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A catcher’s close proximity to the home plate umpire doesn’t bode well for a receiver with a propensity for umpire baiting and “rowdy tactics.” This was the case for Harry “Spike” LaRoss, whose many fines and suspensions, along with many injuries, necessitated a move to the outfield early in his career. The 5’11”, 170 pound […]

Rufus “Sonnyman” Jackson was born on May 1, 1900, in Columbus, Georgia, to Rufus Jackson Sr. and Rosa Bell Dixon, both Georgia natives.1 Rosie and her son remained close enough throughout his life that in 1940, when he was already a successful businessman and often-time courthouse visitor, she was still living with her grown son. […]

Dick Hughes had a memorable rookie season in the big leagues in 1967. He led the world champion St. Louis Cardinals with 16 wins, while losing just 6 and posting a 2.67 ERA. At age 29, Hughes was runner-up to Tom Seaver for 1967 National League Rookie of the Year honors. The bespectacled right-hander, who […]

Gary Sheffield was known for a swing so quick “he could turn on a .38-caliber bullet.”1 The menacing way he waggled his bat and the screaming line drives it produced caused a frustrated Cincinnati Reds coach to promise to ban his pitchers from throwing Sheffield a strike.2 Sheffield emerged as a star in 1992, when […]

Big Bill James’s involvement, if any, in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal remains curiously unexplored by most baseball historians. Yet the tall right-handed pitcher from Michigan pops up in three different game-fixing incidents during the Deadball Era. As a member of the Chicago White Sox for just two months in 1919, James saw little action […]

Darrin Jackson has spent more than 40 years in professional baseball, first as a highly respected (and well-traveled) outfielder (1981-99) who overcame cancer and serious illnesses to have a productive career, and then as the longtime analyst for Chicago White Sox television (2000-08) and radio (2009- ) broadcasts. In 2024 Jackson completed his 25th season […]

A lifelong pursuit toward a ministerial career was put on hold for 21 years while the devoutly religious Lindy McDaniel labored in his temporary gig as a major-league hurler. During the interim employment he alternately became both the “toast of the town … [and] the roast of the town with his ups and downs.”1 Possessor […]

Jacob “Jake” Wood Jr., an African American from Elizabeth, New Jersey, starred at shortstop for the baseball team at Thomas Jefferson High, played one season at Delaware State University, and signed with the Detroit Tigers in 1957. Jake was a natural, one of two outstanding athletes in the family. Youngest brother Richard enjoyed a 10-year […]

On September 27, 1920, suspicions about the integrity of the previous year’s World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds were given substance by a self-admitted fix insider named Billy Maharg. In an interview first published in the Philadelphia North American and syndicated nationwide immediately thereafter, Maharg maintained that a number of Chicago […]

On June 24, 1945, seven weeks after the German Wehrmacht surrendered to the Allied armies and on the e day more than 40,000 Russian troops paraded through Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate their victory over the Nazi invaders, a son was born to Mary and Ralph Zeigler in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, on June 24, 1945. William […]

The same week Joe Jackson debuted in centerfield for the Cleveland Naps, another minor league star debuted in leftfield. Jackson is a baseball legend. The other newcomer, Dave Callahan, is all but forgotten. Callahan’s major league stay was brief, but he played seventeen years in the minors, noted for his defense and timely hitting. David […]

It is the most dramatic of baseball plays, the walk-off home run. The exuberance of the hometown fans is immediate as the batter begins to circle the bases. Amid the gathering of an excited and victorious team, the home-plate umpire waits stoically to ensure that all runners have touched the plate. Game over! As noted […]

A Sunday crowd of 19,950 — overflowing into fair territory in left field — flocked to Cleveland’s League Park on May 11, 1913, for the first of four games between the Cleveland Naps and the New York Yankees. The game was promoted as “Frank Chance Day,” to honor New York’s popular player-manager. Chance — in […]

“If a tie is like kissing your sister, losing is like kissing your grandmother with her teeth out.” — George Brett   It was quite the major-league debut for 27-year-old Roberto Peña. He ended the day with three errors and a .571 fielding average. At the plate, he banged out three hits, including a home […]

When the Chicago White Sox took the field for Opening Day in 1919, no one knew which version of the team would come to play.1 Charles Comiskey’s club had ended the previous season in a disappointing sixth place, following the loss of stars like Eddie Collins to the Marines and Shoeless Joe Jackson to the […]

The Detroit Tigers headed to Cleveland for a three-game, two-day set with the Indians in August 1958. The Tigers were holding down fourth place in the American League. The Indians were right behind them in fifth. Both clubs, as well as the whole league, were double-digit games behind the first-place New York Yankees. Nobody was […]

Henry Aaron retired with an NL-record 16 grand slams. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   In late June of 1967, Grady Hatton’s Houston Astros rolled into Fulton County prepared to square off against Billy Hitchcock’s Atlanta Braves in a two-game set. As the series opened Atlanta was tied with the San Francisco Giants for fifth place in the […]

A new day was dawning for New York baseball fans. After the Dodgers and Giants had left town, 4 years had passed without a National League team in New York. Now National League fans had one. The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club had been formed in March of 1961 and quickly became known as the […]

Reggie Jackson had not returned in years, but it made no difference. Decades after being one of the few Black minor leaguers on the 1967 Birmingham A’s, he could still recall how segregationists would point and refuse him service. He could still recite the taunts: “The n****r can’t stay here”; “The n****r can’t eat here.”1 […]

If Red Sox owner James McAleer had made a bundle betting against his own team in Game Six, he may have lost it all in Game Seven when Smoky Joe Wood failed to deliver. New York had scored five runs in the first inning the day before. Now, facing Boston’s best pitcher, they scored six […]

“The Giants became tired of losing games one at a time.”1 So started the story in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, describing the events of a Boston Braves-New York Giants doubleheader. The article continued, “They did it twice as good yesterday [May 16]. They lost two to the Boston Braves.”2 The New York Times echoed the […]

At 10:45 A.M. on July 5, 1947, Larry Doby and Cleveland Indians assistant public relations director Louis Jones arrived by train in Chicago. The pair made a brief stop at the Congress Hotel to pick up Indians owner Bill Veeck, and journeyed to Comiskey Park, where they were about to make history.1 It was the […]

On Friday, October 8, on a beautiful afternoon in front of a Milwaukee County Stadium crowd of 50,135, for the second time in six days, Don Sutton took the mound for the Brewers in Game Three of the American League Championship Series. With the Brewers down two games to none to the California Angels and […]

Organized Baseball faced challenges on several fronts during World War I. Naturally, the able-bodied men employed in baseball were also wanted and even expected to perform in the service, like other men throughout the country. While it is true that many ballplayers performed in battle and other essential tasks, some were placed with their athletic […]