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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 […]

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 […]

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 cold, blustery weather1 did not dampen the spirits of the 55,352 Philadelphia Phillies fans who packed Veterans Stadium on April 10, 1971. After many years of planning – and a full year of weather and construction delays2 – the new multi-purpose stadium in South Philadelphia was finally ready to host its first game. The […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

An old trope, often incorrectly attributed to Ernest Hemingway, says a touching story can be told using only six words: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”1 Henry Mack topped that on July 1, 1978, when his pitching line told a heartbreaking tale using only six numbers: 9 0 3 0 6 9. Pitching for 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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

To the casual observer, George Frazier is no more than a heartbreaking footnote to baseball history: the only pitcher to lose three games in a best-of-seven World Series. After all, as a relief pitcher who never started a game in the major leagues, pitched to a career record below .500 and earned only 29 career […]

The Philadelphia Phillies are the oldest continuous one-name, one-city franchise in American professional sports. Through 2025, more than 2,000 players had worn a Phillies uniform, but few left as indelible a mark as Darren “Dutch” Daulton. Phillies lifer John Vukovich declared, “I played with better players. I’ve coached better players. But in 32 years I […]

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 […]

Baseball history is filled with all variety of wonderful-sounding names. But has there ever been a more perfect name for a baseball player than Champ Summers? “With a name like that, you gotta be halfway decent anyway,” Champ would say years later. “If my name had been George, nobody would have noticed me, but Champ?” […]

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 […]

University of Tennessee football and baseball star Hunter “Dodo” Lane darted in and out of professional ball in less than 24 months, yet still ascended to the major leagues. The infielder became a “one-hit wonder” with a 1-for-15 performance for the 1924 Boston Braves, before opening a successful politically-involved law practice in the Memphis area. […]

At 6′ 2″ and 180 lbs, Vean Gregg was a lanky, loose-jointed southpaw who had a world of confidence, a wicked curve ball, and a roller-coaster career hampered by arm injuries. As a 26-year-old rookie for the 1911 Cleveland Naps, Gregg was only three years removed from pitching in the deepest bush of the remote […]

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 […]