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“Playing like real pennant chasers, the St. Louis Browns swamped the White Sox,” gushed the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.1 The Browns’ 28th victory in their last 40 games moved them into third place, a position the franchise had not experienced so late in the season since 1908, when they engaged in a tight four-team pennant-race. Though […]

The New York Yankees are in town! According to Forbes, they were worth $7.55 billion in 2024, more than any other major-league team.1 Their business reach is international in scope, matched on the playing field with 27 World Series championships, more than any other franchise. That this August evening brought a large crowd (34,334) to […]

As they navigated the 1921 season, the New York Yankees club that was positioning itself to become an American League juggernaut had never won a pennant. But by late September, they were getting close. When the St. Louis Browns arrived in New York on Tuesday, September 27, for a makeup game scheduled due to rainouts, […]

Chick Gandil and Tris Speaker were cut from the same cloth. They were both intense, loud, hard-nosed players who weren’t interested in making friends on the baseball field. They also weren’t shy about expressing their opinions and, when challenged, neither backed down from a fight. So it seemed almost inevitable that the two veterans would […]

After a pause in the action that lasted 86 years, the Boston Red Sox resumed winning a number of World Series titles. They had won five world championships from 1903 through 1918, then had not won again until 2004. Since 2004, they have added (as of 2020) titles in 2007, 2013, and 2018. It was […]

“It was not a contest to contribute to the peace of mind and self-approval of pitchers.”1 In a game featuring an absence of pitching talent by the home team in the ninth inning, the New York Giants came from behind, scoring nine runs on 11 hits, nine of them in a row, in their last […]

The San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies launched their 2005 seasons with vastly differing sets of expectations. The Padres were coming off of an 87-75 record during the previous season and had aspirations of winning the National League West championship and advancing to the playoffs for the first time since 1998. The Rockies, on the […]

The Chicago White Sox’ bespectacled 27-year-old right-hander Bill Dietrich’s five-year big-league career was at a crossroads when he took the mound against the St. Louis Browns on June 1, 1937, in the Windy City. In his last start, just two days earlier, Dietrich was “battered almost beyond recognition,” opined Chicago Tribune sportswriter Irving Vaughn, surrendering […]

“You can’t win ’em all.” It’s said with a shrug, a human acknowledgement that nobody goes undefeated, that nobody is perfect, that even if you do everything possible sometimes you will lose. The origin of this phrase could be Connie Mack after the 1916 Philadelphia A’s went 36-117. But it could also be from Cliff […]

The pride of Ashton, Rhode Island, stood 6 feet tall and was made of 190 pounds of rippled muscle. He was a blond-haired, freckle-faced boy with a good-natured smile. Behind his friendly face an above-average mind was at work. Coming from a home with no economic advantages, he rose to academic heights and professional success; he […]

Long-forgotten today, New York Giants right-hander Louis Drucke appeared on the verge of stardom at the close of the 1910 season. Although his 12-10 record was not particularly eye-catching, his pitching had been. The hard-throwing hurler had led National League pitchers in strikeouts per nine innings pitched, and placed in the league’s top ten in […]

Gary Kroll, a hard-throwing right-hander who once pitched 20 consecutive hitless innings in the minors, made his big-league debut for the Philadelphia Phillies on July 26, 1964. Less than two weeks later, the 22-year-old pitcher was gone, traded to the New York Mets for 35-year-old slugger Frank Thomas. Kroll had been regarded as a tremendous […]

Mike Balenti was often overshadowed by teammate Jim Thorpe on the powerful Carlisle Indian Industrial School football team. Playing quarterback in the backfield, he combined with Thorpe to give Carlisle a one-two punch that often overwhelmed opponents with their incredible speed. But it was Thorpe who captured most of the headlines with his staggering athleticism. […]

“For quickness in getting rid of the ball and accuracy, I’d have to pick Grote”1 — Lou Brock   If one were to visit Shea Stadium on October 17, 1969, the first thing they may have noticed was the condition of the playing field. The turf was shredded, causing big holes all over. Firecrackers and […]

The flake – “an odd or eccentric player; a kidder or comic”1 – is an all-but-vanished species in major-league baseball these days. In 2003, writer Dave Joseph lamented, “Sadly, there are fewer creative thinkers these days in baseball. There are fewer flakes, if you will, who break up the monotony of an endless season played, […]

Outfielder Willie Tasby was one of the many major leaguers who graduated from Oakland’s McClymonds High School after playing for legendary coach George Powles. Robbie Henderson of probaseballscouting.com wrote, “Seventeen of Powles’ protégés made the major leagues. He coached and mentored so many athletes. I doubt any one scout coached/mentored the likes of Curt Roberts, Willie Tasby, […]

Four-time All-Star Paul Lo Duca was a consistently productive hitter and reliable defensive catcher over parts of 11 seasons (1998 through 2008) with the Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, and Nationals. He caught 932 games and produced a lifetime .286 batting average, hitting as many as 25 homers in a single year. Paul Anthony Lo Duca Jr. […]

Although he was a catcher in 527 of his 922 major league games, Mike Grady is best known as a third baseman who made a record number of errors on one ground ball, a play that never happened. At 5’ 11” and a muscular 190 pounds, Grady was a versatile player for the Phillies, Browns, Giants, […]

Born February 10, 1976, in Waco, Texas, William Lance Berkman is best known as one of the Houston Astros “Killer B’s.” From 1999 through 2005, Berkman teamed with Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio to form one of the best offensive trios in the National League. Berkman was one of the greatest switch-hitters […]

Patrick J. “Paddy” Bolan was probably born in 1869. The first I could find of Bolan was in a March 26, 1890, article in the Sporting Life about baseball in Toledo: “Amateur ball in this city has struck a snag. Price, a promising first base player, has signed with an Indiana club, and Picord and […]

The score stood at 11-1 when Tim Lollar left the mound and Wes Gardner took over in the seventh inning in the sixth game of the season at Chicago. With Boston’s comfortable lead, Gardner could relax a little for this, his first game in a Red Sox uniform and his debut in the American League.  […]

“The rumors are that [rookie] Allen is not returning with the Phillies to Connie Mack Stadium on Wednesday. He’s going directly to the Hall of Fame.”1   The Philadelphia Phillies’ first black superstar, Dick Allen was one of the most feared hitters in baseball in the 1960s. In an era dominated by pitching, he slugged […]