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May 13 was still early in the 1967 season. A sparse crowd of 9,606 was in attendance on a cool spring day in Boston’s Fenway Park with temperatures in the low 60s. Strong winds between 18 and 21 MPH were blowing from left to right field. The first-place Detroit Tigers were clinging to a half-game […]

The 21st-century baseball devotee has at his fingertips an abundance of statistical trivia the likes of which were undreamed of by his 19th-century counterpart. He is duly advised by the media when So-and-so has collected his 700th hit or Whatzizname has notched his fifth straight season of 20 stolen bases. In the first decades of […]

On August 15, 1966, Boog Powell of the Baltimore Orioles delighted Chesapeake Bay’s baseball fans when he swatted three balls into the Fenway Park stands. The 230-pound, 6-foot-4 first baseman was responsible for all the runs scored in Baltimore’s 4-2 victory over the last-place Boston Red Sox. Powell’s feat in the 11-inning contest secured the […]

Baseball’s All-Star Game was played at Griffith Stadium in 1937 and 1956, and now it was time for another generation of local baseball fans to gather at the new District of Columbia Stadium to watch the feats of the greats. History told us later that the 1962 All-Star Game featured 18 future Hall of Famers.1 […]

The Philadelphia Phillies finished 81-80 in 1962, the franchise’s first winning season in nine years, but by June 23, 1963, they were nine games under .500. The ’63 Phillies’ fortunes turned, however, after a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field, highlighted by right fielder Johnny Callison’s hitting and throwing in a 13-4 […]

19 hits, 11 runs. That’s the firepower provided by the Dodgers offense for Johnny Podres on June 11, 1959. But the lefty needed only a one-run cushion as he outmaneuvered the Phillies in a two-hit shutout at Connie Mack Stadium. A crowd of 15,819 inhabited the ballpark for this nighttime game. Philly’s rooters mourned the […]

“I didn’t even slide. I’m very proud of that.”1 This was Boog Powell’s description of his first-ever inside-the-park home run, nine seasons and nearly 200 homers into a career better known for clearing fences than dashing around basepaths. Yet it was his running that put an exclamation point on the Baltimore Orioles’ 15-run shellacking of […]

Catcher Fred “Bootnose” Hofmann played in part or all of nine major-league seasons (1919-25; 1927-28). He never played in The Show for a team other than the Yankees and the Red Sox, but his minor-league career (which began in 1915) continued through 1937. Hofmann also served as a minor-league manager, coached with the St. Louis […]

Helen Dettweiler was “The Girl of Summer” in 1938 when she became the first woman to broadcast professional baseball, according to The Sporting News. A promotional stunt for a radio sponsor, it was just one stop in a life of adventure. She served as a World War II code-breaker and military pilot, and was one […]

Leon “Boogie Wolf” Childress is one of many obscure “ghost players” of the Negro Leagues, a player skilled enough to make it onto the rosters and even into group photographs of some very good teams, but never earning regular playing time or appearing in any statistical record. Leon was born on June 23, 1910, in […]

Curtis Le Roy Blefary is best remembered for winning the American League Rookie of the Year award in 1965. He had three productive seasons for the Orioles before his intertwined personal demons, alcohol and anger, overcame his terrific natural ability. Blefary was a key contributor to the Orioles’ pennant in 1966. The left-handed hitter was […]

“We are a baseball family, I guess,” said Charlie Ganzel of his clan in a 1904 interview.1 One of a bevy of family members who achieved success in baseball, Charlie was arguably the most prominent of the Ganzel brothers. Although he was a key contributor to five pennant-winning National League teams during the late nineteenth […]

“You were a good man to have on a team. You kept the spirits up. You were the life of the party.” — Ted Page, to Jake Stephens 1   Jake Stephens may have been the greatest defensive shortstop of all time. He was on par with Modern Era defensive shortstops like Mark Belanger and […]

Supplanting a future Hall of Famer (if only for a spell), a stalwart of the New Orleans semipro circuit, and a historically poor major-league fielder, Larry Pezold is an intriguing figure in the Cleveland Naps history. Lorenz (Larry) Johannes (John) Pezold was born June 22, 1893, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the youngest of eight children […]

In the late 19th century, real estate investor, stockbroker, and fruit and produce wholesaler George Vanderbeck gained attention in sporting circles as a prominent minor-league baseball magnate. Between 1890-94, he was involved in the launch of three franchises and rubbed shoulders with notable contemporaries such as Charles Comiskey, Ban Johnson, and Connie Mack. Although refined […]

Ninety miles. To most baseball fans, the term refers to fastball speed, a pitch whose “standard” for major-league success hinges on such baseline velocity. A ball thrown at such speed can cross home plate in little more than a second. By contrast, it takes much longer to travel the 90 miles that separate Cuba and […]

John Ryn’s career was spent in the Midwest, South and West far from the eyes of the major East Coast newspapers and fans. All of it was spent in the minors or below. Considering this and the fact that his career ended more than a century ago, few have heard of him. Physically, he was […]

Eddie McFarland was one of the most talented catchers of his day but suffered badly from alcoholism, many years missing big chunks of playing time during the course of a season. Despite ultimately drinking himself out of the game, he still had a long career. He must have had a strong constitution, because he also […]

A tenacious, feisty catcher who played six years in the 1890s with the Chicago club of the National League, Tim Donahue appeared in 466 major league games and compiled a .236 lifetime batting average. He was an outspoken individual, having what one sportswriter termed “a tongue as nimble as a squirrel’s and as sharp as […]

One of the most energetic players of his era, Jimmy Austin was a sparkplug for the New York Highlanders and St. Louis Browns over an 18-year career spent entirely in the American League. A speedy switch-hitting third baseman, Austin stole at least twenty bases in each of his first six major league seasons, and he […]

In October 1876, outfielder-first baseman John Glenn was perched atop the baseball world, a lineup regular for the Chicago White Stockings, champions of the inaugural season of the National League. A dozen years later, he lay semi-conscious on his deathbed in upstate New York, the object of nationwide opprobrium. Universal disdain of Glenn was reflected […]

Jim Johnson may have second thoughts if he grew up in today’s era of millionaire ball players. However, the southpaw who pitched for one season with the 1970 San Francisco Giants, valued family and a desire to become an educator as more important values than remaining in the big leagues. Just as he did by […]

The June 6, 1945, headline in The Dispatch (Moline, Illinois) read, “Cincinnati Clowns to Play at Davenport Friday Night.” The piece to follow reported, “Some of the greatest names in Negro baseball appear in the Clowns’ lineup, among them being Roosevelt ‘Duro’ Davis, second only to ‘Satchel’ Paige in Negro pitching circles.” Hyperbole or not, Davis, 41 […]

Though Mose YellowHorse toed the rubber for two underachieving Pittsburgh Pirates teams in 1921 and 1922, he left an indelible mark on the club and its fanbase. Because of his off-the-field antics and on-the-field accomplishments, YellowHorse was a longtime fan favorite. Those in executive and administrative positions with the Pirates were not so quick to […]