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A member of the Washington Nationals, a short-lived 1872 National Association club, Oscar Bielaski is generally recognized as the first major league ballplayer of Polish descent. Other aspects of his five-season professional career are less noteworthy. A low-average singles hitter and a poor defensive outfielder, Bielaski holds another, less enviable distinction – that of being […]
The numbers for Nippy Jones in the 1957 World Series don’t look like much: three games, three plate appearances, two at-bats, no runs, no hits, one hit-by-pitch. But the “shoe-polish incident” in the tenth inning of Game Four, when Jones was able to confirm that a pitch from Tommy Byrne had struck his foot by […]
A slick fielder in the days before gloves, Ed Somerville was the top defensive second basemen in the inaugural season of the National League of 1876. A year later his death in Canada marked the first passing of a National League ballplayer. Edward G. Somerville was born in Philadelphia on March 1, 1853, as the […]
Lenny DiNardo’s baseball career has been diverse, highlighted by a World Series ring, two no-hitters, setting collegiate strikeout records, and playing in the World Baseball Classic twice. DiNardo’s time playing baseball spanned five years in the major leagues and 11 years including college, the minor leagues, the Dominican Republic Winter League, and in the Chinese […]
Sportswriter/historian George V. Tuohey hastily put together his famous A History of the Boston Base Ball Club – 1871 to 1897 in mid-1897. It was published to help celebrate Boston’s National League Beaneaters capture of the 1897 pennant after three unsuccessful seasons. Though weighted toward teams and players from the 1890s, the book does have […]
“He has nothing but a little curve and confidence,” Giants manager John McGraw said of his rookie pitcher Al Demaree in 1913.1 Yet after a late arrival to the majors, the right-hander contributed to four pennant-winning staffs over an eight-year career. Demaree also chronicled baseball, with humor and insight, as a cartoonist for several decades. […]
In 1937 rookie outfielder Gibby Brack captured the imagination of the baseball world with a 12-game hitting streak in the first two weeks of his major-league career, topping the National League in hitting. “There is power in his swing and speed in his legs,” exclaimed The Sporting News. “[H]e started out to make good for […]
His potential was glimpsed when future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, months removed from his Rookie League debut in 1965, was said to have the ability to “throw as hard as Dick Selma.”1 That fall, Eddie Stanky, who managed Selma in the Florida Instructional League, claimed the right-handed hurler could become “the best relief pitcher […]
Among the smiling faces seated in the front row in the 1970 Naugatuck High School baseball team photo is that of senior tri-captain John Caneira. There was good reason for Caneira and his teammates to be happily posing for the camera despite losing a marathon struggle in the previous year’s Connecticut Class A final, for the […]
Fern Shollenberger was the third baseman on the All-Star team in six of her nine seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She first evidenced her talents on the family ball field in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. This small town is in a rural area of Berks County, 17 miles north of Reading. Fern’s father, Alvas R. […]
Russ Nixon spent more than half a century in baseball. A catcher who played 12 years for the Red Sox, Indians, and Twins, he went on to coach and manage at levels from rookie ball to the major leagues, with five seasons as a big-league manager. The son of farmers Thomas and Edith Nixon […]
In 1894 a sportswriter at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, most likely Abe Yager, coined the nickname “Deacon” for pitcher Dan Daub. Daub conducted himself in a calm and educated manner, possessed good judgment and did not flinch in tough times. In the writer’s mind, he was the quintessential churchman. On July 1, 1894, the Brooklyn […]
As a teenager in the late 1930s, Ed Sanicki and his brother Emil would travel by train from New Jersey to Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. At the ticket office they would buy bleacher seat tickets, which was all they could afford. Occasionally Dodgers players would walk past the ticket office, and sometimes sign autographs. Babe […]
Right-hander John Leister (pronounced Lister) worked in 10 major-league games for the Boston Red Sox: eight in 1987 and two in 1990. He’d been considered for a career in professional football — but baseball proved to be his calling. After his six-year pro career (1984-90) ended, he became a college coach. John William Leister was […]
Howard Ehmke is best remembered as the 35-year-old right-hander of the Philadelphia Athletics who unexpectedly started Game One of the 1929 World Series against the slugging Chicago Cubs and struck out a then record 13 en route to a surprising triumph in one of Connie Mack’s most famous tactical decisions. But it would be an […]
In 1900 Sporting Life called George Hogreiver “the very best base runner in the profession.”1 “Hoggie” stole 948 bases in the minors, more than anyone else in minor-league history, and he stole 48 more bases in two major-league seasons. Like Ty Cobb, he was a daring, hyperaggressive baserunner. “Daring, yet careful,” said the Des Moines […]
Murray “Skeeter” Watkins was a baseball lifer. He was a Negro League all-star on the left side of the infield in the 1940s for the Cincinnati Clowns, Newark Eagles, and Philadelphia Stars, and when opportunities disappeared he played in the Canadian ManDak League in the early 1950s. He would continue to play baseball for local […]
The well-traveled right-handed pitcher Bobby Locke spent the month of September 1964 on the Phillies roster after a call-up from Little Rock. He pitched in eight games, three of them during the team’s fatal ten-game losing streak, including the one in which Chico Ruiz’s steal of home launched the losing streak. (Art Mahaffey was on […]
“We won the game, and we went back to the hotel. I woke up at 4 o’clock the next morning, sat up in bed and screamed as loud as I could. I knew I would never have a chance to do that [pitch a perfect game] again.” – Brian Holman1 In May 1989 the […]
The Minnesota Twins’ home opener on Tuesday night, July 28, 2020, was like many others in the major leagues. The delay in starting the 2020 season because of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID), meant an empty ballpark since no fans were allowed. Face masks were prevalent; procedures for distancing from one another were in place. The […]
The 1988 National League Championship Series was a matchup of a pair of teams that had comfortably won their division. The NL East Division champion New York Mets finished with a record of 100-60, 15 games ahead of the second-place Pittsburgh Pirates. The NL West Division champion Los Angeles Dodgers finished with a record of […]
Upon their debut in 2008, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs quickly became one of the highest-drawing teams in the Triple-A International League.1 The Philadelphia Phillies’ top farm team, based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has established itself as a supportive community presence, hosted future stars on the way up, and played the merchandising and promotion game as well […]
After three seasons as a Cleveland Indians coach, former big-league catcher Wally Schang was looking for a challenge. It had been almost eight years since his last major-league game, and he was itching to get back into active duty.1 The 49-year-old Schang made an unorthodox move. He signed on to become the player-manager of the […]
An ownership history for Boston’s Players League franchise (1890) and American Association franchise (1891). Competing against the firmly entrenched Boston ballclub in the National League, the Boston Brotherhood/Reds club won consecutive championships, in the Players’ League in 1890 and in the American Association in 1891. The club disbanded when it was bought out in the […]