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In his prime in the 1940s, Walker Cooper was thought to be the best catcher in baseball and the game’s strongest man. At 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, he was an intimidating presence behind the plate and, in addition, possessed one of the strongest and most accurate arms in the National League. He was destructive at […]

Tom Butts stood 5-feet-8 and weighed just 142 pounds, but his size was not the reason he acquired the nickname Pee Wee. Rather, the strong-armed shortstop’s defensive prowess reminded observers of his White contemporary, Pee Wee Reese.1 “I’d compare Butts with Reese or [Phil] Rizzuto or anyone I’ve seen in the big leagues,” opined Roy […]

Announcer Dick Enberg once asked Stewart Cliburn when he knew he was a major leaguer. Cliburn replied that he knew he was a major leaguer when he saw his name and picture on a major-league baseball card for the first time. That first time came eight years after Cliburn had signed his first professional contract. […]

In July 1967, shortly after he assumed the helm of the Minnesota Twins, The Sporting News cheered new skipper Cal Ermer’s fortune following his long minor-league apprenticeship: “If baseball were like the movies, with the hero always getting the girl, Ermer wouldn’t have had to wait 20 years for his ship to come in,” the […]

Tacks Latimer was a journeyman catcher during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although his major league career was brief, 27 games and 86 at-bats spread over five different seasons (the writer Bill James has suggested that this might be some sort of record), he played professional baseball for over a decade and a […]

Babe Ruth was irreplaceable. So when the end finally came for Ruth during the first game of a doubleheader on May 30, 1935, Boston Braves manager Bill McKechnie sent in outfielder Hal Lee to replace the irreplaceable. Lee was accustomed to playing in the shadows of other stars of the 1930s, including Chuck Klein and […]

Billy Arnold Muffett — Billy was his given name — was a right-handed pitcher who worked for the Cardinals, Giants, and Red Sox in the years 1957-1962. In only one of those years — 1961 with the Red Sox — did he spend a full season in the majors. “I was named Billy Arnold for […]

 Fa’a Samoa – The Samoan Way – is an ethic that embraces a community. Its central tenets are respect for elders, religious faith, and unshakable family loyalty. Aiga, perhaps best translated as clan, guided the life of Samoa’s sole major-leaguer: Tolia “Tony” Solaita. Tolia was born in the village of Nu’uuli, on the main American […]

Developing a passion for umpiring began at a young age for Dave Phillips, and baseball was simply in his family’s DNA. His parents met on a St. Louis baseball field in the 1930s while his mother, Helen Creamer, was playing softball and his father, Bob Phillips, was umpiring her games. Their son grew up to […]

Hugh “Red” Alexander was a promising 20-year-old, having just hit 57 home runs with a high batting average in two minor-league seasons, and tasting his first cup of coffee in the big leagues. He managed one single in 11 at-bats during his late-season callup and was looking forward to a long career as a player. […]

Another couple of miles west and New Hampshire could have claimed Harry Lord as a New Hampshire native. Porter, Maine – where our guardian of the hot corner was born on March 8, 1882 – is that close to the state line. But Mainers take pride in the Porter lad, for Harry Lord was a […]

Andy Reese was a versatile utility player for John McGraw’s New York Giants from 1927 to 1930, and he was a star of the Memphis Chickasaws of the Southern Association from 1931 to 1939. He is the “hit king” of the Southern Association: His 1,642 hits were more than any other player achieved in the […]

The Cincinnati Reds did not seem a bit concerned about their opponent from the junior circuit. The Big Red Machine were the bullies on the beach, waiting to kick sand in the face of their rival, the Oakland Athletics. Pete Rose viewed the coming 1972 World Series as anticlimactic. “The real World Series was between […]

After spending five seasons in the minor leagues, in addition to a late-season call-up in 2004, rookie Clint Barmes was thrilled to be named the Colorado Rockies’ starting shortstop on Opening Day 2005. With the sold-out Coors Field crowd on their feet and the score tied 10-10 in the bottom of the ninth, Barmes launched […]

Visalia, California, has long been a good baseball town. Located in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, it has been a mainstay of the California League since 1946, except for a couple of intervals.1 As of 2015, 13 men born in Visalia had played in the major leagues, including Marty Perez, who got into 931 games […]

If not for two years of military service and four years at the University of Texas, baseball lifer Grady Hatton’s career as player, manager, scout, and front office executive would have surpassed a half century. Mainly a third baseman, he played in 12 big-league seasons (1946-56; 1960). Reflecting on his playing career in 1966, Hatton […]

“I will remember Dick Howser making that rush toward Bret Saberhagen the October before last, smiling like a kid, grabbing the most shining moment of a worthy baseball life.”1 – Mike Lupica, June 18, 1987. “Well, I just recruited me a shortstop.”2 – Legendary FSU baseball coach Danny Litwhiler remembering the 1955 tryout of unheralded […]

A versatile fielder who could play second, third, or short, Heinie Zimmerman rose to prominence with the Chicago Cubs during the early teens as a lovable eccentric whose aggressive batting style won the loyalty of fans and the respect of opposing pitchers. But despite winning the National League’s Triple Crown in 1912, the lifetime .295 […]

In 1986, Craig Shipley became the first player trained in Australia to reach the big leagues. In the ensuing decades, more than 20 other Aussies have made it to the top level – many encouraged by Shipley’s example. After four fractional seasons in the majors, the infielder established himself as a useful reserve over seven […]

“If you’d ever seen me swing, you’d say, ‘No way this guy could hit a home run.’ I step in the bucket. My back side flies up. It’s not a pretty swing.” – Cincinnati Reds pitcher Dave Burba, 1996.1   Rory Glynn, a Cincinnati Reds beat writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer, jested in 1996 that […]

“They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays,” Ted Williams said,1 and Mays showed why in the 1963 All-Star Game. Wondrous Willie didn’t hit a home run, but the rest of his formidable tools were on display as he had a hit and a walk, stole two bases, scored two runs, knocked in two runs, […]

Losses in May and June count as much as those in September; just ask any second-place team. Ivers Whitney Adams’s assembled dream team of Boston Red Stockings was designed to have an exciting and superior baseball season in 1871. But after winning their very first two games on the road, their initial home appearance at […]

Minor-league power hitting, solid play as an injury fill-in, and Dave Parker’s departure in free agency thrust Doug Frobel into right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Opening Day 1984. Frobel’s struggles – beginning with an ignominious encounter with Hall of Fame-bound San Diego Padres reliever Rich Gossage in the season opener – soon reduced […]