Search Results

When the 1952 season ended, Hank Sauer, the heavy-hitting left fielder of the Chicago Cubs, had enjoyed a career year. Even though he averaged just .213 with three homers and seven RBIs during the month of September (due to a neck injury), the 35-year-old right-handed batting slugger was tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Ralph Kiner […]

Mike Lowell was a New York Yankees prospect who won a world championship with the 2003 Florida Marlins (beating the Yankees). He then became part of a salary dump that saw him sent to the Boston Red Sox, where he picked up a second world champion ring and was accorded the honor of being named […]

In 1942 St. Louis Cardinals’ farm director Branch Rickey singled out a particular right-handed hurler among a small army of top-flight pitching prospects: Max Surkont “can become another [Bob] Feller for us,”1 declared the future HOF executive. But by the end of spring training the Cardinals, blessed with the major leagues’ best pitching, assigned Surkont […]

“I’m just a guy who worked hard to get into this position. Nobody recruited me out of high school. The Houston kids got all the publicity. If a scout came to town, we all figured he was from the marines. I had to go to a tryout camp to get a junior college scholarship. I […]

A pitcher whom the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first identified as Charles “Lefty” Bell posted a 3-0 record for the Homestead Grays in 1948. The fact that Bell’s first name was likely James, rather than Charles, is only the first obstacle in attempting to identify this player, whose life and career provide a prime example of the […]

Julio “Monchy” de Arcos (1922-1966) was a Cuban executive and scout. He was associated with the major leagues as early as 1941, when the Brooklyn Dodgers trained in Cuba’s capital, La Habana. Thanks to his friendship with Leo Durocher, then Brooklyn’s manager, he was the Dodgers’ interpreter and batboy. In the mid-1940s, de Arcos became […]

Across the decades, various New York Yankee, New York Giant, and Brooklyn Dodger baseball names have acted on-screen. Babe Ruth, for one, appeared in silent-era features; played himself in The Pride of the Yankees (1942), the Lou Gehrig biopic; and starred in various short subjects. Gehrig was toplined in Rawhide (1938), a B-Western. Jackie Robinson […]

Over time, Clarence “Big Boy” Kraft was probably the greatest power hitter to play for the 1914 Boston Braves. Looking at the records of the major leagues, one would never know it. Even though he played for one of the most memorable teams in history and would become one of the most prolific power hitters […]

Prior to his infamous involvement in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, Chick Gandil was one of the most highly regarded first basemen in the American League, both for his play on the field and his solid work ethic. In 1916 a Cleveland newspaper described Gandil as “a most likeable player, and one of excellent habits.”1 […]

Don Baylor was a hustling player who ran the bases aggressively and stood fearlessly close to home plate as if he were daring the pitcher to hit him. Quite often they did, as Baylor was plunked by more pitches (267) than any other player in the 20th century, leading the American League eight times in […]

When he took the mound on April 7, 1954, Chicago Cubs outfielder Hal Jeffcoat hadn’t pitched professionally since being hit hard in five games in the low minors eight years earlier. Yet, as spring training was ending, he held the Baltimore Orioles to two bloop singles and just one walk over five innings.1 This unexpected […]

Charley Pride, the son of a Mississippi sharecropper, dreamed of becoming a Hall of Famer. “Years from now,” he once said, “when they ask who hit the most home runs, I don’t want the answer to be Babe Ruth, I want it to be Charley Pride. When they ask who was the last player to […]

For nearly 30 years Minnesota baseball fans had a conflicted relationship with the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis. Though the multi-functional stadium had less charm and character than toilet paper, and even though it kept fans indoors when they’d rather watch their baseball while experiencing pleasant summer days and evenings, it produced fond memories […]

Inconsistency is not usually a recipe for success in baseball, but you couldn’t tell that to the 2000 Oakland Athletics. After starting the season with a lackluster 25-26 record, their young hitters, led by Ben Grieve and Terrence Long, went on a tear, and the A’s won 20 of their next 24 games. The club […]

The year 1923 was a special one for fans of the New York Yankees and baseball. The team’s majestic new baseball cathedral, Yankee Stadium, opened on April 18, as the Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-1, with Babe Ruth hitting the ballpark’s first home run. Ruth would go on to bat .393, hit 41 […]

With one day left in the American League schedule, Detroit’s Heinie Manush was battling New York’s Babe Ruth for the league batting crown. Both batters were hitting .372; Manush was 182-for-489 (.37219), while Ruth was 184-for-494 (.37247). The outcome would be decided on this Sunday afternoon. Just below them was Detroit’s Bob Fothergill, at .360. […]

The Minnesota Twins couldn’t have been happy to be facing Orioles left-hander Dave McNally in Game Two of the 1969 ALCS after losing Game One of the first-ever American League Championship Series. McNally faced the Twins three times during the 1969 season, including a game in Minnesota in May when he carried a no-hitter into […]

Willie Mays took over second place on the all-time home run list when he passed Jimmie Foxx on August 17, 1966. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   It wasn’t the most important hit of the day for the San Francisco Giants, but it was the most historic. On August 17, 1966, Willie Mays hit career home run number […]

The New York Yankees entered Game Six of the 1953 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers looking to secure a record fifth consecutive World Series title. The Yankees had taken control of the Series by beating Brooklyn 11-7 in Game Five at Ebbets Field to take a three-games-to-two lead. Billy Martin had been the star […]

The visiting Cincinnati Reds faced the hosting Cleveland Indians on a rainy Friday night in downtown Cleveland. The teams squared off for the “Battle of Ohio,” which received a new trophy for the 2008 interleague series. The state’s lottery program created a 32-inch-tall trophy for the series winner. The series matchup was tied the previous […]

It was the first meeting between the Mets and the Cubs since New York ran away with the National League Eastern Division on their way to the 1969 World Series. Now the Cubs were on top of the division after a little more than a month of the 1970 season, holding a 2½-game lead over […]

The Philadelphia Phillies finished 81-80 in 1962, the franchise’s first winning season in nine years, but by June 23, 1963, they were nine games under .500. The ’63 Phillies’ fortunes turned, however, after a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field, highlighted by right fielder Johnny Callison’s hitting and throwing in a 13-4 […]