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“It’ll be kinda tough to do a story on me,” Don Lenhardt once said, “because I lead an ordinary life. Nothing really exciting ever happened to me.”1 For literally millions of people, of course, the opportunity to get a time at-bat in one baseball game would be pretty exciting, even if they were to strike […]

With a competitive, sometimes combative, spirit and a devastating split-fingered fastball, Jack Morris became the pitcher of the 1980s and continued his dominance into the early 1990s. His 162 victories in the 1980s were 22 more than runner-up Dave Stieb of Toronto. Four times he was a member of a world-championship team, including a one-year […]

He was blessed with cat-like reflexes, an accurate arm, and the ability to get his throws off quickly. His range at third base was as sweeping as a ten-foot leaf rake. He broke into the big leagues in Minnesota, honed his craft in Cleveland, and finally burst into stardom under the bright lights of New […]

If the Detroit Tigers had only won their final game of the 1967 season, Lee Stange would have started the most important game in nearly 20 years for the Boston Red Sox. After the Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins on the last day of the magical season, manager Dick Williams told Stange to take […]

An All-Star and 20-game winner in 1970, Jim Merritt was a crafty southpaw who went 81-86 during an 11-year big-league career spent most notably with the Minnesota Twins and the Cincinnati Reds. “Aggressiveness,” replied Merritt when asked about the key to his success. (He won 62 games over the four-year period 1967-70 before arm injuries […]

No less an authority than Ted Williams referred to him as “the greatest young hitter I’ve ever seen.”1 His immense power drew comparisons to Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Eddie Mathews, while his value was glimpsed in an unexecuted one-for-one swap with the California Angels’ future Cooperstown inductee Nolan Ryan. (The talks collapsed only […]

George Henry “Joe” Decker Jr. compiled a 36-44 record over nine seasons as a pitcher with the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins and Seattle Mariners. Coming up to the Cubs in 1969, Decker spent parts of the next four seasons with the parent club, making a total of 23 starts. But he could not crack a […]

Almost. That’s Larry Jackson’s career in a word. He almost led his junior college football team to an undefeated season. In baseball’s major leagues, he won almost 200 games, almost pitched a perfect game, and almost won a Cy Young Award. Jackson was one of the National League’s top pitchers for almost a decade. His […]

“Joey is extremely smart. He’s great with figures and crossword puzzles. He could spell backwards when he was five. Did you know my Joey was an Eagle Scout? He took French in high school, finished sixth in his class of 266. I brought him up to excel in everything. He wants to be perfect.” — […]

Nearly everyone knows of a person who is a natural. The classmate who barely cracks open a book and yet gets straight A’s. The popular student whom everyone emulates. The athlete who succeeds in any sport they attempt. The phrase “He’s a natural” has been used again and again to describe those with innate ability. […]

Any list of the greatest players ever to don a Milwaukee Brewers uniform has to include Don Money. He is a four-time All-Star and a Brewers’ Walk of Fame member who holds major-league records as a third baseman. Money was an infield specialist who amassed a .975 fielding percentage over 16 seasons from 1968 to […]

It was Ted Williams who dubbed Bobby Doerr “the silent captain of the Red Sox” and a more down-to-earth Hall of Famer might be hard to find. A career Red Sox player, Doerr’s fame enjoyed a resurgence in 2004 with the publication of David Halberstam’s book about him and his famous teammates.1  Born in the city of […]

Don Lock was a strong defensive center fielder who twice placed in the top 10 in homers in the American League. He played in 921 major-league games from 1962 to 1969. Lock was originally signed in March 1958 by New York Yankees scout Tom Greenwade, the same scout who signed Mickey Mantle. Greenwade signed Lock […]

Eddie Yost was a slick-fielding, high-on-base-percentage third baseman, an athlete who continued to make his name at the hot corner after his playing days were over, as the third base coach for the Washington Senators, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox. Known as “The Walking Man” for his propensity at getting bases on balls, […]

Dick Fitzgerald’s left arm should be put on display in a glass case, if not donated to science. It’s known as the ultimate innings-eater. It has Satchel Paige wear-and-tear. It has an expiration date on it somewhere, doesn’t it? Doing a complete inventory, the Pennsylvania native has served up more than a million pitches, encompassing […]

Soon after the 1967 World Series ended, Fleetwood Recording Co. released a long-playing phonograph record, The Impossible Dream, a reprise of the Boston Red Sox magical same-year pennant. Narrating, Sox announcer Ken Coleman hailed “an affair twixt a town and a team,” telling how the Boston American League Baseball Company used wonderwork to wave 1967’s […]

A superb college basketball player, Charles Nash became the University of Kentucky’s career scoring leader in the early ’60s. Yet baseball was his first love. “Cotton” — as he was known for his bright blond hair — was also a slugging first baseman/outfielder. He juggled the two sports as a pro, and though his time […]

Al Worthington came from a large Alabama family, the seventh of ten children born to Walter B. Worthington, a newspaper compositor, and his wife, Lake Worthington.  After four daughters, the Worthingtons welcomed Allan Fulton Worthington into the world on February 5, 1929, in Birmingham. Walter worked for the Birmingham News for his last ten years […]

Reginald Martinez Jackson was born on May 18, 1946, in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, a largely white suburb north of Philadelphia’s central city. His father, Martinez Jackson, ran a dry-cleaning and tailoring business. As a grown man, Reggie claimed he still knew how to cuff a pair of slacks.1 His father was a veteran of World War […]

During a five-season career (1963-1967) spent mostly with the Washington Senators, right-hander Buster Narum tossed shutouts at Yankee Stadium and White Sox Park, and he struck out six future Hall of Famers.1 But Narum, owner of a .059 career batting average, is perhaps better remembered for homering in his first major-league at-bat. He was just […]

Overcoming potentially career-ending shoulder injuries in the early 1950s to develop into one of the most feared sluggers of his era, Roy Sievers became just the 18th player to hit 300 home runs. With a powerful and graceful swing that Casey Stengel called “one of the sweetest,” 1 Sievers, known as Mr. Clutch for his […]

Juan Berenguer combined a high-90s fastball and a menacing appearance to become the first Panamanian-born pitcher to win a World Series ring, starting 27 games for the Detroit Tigers in their 1984 championship season. And he did it again three years later, earning the monikers “Señor Smoke” and “El Gasolino” for the 1987 Twins. Berenguer […]

“Everyone dreams about playing in the majors, but I never thought I’d get the chance. Almost no one else from there had ever done it, so I didn’t think about it. Baseball was just for fun.” — Kevin Tapani1   When he was growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Kevin Tapani didn’t expect […]

On April 12, 1955, the former Philadelphia Athletics, having moved that winter to Kansas City, opened their first season at Municipal Stadium: A’s 6, Tigers 2, before a standing-room crowd of 32,147. Flanked by franchise progenitor Connie Mack, former President Harry Truman tossed the team’s first ball in Missouri’s first American League (AL) opener since […]