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Except for a brief September call-up in 1953, Eddie Phillips spent his entire 11-year pro baseball career in the minor leagues. Yet, during those 2½ weeks with the St. Louis Cardinals, he established a record for most runs scored in the major leagues (four) without a plate appearance or taking a defensive position. His pinch-running […]

Kevin Gryboski pitched parts of five seasons (2002-2006) in the major leagues. The big right-handed reliever with an excellent sinker spent the bulk of his time with the Atlanta Braves. As of 2021, he owned the distinction of being the only player to twice pitch in all five games of a League Division Series, having […]

Fred Toney was a big, strong, temperamental right-handed pitcher who authored two of the best performances in baseball history. Pitching for the Winchester Hustlers of the Class-D Blue Grass League, the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder tossed a 17-inning no-hitter in 1909. But it was his 10-inning no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs on May 2, 1917, that put […]

George Webb Yantz was a bricklayer, journeyman catcher, and tough negotiator who reached the major leagues for one game and retired with a 1.000 career batting average. Yantz was born on July 27, 1886, in Louisville, Kentucky, the second oldest of five children born to Josephine and Charles Yantz. Charles worked as a bricklayer and […]

On June 11, 1914, the Carbondale (Pennsylvania) Leader proudly informed readers that hometown minor leaguer Joe Kilhullen had been engaged by the National League’s Pittsburgh Pirates.1 Unhappily, by the time that the edition hit newsstands, the major league career of catcher Kilhullen was already over, confined to a two-inning stint the afternoon before. Undiscouraged by […]

Nobody in Hollywood would have tried to produce a script that would end like this,” said New York Yankee manager Bob Lemon after his charges came back from a two-games to none deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1978 World Series. Having reached the Fall Classic on the broad shoulders of sluggers […]

Visalia, California, has long been a good baseball town. Located in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, it has been a mainstay of the California League since 1946, except for a couple of intervals.1 As of 2015, 13 men born in Visalia had played in the major leagues, including Marty Perez, who got into 931 games […]

Some said that baseball owners found Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis on the federal bench, but Leo Durocher got it right when he said, “They got him right out of Dickens.”1 Ruth put the fans back in the parks, but Landis made sure what they witnessed was honest. The Sultan and the Czar worked different sides […]

Roy Henshaw never let his height, or lack of it, derail his dream of becoming a big leaguer. Standing just 5-feet-8, the southpaw hurler jumped from the University of Chicago straight to the Chicago Cubs in 1933. Two years later he went 13-5 as a valuable swingman, helping the North Siders capture the pennant. That […]

Catcher Pete Daley played in seven major-league seasons, including five with the Red Sox backing up Sammy White. In 233 games behind the bat for Boston, his defensive skills earned him a fielding percentage of .996; in 1,005 total chances, he was charged with only four errors. Despite irregular playing time with Boston the 6-foot, […]

It could be a good question in a serious trivia contest: “Who was the first African-American ballplayer honored by the Hall of Fame?” Rather few people would correctly guess Grover Jones. “My real name is Grover William Jones, Junior,” Deacon Jones explained in a 2008 interview. “Everybody started calling me Deacon because my father was […]

Two brief stints in the major leagues with six years in between. But right-handed pitcher Paul Musser also enjoyed a full 15 years in the minor leagues, with four 20-win seasons. He began pitching professionally in 1909, the year he turned 20. He was born on the 24th of June in 1889 in Millheim, Pennsylvania. […]

The Chicago White Sox’ historic 2005 season can be told in many ways, but few shared it as personally as one of the teams radio voices, Ed Farmer. Born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Farmer – affectionately known as “Farmio” – grew up watching and rooting for the […]

When Hub Hart, backup to regular catcher Billy Sullivan, sustained an ankle injury in mid-July 1906, the Chicago White Sox found themselves in need of another backstop. Team owner Charles Comiskey acquired an untested rookie named Babe Towne from Des Moines of the Western League to “hold the fort” until Hart recovered. Before Hart’s ankle […]

“Harvey” McClellan didn’t get much respect — especially from the press. Often characterized as a good-field, no-hit infielder, he managed to last six seasons with the Chicago White Sox despite often being derided in the press. Worse, Harvey wasn’t his first name or even his nickname. It was a simple misspelling by the press. Because […]

Charlie Eakle, meter reader, Was a part-time major-leaguer. When his two-game trial was done, ’Twas back to work where he’d begun.   According to a contemporary report, Charlie Eakle played two major-league games with the 1915 Baltimore Terrapins of the Federal League while simultaneously holding down a full-time job with Baltimore’s gas and electric company. […]

Right-hander Jack Meyer seemed destined to become a fan favorite when he debuted for the Phillies in 1955. Solidly built, blond, and handsome, the 23-year-old Philadelphia native possessed considerable pitching talent. Teammate Robin Roberts recalled years later that Meyer had “Nolan Ryan-type stuff with a sharp curveball to go with a blazing fastball.”1 Meyer enjoyed […]

In Jeff Plympton’s major-league pitching career, he never gave up a run – earned or unearned. Reading a statement such as that, one might correctly guess that his time at the top level was brief. He pitched in 279 games as a professional, but only four in the majors, for the 1991 Boston Red Sox. […]

Elements and mosquitoes could not defeat the Houston Astrodome. If only the Astros might have been able to say the same of their experiences in playoffs. In 1999 Houston achieved its third straight division championship. The Astros were hoping to do better in the playoffs than in the previous two seasons when the Atlanta Braves […]

In the first chapter of Lawrence S. Ritter’s The Glory of Their Times, published in 1966, pitcher Rube Marquard recounts how a perfect game he authored in September 1908 precipitated a record-setting sale of his contract from the American Association’s Indianapolis Indians to the National League’s New York Giants.1 An impressive tale, but the Hall […]

One constant in the Boston Red Sox schedule each year is the Patriots Day home game. A Massachusetts state holiday since 1894, Patriots Day honors the first battles of the American Revolution in Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Since 1969 the holiday has been celebrated on the third Monday in April.1 The Boston […]

“Jim Rice. Remember the name.”1 The uncredited scribe who wrote that sentence in the September 22, 1973, edition of the Boston Globe proved to be very prescient indeed. Rice hit 382 home runs in a 16-season career spent entirely with the Boston Red Sox, helped Boston teams reach two World Series, and was inducted into […]

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. […]

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw celebrates after closing out Game Six of the 1980 World Series, clinching the first championship in franchise history. (Courtesy of the Philadelphia Phillies)   In the Beginning The first National League game in Philadelphia was played in 1876 with the Boston Red Stockings facing the Philadelphia Athletics, one of several […]