Search Results

In the 1940s radio drama The Diary of Fate, a character’s life would take an ominous turn as the result of a seemingly harmless event. In one episode for example, a sportswriter in need of money accidentally forgot his pipe in a telephone booth, and when he went back to retrieve it, he overheard a […]

Maynard Faye Throneberry was the decidedly less-colorful — and less-celebrated — of the major leagues’ two Throneberry brothers. His younger brother was dubbed “Marvelous Marv”, a player who gained infamy as a symbol of baseball ineptitude, particularly in the field and on the base paths. Faye (he was never referred to by his first name) […]

From 1960 to 1971, outfielder Tony González enjoyed a fine major-league career, He was never an All-Star – no insult, considering that Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Roberto Clemente were his peers – but he might have accomplished even more had he not suffered from back and eye problems. (The latter could have stemmed from […]

From 1942 to 1944, when World War II deprived major-league baseball of many of its top players, Al Javery was considered by some to be among the better pitchers left playing in the United States. At the very least he was one of the better players on the mediocre Boston Braves of the time. But […]

Andy Warhol once suggested that “In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Hal Smith was no exception, even though he had only about 13 minutes of fame, or even less. Smith could have been the hero of the 1960 World Series were it not for several events that occurred shortly after his […]

The story is almost apocryphal, existing somewhere on that boundary between real and remembered. As it is most often told, a 10- (or perhaps 11-) year-old Art Pennington was on an afternoon fishing trip with his mother. As they began the trip home, one of the Essex’s balloon tires went flat. Art hopped out of […]

Until Hugo came along in 1989, Hurricane Hazel (1954) was the strongest storm ever to strike the South Carolina coast. Thus it is fitting that a man from the Palmetto State should be the mighty storm’s namesake: right fielder Bob Hazle, who hit the National League with a bang late in the 1957 season. Although […]

A superior defensive catcher, the well-traveled Leon Ruffin was a member of the 1946 Newark Eagles and a Negro League all-star that same year. Ruffin’s defensive skills were legendary. He was noted for his ability to handle pitching staffs and to detect a batter’s weakness. He had a strong throwing arm that was considered one […]

Turner Ward has two World Series rings from his time with the 1992 and 1993 Toronto Blue Jays. He is a member of the Mobile, Alabama, Sports Hall of Fame (2007 inductee) and is best known in baseball history for never giving up and not having taken his eye off the ball. Turner Max Ward […]

“Don’t ever get comfortable, because the game has a way of humbling you.” – Terry Adams1  A relief pitcher most of his career, Terry Adams won his first and only World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2004. Standing 6-feet-3-inches tall and weighing 225 pounds, the fiery right-hander was an imposing presence on the […]

Frank Carswell was a right-handed pitcher whose career began in 1944 with the local Dan Montgomerys of Buffalo, New York; included stints in the Negro Leagues with the Cleveland Buckeyes, Harlem Colored Giants, Harlem Globetrotters, Chicago American Giants, and Indianapolis Clowns; and ended with a postseason barnstorming gig with Jackie Robinson’s New York All-Stars in […]

Looking at Ken Silvestri’s major-league statistics could leave the impression his baseball career was marginal at best. He played in 102 games in eight seasons spread over 13 years, hit five home runs, and had a .217 batting average. However, by the time he died at 75, in 1992, he had spent more than half […]

When the 1959 Milwaukee Braves shuffled eight second basemen in a game of musical gloves, Casey Wise was Mr. June. Wise was born into a baseball family, but his big league career was short and disappointing. His baseball earnings paid his way through dental school, launching a successful second career. Kendall Cole Wise was born […]

While common wisdom dictates that baseball games are won with bats, balls, and gloves, Charlie Dressen believed until his dying breath that any game could be won with brains. Well, any game could be won with his brains. And it’s not hard to see why. Few field leaders had the percentages figured better than Dressen, […]

“I’m a damn good catcher, if I do have to say so myself,” Ed Bailey said.1 He wasn’t lying. Like other 1950s catchers, he was overshadowed by Yogi Berra and Roy Campanella, but Bailey was a five-time All-Star, a left-handed power hitter who threw out nearly half of would-be base stealers Besides his bat and […]

“Good field no hit” is a label that can doom any player. When that player is pushed through the system, it can stunt his natural growth into a position. And when he’s competing against several others for the same spot – people who have much more support from the team – the opportunities may just […]

“(Curt) Motton has been Baltimore’s best pinch-hitter ever since I’ve been managing this club. He was an automatic choice in this spot.” — Orioles manager Earl Weaver after Motton’s game-tying double helped Baltimore come from behind to beat Oakland’s Vida Blue in the 1971 American League Championship Series1   Curt Motton grew up in the […]

It was a damp night at Shea Stadium in early August 1977. The last-place Mets, toiling through extra innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers, looked done for after the would-be National League champions took a 7-6 lead in the top of the 11th. But they managed to put runners at first and second with one […]

When Wally Moon came to bat for the first time in the majors, some of the home fans in St. Louis booed. Others yelled, “We want Eno.” Two days earlier Enos Slaughter, a Cardinal favorite for 16 years—the hustling, hard-nosed, red-necked Country Slaughter, who left the dugout running and kept running until he hit the […]

“There are a lot of men like Harry Warner at the fringes of the game,” observed Minneapolis Tribune columnist Doug Grow shortly after the 1982 World Series. “The game grabs them young and holds on forever. And it doesn’t give them a whole bunch in return.” Be that as it may, Warner certainly appreciated what […]

Paul Doyle toiled in the minor-leagues for a decade before making his major league debut for the Atlanta Braves on May 28, 1969. He helped Atlanta win the 1969 National League West Division. Doyle’s stellar relief pitching for the 1969-70 Ponce Lions was a factor in that team winning the Puerto Rico Winter League title. […]

The June 5, 1970, matchup between the defending National League West Division champion Atlanta Braves and the expansion Montreal Expos appeared to be lopsided. The Expos were on an 11-game losing streak and had been shut out twice in a row, forcing manager Gene Mauch to call a pregame meeting with his players. The 90-minute […]

It’s a trivia question that most baseball fans would struggle with: Who was the first American League or National League batter to have a 7-for-7 game in the twentieth century? Even with the hint that it was a Detroit Tiger, the question is a tough one to answer. Ty Cobb would be a good guess. […]

When the Chicago Cubs finally won a World Series again in 2016, after 108 years of futility, they also shed their standing as “lovable losers,” ceding that title back to the squad to whom it truly belonged: Charlie Brown and his ragtag neighborhood team of Peanuts fame. Indeed, for all the failure and ignominy the […]