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In 2003 the Boston Red Sox were in the postseason for the first time since 1999. Back then, the New York Yankees had eliminated them in the American League Championship Series, but Red Sox fans were hoping that this time would be different. The ’03 Red Sox, who finished six games behind the Yankees with […]

In a battle for the 1924 American League pennant, the defending World Series champion New York Yankees faced the Washington Senators in late August in the first game of a critical four-game series, played at Yankee Stadium. New York (70-52) was a half-game ahead of Washington (71-54) in the standings, attempting to reach the postseason […]

Depending on who you listened to, the New York Yankees were either shell-shocked or coolly determined as they approached the third game of the 1963 World Series. The venue had shifted across the continent to Los Angeles, but the pall of the Yankees’ losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first two games of […]

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 […]

Putting on his Chicago Cubs uniform for the first time, recently acquired pitcher Don Cardwell just wanted to secure his spot in the rotation. He did more than that — he pitched the game of his life. The Cubs were already in disarray a month into the 1960 season. Skipper Charlie Grimm, who had guided […]

In 1977 New York City was a bleak place. It was slowly emerging from near-bankruptcy. Earlier in the summer, widespread looting occurred during a 25-hour blackout. The serial killer known as Son of Sam terrorized residents. However, inside the recently renovated ballpark in the Bronx, the Yankees were in contention to repeat as the American […]

Frank Warfield may be one of the least understood and appreciated stars of the Negro Leagues, and possibly one of the most unjustly maligned. He stood just 5-feet-7-inches tall and was slight in stature, but he was feisty, fast, and, some would say, furious. Yet few player-managers in the Negro Leagues achieved as much as […]

As a player on the great New York Yankees teams of the 1950s and later as a manager with five different major-league clubs, Billy Martin was known to be brash, bold, and fearless. He played the game hard and made no excuses for the way he handled himself on or off the field. Many people, […]

When it comes to nicknames, there is no shortage in baseball. While there are plenty of “Kids” and “Rubes” such as Kid Baldwin or Rube Foster, other nicknames are more baseball specific like Home Run Baker or Lefty Williams. Still others are based on the player’s geographic place of birth like “California” William Brown or […]

During a 16-year professional baseball career spanning 1959 to 1974, Roberto Peña was a stalwart shortstop in his homeland, the Dominican Republic. He played for two winter league champions and earned posthumous retirement of his uniform number by the Santiago-based Águilas Cibaeñas. Over parts of six big-league seasons (1965-1971), Peña broke in with the Chicago […]

William Edward White, from a Brown University team photo   For fans attending the June 21, 1879, game between the Providence Grays and the Cleveland Blues, there didn’t seem anything very special about the day. The only odd note was, perhaps, Providence’s first baseman. Providence’s usual starter, veteran Joe Start, had broken his finger and, […]

During the first seven seasons of the 2000s, no team in the National League won more games or enjoyed more success than the St. Louis Cardinals. Guided by Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, the Cardinals won 658 games, five division titles, and one World Series. During the 2004-2006 seasons, La Russa handed the […]

Ted Lyons is remembered as the “Sunday pitcher” who started only once a week for much of his career. He made the most of his workdays, finishing nearly three out of four starts with more complete games than any other contemporary pitcher. Forget won-lost record, Lyons said: “A good pitcher is a pitcher who has […]

Baseball and history are uncanny bedfellows in language, traditions, and mythology. The ties that bind. Sixteenth-century Peru and the modern Dominican Republic. Atahualpa (ca. 1502-1533) was the last indigenous Inca emperor of Peru, whose capture and execution by Francisco Pizarro enabled the Spanish conquistadores to secure the Inca lands for the Spanish crown.1 Vicente Valverde, […]

Late in his major-league career, Bill Singer pitched a complete-game victory despite throwing in pain the entire game. His postgame comments accurately described much of his career. “It was so bad when I was warming up that I almost quit,” said Singer. “It was killing me. But then it’s easy to quit. Too easy. I […]

Sportsman’s Park was home of the St. Louis Browns from 1902 to 1953. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.)   Introduction Achieving on-field success has often proved elusive to owners of the Baltimore Orioles and its predecessor teams, the St. Louis Browns and Milwaukee Brewers. The franchise, dating back to the inception of the American […]