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The 2002 World Series was the first between two wild-card teams.1 This Series had no Cy Young Award winners, 2 and as of 2024, none of the participants had been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. One team, the Anaheim Angels, had never reached the World Series in their 42-year history.3 The other, […]

Still led by four pillars of their 1940s dynasty, the St. Louis Cardinals surged into first place in the National League in July 1950. But three losses in three days in Pittsburgh, punctuated by Jack Phillips’ game-winning ninth-inning pinch-hit grand slam on July 8, foreshadowed their subsequent fall from contention and final fadeout of the […]

The largest crowd to witness a baseball game in Canada so far, 59,260 boisterous fans, jammed Montreal’s Olympic Stadium for a doubleheader between the Expos and Pittsburgh Pirates on July 27, 1979.1 The fans had plenty of reasons to be enthusiastic that evening. Not only were the Expos involved in the first real pennant race […]

The New York Mets came into existence in 1962 and were one of the worst teams in baseball history, losing 120 games. The 1963 season was much of the same for Casey Stengel’s Mets. They lost 111 games and finished last for the second straight year. The Mets of that era were lovable losers, with […]

Keith Foulke signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox on January 7, 2004.1 The 2003 team had finished one win short of the World Series while relying on Byung-Hyun Kim to close 35 games and Brandon Lyon to close 31.2 General manager Theo Epstein looked to Foulke after the 31-year-old right-hander, formerly […]

The Kansas City Royals were undergoing a transition in 1986-87. The Royals had won the World Series in 1985, but were slow getting out of the gate in 1986. Shortly after the All-Star break, manager Dick Howser was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He stepped down as manager to undergo treatment, and Mike Ferraro finished […]

When Jamie Moyer was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Seattle Mariners during the 1996 season, the well-traveled left-hander said, “I know I’m not a number 1 starter, but I can certainly help a team win in a lot of ways.”1 Under Seattle skipper Lou Piniella, the first major-league manager he felt ever […]

The Arizona Diamondbacks woke up on Sunday, April 27, 2008, already leading the National League West Division by six games but carrying a worn-out bullpen. No starter had thrown a pitch in the seventh inning since the previous Monday, forcing the bullpen to cover more than 20 innings in five games – including 7 1/3 […]

“Here they have the All-Star Game, and they are holding it for the first time in Dodger Stadium, where more people see baseball games than anywhere else in the country,” wrote the Chicago Tribune’s Richard Dozer.1 The Chicago sportswriter noted that being close to Hollywood fit this game perfectly, because Steve Stone, a mediocre pitcher […]

One player on the Royals Stadium field didn’t share in the usual happiness associated with Opening Day. Toronto’s George Bell stepped into the batter’s box for his first plate appearance of 1988 in the second inning still angry at manager Jimy Williams and the Blue Jays’ front office over their insistence that Bell should be […]

A shortstop by trade, Bob Bailor could also play the outfield quite well. In fact, he played every position but first base and catcher during his 11 big-league seasons. Bob Murphy, the late New York Mets radio announcer, said, “He’s not a heavy hitter, but he is a tough competitor.” Like Rex Hudler and Joe […]

“He’s too young to throw a no-hitter!”1 With the words of Cincinnati Redlegs manager Birdie Tebbetts still ringing in his ears, 17-year-old southpaw Dave Skaugstad took the mound on September 29, 1957 at Milwaukee’s County Stadium. Appearing in his second major-league game, he relieved 20-year-old rookie Jay Hook, who’d held the National League pennant-winning Milwaukee […]

Star hurler of the Buffalo city leagues, Jim Neher pitched a single, three-pitch, three-out inning for the Cleveland Naps in September of 1912. A teammate of Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie and Shoeless Joe Jackson, Neher moved back to Buffalo when his playing days were done. He worked as an electrician and lived a seemingly […]

College baseball coach Bobby Sprowl’s teams have won more than 1,000 games in the course of a career that’s run 30 years and counting. He’s also run a successful baseball camp for the past 25 years. The left-handed pitcher was a second-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1977 and made it to […]

After being stuck in the New York Yankees minor-league system for seven seasons, Lee Thomas spent 1961 through 1968 as a big-league player. The first baseman/outfielder was an All-Star in his best year, 1962 – but his finest day came in the final month of his rookie season. On September 5, 1961, Thomas (then with […]

He was called the Wizard of Oz for his phenomenal fielding feats. A 15-time All-Star, Ozzie Smith won 13 consecutive Gold Gloves and is usually regarded as the greatest defensive shortstop in the history of baseball. Yet he said that his tumble into the Springfield Mystery Spot on The Simpsons TV show was one of […]

Given a comical nickname based on his last name and beaky nose, William Dayton “Poll” Perritt had a successful 10-year pitching career, pitched in a World Series, was bribed by Hal Chase, tussled with John McGraw and oil barons, and became a modestly successful Louisiana oilman. William Dayton Perritt was the first child born to […]

Charles O. Finley indulged in many whims as owner of the A’s—and hiring world-class sprinter Herb Washington was one of his most fanciful experiments. Washington’s stint with Oakland (1974 and early 1975) was just part of Finley’s longstanding infatuation with “designated runners.” The track star was the second of six specialists whom the A’s employed […]

When pitcher Jack Warhop “has control he is one of the hardest men in the league to hit. For a little fellow he has a surprising amount of speed, and this, together with that peculiar underhand delivery, baffles most batsmen.”1 — Ed Grillo, Washington Star, 1911   Before the New York Yankees became a perennial […]

An excellent place-hitter, slick fielder, and brainy baserunner, Eddie Collins epitomized the style of play that made the Deadball Era unique. At the plate, the 5-foot-9, 175-pound left-handed batter possessed a sharp batting eye, and aimed to hit outside pitches to the opposite field and trick deliveries back through the box. Once on base, Collins […]

Tim Dillard made 73 relief appearances in parts of four seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers between 2008 and 2012. During his 17-year minor league career, he developed a strong media presence, posting jokes, videos, and random ramblings on Twitter (now known as ‘X’) and Instagram. Nearly 100,000 online followers have enjoyed his takes on movies […]

Rothsay, Minnesota, (population 497 in 2000) is not only the home of the world’s largest prairie chicken (9,000 pounds) and an historic blacksmith shop, the J. A. Johnson blacksmith shop, built in 1903[i], but also is the hometown of one of the Minnesota Twins’ best pitchers, Dave Goltz, a 20-game winner in 1977. A huge […]

Saves became an official major-league statistic in 1969. By the mid-1970s, closers had become firmly entrenched on big-league rosters. Pitchers such as Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, Sparky Lyle, and Rich “Goose” Gossage were helping to define the role, often pitching multiple innings at the end of games. In 1976, the antacid maker Rolaids, whose motto […]

Coors Field opened for baseball on April 26, 1995. The Colorado Rockies had joined the National League two years earlier. They played their first two seasons in Mile High Stadium while Coors was being built. When the National League got the OK in 1985 to expand by two teams, several cities, including Buffalo, Denver, Miami, […]