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Infielder Owen Friend played in parts of five major-league seasons, appearing in 208 total games, with 119 of them for the 1950 St. Louis Browns. Scout Fred Hofmann signed him to the Browns in 1943, and he more or less began playing for his hometown team. Of course, the Cardinals would have qualified on that […]

Ulysses “Tony” Lupien played just four full major league seasons, but he made a lasting impact on baseball through his pioneering player-rights efforts after World War II and his development of college players as baseball coach at Dartmouth College for more than twenty years. As a lefthanded-hitting first baseman in the 1940s, Lupien displayed remarkable […]

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 […]

The assertive teenager’s pro baseball career began with a simple letter, jointly submitted with a friend and mailed from his hometown of Kinston, North Carolina. “We would like to seek a job or a tryout with your ballclub. We are now at the age of nineteen years old, we have had two years of experience […]

Manning Vaughan was the main baseball writer of the Milwaukee Sentinel for much of the Deadball Era. His style was colorful and full of panache. Vaughan had a wonderful way of bringing baseball games to life in people’s parlors or at the local drinking establishments. He was a “homer” when the Brewers were winning, honest […]

Right-handed pitcher Bill Pertica was a prospect who showed promise early in his career, had one prime season with the Cardinals, and ultimately faded into obscurity. He was born in Santa Barbara, California, on August 17, 1898, and made the big leagues (albeit about as briefly as possible) in his first year of pro ball. […]

The first year the Red Sox wore uniform numbers was 1931. The first man to wear #1 was Bill Sweeney. It was his last year in the majors. Sweeney lived out the rest of his life in baseball, twice managing the Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels to pennants, in two stints eight years apart […]

The 1934 Philadelphia Stars, champions of the second iteration of the Negro National League (NNL2), used a balanced four-man rotation that consisted of two righties and two lefties for most of their league games. Slim Jones, a 21-year-old southpaw, emerged as the team’s ace as he pitched to a 20-4 record and a 1.29 ERA […]

Bill Shores was not a superstitious player. After winning 23 games as a promising swingman for the Philadelphia Athletics championship teams in 1929 and 1930, he became the first big-league player to wear number 13 when he asked for the jersey in 1931. Then he suffered a string of unfortunate incidents: infected toe, hit by […]

Right-handed pitcher Jason Johnson overcame a diagnosis of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus as a youth to forge an 11-year major-league career during which he became the first ballplayer to wear an insulin pump on the field of play. Jason Michael Johnson was born on October 27, 1973, in Santa Barbara, California, to John and Deanna Johnson. […]

Right-handed pitcher Bill Butland developed a sore arm his first year in the majors, 1940, and pitched with it for a full decade, fighting against the pain to do the only thing he’d ever wanted to do as a youngster – play baseball. He’d started baseball early and bore the responsibility of caring for a […]

As 2019 drew to a close, Don Hasenmayer was one of 23 surviving major-leaguers to have served in World War II. In May 1945, the 18-year-old infielder squeezed in five major-league games for the Philadelphia Phillies before joining the United States Navy. He collected a pair of base hits– both singles — in 18 at-bats […]

George “Bo” Strickland was the starting shortstop on the 1954 Cleveland Indians team that won the American League pennant and compiled one of baseball’s finest records ever, 111-43. He went hitless (0-for-9) in that season’s World Series, the only one he ever played in, as the Indians were swept by the New York Giants. Strickland […]

Right-hander Al Yeargin’s first game in the big leagues was at the Polo Grounds on Sunday afternoon, October 1, 1922. Working for the Boston Braves, he started the second game of a doubleheader against the reigning World Series champion New York Giants. The Giants had already clinched the 1922 National League pennant and held a […]

Thirty men registered plate appearances for the 2004 Boston Red Sox, but one of the biggest contributors to the offensive juggernaut did not face a single pitch. Had it not been for the December 27, 2002, announcement of Ron “Papa Jack” Jackson as the team’s new hitting coach, Boston’s stunning rise to the zenith of […]

Before Pedro Martinez arrived, scout Danny Doyle could laugh that he had signed every Red Sox Cy Young winner: Jim Lonborg and Roger Clemens. In 1988, Danny Doyle was named Midwest Scout of the Year by the Scout of the Year Foundation. Danny Doyle was a catcher, called up to the major leagues right at […]

There are many quotes regarding the importance of living life. Just look it up on the internet; it’s a fact! One such quote is “It is not the years in your life but the life in your years that counts.” That quote is attributed to Abraham Lincoln … and Adlai Stevenson … and Dr. Edward […]

The deep and talented farm system developed by General Manager Branch Rickey began to pay dividends when the St. Louis Cardinals won the National League pennant in 1930 and the following year won 101 games and captured the World Series. The team was expected to be even stronger in 1932 because the organization’s top three […]

Don Gile was a catcher and first baseman for the Boston Red Sox who, almost exactly two years to the day after Ted Williams did it, hit a home run in his final at-bat in the major leagues. Unlike Williams’ home run, Gile’s won the game in a walkoff. The date was September 30, 1962, […]

No compilation of baseball’s all-time top left-handed pitchers is complete without Whitey Ford. Indeed, he is near or at the top of any worthwhile list. His 236 wins made him the winningest pitcher in the storied history of the New York Yankees. He incurred only 106 defeats, giving him a lifetime winning percentage of .690, […]

Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, home of the Orioles from 1954 to 1991 (DAVID STINSON)   Memorial Stadium was located at 900 East 33rd Street in Baltimore, a mile northeast of Oriole Parks (I)-(V).1 Memorial Stadium was the home of the American League Baltimore Orioles from 1954 to 1991, and the National Football League Baltimore Colts […]

Nearing the midway point of the 1900 season, Noodles Hahn made history by shutting out one of baseball’s most potent offenses without allowing a base hit. Hahn, a 5-foot-9, 160-pound left-hander with the Cincinnati Reds, blanked the Philadelphia Phillies on July 12, prompting the Cincinnati Enquirer to report, “No-hit games have been pitched before, but […]

Jackie Robinson once said that Emil John “Dutch” Leonard’s knuckleball “comes up, makes a face at you, then runs away.”1 On May 28, 1946, the New York Yankees had trouble with the Washington Senators knuckler’s elusive pitch in a 2-1 loss. Leonard may have had a little help that night, though, because the Bronx Bombers […]

The Oakland A’s ruled the American League from 1988 to 1990, winning 306 regular-season games on their way to three consecutive World Series appearances and the title in 1989. During the first two years of this run, Oakland’s AL West rival Kansas City had two pitchers who had proved to be a thorn in the […]