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“Naturally we’re going to miss him,” said Philadelphia Phillies manager Eddie Sawyer about left-hander Curt Simmons. “No team can lose a pitcher of Curt’s caliber without feeling it.”1 In his breakout campaign, the 21-year-old southpaw made his last start on September 9 of the Phillies’ most exciting season in history since their last pennant, in […]

When one thinks of home-run hitters and the Milwaukee Braves, Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews immediately come to mind. However, Joe Adcock, the hulking 6-foot-4-inch former basketball player at Louisiana State University, had the reputation of smashing some of the longest home runs ever witnessed. Although measuring the distance home runs travel has historically been […]

 Joe Oeschger, the ace of the Boston Braves pitching staff, cruised through the first eight innings of the opening game of a Thursday afternoon doubleheader at Braves Field. He gave up just three hits to the last-place Philadelphia Phillies, as he propelled the fourth-place Braves to a comfortable 6-0 lead going into the top of […]

The New York Giants were once again in their familiar position of first place in the National League. John McGraw’s bunch were a dynasty in the early 1920s, winning back-to-back World Series titles against their crosstown rival New York Yankees in 1921 and 1922. In 1923 they saw the Yankees finally have the upper hand […]

America’s Memorial Day festivities in 1948 included parades honoring fallen veterans and doubleheaders graced by the heroics of World War II comrades-in-arms. At Shibe Park in Philadelphia, former Navy and Marine Corps pilot Ted Williams drove in three runs in a win over the hometown A’s. Cincinnati Reds portsider Ken Raffensberger, inducted into the Navy […]

When Cardinals right-hander and future Hall of Famer Jesse Haines retired in 1937 after 18 seasons with the club, he held the franchise record for wins (210), innings pitched (3,203⅔), starts (387), and complete games (209), and had helped guide the Redbirds to five NL pennants and three titles. Haines’s pitching records have all since […]

The Boston Red Sox won both halves of the Memorial Day doubleheader against the visiting Philadelphia Athletics, 10-2 and 4-3, but Ted Williams hadn’t helped much until the eighth inning of the second game. In the first game, he had gone 0-for-3, hitting into two double plays, grounding out 3-1, and walking a couple of […]

Moping about the lobby of Boston’s luxurious Hotel Statler, Harvey Hendrick began talking about the dreary, pluvian commotion outside. “Boston weather is like this,” he said as he and his Brooklyn teammates watched sheets of rain and sleet blow past the hotel windows. “Sometimes it stays this way for two whole weeks. And then it […]

After 51 seasons and a single pennant at the Baker Bowl, the Philadelphia Phillies moved house. In late June of 1938, Phillies President Gerry Nugent announced that his team would become tenants of the Athletics at Shibe Park. The declining condition of the Baker Bowl motivated the relocation and was probably no surprise to baseball […]

Located 100 miles apart along the Missouri River, Omaha, Nebraska, and Sioux City, Iowa, were natural rivals in baseball. Friday, August 23, 1889, was Ladies’ Day at Omaha’s Base Ball Park1 for the first game of a three-game series between the Omaha White Sox and the Sioux City Corn Huskers. The White Sox were atop […]

As Boston Herald sportswriter Burton Whitman saw the preseason matchup, “It was the first time in 18 years that Boston teams engaged in Civil War.” However, as Boston Globe sportswriter James C. O’Leary averred, “It will be the first time these two clubs have come together since the days of Old Cy Young and Young […]

“Nice work, kid,” St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Rogers Hornsby said to Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Glenn Wright as Wright tagged Hornsby.1 It was the top of the ninth inning at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field on May 7, 1925. The 24-year-old Wright had caught a line drive and stepped on second before tagging Hornsby, completing the sixth […]

James Henry “Jimmy” Bannon was born on May 5, 1871, in Amesbury, Massachusetts. He grew up in Saugus, Massachusetts, where he played ball with his brothers Tom, George, and William. Tom Bannon also became a professional ballplayer and played two seasons with the New York Giants (1895, 1896). George and William never made it out […]

Half of the most famous version of the “Pretzel Battery,” catcher Heinie Peitz was a noted “coacher”—more of a bench jockey in modern parlance—whose mouth gained him nearly as much attention as his play. For nine years of his 16-season (1892–1906, 1913) career, he was a Cincinnati Reds mainstay. When he retired, Peitz ranked 12th […]

On October 26, 2005, at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, Chicago White Sox radio play-by-play broadcaster John Rooney was at his accustomed position behind the ESPN 1000 mic. It was Game Four of the World Series, and a victory over the Houston Astros would give the White Sox their first World Series championship in 88 years. […]

Bill Shettsline was the most identifiable face of the Philadelphia Phillies during their first half-century. After joining the team in 1884 as a ticket salesman, he soon became team secretary, before being suddenly thrust into a managerial role in 1898. Reckoning with cheap ownership, unruly players, and a baseball war, Shettsline nonetheless achieved a .548 […]

In 1937 rookie outfielder Gibby Brack captured the imagination of the baseball world with a 12-game hitting streak in the first two weeks of his major-league career, topping the National League in hitting. “There is power in his swing and speed in his legs,” exclaimed The Sporting News. “[H]e started out to make good for […]

Like a host of other marginal talents, pitcher John Connor owes his place in major league player ranks largely to the profusion of clubs accorded major league status during the 1884 season. At one time or other that year, no fewer than 33 different organizations claimed a National League, American Association, or Union Association franchise. […]

In 1955 Cleveland News sportswriter Ed McAuley noted that “[George] Susce is a man of many admirable qualities, but the ability to hit a baseball frequently was not among his assets.”1 At the time this was offered, Susce was 11 years removed from his last major-league appearance and well along into a coaching career that […]

In articles about Danny Boone adjectives such as little, tiny, short, diminutive, and sparky typically preceded his name. In retrospect the more important description was expressed by Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox in 1981: “Boone is amazing. He may not throw hard, but he knows how to pitch.” He added, “If Dan Boone weighs […]

Although he recorded a surprising six straight victories (and a 7-1 record) as a New York Giants rookie after his August 1931 debut, and was later a member of the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals’ champion Gas House Gang, Jim Mooney was much more than a professional baseball player. He was also a scholar, teacher, university […]

Mark Malaska served as a major-league baseball relief pitcher during two seasons. In 2003, the 6-foot-3, 191-pound left-hander broke into “The Show” with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He then joined the 2004 Boston Red Sox in their fabled World Series championship run. During his major-league career, Malaska appeared in 41 games and posted a […]

Serious major-league fans know that Jack Chesbro was the last 40-game winner, posting 41 victories in 1904. Others are aware that Carl Hubbell won 24 consecutive games from July 1936 into 1937. These are major-league records, but at the lower levels of baseball, Rip Hagerman posted 46 wins in his first year of professional ball […]

This article was published in the June 2015 issue of the SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee newsletter.   On September 28, 1920, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Hartley Replogle announced, “We are going after the gamblers now. There will be indictments in a few days against men in Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and other […]