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The Phillies’ home opener on April 20, 1961, was a cool spring day at Connie Mack Stadium. The afternoon was cloudy with temperatures in the low 50s. Philadelphia fans should have left happy with an Opening Day win. The Braves had done almost everything wrong heading into the top of the ninth inning. The Phillies […]

1986 Sportsco Living Legends baseball card featuring Harmon Killebrew, Al Kaline, Warren Spahn, and Hoyt Wilhelm (Trading Card Database)   “Give me an Old-Timers Classic over the All-Star Game any day,” wrote Tom Boswell in the Washington Post on the eve of the June 29, 1987, game. “I’m trying to remember the 1986 All-Star Game. […]

It took a lot to pry the attention of the baseball world away from New York teams on September 30, 1973. The Yankees played their final game at the original Yankee Stadium, losing to Detroit. And the Mets split a doubleheader with the Cubs to cling to a one-game lead in the National League East. […]

By the end of the 1960s, it seemed that the Major League Baseball All-Star Game had turned into an annual exhibition of National League dominance. The senior circuit had won 11 of 13 games during the decade (two games were played in 1960, 1961 and 1962; one game was tied when it was called because […]

Henry Aaron hit 44 home runs in his first season as an Atlanta Brave. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   The Braves began their first season of play in Atlanta in 1966 after moving south from Milwaukee, the city they had called home from 1953 until 1965. The team featured a number of strong hitters, including catcher-first baseman […]

Warren Spahn joined the elite group of 300-game winners with a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on August 11, 1961, ending the longest gap ever between 300-game winners. The Red Sox’ Lefty Grove had won his 300th game 20 years and 17 days earlier, on July 25, 1941. Fans wanted to witness what they […]

Jose Alberto Pujols took the big leagues by storm when he debuted for the St. Louis Cardinals at age 21 in 2001. Born in the Dominican Republic, Pujols had moved to the United States as a teenager, graduated from high school early, earned junior-college All-America honors, and reached the majors less than two years after […]

On a late-April Sunday afternoon at Crosley Field, the Cincinnati Redlegs hosted the Milwaukee Braves in a slugfest. Cincinnati battled from behind three times to defeat the defending National League pennant winners. A wild and loud crowd of 14,925 braved a chance of rain to cheer the Redlegs to victory. The seesaw game ended on […]

The 1961 major-league season was barely three weeks old the day 29-year-old Willie Mays produced perhaps the greatest offensive performance of his legendary career. Led by Mays, the San Francisco Giants came to Milwaukee for a three-game series with the hometown Braves. Just a year away from the World Series, the Giants were a team […]

When Ron Hunt, the rawboned 22-year-old Mets second baseman, strode to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning on April 19, 1963, much was riding on the outcome. The Mets had once again opened the season with eight straight losses and were now within two outs of tying their record for season-opening futility, […]

The National League West-leading Cincinnati Reds hosted division rival Atlanta for a three-game series starting on May 15, 1970. The Reds (24-10) had the NL’s best winning percentage (.706) and enjoyed a four-game lead over the second-place Braves. The Reds’ balanced attack was illustrated by their leading the league in runs scored (173) and fewest […]

In 1964 Connie Mack Stadium was described as a “sprawling network of steel and concrete, hemmed in by a drab, dreary, fraying residential district”1 Nevertheless, 26,381 spectators jammed into the stadium on a Saturday afternoon for Knothole Day, a promotion where free tickets were given to kids 14 and under (the paid attendance was only […]

A starting pitcher’s offday routine includes — but is not limited to — stretches; warm-up tosses; advanced scouting notes; and, on occasion, batting practice. It’s not often that the latter task would prove vital to the outcome of a game. On September 22, 1974, pitcher Tom Griffin pinch-hit for another pitcher, Ken Forsch, and smashed […]

Henry Aaron won his first of two batting titles in 1956 with a .328 mark. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   After falling behind the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-0, the Milwaukee Braves came back to win, 3-2, in 10 innings. This victory gave the Braves a four-game sweep of the defending World Series champions.1 Joe Adcock tied the score […]

Jim Gantner played 17 years in the big leagues, all with the Milwaukee Brewers. In many ways, he was considered the “heart and soul” of the 1982 Brewers, bringing a competitive spirit and hard-nosed approach to the game. The image of Gantner and Charlie Moore embracing each other at home plate in County Stadium after […]

At age 17 he signed his first professional baseball contract. Several years later he helped the Cincinnati Reds win two National League pennants. For a while, Jim McGlothlin was one of the best pitchers in baseball. However, a series of injuries and a debilitating illness brought his career to a premature close. At the age […]

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 […]

With two minor-league seasons under his belt and the 1969 Midwest League campaign rapidly approaching, Leo Mazzone, then a starting pitcher with the Decatur Commodores, sought clarity about his short-term pitching prospects. The young hurler split his first two seasons in the San Francisco Giants system, a total of 56 appearances, between the Medford Giants […]

A right-handed relief pitcher whose major-league career spanned the entire decade of the 1950s, Ernie Johnson retired with a lifetime record of 40-23 and an ERA of 3.77 in 273 games. “Maybe not the stuff of Cooperstown,” remembered Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews, a former teammate, “but damn it, the man could pitch.”1 Johnson’s even […]

Outfielder Greg Harts got into his only three big-league games with the New York Mets during the 1973 pennant race. The lefty was called up from Double-A and got a hit in two pinch-hit at-bats. His only other appearance came as a pinch-runner; he never played in the field in the majors. Harts ran well […]

On August 29, 2008, 25-year-old Will Venable, made his major-league debut with the San Diego Padres. Although the Padres lost to the Colorado Rockies that day, 9-4, outfielder Venable, brought up from Triple-A Portland, tripled to right center in the second inning, in his first at-bat, and then scored on Aaron Cook’s wild pitch. Venable, […]

Seventeen members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at The Original Crusoe’s Restaurant in South St. Louis on Monday, June 22, 2015. Chapter president Brian Flaspohler called the meeting to order and reminded everyone of the upcoming Research Conference on Saturday, August 22, and hoped that anyone that would like to participate as presenters, […]

Ten members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at The Original Crusoe’s Restaurant in South St. Louis on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Chapter president Brian Flaspohler called the meeting to order. He announced that, for those who were interested, SABR’s annual report was now available online. He has also been pleased to receive […]

Thirteen members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at the Sports Cafe, located at 3579 Pennridge Drive in Bridgeton, Missouri, on Tuesday, November 14, 2017. Chapter president Brian Flaspohler called the meeting to order. Items noted in “Today in Baseball History”: 1957 – Hank Aaron receives 239 points from the baseball writers to […]