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Often compared to his teammate Rod Carew, Lyman Bostock was second only to Carew as a hitter in the eyes of his Minnesota Twins manager Gene Mauch. Mauch once said he had no doubt that Bostock would eventually win batting titles. With Bostock having hit .323 and .336 during his first two full big league […]

In one of the Bill James books, contributor Jim Baker has some fun at the expense of an obscure late-19th-century pitcher named Carlton Molesworth. Combing his faintly humorous name with historically dubious statistical entries that list Molesworth as 5-feet-6 and 200 pounds, Baker presents a vignette that casts Molesworth as the portly butler of a […]

The bottom of the first inning of the game between the Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles on September 5, 1989, showed the athleticism of Brad Komminsk that had excited scouts and executives for over a decade. With two outs, Cal Ripken, Jr. took John Farrell’s first pitch to deep left-center field. Chasing the ball, Komminsk […]

Tom Veryzer got into 996 big-league games from 1973 through 1984, mainly as a shortstop. He didn’t provide much offense, hitting just .241 with 14 homers, but in those days, one could still hold down a starting job at short at the top level on the strength of sound fielding. Veryzer was solid enough to […]

Standing only 5 feet 11 inches tall, Billy Wagner did not look the part of an intimidating closer and yet he was often mentioned in the same circles as the Yankees all-time closer Mariano Rivera. In fact, both closers entered games to the same song, Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” letting home fans know the game was […]

Though Thomas Austin Brewer Jr. was a lifelong resident of Cheraw, South Carolina, he was born in North Carolina on September 3, 1931.1 Cheraw lies in the northern part of South Carolina and was a town of a few thousand inhabitants in 1931 so it happens that the nearest hospital was in Wadesboro, North Carolina, […]

“That was the most exciting thing I ever accomplished in baseball, and to do it with those guys was great.” — Pokey Reese, on being a member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox.1   Pokey Reese didn’t have many things when he was a kid, including a baseball glove. He chucked a tennis ball against […]

After seeing Nomar Garciaparra play, Red Sox great Ted Williams called Boston’s general manager Dan Duquette and said, “That shortstop you brought up reminds me of a player, but I can’t figure out who.”1 Exuberant upon remembering, Williams called back. Without saying hello, he yelled, “DiMaggio! That’s who he reminds me of, DiMaggio! The build, […]

“Hit in the air . . . Yount . . . makes a GREAT CATCH! Juan Nieves has thrown the first no-hitter in Milwaukee Brewer history!” That was broadcaster Jim Paschke’s call on April 15, 1987. More than 30 years later, the masterpiece by Nieves remained the only no-hitter in franchise history, and only one […]

Morrie Rath’s life could have been a Hollywood movie – the type of movie where the lead character keeps getting back up after getting knocked down. And for Rath’s movie, the final scene would have played out on October 1, 1919, during the first game of the infamous 1919 World Series. On the biggest stage […]

Baseball’s greatest tragedy, the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, ruined the careers of some ballplayers, but it also gave opportunities to others. Some, notably Bibb Falk, took advantage of the opportunity and went on to long careers. Ted Jourdan did not. In the words of the Book of Daniel, he was tried, and found wanting. Theodore […]

Although his tenure in Baltimore was limited to two good seasons and a comeback year, both of the nicknames for which Don Stanhouse became famous were earned while wearing an Orioles uniform. Manager Earl Weaver, overly apprehensive every time Stanhouse was retrieved from the bullpen, called him “Full Pack” after the number of cigarettes he […]

Everything about Jim Bibby was big. His frame: 6’5” and 235 pounds, with “legs like oak trees.”1 His hands: he could fit eight baseballs in his right hand — palm down — one more even than Sandy Koufax and Johnny Bench.2 His fastball: “vicious … serious heat … would scare the bejesus out of most […]

In January 1983, NBC television debuted a new action series titled The A-Team. The show followed the exploits of a fictional group of former U.S. Army members with such colorful names as Face, Hannibal, and the brawling, straight-talking, ludicrously bejeweled B.A. Baracus, the fictional embodiment of the character’s actor, Mr. T. Within months of the […]

Bob Turley was a rich businessman who once won a Cy Young Award pitching for the Yankees. “Bullet Bob” was one of the hardest-throwing pitchers of the 1950s and one of the wildest of any generation. Turley’s business success far surpassed his baseball accomplishments. His top baseball salary was $35,000, but he earned millions in […]

Ese Hombre — That Man — was Willard Brown’s nickname in Puerto Rico. The outfielder was one of the most feared hitters in the Negro Leagues, but he was an absolute wrecking ball in the Puerto Rican Winter League. He won the Triple Crown twice there, in 1947-48 and 1949-50. Unfortunately, he played just 21 […]

Pitcher Jack Creel overcame a birth defect to enjoy a 16-year career in professional baseball. “If my father laid his hands out on a table, he could not straighten his fingers out,” the player’s son, Jack Creel, told the author. “His fingers were in a shape of a baseball all of the time. He tried […]

He was the first amateur player selected by his expansion franchise and became its first home-run champion, alas, when the parent team was in a different city. In his major-league debut, he dropped the first ball hit to him for an error and got his first hit, a triple, in his second at-bat. Nine days […]

Exactly 90 minutes after Chicago White Sox left-hander Dickey1 Kerr fired a strike past Cincinnati’s Morrie Rath to start Game Three of the 1919 World Series, he coaxed the dangerous Heinie Groh to tap an 0-1 pitch harmlessly to third base. Buck Weaver, the White Sox third baseman, fielded the ball effortlessly and threw over […]

Among potentially awkward encounters between semipro baseball teammates off the field, one player having to arrest another must rank very high. Carl “Sailor” Howard, who participated in spring training with the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1935 and pitched in a couple of midseason exhibition games for the team, was on the receiving end of such an […]

In the minors from 1902 to 1914, pitcher Rube Vickers achieved an impressive 217-134 record.1 His numbers were extraordinary in 1906: 517 innings pitched, 409 strikeouts, and 39 wins for Seattle in the Pacific Coast League.2 In 1908, his only full season in the majors, he posted an 18-19 record for the Philadelphia Athletics. Vickers […]

It was a “marvelous exhibition of skill and stamina,” gushed D.C. sportswriter Denman Thompson about the St. Louis Browns’ Dixie Davis’s 19-inning complete-game victory over the Washington Senators.1 Another capital city scribe, Jack Nye, suggested that “Davis appeared to gain strength as the game proceeded,” overcoming six initial shaky frames to settle down and hold […]

Sandy Koufax posted a career 57-15 won-loss record at Dodger Stadium and a 1.37 ERA. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   Sandy Koufax and Warren Spahn, two of the most accomplished left-handed pitchers in baseball history, started against each other six times. Their final faceoff was especially tight and well-pitched–the kind of game fans think about when they […]

The Cincinnati Reds are the oldest major-league franchise, dating back to 1869. The Philadelphia Phillies, the oldest same-named, same-city team in American sports history, have lost more games than any other franchise in major-league baseball: Their total at the end of 2019 was exactly 11,000. The Reds and Phillies share the unenviable distinction of both […]