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Bob Smith was a shortstop with a strong arm and a weak bat who made himself into a pitcher when he was 30 years old and lasted 15 seasons in the majors. He was stuck on losing teams for most of his career, so naturally the highlight was a defeat. In 1927 Smith pitched and […]

Few people can say that their job made it possible to travel around the entire world. Parnell Woods traversed North and Central America while playing baseball, being selected to eight East-West All-Star Games along the way. After his baseball career, he was able to travel throughout Europe and Asia as the traveling secretary for the […]

Winner of 158 major-league games, Willis Hudlin was a mainstay of the Cleveland Indians’ pitching staff in the 1920s and 1930s. His best pitches were his fastball and sinker. He was later a team owner, manager, coach and scout, in a professional baseball career that lasted nearly 50 years. George Willis Hudlin was born in […]

After several trials as a starter with the Atlanta Braves in the 1970s and out of the big leagues in 1980, southpaw Jamie Easterly emerged as a dependable reliever for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1981, helping them to their first-ever postseason berth. He suffered a strained knee in 1982 and was not on the pennant-winning […]

Sammy Vick was noted as the only player to ever pinch-hit for Babe Ruth. Vick had been the regular right fielder of the Yankees in 1919, but New York had purchased Ruth from the Boston Red Sox over the winter and Vick lost his starting job. But he said he had an opportunity to pinch-hit […]

Immersed in a pennant race that would go down to the wire, the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers took the field at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on September 28, 1966, in hopes of putting distance between themselves and their two closest competitors. The St. Louis Cardinals had no intention of making this endeavor any easier […]

Right-hander Chuck Rainey was a first-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox, the 19th pick overall in the January 1974 draft. A little more than five years later, he broke into the big leagues with Boston, pitching for the Red Sox, Cubs, and Oakland Athletics in a major-league career that lasted six seasons. Red […]

Frank Sadecki, the son of Polish immigrant parents, spent his childhood working in the family grocery store rather than playing baseball. As a result, his greatest wish for his son Ray from the beginning was to be “left-handed, (to) like baseball, and become a major leaguer.”1 Frank’s wish was granted as his son, after just […]

“As a reliever, you’ve got to have amnesia. Not only with the bad days, but with the good days. You may get them out one, two, three today, but you’ve got to forget about it immediately, because that may not happen tomorrow.” — Roberto Hernandez, 20071 “(In the 1989 Instructional League), Roberto (Hernandez) and (pitching […]

The year 1962 saw National League baseball return to New York City with a new expansion team, the New York Mets. From its origin, the Mets were very fortunate in that it had a very enthusiastic fan base. While enthusiastic, these fans suffered significant frustration in 1962 as the Mets lost 120 games. Sharing that […]

A glorious, romantic, and competitive era of Cuban amateur baseball was the early 1940s.1 During that time, there was a quartet of star pitchers: Conrado Marrero, Julio Moreno, Rogelio Martínez, and Sandalio Consuegra. All four entered the big leagues in 1950 with the Washington Senators. Consuegra – often known as Sandy in the U.S. – […]

Early in the 1979 season, Kiko Garcia became Baltimore’s primary shortstop. He supplanted eight-time Gold Glover Mark Belanger, whom manager Earl Weaver described as “the best friend the pitchers on this ball club have ever had.”1 Yet even at the best of times, Belanger was a light hitter, and he endured the worst struggle of […]

From the mid-1960s to 1980s, Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau brought Cubs games to life for legions of fans. Vince Lloyd Skaff was born June 1, 1917 in Beresford, South Dakota. His parents, Michael T. and Lula (Salem) Skaff, were Lebanese immigrants who owned a family bakery. He had three brothers (Francis, Alfred and John) […]

Hannah and Ernie Wright (Courtesy of Hagen History Center)   In an era when many African Americans lived in poverty and were treated as second-class citizens, Ernest Pearle Wright managed to rise and persevere as a successful businessman.   Born on October 7, 1901, in Zanesville, Ohio, Ernest was the only child to mother Jessie (Forney) […]

Perhaps no other sport offers redemption to a player more often, or more quickly, than baseball. It can be a dangerous motivator for a young ballplayer. This is especially true for one who has been given his first opportunity to play every day. Or for a player who has been lauded for his skill on […]

Porter Riley Charleston was born in Mexia, Limestone County, Texas, on January 8, 1904. Charleston’s life story is filled with gaps. His parentage remains obscure; whether or not he played in one of the Negro/Colored Leagues in Texas is not known.1 When Charleston first traveled to Pennsylvania, where his Negro League career began with the […]

Since major-league baseball began, no player has ever enjoyed a debut to match Ted Cox’s. In every one of his first six at-bats, he got a base hit. Other players have made a hit in their first time at bat. Some of the greatest hitters of all time took a long time to get established. […]

Tommie Agee was one of the key components to the 1969 Miracle Mets, solidifying the defense and serving as the club’s chief power source, albeit from the leadoff spot. His on-field heroics during the ’69 season—including socking the only home run to ever reach Shea Stadium’s upper deck—helped propel the Mets to their first postseason […]

Hall of Fame right-handers Tom Seaver and Fergie Jenkins combined for 595 victories and 1,241 starts in their big-league careers. In their first matchup facing each other, Jenkins bested Seaver, tossing a complete-game six-hitter and belting a home run. After the Chicago Cubs finished third in the National League in both 1967 and 1968, there […]

The New York Mets came into existence in 1962 as the National League expanded for the first time.1 Casey Stengel’s ragtag “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game” Mets stumbled to a 40-120 record in their first season, finishing dead last of the league’s 10 teams, 60 games out of first place.2 By 1966 the Mets […]

The Philadelphia Phillies were 4-9 when manager Nick Leyva was fired early in the 1991 season.1 They lost three of their first five games under new manager Jim Fregosi2 and were in fifth place in the National League East Division heading into the third game of a four-game series with the San Diego Padres on […]

Two days and 3,000 miles away from its improbable 11th-inning victory in Game Five of the American League Championship Series, the Boston Red Sox continued their march toward the AL pennant with another elimination-game victory. Back home in Fenway Park, the Red Sox batted around in the third inning, scoring five times off Angels starter […]

The Washington Senators were feeling plenty good about themselves. The reigning world champions had won 10 of their last 13 games as they rolled into St. Louis on July 11, 1925. The Senators were in the midst of their Western swing having split a four-game set with the White Sox in Chicago. As the Senators […]

Sandy Koufax’s final shutout was the 40th of his career and fifth of the 1966 season. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   He had walked up the small hill 391 previous times in his big-league career. Standing atop that mound, he had accomplished so much: four no-hitters, including the only perfect game in Dodgers history, and 39 total […]