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Del Webb’s father was a native-born Californian who spent his youth playing baseball before becoming a construction executive. Del followed a similar path. After washing out as a ballplayer, Webb spent several years as a carpenter before starting his own construction company. By landing a number of large government contracts during the Depression and World […]

It was one week into the 1977 season. Jim Kaplan of Sports Illustrated alluded to 34-year-old Bill Robinson’s frustrations in his 10th major-league season: “No matter where he is playing — be it Cincinnati or New York or Los Angeles — he is sure to hear it. ‘Weaser,’ someone will call to him from the […]

Steve Macko died from cancer ten weeks after his 27th birthday, leaving behind a sparse record of 25 games over two seasons with the Chicago Cubs. But the cold cadences of baseball’s official ledger misrepresent his life’s true measure. Macko continued a distinguished family lineage in the game, spearheaded an improbable College World Series bid, […]

“Baseball is a bum’s game, and so is football,” Ferdinand Maguolo would tell his son Lou.1 Lou Maguolo, however, defied his father to become a highly successful scout for the St. Louis Browns and the New York Yankees from 1936 through 1975. Though Maguolo was only 5-feet-5 and topped out at 135 pounds, he was […]

As of 2016, three major-league pitchers had triple-digit lifetime ERAs.[1] One was Frank “Socko” Wurm, a 20-year-old veteran of World War II who allowed four runs to score in one-third of an inning with the Brooklyn Dodgers in September 1944. After his rocky debut, the lefty never got a chance to lower his 108.00 mark. […]

On the morning of August 27, 1947, Baltimore Orioles manager Tommy Thomas phoned Mel Ott to tell him that they had “bought the best pitcher in the International League” — Ray Poat. Thomas went on to warn the New York Giants skipper, “Only one thing, Mel, don’t use Poat in relief. He’s a starter and […]

“I can play this game,” said Lee Lacy confidently. “For hustle and determination, I won’t take a back seat to anyone.”1 An All-Star at three different infield positions in the minors, the right-handed-hitting Lacy broke in with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1972 and fashioned a 16-year big-league career spent primarily as a versatile utilityman […]

“Yes, I knew him. He had huge hands with crooked fingers. He was a catcher, you know.” “Hell Yes, Babe was here. When? I don’t know, maybe on Ben Egan day? No! I don’t recall ever seeing him. No! I don’t know of anyone who did.” “Yes, I knew Ben. A great guy, everyone liked him. He […]

Pitcher Brian Kingman compiled an 8-20 record with the 1980 Oakland Athletics. Prior to 1980, instances of pitchers losing 20 games in a season occurred with great regularity. After Kingman’s 20-loss season, however, his place in baseball lore was cemented for 23 long years until it finally happened again. The stinging effects of Kingman’s 20-loss […]

Overshadowed on the diamond by the antics and accomplishments of his younger brother Patsy, George Tebeau was little more than a journeyman late-nineteenth century outfielder-first baseman. The lasting impression that he made on the game came only after his playing days were behind him. For almost two decades, George was arguably the most powerful force […]

Youth, imposing size, and a blazing fastball garnered right-handed pitcher Big Mike Sullivan1 engagements with no fewer than nine different major league clubs in the late 19th century. Yet his time with these teams rarely lasted more than a single season, undone by inconsistency and poor command of the strike zone. And in certain venues, […]

General Crowder was a durable right-handed pitcher who won more games (124) than any big-league pitcher other than the immortal Lefty Grove in a six-year span from 1928 to 1933.  A three-time 20-game winner, Crowder led the American League in victories in 1932 and 1933 as a member of the Washington Senators. “If you’d let […]

Being enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown puts a player in an elite class among their peers. Achieving the required 75 percent of votes in their first year of eligibility is something only 60 players have done. Frank Thomas was one of those 60; he also did things in his career […]

A quintessential sportsman and promoter, Michael J. Finn was a newspaper writer, trainer of champion foot racers, dog racing promoter, boxing manager, and circus man before he ever got into professional baseball in 1897. Then, over the next 25 years, he served as a minor league manager, owner and scout, sending dozens of players to […]

Darren Oliver grew up in a baseball family and pitched all or parts of 20 major-league seasons (1993-2004, 2006-2013). Although the lefty saw action for nine different major league teams, he made his biggest mark with the Texas Rangers, the club that drafted him out of high school. During his three stints with Texas, Oliver […]

In the world of 1880s baseball, where Baldwin made an often tumultuous career, newspaper writers occasionally referred to him as “Clarence G.” in jest, but no one ever really though of him by any name other than Kid Baldwin. “Kid” was a nickname given in the nineteenth century to scrappy, feisty little athletes, and Kid […]

When the Chicago White Sox acquired him before the 1937 season, Thornton Lee was a hard-throwing but wild 30-year-old southpaw with just 12 victories in three-plus seasons for Cleveland. But under the aegis of manager Jimmy Dykes and coach Muddy Ruel, Lee developed into one of the best left-handers in the big leagues and the […]

The hot days of summer strolled lazily by Cleveland in 1954. The Indians were looking to sweep the visiting Chicago White Sox on the July Fourth holiday and make it four straight victories over the Pale Hose and seven straight overall. Cleveland was flexing its muscles, in first place with a 4½-game lead over the […]

“When Mr. Reardon speaks you are under the impression that he has just spit out a hand grenade.” — Harry A. Williams, Los Angeles Times1   Beans Reardon learned a lot about umpiring at the age of 16 when he worked as a riveter’s assistant. “Riveting was good education for umpiring,” he recalled. “If I […]

“I’m always the 11th man on a 10-man pitching staff,” left-hander Rob Gardner told The Sporting News in 1972.1 Gardner signed as an 18-year-old with the Minnesota Twins in 1963 and debuted with the New York Mets as a September call-up in 1965. In just his fourth big-league start, he dueled Chris Short of the […]

A.J. Bushong was better known as Doc or Bush in baseball circles. The Bush nickname is self-explanatory. The doctor reference denotes his degree in dentistry from the University of Pennsylvania. He obtained the degree early in his major-league career but only dabbled at the profession until his baseball career ended nearly a decade later. As […]

On Opening Day 1998 the reigning World Series champion Florida Marlins took the field minus a dozen of their 1997 teammates, many of whom were, as The Sporting News put it, “victims … of a halved payroll,” adding, “The roll call of departed comrades read like a Memorial Day remembrance of war casualties” with the […]

He was not the first man to be recognized as a threat to break Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a season, but Frank Howard was surely one of the first to draw such attention while still in the minor leagues, or even in college. This gentle, humble man would be no match […]