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Baseball brawls are usually limited to some vigorous pushing and shoving. Punches may be thrown, but few connect. The donnybrook on June 6, 1993, between the Orioles and Mariners, however, was the exception to the rule, with the scene at Camden Yards more reminiscent of an NHL hockey brawl. The dust-up delayed the ballgame for […]

The San Diego Padres arrived at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, July 8, 2011, to start a three-game series against the Dodgers. It was a tale of two teams playing to climb out of the bottom of the National League West Division. The Dodgers were mired in last place, 12 games behind the […]

Say “Branch Rickey” to a casual baseball fan and they are likely to respond with some combination of “Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers, integration” – words that figure prominently in Rickey’s National Baseball Hall of Fame qualifications.1 Some fans may also recall his 10-year managerial career (139-179 record with the St. Louis Browns and 458-485 with […]

The 1979 White Sox were accustomed to excitement in Comiskey under the ownership of the promotional Bill Veeck, but it wasn’t usually from the ballgame. That changed on July 14, when outfielder Claudell Washington slammed three home runs against the Detroit Tigers. A strong player who made it onto the American League All-Star team in […]

The iconic main entry of Ebbets Field was located at the intersection of Sullivan Place and Cedar Street (later renamed McKeever Place). (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive)   Brooklyn got a day’s head start on the rest of the majors in the 1913 season. Opening Day for the other 14 big-league teams came on April 10 that […]

After debuting in 1986, Greg Maddux left the Chicago Cubs following the 1992 season with a 95-75 record, a career ERA of 3.35, and the 1992 Cy Young Award. Over the next six seasons with the Atlanta Braves, he dominated the National League with a 107-42 record and a 2.15 ERA and won three more […]

Noble Winfred “Win” Ballou (pronounced buh-LOO) was “one of the most colorful pitchers in the history of the Pacific Coast League, or any other league.”1 The man who called himself “Old Pard” was born in Mount Morgan, Kentucky. “It doesn’t exist anymore,” he said. “You see, the mine closed down … and a big wind […]

On July 14, 1953, the National League defeated the American League, 5-1, in the major-league All-Star Game at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. On that same date in another Midwest town, Decatur, Illinois, the All-Star game for a Class D minor league, the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League,1 was played at Decatur’s Fans Field. The game featured the […]

In over a century of existence, through 2016 the New York Yankees have been run by only five different ownership groups.1 To their great fortune and that of their fans, the three longest tenured were well-capitalized and committed to winning. They also had a terrific knack for finding great baseball men to work for them. […]

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 […]

The career of Al Schulz might be summed up as “promise unfulfilled.” He received several opportunities in the minor and major leagues, but through a lack of ambition never achieved the success that had been expected of him. Although he was possibly the best left-hander in the Federal League, this was, as his one-time manager […]

A few years ago, baseball fans were amazed by the story of Jim Morris, a thirty-something father of three who arrived at a tryout camp with a baby carriage, lit up the radar gun and subsequently made his major league debut at age 35. The story was so quirkily implausible that a book deal and […]

Robert Francis “Bob” McKinney, best known as a member of the 1901 Philadelphia Athletics during the inaugural season of the American League, was born on October 4, 1875, in McSherrystown, Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph Gregory McKinney, was of Irish descent and served in the 22nd Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil War. After the war McKinney […]

At its postseason meeting of October 1883, the leadership of the fledgling American Association confronted an organizational problem: the ownership of its New York Metropolitans franchise by the Metropolitan Exhibition Company, the same entity that operated the New York Giants of the rival National League.1 The remedy adopted by circuit brass was drastic. AA Secretary […]

The light-hitting, 5-foot-6 shortstop William Benjamin Fuller parlayed his excellent fielding into a nine-year career in the majors (1888-1896), beginning with a 49-game stint with the National League’s Washington Nationals. In 1889 he began a seven-year stretch as a starting shortstop, first with the American Association’s St. Louis Browns and then later back in the […]

Walter Edward Parrott, known to all as “Jiggs,” starred for several years for amateur and professional teams in his native Portland, Oregon, before becoming the first native of his state to play in the major leagues. A solid performer at the plate and at third base, his career and life were cut short when he […]

“He’s either the poorest great third baseman or the greatest poor third baseman.”1 In perhaps one of the best non-Yogi-Berra quotes in baseball history, this was Branch Rickey’s assessment of Frenchy Bordagaray, a colorful outfielder/third baseman who played for several teams in the 1930s and 1940s. He was free-spirited enough to fit in with both […]

Baseball history is filled with stories of Irish American players, particularly in the 19th century, whose promising careers were derailed by alcohol abuse. Few stories are more tragic than that of Dan Lally. Called “Handsome Dan,” Dapper Dan,” and “the Adonis of the diamond” during his playing days, Lally was a consistent .300 hitter during […]

Timing is everything. Walter Wilmot was a highly sought-after outfielder in his prime during the bidding war between the upstart Players League and the established National League. During a six-season run (1890-1895) with the Chicago Colts (the former nickname, White Stockings, was still sometimes used), Wilmot was reportedly paid an “astounding” $4,250 a season, the […]

Al Sothoron was a spitball pitcher and a master of trick deliveries. When the moist pitch was outlawed, Sothoron was one of 17 practitioners of the art who were exempted from the ban under a grandfather clause. Whether he continued to use other trick pitches, some of which were now illegal, is a matter of […]

Cuban entrepreneur Roberto “Bobby” Maduro was a singular baseball man. When he passed away in 1986, the news made the front page of El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish newspaper of Miami, where he and so many of his countrymen made their home after Fidel Castro took power. In that story, Fausto Miranda (the dean of […]

On September 19, 1988, the Pittsburgh Pirates paid tribute to the Homestead Grays by hoisting a black-and-white commemorative flag over Three Rivers Stadium. The occasion commemorated an event from 40 years earlier, when the Negro National League’s Grays defeated the Birmingham Black Barons, champions of the Negro American League, four games to one in the […]

A quick glance at John Neuer’s line in the baseball encyclopedias suggests that he was just another cup-of-coffee major league pitcher who had a brief trial and failed to impress. But then a number jumps off the page and demands an explanation: in six major league starts and one relief appearance, Neuer hurled three shutouts. How […]

The cramped wooden ballpark had few admirers. Inconveniently located in the far northern reaches of Manhattan, it had been hastily erected in spring 1903 and was constantly in need of refurbishment. The team that it housed was a fitting occupant, a second-fiddle mediocrity that never won a pennant and only rarely contended for one. Unloved […]