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The future looked bright for California Angels infielder Dave Machemer on June 21, 1978, as he rounded the bases after hitting a home run in his first major-league plate appearance. Machemer lined a full-count pitch off Minnesota Twins southpaw pitcher Geoff Zahn that just cleared the fence inside the left-field foul pole at Metropolitan Stadium […]
Richard E. “Dick” Jacobs was the majority owner of the Cleveland Indians from December 1986 until February 2000. He purchased the team with his older brother, David H. Jacobs (1921-1992), from the estate of the late F.J. “Steve” O’Neill in December 1986 for $35.5 million. Jacobs oversaw the restoration of the Indians to on-the-field and […]
Mel Allen was The Voice: “his boom box of a voice” – Curt Smith “that wonderful, unmistakable voice” – Dick Young “the venerable Voice of Summer” – Sports Illustrated He was the voice of the Yankees from 1939 through 1964 and became the most prominent sports broadcaster in America. His credits include twenty World Series, […]
“For me, it’s not about an All-America award or other accolades, it’s about my experiences,” R.A. Dickey told a baseball luncheon audience at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2007. “Sometimes you are not as bad as you feel nor are you as good as you might think you are. It is more important to […]
Only one man has played on a team that won major league baseball’s World Series and also on a team that won the championship of the National Football League. That man is Hinkey Haines. Haines’ baseball career, though modest, included being part of several memorable moments. His football career led to a great deal of […]
Louis Sockalexis, a member of the Penobscot Indian tribe of Maine, played in only 94 major-league games, but is remembered today as the first Native American, and first recognized minority, to perform in the National League.1 He was signed by the Cleveland Spiders in 1897, 50 years before Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn […]
Ted Wilks burst on the national scene as a 28-year-old rookie pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1944 by winning a league-best 11 games in a row en route to a 17-4 record and helping lead the Redbirds to their second World Series title in three years. When the hard-throwing right-hander developed career-threatening chronic […]
Todd Cruz spent parts of six seasons from 1978 to 1984 as a rifle-armed infielder for six teams. Originally a shortstop, he made two Opening Day starts at that position for the Mariners. After the Orioles converted him to third base, Cruz played every post-season game there for Baltimore’s 1983 World Series champions. Todd Ruben […]
Even though he managed to stay on the roster most of the 1902 season with the Brooklyn Superbas, his only season in the big leagues, Ed Wheeler had a miserable rookie year. The 5-foot-10, 160-pound switch-hitting utility infielder got into just 30 games, committed six errors in his first two, and barely managed to keep […]
Danny Godby stood anxiously near home plate at Busch Stadium in St. Louis the night of August 10, 1974, as the moment he had dreamed of while growing up in the coalfields of West Virginia unfolded before him. He was there in the bottom of the sixth inning to pinch-hit for pitcher Bob Forsch with […]
Buddy Hunter described himself as an S.O.B. – a South Omaha Boy. Harold James Hunter was born in Omaha on August 9, 1947, and went to South High in the Nebraska city. As of 2014 he still lived about 20 miles south of downtown Omaha. Hunter’s parents were both involved with cattle. His father, Harold […]
“I’m going to have a good year because I’m Al Oliver. I always have a good year. The question is how good.”1 That confident self-assessment came in 1978, a little over halfway through this slashing line-drive hitter’s long and successful career. In 18 seasons, the lefty-swinging first baseman-outfielder amassed 2,743 hits and posted a .303 […]
In 1971 The Sporting News contributor Wayne Minshew submitted a report on the Atlanta Braves’ “bona-fide future ace . . . the pitcher visiting scouts like most when they visit Atlanta Stadium.”1 Minshew was not referring to Phil Niekro, who at the time was just one-third of the way along his path to Hall of […]
It was a dream come true for 23-year-old Stan Jefferson when he led off against San Diego lefty Dave LaPoint in the first game of a doubleheader at Shea Stadium on Sunday, September 7, 1986. He grew up in the Bronx, had been the Mets’ first-round choice in the 1983 amateur draft, and had just […]
“Joey is extremely smart. He’s great with figures and crossword puzzles. He could spell backwards when he was five. Did you know my Joey was an Eagle Scout? He took French in high school, finished sixth in his class of 266. I brought him up to excel in everything. He wants to be perfect.” — […]
Roy Luebbe has the distinction of being the only Butler County, Iowa, native to play major-league baseball. Roy John Luebbe (pronounced Loo-bee) was born on September 17, 1900, in Parkersburg population 1,164, an agricultural community in Butler County in the north central part of the state. He and twin brother Ray were the fourth and […]
Asked by a sportswriter in January 1912 which pitcher was giving him the most trouble in the American League, Ty Cobb did not mince words. “I believe I have never in my life faced a pitcher who bothered me so much as that man O’Brien,” he growled. “O’Brien has everything. He has a ‘spitter’ the […]
San Francisco’s Mike Finn was a pioneer professional as a California baseball player and manager. A versatile performer, he was an adept infielder, outfielder, and catcher, but was, in the Oakland Tribune’s opinion, “a pitching star of magnitude.” His managerial legacy was five championships during the California League’s formative years (1886-1893), more than any other pilot. An established […]
Jody Reed was a smallish (5-feet-9, 170 pounds)1 and fiery middle infielder with a rocket for a throwing arm and a knack for hitting doubles. He was with the Red Sox from 1987 to 1992. He went on to shorter stints with the Dodgers, Brewers, Padres, and Tigers during an 11-year major-league career. Reed gave […]
Following his death in February 1945, long-forgotten turn-of-the-century pitcher Ham Iburg was accorded a singular accolade by The Sporting News. “Iburg is credited with having the slowest ball ever hurled in the majors or higher minors,” declared the Bible of Baseball. “He had three speeds – slow, slower and slowest.”1 Some 40-plus years earlier, it […]
Lore Verne “King” Bader was a lesser member of the 1918 Boston Red Sox. A right-handed hurler, he pitched in just five games, starting four and compiling an unexceptional 1-3 record. All told, Bader appeared in a modest 22 games over three major league campaigns, in 1912 (with the New York Giants) and 1917-18 (with […]
Three Rivers Stadium; if it wasn’t the most picturesque coliseum in American sports history, it was perhaps one of the most perfectly named. In southwestern Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, the county seat of Allegheny County, lies partly in a hilly region known as the Golden Triangle, the location of the city’s business district. For those unfamiliar with […]
Pete Rose started there. Bernice Gera, professional baseball’s first female umpire, started and finished there. Television dramatist Rod Serling relaxed there. Kenny Shepard, general manager of the local baseball team, slept there. And a young player with a chance to make the majors could be taking the field there today. “There” is McDonough Park, a […]
Ken Griffey Jr. slides in with the winning run for the Seattle Mariners on Edgar Martinez’s 11th-inning double to beat the New York Yankees 6-5 in Game Five of the American League Division Series on October 8, 1995. The excitement of the Mariners’ first playoff appearance helped fuel a political effort to build a new […]