Search Results

Hawaiian reliever Ryan Kurosaki was the third American of Japanese Ancestry (AJA) to play major-league baseball — but the first of 100% Japanese descent.1 His time at the top was brief — seven games with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1975 at age 22. The Cards called up the righty from Class AA early in […]

Left-hander Drake Britton had one win and one loss in his time in the big leagues, but he has a World Championship ring to treasure forever as a member of the 2013 Boston Red Sox. It was a year in which he almost lost the opportunity to pitch. John Drake Britton was born in Waco, […]

After the first game of a doubleheader against the visiting Chicago Cubs on July 4, 1928, rookie outfielder Wally Roettger of the St. Louis Cardinals was hitting a robust .341. In the second game, however, he dislocated his right ankle and broke both bones in his lower leg sliding into third base.1 The injury ended […]

In the annals of baseball dating back to when it first became a game played by professionals, the great teams have always taken on the persona of their managers. This includes the old Chicago White Stockings of the National League led by their first baseman-manager Adrian “Cap” Anson, and continues with managers such as Ned […]

“I know I’ve been a chump for a long time,” said Frank Grube on the verge of making the St. Louis Browns in April 1941, “and I know I’ve got some good baseball left in me. You don’t know how tough it is,” Grube continued, looking back on the past four years he had spent […]

The Olivo brothers, Diómedes and Federico, had very similar careers. Diómedes was a big-league “rookie” at the age of 41 in 1960, though rumors persisted that he was older. Federico – better known as “Chi-Chi” – reached the majors in 1961, at the age of 33. Or was that 34? Maybe 35? Diómedes spent just […]

Lefty Gomez made a lasting mark on baseball for two reasons. Not only was he one of the two or three finest pitchers of his generation, but he was probably the wittiest person ever to wear a major league uniform. In a 14-year big league career spanning 1930-43, all but one game of which was […]

“In right field, Tarasco going back to the track, to the wall … and what happens here? He contends that a fan reaches up and touches it, but Richie Garcia says, ‘No!’ it’s a home run,” Bob Costas shouted through the broadcast microphone over a raucous Yankee Stadium crowd. The moment: Game One of the […]

“Cannon Ball Redding and others of days gone by had plenty of speed, but Frank Wickware, speed ball artist from Coffeyville, Kan., was recognized as the king until LeRoy (Satchel) Paige arrived on the scene with his fast ball.” — Chicago Defender, 19301   Frank Wickware was one of the premier Negro pitchers from 1910 […]

Best known as the third baseman banned from Organized Baseball for his knowledge of the 1919 World Series fix in which he did not participate, Buck Weaver spent most of his nine-year major-league career as a shortstop, only converting full time to the third sack in 1917. Initially a right-handed batter, Weaver learned to switch-hit […]

If the 2009 movie The Blind Side, for which Sandra Bullock received a Best Actress Academy Award, had been released about five years earlier, it might have been called the football version of Dewon Brazelton’s story. The true saga of offensive lineman Michael Oher bears many similarities to Brazelton’s life experiences: Both are African Americans […]

When the expansion Kansas City Royals hired Cedric Tallis as the team’s GM, he assumed an almost impossible task. Before the first expansion season was even half over in 1969, Kansas City owner Ewing Kauffman was proclaiming that a glorious future was not far away. A hard-driving yet generous pharmaceutical entrepreneur, Kauffman publicly stated that […]

Which New York Yankees player had the highest batting average in 1964? Mickey Mantle hit .303 and Elston Howard .313 – but nobody topped Elvio Jiménez’s .333 mark. “Look it up,” he said.1 Despite batting .309 over 13 seasons in the minors, however, Jiménez appeared in just one major-league game, going 2-for-6. Following a 17-year […]

Summoned straight from the amateur ranks to a major-league rotation, Arch McCarthy was the first of seven pitching recruits brought up by the Detroit Tigers in the summer of 1902. After his first two big-league starts — both complete games on consecutive days — McCarthy looked to have a good shot to stay at the […]

A hard-throwing right-hander, Fred Beebe began and ended his major-league career in fine style. As a rookie in 1906, he posted 15 wins and led the National League in strikeouts. Ten years later, he provided excellent spot starter-relief work as a midseason Cleveland Indians call-up. In between, Beebe suffered from bouts of wildness, arm problems, […]

Except for two games in the 1890 Players League, Fred Doe devoted his entire baseball career to the minor leagues in New England. On the diamond, Doe quickly progressed from player to manager during the period 1885 to 1888. In the 1890s, Doe became a non-playing manager and in the early 1900s he moved up […]

Sometimes, let’s say most of the time, knowing exactly what we want out of life is the key to making it happen. Aaron Lane Cook, born February 8, 1979, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was asked in the eighth grade to fill out a questionnaire on what he wanted to do when he grew up. “My […]

George Caster was a “gay and delightful fellow who went laughing through the summers, doing what was asked of him as well as he could.”1 He was the ace and backbone of the Philadelphia Athletics pitching staff in 1937 and 1938 despite losing 19 and 20 games respectively in the two seasons. He tossed 513 […]

Chico Walker once told Boston sportswriter Peter Gammons, “Getting to the big leagues wasn’t the problem. But staying in the big leagues was.”1 Walker epitomized the utility man in baseball. From his major-league debut in 1980 through 1993, he played for four different teams, in both leagues, over 11 seasons.2 Yet it took until 1991, […]

Only three pitchers have maintained earned run averages below 1.00 for a full season. Ferdie Schupp did it in 1916. Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley duplicated the feat in 1990. The third person? Chris Hammond.1 In 2002, he pitched 76 innings and gave up a miniscule eight earned runs, resulting in a 0.95 ERA. Making […]

Like many New York Yankees from their late 1960s and early 1970s nadir, Jerry Kenney suffered from the curse of expectations that media and fans had for the once dominant franchise. Winning 29 pennants and 20 World Series in 44 years, from 1921 to 1964 inclusive, was proof to many fans that winning was an […]

  Wahconah Park: an outdated barn or a precious relic? A swamp or a hallowed slab? A money pit or a landmark? After well over a century, the dichotomy persists. Baseball players were facing off there before Babe Ruth was born, before “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was written, before architects sketched the […]

Here are The SABR Bookshelf listings for Summer 2012. To get your NEW book listed on The SABR Bookshelf, make sure a review copy is sent to: SABR, 4455 E. Camelback Rd., Ste. D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018. To ensure a listing in The Baseball Index — SABR’s online catalog of baseball research materials at www.baseballindex.org […]