Four is full of cutting personal commentary on players, coaches, managers and front-office staff. One of the most memorable and damning criticisms is credited to Bouton’s roommate, pitcher Gary Bell: “Carl Yastrzemski is for himself first and second and the hell with everybody else.”1 While Bouton depicted the longtime Red Sox star […]

“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 […]