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In 1909 Joe Bernard was a bookkeeper for Springfield Marine Bank in Illinois, playing baseball two or three games a week for local amateur teams and a semipro club in Gillespie, Illinois. The 27-year-old, 6-foot-1, 175-pound righthander had never played a game in the minor leagues. His chances of ever pitching in the major leagues […]
Beset by a chronic illness and often in pain, John T. Brush was not an obvious candidate for a leadership role in turn-of-the-century baseball. But Brush’s afflictions camouflaged a fiercely competitive spirit and a will of iron. For 25 years he was the most influential club owner in the National League, a champion of causes […]
Wealthy and able, Edwin A. McAlpin was a man of many interests: family, commerce, Republican Party politics, the New York State National Guard, the Presbyterian Church, and the American Boy Scouts (an early rival of the Boy Scouts of America). For a relatively brief period beginning in 1889, McAlpin also took an active part in […]
To both his 19th century playing counterparts and today’s baseball historians, the name Jim Devlin resonates of scandal. The star pitcher for the Louisville Grays, Devlin – along with three teammates – was expelled from baseball for game-fixing during the 1877 National League pennant chase. For decades thereafter they served as the principals of a […]
Tom Brokaw dubbed Americans who lived through the Depression and served in World War II “The Greatest Generation.” As a member of this group, Charley Stanceu (pronounced STAN- chew) found himself witnessing some of the iconic events of that period. A rookie pitcher for the New York Yankees in 1941, he was in the dugout […]
Before committing suicide under mysterious circumstances in the spring of 1907, Chick Stahl forged a reputation as one of the best center fielders in the game over the course of a 10-year major-league career. A lifetime .305 batter, the left-handed Stahl could also hit with power, and often ranked among the league leaders in extra-base […]
The photograph hanging on the wall of a Cincinnati area pizzeria inspired Russ Gastright to delve into some family history, specifically about the life and up-and-down career of a certain right-handed pitcher. A friend of Russ’s spotted the photo, a team shot of the 1896 Reds. One player’s name stood out. “My friend, Mike Draznik, […]
California native Red Worthington was a hard-hitting outfielder with a powerful throwing arm. A top prospect in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, Red, who threw and batted right-handed, appeared to be on the fast track to major-league stardom. Before his ascent to the major leagues, a sportswriter wrote of Worthington, “This young man from the […]
Right-hander Don Erickson pitched for 10 minor league seasons around two years of service in the U.S. Army. His major league career consisted of nine relief appearances for the Philadelphia Phillies in September 1958. Donald Lee Erickson was born on December 13, 1931, in Springfield, Illinois, the last of Charles “Todd” and Mary (Jacaway) Erickson’s […]
A cursory glance at Jimmy Williams’ record does not capture his colorful 20-year path through minor- and major-league play. His final statistics reflect a slightly above-average player — but his solid career was speckled with historic participation and achievements, including one possibly unbreakable record. James Thomas Williams was born on December 20, 1876, in St. […]
If you’ve seen Frank Zupo’s 1958 Topps baseball card, you probably remember him. The lefty-hitting catcher appeared in only 16 major-league games for Baltimore between 1957 and 1961 — but Zupo’s pronounced unibrow and “Noodles” nickname have gained him longer-lasting fame than his on-field accomplishments. Nonetheless, at 17 years, 11 months, and 13 days, he […]
In 1887, future Hall of Fame hurler Tim Keefe was interviewed and praised pitcher Charlie Sweeney. He regarded him as the “greatest twirler that ever lived, and that his equal does not now exist, and … never will.”1 Keefe was referring specifically to Sweeney’s 1884 performance, in which he won a combined 41 games with […]
Certain types of ballplayers have always populated baseball history. Slow footed sluggers, crafty lefthanders, flame throwing relievers and flashy infielders all make up important baseball clichés. Hall of Famer Max Carey demonstrates all of the qualities of one such type—a hard working, fundamentally sound outfielder with great speed, sure hands, and good contact with a […]
In the course of three decades, Doc Moskiman went from medical school to retailing athletic goods. In between, he appeared in five major-league games with the 1910 Boston Red Sox, playing first base and right field. He hit safely once, drove in one run, and scored one run. He made no errors in 18 chances. […]
He was accused of gambling on baseball early in his playing career. He was acknowledged to have a serious alcohol problem, one that may have contributed to his death at age 50. His professional pitching record, for six major-league seasons and four at the minor-league and independent levels, was 109-161. On first blush, and in […]
Tacks Latimer was a journeyman catcher during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although his major league career was brief, 27 games and 86 at-bats spread over five different seasons (the writer Bill James has suggested that this might be some sort of record), he played professional baseball for over a decade and a […]
On September 27, 1920, suspicions about the integrity of the previous year’s World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds were given substance by a self-admitted fix insider named Billy Maharg. In an interview first published in the Philadelphia North American and syndicated nationwide immediately thereafter, Maharg maintained that a number of Chicago […]
In the early 1970s, lefty pitcher Bob O’Brien made an unlikely and mercurial rise from unheralded draft selection to big-leaguer. His stay in professional baseball was brief, but along the way he became the subject of one of Tommy Lasorda’s greatest motivational stories. Robert Allen O’Brien was born on April 23, 1949, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, […]
The Joe Vosmik story is the classic American tale in which the scion of an immigrant family falls in love with the national game of the family’s adopted country. Vosmik’s tale has all the required elements: precocious skills, early passion, an indulgent father, a disapproving mother who later relents and shares her son’s ardor, obsession, […]
While volumes have been written on Arnold Rothstein — who was NOT indicted — and on the Eastern-based gamblers involved in the 1919 World Series fix, historians have largely ignored the Midwestern-based gamblers who WERE indicted. Early reports on the Black Sox grand jury findings included the names of brothers Benjamin and Louis Levi, who […]
In February 1919 the recently proclaimed principal owner of the Chicago Cubs, William Wrigley, Jr.; his wife, Ada; and a real-estate broker, Captain David Blankenhorn, boarded the good ship Hermosa and set off across the San Pedro Channel for an hours-long reconnaissance in search of a California island Wrigley had purchased sight unseen for several […]
Honus Wagner was one of the greatest players in baseball history. Bill James’s 2001 New Bill James Historical Abstract listed the Pennsylvania native and longtime Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop as the second best player of all time, with only Babe Ruth ranked ahead of him.1 Elsewhere, James wrote, “Wagner was a legendary figure in that era, […]
This article appears in SABR’s “The 1883 Philadelphia Athletics: American Association Champions” (2022), edited by Paul Hofmann and Bill Nowlin. On Friday, September 28, 1883, the Philadelphia Athletics clinched the American Association pennant, defeating the Louisville Eclipse 7-6, in a game that went 10 innings.1 It was an exciting conclusion to a hard-fought season: […]
East Field as pictured in 2021. Over the course of a month and a half in March and April 1980, East Field in Glens Falls, New York, went from an unremarkable city-owned baseball field notable mainly for its swampiness to a showcase for some of the Chicago White Sox’ top prospects.1 It happened this […]