Search Results

Before signing a $100,000 bonus contract with the 1957 Milwaukee Braves, John Stephen DeMerit had been a standout athlete since he was a youngster. In the fifth grade he set a record for the 100-yard dash (12.1 seconds) at the Port Relays, an annual event held in his hometown of Port Washington, Wisconsin, 27 miles […]

When rule changes in the 1880s allowed pitchers to begin throwing overhand, and therefore much faster, a skilled catcher was a valuable commodity. The following summed up how Bill Traffley was viewed: “The one thing that makes Traffley a very desirable catcher is his indomitable will, his energy, and the desperate chances which he accepts. […]

Yeah, who needs a .300 hitter? Especially if you’re a perennially last-place ballclub. Outfielder Ike Boone hit .337 for the Boston Red Sox in 1924 and .330 the following year, with on-base averages of .404 and .406, respectively. The Red Sox finished in last place nine years in row, excepting only 1924, when they finished […]

Right-handed pitcher Merlin Nippert pitched six innings of major-league baseball for the Boston Red Sox in September 1962. He appeared in four games between September 12 and September 22. It was but a brief stint, yet he had made the grade and acquitted himself reasonably well as a big leaguer. Merlin Lee Nippert was born […]

It is fitting that Bill Sayles started his big league career in Boston. The Sayles family had come full circle. He may not have realized it, but he was not the first of his family to ply his trade in Massachusetts. His ancestors landed on Boston’s shore before Boston was Boston. The Sayles family can […]

Gambling posed a serious threat to baseball in 1919. Rumors of a “fixed” World Series were widespread. Owners of major- and minor-league teams were anxious to get control of the situation and restore the public’s confidence in the sport. “The very life of baseball depends upon keeping it above suspicion of any sort,” said Dr. […]

Catcher Jack Warner worked ten years in the National League and five years in the American League, ranging from 1895 to 1908. He caught more than 1,000 games, hitting a solid .249, with a .303 on-base percentage. One of the most noted moments of his career came when he assaulted his own manager under the […]

Left-hander Bill Walker overcame two life-threatening heart attacks by the age of 15 to become a big-league pitcher. He debuted with the New York Giants in 1927 after a mentally taxing seven-year journey in the minor leagues. With two National League ERA titles in three years (1929 and 1931), it appeared that Walker was headed […]

Chet Emerson had made it to the big leagues. It was September 1911 and the Philadelphia Athletics had seen enough promise in the 21-year-old Dartmouth graduate to sign him to play for legendary Connie Mack and his first-place A’s. It’s safe to say that Emerson wasn’t particularly worried about where in the powerful Philadelphia lineup […]

George Fox was the definition of a utility player. In the minors, he played every position – including pitcher. “Fox can play any position on the nine and do it well,” wrote his hometown paper, the Pottstown, (Pennsylvania) Ledger.1 When he made the major leagues, he played first base, third base and catcher. In addition, […]

When you only pitch a few innings in the big leagues, in a meaningless game on the last day of the season, you don’t necessarily expect to get a lot of respect. So perhaps right-hander Jim Hisner wasn’t surprised to find that the Associated Press accounts of his one start called him Harvey Hisner. His […]

Pitcher Wilfred “Kid” Carsey achieved an 81-59 record for the 1892-95 Philadelphia Phillies, working an average of 317 innings per season. He was the antithesis of big hard-throwing contemporaries Cy Young and Amos Rusie. The diminutive Carsey frustrated hitters by delivering deceptive slow curves. He was normally cool and collected, but at times he was […]

Otey Clark pitched right in the middle of the ’40s in the heat of World War II. His major-league career may have lasted only one season but it was a productive season. His first win came against the Chicago White Sox when he pitched a complete game, giving up only two earned runs. For the […]

Eight major-leaguers died while serving in World War I.1 The third of these casualties, Eddie Grant, had the longest playing career and is also well remembered because he received a plaque in center field at the Polo Grounds. The shortest career on this list belonged to Alexander Thomson Burr, a pitcher who played just one […]

Jerry Moses aspired to become a major-league ballplayer, and declined football scholarships at Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities to pursue his dream. A 1970 American League All-Star, Jerry became the youngest Red Sox to hit a home run, at age 18 and 289 days, with a pinch-hit rocket off Jim “Mudcat” Grant on May 25, 1965. […]

Ovid Nicholson’s chief baseball skills were bunting and speedy base running. In 1912, he stole 111 bases in 123 games, vaulting from Class-D ball to a six-game stint in the majors. A contributor to the SABR/Baseball-Reference Encyclopedia quite reasonably posed the question as to what else Nicholson could have done to win a job with […]

Bert Thiel pitched four games for the 1952 Boston Braves, the extent of his major-league career. He had a long minor-league pitching career with 145 wins. He pitched two seasons of winter ball with Caguas, in Puerto Rico; managed in the minors; and scouted. His baseball mentors were George Selkirk, his manager with the 1953-55 […]

St. George Grounds began as a paradise, created alongside the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty, in what became the city that never sleeps.1 The centerpiece of developer Erastus Wiman’s resort on the northeast prow of Staten Island, New York, the Grounds were, variously, the last home of the American Association Metropolitans, the setting […]

As a kid growing up in Pasco across the river, being able to stand on the mound at Sanders Field was as big for me as going to Yankee Stadium. — Bruce Kison1 Sanders Field, circa 1953 (Photos courtesy of the Eastern Benton County Historical Society)   Sanders-Jacobs Memorial Field, originally known as Sanders Field, […]

Babe Ruth put on a home-run show in his hometown on April 18, 1919. The Boston Red Sox pitcher-outfielder swatted four round-trippers in four at-bats during a chilly, one-sided exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles. The Babe had begun to make his grand transition from top-flight left-handed pitcher to full-time outfielder and slugger. In 1918 […]

On the path to the 2004 World Series championship, the rain-shortened June 25 Red Sox win over the Philadelphia Phillies was notable in many respects. The 11-run margin of victory was the largest of any Red Sox game in 2004, matched by three other such games.1 Manny Ramírez had five runs batted in, the first […]

In 1987, Ken “The Kid” Griffey Jr. truly was a kid: Just 17 years old, he was beginning his pro baseball career with the Bellingham (Washington) Mariners of the Northwest League. The first half of June 1987 was undoubtedly a whirlwind for the teenager, who had recently graduated from Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati. […]

As the 1917 season reached its next-to-last day on October 3, the Boston Red Sox, winners of the American League pennant and World Series in the two previous seasons, were in second place, eight games behind the Chicago White Sox, who had dethroned the Red Sox and wrapped up the pennant a week earlier. The […]

This article was originally published in Ebbets Field: Great, Historic, and Memorable Games in Brooklyn’s Lost Ballpark (SABR, 2023), edited by Gregory H. Wolf.   The Brooklyn Eagle, beginning in 1946, staged its “Brooklyn Against the World” competition at Ebbets Field. The main forces behind the game were Branch Rickey of the Dodgers and Lou […]