Search Results

In the summer of 1949, preparation was underway for one of the most popular Negro Leagues events: the East-West Classic. The annual all-star game – which had been held at Chicago’s Comiskey Park every year since 1933 – had long been a fan favorite.1 In August 1948, more than 42,000 had turned out to watch […]

An impressive number of intrepid Baltimore Orioles fans were in Veterans Stadium among the Philly faithful for Game Five of the 1983 World Series on October 16, one of them holding a sign reading, “The fat lady sings tonight.” After losing Game One at home, the Orioles took the next three and were looking to […]

The Red Sox were down three games to none in the 2004 American League Championship Series. None of the previous 25 major-league teams that had been down 0-3 had even forced a seventh game, much less won one. After the 19-8 beating they had taken in Game Three, some rabid Red Sox fans had sold […]

In 2012 San Francisco Giants right-hander Matt Cain had a reputation as a hard-luck pitcher. It was well deserved: From his debut in 2005 through the 2011 season, Cain had the lowest run support in major-league baseball.1    San Francisco Chronicle reporter Henry Schulman wrote: “He actually entered the baseball lexicon. To be ‘Cained’ is […]

Drafted out of high school in the seventh round by the New York Mets in 1985, Monty Fariss opted to play college baseball at Oklahoma State, where he helped the Cowboys to the College World Series in each of his first two years, including a runner-up finish to Stanford in 1987. In his junior year, […]

“WE HOPE YOU’RE ENJOYING TONIGHT’S THIRD GAME AS MUCH AS YOU DID THE FIRST TWO.” — Message on the Astrodome scoreboard at the top of the 20th inning.   It was the game that would not end. It was a game of formidable pitching and feeble hitting. It was the Year of the Pitcher in […]

The San Diego Padres arrived at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, July 8, 2011, to start a three-game series against the Dodgers. It was a tale of two teams playing to climb out of the bottom of the National League West Division. The Dodgers were mired in last place, 12 games behind the […]

The New York Mets acquired Gary Sheffield after he was cut by the Detroit Tigers at the end of spring training in 2009. They hoped that his experience and hitting prowess would provide some help to the Mets bench. “He has been a great addition to the chemistry of the team,” said Mets manager Jerry […]

In a span of 16 pitches in the sixth inning, Texas Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson did what no other pitcher in baseball postseason history had ever done: He yielded four consecutive hits – a single, double, triple, and home run, in that order (a natural cycle) – in the same inning to an opposing team. […]

The summer of 2001 was a great time to be a Seattle Mariners fan. The Mariners were the best team in baseball at the All-Star break, and they were well on their way to securing their fourth postseason appearance in seven years. Their 63-24 record had them in first place in the AL West by […]

Roberto “Bobby” Ramos was born in Cuba in 1955. Emigrating to Miami, Florida, as a child, he caught for the Jackson High School baseball team. At the end of his senior year, he was named to the All-City team and selected in the seventh round of the June 1974 amateur draft by the Montreal Expos.1 […]

Twenty-four major-league pitchers have won 300 or more games during their respective careers.1 Two of the 24 have more than 400 wins. Leading baseball with 511 wins in his 22-year major-league career is Cy Young.2 In second place on the all-time wins list is the Washington Senators’ durable right-hander, Walter Johnson.3 The Big Train recorded […]

Hall of Famer Johnny Mize could hit a baseball. Author Joe Posnanski suggests of Mize, “He was Lou Gehrig good. He was Stan Musial good. He was Mel Ott good, Frank Robinson good, Joe DiMaggio good, Albert Pujols good.”1 So good, in fact, that in 1947 with the New York Giants Mize became the only […]

The San Diego Padres celebrated their 50th season in Major League Baseball in 2019. (SAN DIEGO PADRES)   San Diego’s quest for major-league baseball began earnestly in the mid- to late 1950s, around the time California’s largest cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco, ascended to “the bigs.” Home of the Pacific Coast League Padres since […]

Robin Mark Ventura was one of the outstanding third basemen of the last decade of the 1900s. After a stellar college career, Ventura played integral parts in the success of the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets during his career. Ventura was born on July 14, 1967, in Santa Maria, California, to John and […]

Considered one of the “smartest” hurlers of his era, Ben Cantwell jumped from the Class B Jacksonville Tars to debut in the major leagues with the New York Giants in 1927.1 Traded the following season to Boston, he earned his reputation as a versatile pitcher for the Braves, winning 20 games in 1933. Just two […]

When it comes to two-way players, Babe Ruth was the archetype. Martín Dihigo, Bullet Joe Rogan, and Leon Day became Hall of Famers. Another Negro Leaguer, Ted Radcliffe, was renowned as “Double Duty.” In recent years, Shohei Ohtani has also attracted widespread attention. A lesser-known example of the breed is Joe Pactwa. The lefty reached […]

Carl Boles is perhaps best known for being Willie Mays’s doppelganger – a dead ringer for the celebrated superstar. To teammates and opponents, Boles was a fleet center fielder, a solid hitter, and a player whose big-league career with the San Francisco Giants was derailed by a bad break. Boles played on in Japan and […]

Some would call Paul Splittorff the “original Royal” because he was selected in Kansas City’s first amateur draft, started in the franchise’s first game and the first game at Kaufman Stadium, pitched for 15 seasons, and served as a broadcaster for 24 years. The bespectacled blond left-hander with the high leg kick appeared to squint […]

Over the years, the Red Sox have had players on their roster who were perhaps better known for the uniqueness of their name than for anything they did on the playing field. You may recall Jennings Poindexter, Carmen Fanzone, Creighton Gubanich, Gar Finnvold, Izzy Alcantara, Win Remmerswaal, Osee Schrecongost, Hipolito Pichardo, and Arquimedez Pozo, to […]

Baseball history was made at Boston’s Fenway Park on Friday afternoon, September 14, 1951. In the top of the second inning, in his first major-league at-bat, Bob Nieman of the visiting St. Louis Browns hit Mickey McDermott’s low-and-away 1-2 pitch into the screen above Fenway’s Green Monster. An inning later, in his next trip to […]

When looking back at the career of Rick “The Rooster” Burleson, the fiery, intense shortstop of the Boston Red Sox, California Angels and Baltimore Orioles from 1974 to 1987, a quotation from former teammate Bill Lee perhaps sums it up best: “Some guys didn’t like to lose, but Rick got angry if the score was […]

With the muscular physique of a football player, 6-foot-2, 215-pound rookie pitcher Earl Francis was called up in midseason 1960 by the Pittsburgh Pirates to strengthen their bullpen. The 24-year-old right-hander logged 18 innings in seven appearances and sported a nifty 2.00 earned-run average, but came down with shoulder problems and was sent back to […]

A journeyman for most of his eight seasons in the minor leagues, left-handed pitcher Alpha “Al” Brazle overcame career-threatening arm injuries by reinventing himself as a slick side-arm sinkerball pitcher. After an unexpectedly strong first half with the Sacramento Solons in the Pacific Coast League in 1943, Brazle debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals in […]