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Propelled by rising youngsters and veteran newcomers, the Atlanta Braves emerged from six seasons of woebegone play to challenge for the National League West lead in May 1991. Left-hander Steve Avery, the vanguard of Atlanta’s youth wave at age 21, continued his early-season breakthrough in a 6-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 12 […]

It is the bottom of the eighth inning of Game Two, and the Boston Red Sox are squarely facing the prospect of heading to Detroit having lost the first two games of the 2013 ALCS at home. The score is 5-1 Tigers, but the Red Sox have a glimmer of hope. The bases are loaded […]

The expectation that the 2003 NLCS would end with a quick coronation for the Chicago Cubs was diminished when the Florida Marlins stormed back from a 4-0 deficit to win Game One on third baseman Mike Lowell’s 11th-inning home run. The gaudy headlines about the Cubs’ vaunted pitching staff1 failed to underscore the fact that […]

Willie “Pops” Stargell, the captain of the Pittsburgh Pirates, had announced at the beginning of 1982 that this season – his 20th full season in the majors, all with the Bucs – would be his last. After a magnificent 1979 season in which he had become the first player to be voted MVP of the […]

The third-place New York Giants and the cellar-dwelling Boston Braves had little to play for on the final day of the 1929 season; neither team could finish any higher in the National League standings. The only significant unresolved item was the NL home-run race, where the Giants’ Mel Ott was just one homer behind league […]

Gene Baker was not, as is sometimes reported, the first Black manager in minor-league baseball. But it was still a significant step forward when the 36-year-old took the reins of the Batavia (New York) Pirates of the Class D New York-Penn League on the night of June 19, 1961. There’s no firm record of a […]

At the time, releasing Doyle Alexander seemed like a no-brainer. Swallowing 2 2/3 years of Alexander’s four-year, $2.2 million contract was a small price for New York Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner to pay to rid the club of such a major disappointment. Signed to that deal immediately after his March 1982 acquisition from the […]

As the resurgence of the Brooklyn Dodgers as a pennant-contending team in the 1940s moved into the next decade, there is one thing that scorekeeping fans could count on since 1949. Campy, Gil, Jackie, Pee Wee, Billy, Duke, and Skoonj. For the radio broadcast, you could pencil in their names into the lineup on your […]

Oakland Coliseum in 2023. (Courtesy of Jacob Pomrenke)   After Kansas City Athletics owner Arnold Johnson died in 1960, his heirs sold the team to Charlie Finley.1 Finley was unable to make the A’s competitive on the field and decided to move them out of Kansas City. After failed attempts to relocate to Louisville, Dallas, […]

Al Leiter spent 18 years in the majors and enjoyed pitching success in both leagues. During his career, he managed to earn two World Series rings and play on three different teams in the fall classic. Although Leiter never became one of the star pitchers of his day, he made important contributions to his teams’ […]

On baseball’s biggest stage, Chicago Cubs right-hander Claude Passeau tossed the game of his life: a one-hit shutout against the Detroit Tigers in Game Three of the 1945 World Series. Though often overlooked in discussions about the best pitchers of his era, Passeau was a durable workhorse and five-time All-Star who averaged 15 wins and […]

By some standards, Ed Swartwood toiled in relative obscurity, playing nearly his entire career in the American Association, an under-appreciated major league in the 19th century. Even the teams he played on weren’t impressive. During the league’s inaugural season, 1882, he came up with the Pittsburg Alleghenys, a poor club during his three summers there. […]

For the four years from 1931 through 1934 Edward Arthur Brandt, largely forgotten today, was one of the top left-handers in the National League. Toiling for the mediocre Boston Braves, Dutch, as he was called by his teammates, reeled off victory totals of 18, 16, 18, and 16 and was a big reason why the […]

Although there isn’t a strong correlation between hair color and personality, it’s fair to say that the stereotypical redhead is hot-tempered, fiery and passionate. With his carrot-topped thatch, Wade Killefer personifies this description and was a natural to be called “Red” from birth. Add to the mix a stocky 5’9″ 175-pound frame, a keen intellect, […]

In August 1985, The Cosby Show was tops on television, Back to the Future was a box-office hit, and Mike Young was one of baseball’s hottest hitters. That month, Young went deep nine times in a 14-game stretch for the Baltimore Orioles. He finished the season with 28 homers – 20 of which came after […]

“That night might have been the best thing anyone has done in baseball in the last 10 years.” — Mike Downey, August 28, 1985 ***** In 1985 Eddie Murray drove in a career-high 124 runs, had a career-high 37 doubles (a total he matched in 1992), and reached the 30-home-run mark (31) for the fourth […]

John Boyce Taylor – known as “Steel Arm Johnny” for his pitching – was the second of four tremendously talented baseball-playing brothers. One of them, Ben, was eventually inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Eldest brother Charles, known in baseball as “C.I.,” was a brilliant manager; along with Rube Foster, he […]

Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Prince was a man of paradox. He was often brash and loud, but tender and caring around the disabled children who meant so much to him; a carefree playboy who enjoyed a drink or two (or three), but a devoted family man who raised two children with his wife of […]

Ron Kline is one of a number of professional athletes who entered politics after their professional athletic careers came to a close. The most notable baseball player turned politician is Jim Bunning, US Senator from Kentucky (1999-2011), though others (Vinegar Bend Mizell and Fred Brown, for instance) also served in political office.1 Ron Kline became […]

Catchers, like musicians, use both hands for their craft: the gloved one captures the ball while the other acts as a conductor’s baton to guide the action. Johnny Bench, arguably the best player to don the tools of ignorance, stated, “The catcher is in the middle of everything. He sees it best.”1 The statement is […]

Until age and arm miseries precipitated his release in May 1919, right-hander Joe Benz was a valuable member of the Chicago White Sox pitching corps. During the preceding eight seasons, Benz had alternated between the starting rotation, spot-starter duty, and long relief, never posting an ERA higher than 2.90. Usually overshadowed by mound mates like […]

Tom Poquette was the Kansas City Royals Rookie of the Year in 1976 and enjoyed a seven-year major-league career as a left-handed hitting outfielder. When his baseball career ended, he was inducted into Eau Claire, Wisconsin’s Baseball Hall of Fame. This popular and hard-working player and coach produced a genuine lifelong baseball story and local […]

Visiting Cincinnati hurler Elton Chamberlain was in Boston’s Congress Street Grounds pitcher’s box for the afternoon game of the May 30, 1894, Decoration Day doubleheader. “Icebox” had no-hit the champ Beaneaters the previous September in Porkopolis (in a game called due to darkness after seven innings) and he was about to face half the same […]

The Washington Senators played at Griffith Stadium from 1911 to 1960 before leaving for Minnesota. The expansion Senators played one year there in 1961 before moving across town to D.C. Stadium, later called Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. (Library of Congress, Horydczak Collection)   When the National League dropped four cities, including Washington, after the 1899 […]