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Ted Williams bounded down the first-base line at Briggs Stadium like the kid he was. He clapped his hands twice as he neared the bag then bounded over it with a joyful skip as he made his way around the bases. Williams’s three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth had just […]

The visiting Los Angeles Dodgers (13-9) and the host Philadelphia Phillies (9-9) were in second and third place respectively in their divisions, less than a month into the 1980 season. The Sunday crowd of 34,027 was ready to cheer the Phillies to a sweep. Their odds were good—the Dodgers had lost eight regular-season games in […]

The Cincinnati Reds (3-5) were visiting the Detroit Tigers (5-4) for a three-game series. Yes, this was interleague play, but not the usual interleague schedule. With the 2020 COVID-19 travel protocols in place, the schedules were designed to create matchups that would minimize travel. AL Central teams like the Tigers played NL Central teams like […]

Three times over a four-week span in June and July of 1970, the New York Yankees entered the ninth inning of a game on the wrong end of the score and hitless. Each time, second baseman Horace Clarke delivered a hit, saving the Yankees from the ignominy of getting no-hit. The 31-year-old Clarke first played […]

After graduating from Waverly High School in Lansing, Michigan, John Smoltz was selected in the 22nd round of the June 1985 amateur draft by his favorite team, the Detroit Tigers. But Smoltz never took the mound for Detroit. On August 12, 1987, in the midst of a tight American League East race, the Tigers dealt […]

The team once known as the St. Louis Browns had escaped to Baltimore in 1954. Their 35th season in Baltimore began on an awful note. To begin the season, they had lost 21 consecutive games (the Brownies never did that), and coming into the game on May 2, they had lost 23 of 24. They […]

Few pitchers in Chicago Cubs history have burst on the scene with such an immediate explosive (albeit quickly fading) impact as Burt Hooton. Described by Windy City sportswriter Bob Logan as an “instant superstar” and compared with such icons of the sports-crazed city as Bobby Hull of the Black Hawks and Gayle Sayers of the […]

After 11 straight games at home to start the 1984 season, the Oakland A’s made their way to Seattle for the start of a nine-game road trip. The A’s had won seven games but were coming off a 12-8 loss to the California Angels the previous day. The Seattle Mariners were enjoying the best start […]

It was a few minutes after 4 P.M. on September 29, 2004, and the telephone rang in the office of Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams. It was Commissioner Bud Selig calling with a short but monumental message, “Congratulations. It’s been a long time coming.”1 Washington had a major-league baseball team for the first time since […]

For the end of July in Washington, 84 degrees and a light breeze was pleasant baseball weather for the 38,049 fans attending the evening game at Nationals Park. Given that it was a summer weekend, there were a substantial number of Phillies fans on hand1 as well as Nationals fans. The Phillies (56-47) were 3½ […]

The 1914 home run leader in professional baseball wasn’t Gavvy Cravath or even Frank “Home Run” Baker, but an unassuming 21-year-old Georgia lumber farmer named Everett Bankston, who banged out 31 homers with Cordele in the Class D Georgia State League in his very first professional season. He never came close to matching that production […]

Twelve managers have won more games than Bill McKechnie. None has won more respect. Deacon Bill McKechnie was the first to lead three different teams to the World Series and the first to win championships with two different teams. In 25 seasons as a manager, between 1915 and 1946, he earned respect as a baseball […]

James Edward “Ed” Goodson (nickname: Goody) had an eight-year major league career in the 1970s, beginning with the San Francisco Giants, followed by a stint with the Atlanta Braves and ending with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His final contract was a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians’ AAA Portland team in 1978. Goodson, who […]

Baseball is a game in which one or two numbers can become burned into collective memory, ultimately defining a player’s career. In the case of Babe Ruth, the numbers are 60 and 714. In the case of Ty Cobb, they are 4,191 and .367 (even though those numbers were shown to be inaccurate more than […]

For many African American males growing up in poverty-stricken households throughout Los Angeles, sports offered a chance to break away from the cultural and economic restraints imposed on them by their surroundings. This was no different for a young Darryl Eugene Strawberry (born March 12, 1962, in Los Angeles). Darryl was the third boy born […]

Former Army drillmaster Clyde Barfoot, a tall, husky, brown-haired and blue-eyed pitcher, relied on a “twisting fadeaway” called a “screw ball,” much like Christy Mathewson before and Carl Hubbell after him.1 His three seasons in the majors were sandwiched around his most successful professional campaign, winning 26 games in the Pacific Coast League in 1925 […]

“[T]he first major-league pitch I ever called for [was] a curve ball to Wally Moon,” recalled catcher Chris Cannizzaro. “I didn’t catch it. Moon hit it over the left [field] screen of the Coliseum in Los Angeles.”[fn]“’Young Ideas’ by Dick Young,” The Sporting News, June 30, 1973, 14.[/fn] Despite this inauspicious debut, Cannizzaro would go […]

Benjamin Ambrosio (Palmer) Oglivie was born in Colòn, Panama, on Friday, February 11, 1949. He was born into a Panama which offered certain privilege and opportunity, fed by the construction, completion, and use of the Panama Canal. Additionally, the post-World War II era affirmed a sense of optimism. Prior to 1949, the founders of the […]

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 […]

Alice Hoover played one season in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with the 1948 Fort Wayne Daisies. The 4’11”, 105 pound infielder from Reading, Pennsylvania was, not surprisingly, nicknamed “Pee Wee” by her Fort Wayne teammates. Born in Reading on October 27, 1928, to Ethel (Shurman) Hoover and Charles Hoover, Alice was the oldest of four […]

“What have you done for me lately?” is a common refrain heard among fans of all sports. Diehard and casual fans are known to be a fickle bunch. Any time a player has an outstanding performance in one game, he or she is the toast of the town. The next day they falter and they […]

Gerald “Gee” Walker was one of the most popular players in Detroit Tigers history, even though he often drove his managers crazy with his risk-averse approach to baserunning. Walker also played for the Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, and Cincinnati Reds in a major-league career that went from 1931 to 1945. Walker was […]

Baseball fans who watched Chet Lemon during his 16-year major-league career likely recall the speedy outfielder racing across the field at Comiskey Park or Tiger Stadium to track down a line drive headed for the gap. Just as likely, they can still see him diving headlong into first base or getting hit by a pitch. […]

“He was what could be classified as a crazy ball player. You could never defense him well or pitch him certain kinds of pitches because he was so unpredictable. If you were nine runs down, Holloway might try to steal home if he thought it might help to motivate the team in their comeback effort.” […]