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Two teams that were flying high ran into each other, and one got run over. As always, the complete randomness of the blowout was unpredictable. The Texas Rangers had swept a doubleheader from the New York Yankees on Sunday for the first time ever. The two wins pushed them into a tie for first place […]

The Philadelphia Phillies opened a two-game weekend series at Wrigley Field on Saturday, April 17, 1976, in a bit of a slump. Their record four games into the new season was an uninspiring 1-3, putting a damper on the enthusiasm surrounding a team that had been picked by many to win the National League East. […]

Alvin Davis expected to spend 1984 in Triple A with the Salt Lake City Gulls. But a pitch from Milwaukee’s Jerry Augustine fractured Ken Phelps’s finger in the first week of the season, creating an opening at first base for the Seattle Mariners. After playing just one game in Salt Lake City, Davis, the former […]

Baseball fans throughout the country in 1976 had been hearing the scattered chatter, ever since mid-May. Talk of something new and exciting happening in Detroit. Some rookie pitcher with long hair. Didn’t they say he talked to the baseball? Got on his knees before each inning and groomed the mound? Stomped around the field like […]

Any fans who decided to take in both games of the Cleveland Guardians-Minnesota Twins split doubleheader on September 17, 2022, spent a very long day—and night—at the ballpark. The first game of this Saturday twin bill, a 1:10 start, was over in a tidy 2:32, giving fans at Cleveland’s Progressive Field plenty of time for […]

David Ortiz built his Hall of Fame career and Boston Red Sox legend on clutch hits—like the back-to-back extra-inning game-winners he delivered in Games Four and Five of the 2004 American League Championship Series in a pair of win-or-go-home games on the Red Sox’ path to their first World Series championship in 86 years. Before […]

“I told my team, ‘We really don’t know how to deal with this because we’ve never had to before.’ — Joe Torre1 A generation — commonly referred to as the baby-boomer generation — and the generations that followed had been going to baseball games for many years and before each game the national anthem had […]

In 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates rookie catcher Steve Nicosia watched the 6’1”, 220 lb. right-handed power hitter crowd the batter’s box and wondered, “How are we ever going to get a pitch by him?”1 Nicosia was hardly alone in these thoughts. For much of his 15-year major-league career Greg Luzinski – whose large bat appeared toothpick-like […]

Jason Davis, a 6-foot-6-inch right-handed fireballer, pitched in seven seasons from 2002 through 2008 for Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Known for a high-velocity sinking fastball in the upper 90s, Davis in 2003 led all American League rookie pitchers in innings pitched (165⅓), his first full season. Indians pitching coach Mike Brown compared […]

For one magnificent season, “Colby Jack” Coombs was the equal of any pitcher of the Deadball Era, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander included. Armed with an above average fastball and a devastating drop curve, Coombs had one of the most dominant pitching seasons in baseball history in 1910, rolling up a 31-9 […]

On graduation day in 1954, San Diego High School star athlete Floyd Robinson was signed personally by Bill “Chick” Starr, the owner of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres, for a reported $500 bonus.1 He appeared in three games — two in the outfield. He was 3-for-6 at the plate, and handled all eight […]

Being able to hear the sounds of the game is important to a baseball player, particularly to an outfielder. Hearing the distinctive sound of bat meeting ball enables the fielder to be off at the crack of the bat, getting a jump on the ball, and racing to the spot where he can catch the […]

Benigno Ayala lives up to his given name, which means “kind” or “friendly.” Following a productive career as a role player, he has bestowed greater gifts on the baseball world, through his work with the Baseball Assistance Team (BAT). Quite a few of his fellow Puerto Rican pros have fallen on hard times since they […]

Coming from the dirt fields of Puerto Rico to the heights of the major leagues, Pudge Rodríguez had a long and storied career as perhaps the greatest all-round catcher ever. Revered by Texas Rangers fans for his decade in Arlington, he led the Florida Marlins to a World Series title and was instrumental in re-energizing […]

During the Deadball Era, luck and persistence were nearly as important as talent in determining the ultimate success of a young player. In The Glory of Their Times, Al Bridwell spoke about the breaks that helped him reach the major leagues. Others of more modest talent reached the major leagues through persistence. Dale Porter’s career […]

Tommy Thevenow earned a place in the record books for the home runs he didn’t hit. He never cleared the fences in 15 big league seasons. He hit three inside-the-park homers in 17 days in 1926 — two in September and one in the World Series — then didn’t manage another for his last 3,614 […]

Grant Johnson, baseball historian Gary Ashwill argues, “was the best everyday player in Black baseball from 1895 to 1909.”1 After slugging his way to a legend with a hometown Findlay, Ohio, club in 1894, “Home Run” Johnson’s career mapped the finest Black teams of the era. He starred at shortstop for the Page Fence Giants, […]

Steve Bilko was a heavy hitter. Baseball encyclopedias list him at 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, the greatest tonnage that baseball allowed in print in the 1950s until the mammoth Frank Howard came along. When anyone asked Bilko how much he weighed, as so many did, he’d say between 200 and 300. Years later he told […]

Herb Welch played in almost 1,000 games in the minor leagues, but his time in the majors was limited to 13 games in 1925 for the Boston Red Sox. Welch was a shortstop and committed eight errors in the 13 games, which likely doomed his chances for further work at the big-league level despite a […]

Chuck Dobson might be best remembered as one of the first white players to room with an African-American on road trips, and as the first active player to admit using “greenies” (amphetamines) while playing. But that would be a disservice to the hard-throwing right-hander who seemed destined for a long career in the big leagues […]

Juan Bell’s big league career began under daunting circumstances. The younger brother of an MVP, he was traded for one future Hall of Famer and expected to dislodge another from his position. Bell battled those expectations — and more than one teammate — over seven seasons (1989-1995) with five teams in the majors, but the […]

Harry O’Hagan owns two distinctions that will never be equaled. The lesser of the two is that he had the longest stretch between his first and second major-league appearances of any position player who debuted in the nineteenth century. Born in Washington, D.C., on September 30, 1869, O’Hagan was catching for a Washington YMCA team […]

Russ Nixon spent more than half a century in baseball. A catcher who played 12 years for the Red Sox, Indians, and Twins, he went on to coach and manage at levels from rookie ball to the major leagues, with five seasons as a big-league manager.     The son of farmers Thomas and Edith Nixon […]

Shortstop Jackie Hernandez glided behind second base, smoothly picked up Merv Rettenmund’s ground ball and with one easy motion flipped it across the diamond to first baseman Bob Robertson for the final out of the 1971 World Series. “[The] catcher is running toward the camera at full speed, his upraised arms spread wide. His body […]