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Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers came to Chicago’s Wrigley Field in mid-May of 1947 amid a grand experiment that changed professional sports, opening the gates to a stream of talented Black athletes and advancing the cause of racial justice. The experiment proved an emotional stress test for Robinson, the Dodgers team, and the National […]
Each baseball season’s early summer games take on a mystical quality in cities that endure longer, darker winters. Near June solstice, night patiently awaits dusk’s extended loitering, humidity is tolerable, and the schedule is still young enough to keep fans of even the most dismal teams buoyant for revelation. Such was the setting on a […]
It takes a great deal of effort to secure 25 hits in a baseball game and manage to lose it. In the case of the Pittsburgh Pirates in their game in Brooklyn on the damp afternoon of June 21, 1922, it was a poor defensive effort that contributed to their demise at the hands of […]
Momentum seemed to be on the side of the Red Sox. They had been down three games to none in the 2004 ALCS, but were coming off two extra-inning wins. Both were hard-fought, close games, but Boston won them both and was flush with exhilaration. The two teams traveled from Boston back to New York […]
When Sal Maglie reached the major leagues on August 9, 1945, he was a 28-year-old rookie dismissed as “a nobody, another dreary journeyman pitcher coughed up by the minors in the final days of wartime baseball.”1 Manager Mel Ott used him for a mere two-thirds of the fourth inning that day and 4⅓ innings in […]
A combination of fine weather, a state holiday,1 the largest recorded crowd at the South End Grounds to date, and serious Boston batting made the Beaneaters’ 1896 home opener an event to be remembered for some time, although not for the quality of the baseball. In 1896 the South End Grounds in its third iteration […]
The New York City hosting the 1977 All-Star Game had drastically changed in the 13 years since the Mets hosted the 1964 Midsummer Classic. In the summer of ’77, Big Apple residents lived in fear of the “Son of Sam” serial killer stalking the outer boroughs, and on July 13, the entire city was plunged […]
After a six-year hiatus, the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees resumed hostilities in the 1938 World Series. The pairing pit the underdog but hard-charging National League Cubs against the two-time defending champion big boppers from the American League. Before the games began, Chicago miracle-maker/player-manager Gabby Hartnett boldly predicted, “We’ll win the Series. We […]
The 1991 Atlanta Braves (94-68) were the surprise of the National League, putting to rest a dreadful six-year stretch of losing at least 89 games each season. Fighting their way back from a 9½-game deficit to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the All-Star break, the Braves clinched the West Division crown on the next-to-last day of […]
The Pittsburgh Pirates outlasted the Atlanta Braves 17-9 in the rubber match of a three-game series at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on May 9, 1979, a game in which the 26 hits, 10 walks, and 26 runs scored (10 unearned) were not the only notable numbers. The sloppy, beanball-marred slugfest also included five errors, three passed […]
After a pause in the action that lasted 86 years, the Boston Red Sox resumed winning a number of World Series titles. They had won five world championships from 1903 through 1918, then had not won again until 2004. Since 2004, they have added (as of 2020) titles in 2007, 2013, and 2018. It was […]
When Rod Dedeaux hit an RBI single in his first major-league start for the Brooklyn Dodgers in September 1935, it seemed a good omen for the beginning of a successful major-league career. Having graduated from the University of Southern California a few months earlier, he had been tapped by a struggling Dodgers organization as a […]
From 1901 to 1904 Bill Bradley was arguably the best young player in the American League. Wielding a heavy bat he nicknamed Big Bennie, the 6-foot, 185-pound right-hander was one of the junior circuit’s most feared hitters, becoming the first player to homer in four straight games in 1902, and batting .300 or better three […]
Immortalized by two dramatic World Series home runs, one in 1984 for the Detroit Tigers and another in 1988 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kirk Gibson was noted for his competitiveness and clutch hitting. Plagued by injuries, he never lived up to the hype created by his manager, Sparky Anderson, when he referred to Gibson […]
In St. Louis, where baseball is in the blood, many a boy fantasizes about growing up to play for their hometown team. Only a select number really pursue the ambition and even fewer achieve it. Lonnie Lee Maclin III fulfilled this aspiration. Born to Lonnie Maclin Jr. and June (Garner) Maclin on February 17, 1967, […]
In the New York State League, he came to be known as “Bill Ging with the Wonderful Wing.” William Joseph “Bill” Ging was born in Elmira, New York, on November 7, 1872, the second son of Lawrence and Mary Ging. Lawrence was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1860 before marrying […]
When you examine the life of Abner Doubleday you eventually have to come to the point expressed by classic detective Joe Friday: “Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.” Okay, so here are two facts about General Abner Doubleday’s life. First, his military career was lengthy and he “was the highest ranking officer in the […]
The National Baseball Hall of Fame has an extensive library, packed with research materials. Most players have a file at the Hall, whose contents are made available to researchers. Some files are fairly thick. Most contain some basic information about the player, including a certificate of death for a deceased player, and newspaper clippings that […]
“Hoot, you’re on your way. Nothing can stop you now.” — From “Ghetto to Glory” Prophetic words indeed. The 1964 World Series was a coming-out party for Bob “Hoot” Gibson. Pitching complete-game victories in Games Five and Seven, Gibson and his teammates on the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals had just disposed of the vaunted […]
Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown, best known today for his unusual name and his more or less descriptive nickname of “Three Finger,” was the ace right-hander of the great Chicago Cub teams of the first decade or so of the Twentieth Century. With Brown leading an extraordinary pitching staff, the Cubs from 1906 through 1910 put […]
In 1955 Cleveland News sportswriter Ed McAuley noted that “[George] Susce is a man of many admirable qualities, but the ability to hit a baseball frequently was not among his assets.”1 At the time this was offered, Susce was 11 years removed from his last major-league appearance and well along into a coaching career that […]
In the late 1940s, Dick Fowler was one of the American League’s top pitchers. He tossed 61 complete games between 1946 and 1949 — only three AL pitchers threw more — and posted back-to-back 15-win seasons despite an aching shoulder.1 He played in an era when sore-armed hurlers were expected to keep throwing.2 That’s exactly […]
Among all the ballplayers who served in World War II, Earl Johnson was the real military hero. Unlike some, he had his better years after the long layoff for the war, peaking in 1947, but began to lose his edge just as the Red Sox entered two seasons (1948 and 1949) when one more win […]
Gifted with intellect, musical acumen, and athletic ability, Deadball Era pitcher Eddie Higgins deferred a life in dentistry for the opportunity to play professional baseball. Though he pitched in just 18 big-league games in 1909 and 1910, and he was just 22 when he made his final appearance at the top level, he enjoyed an […]