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It may have seemed like an eternity. As in many cases when a player is on the verge of breaking a record or accomplishing a milestone, the waiting can be interminable. Such was the case with Minnesota Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew, who had set his sights on 500 home runs. But the epic homer was […]

Soft-spoken Richard Atley Donald once threw 95-mile-per-hour fastballs for the 1939 New York Yankees, the first major league team to win four straight World Series.  He won 12 straight games for them, to set an American League mark for rookies. Atley was a star pitcher for the 1937 Newark Bears, considered by many to be […]

Rookie sensation Willie “Bubber” Hubert hurled the final pitch of the 1939 Negro National League championship, completing a four-out save for the victorious Baltimore Elite Giants over the Homestead Grays. Hubert, plucked into the NNL from the barnstorming Miami Ethiopians Clowns a year earlier, became a frontline starter for the Elite Giants the next season […]

Fernando Valenzuela is probably the most famous Mexican-born player ever to compete in major-league baseball, but that distinction is closer than one might expect. Or at least there is a strong argument that Valenzuela deserves company atop the Mexican ballplayer hierarchy. Vinny Castilla ended his 16-year big-league career as the all-time leader among Mexican-born players […]

Luis Polonia had a nomadic career, playing for six teams in his 12 major-league seasons. He was a .293 career hitter, and played for four World Series teams, including the champion 1995 Atlanta Braves and 2000 New York Yankees.1 He made a name for himself in Latin America, eventually being elected to the Caribbean Baseball […]

After the landmark Messersmith-McNally decision was handed down by arbitrator Peter Seitz in December 1975, the California Angels quickly engaged in what some pundits referred to as “checkbook baseball,” a process in which financially well-off teams like the Angels and the New York Yankees sought to bolster their rosters by bidding for the best free […]

Dusty Baker has spent a lifetime in baseball. After a productive career as an outfielder for four teams over a 19-year career, Baker joined the managerial ranks. As a major league manager over most of the period since 1993, he developed a reputation for helping teams win, although it took him until 2022 to capture […]

Brian Daubach was a first baseman-DH who was trapped in the minor leagues from 1990 to 1998. In 1999 he played for the Boston Red Sox and became a 27-year-old rookie sensation, earning the nickname “The Bellville Basher.” From 1999 to 2002, Daubach hit 20 or more home runs for Boston in his first four […]

This wiry catcher didn’t have much power, but his agility, strong arm, and knowledge kept him employed behind the plate for more than two decades. Turning pro as a youth of 15 in 1973, Alex played in 939 major-league games with five teams from 1978 to 1990. He ran well enough to serve as a […]

“Honest Jack” Boyle was a “19th century multi-position sensation.”1 He was the first of only five major-league players to log 500 games at catcher and at least two seasons of 100 games or more at first base (with Joe Mauer, Joe Torre, Gene Tenace, and Mike Napoli).2 Boyle abandoned boxing to become a major-league catcher […]

Herm Winningham’s professional career lasted 13 seasons. Yet only after the third time that he was a first-round draft pick did the speedy outfielder sign and turn pro. He played in the majors with four teams from 1984 through 1992. A skillful defender and bunter, Winningham got into 868 games at the top level, starting […]

Dave Baldwin didn’t talk to the baseball or scream at the hitters. Offering no self-styled Mark Fidrych or Al Hrabosky theatrics on the mound, the relief pitcher was a quiet guy to the point of being shy, almost unnoticeable. Yet in 176 games over six seasons with the Washington Senators, Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White […]

“I certainly had no idea of ever being a pitcher. I had never pitched as a kid,” said 13-year big-league veteran Big Jim Hearn, who won 109 games for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Phillies from 1947 through 1959.1 A college basketball player, Hearn was signed by the Cardinals as a […]

“Yes, I knew him. He had huge hands with crooked fingers. He was a catcher, you know.” “Hell Yes, Babe was here. When? I don’t know, maybe on Ben Egan day? No! I don’t recall ever seeing him. No! I don’t know of anyone who did.” “Yes, I knew Ben. A great guy, everyone liked him. He […]

Gene “Stick” Michael is the only person to serve, at one time or another, as player, scout, manager, and general manager for the New York Yankees. His exceptional work as their general manager from 1990-1995 led to four world championships. However, throughout his life he lamented not pursuing professional basketball. He was loved by his […]

Jim French was a backup catcher for the Washington Senators whose path to the major leagues took him from the fields of rural northeast Ohio to the nation’s Capital on the banks of the Potomac River. His journey to the major leagues and career with the Senators provided more than the opportunity to play baseball […]

Partway into his 19-year minor-league career, infielder Bud Connolly got the call to come to Boston. For most of three months in mid-1925, he played in 43 games for the Red Sox and acquitted himself well by the standards of the day for a shortstop (a .950 fielding percentage, a .262 batting average with 21 […]

George Kihm learned to play ball on the diamonds of the Ohio Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb in Columbus. The school sent more than a handful of men into professional baseball. By looking at Kihm it was hard to see any physical imperfections. He was gentlemanly, good looking and tall with […]

When the name Jim Brown is mentioned, most sports fans call to mind the NFL’s Hall of Fame running back who starred for the Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. There was, however, an earlier Jim Brown – a catcher, first baseman, and, later, a manager – who played for Chicago American Giants squads that […]

Taking the field May 6, 1925, for the third game in a four-game set against the St. Louis Browns, the Detroit Tigers had reason to feel optimistic. Though still in the American League cellar with a 5-14 record, a 14-8 victory the day before – thanks in large part to the six-hit, three-homer barrage of […]

Roy Campanella — “The husky backstop is recognized as one of the greatest fielding catchers of all time. Carl Furillo — “It was his great throwing arm that earned him the nickname of ‘The Reading Rifle.’” — Topps Baseball Archives1 The 1953 season was a banner one for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Late in the season, […]

The 1945 St. Louis Cardinals, winners of three consecutive wartime National League pennants and World Series champions in 1942 and 1944, were counting on strong pitching to overcome the loss of key members of their offense to the military draft. Twenty-three-year-old All-Star outfielder Stan Musial, who had led the NL in hits in 1944, spent […]

Imagine two strangers stranded on a South Sea island from Taos, New Mexico, and Butte, Montana. They differ in age, race, income, and religion. Their common denominator is the Colorado Rockies major-league baseball club that did not exist until a quarter-century ago. For a long time, however, the prospect of such a team in the […]

“Nobody has ever called Shea Stadium a cathedral,” wrote George Vecsey of the New York Times after the last major-league baseball game was played there on September 28, 2008.1 Even so, for many it inspired love and loyalty that its handsome but dull replacement, Citi Field, could not. When New York City Mayor Robert F. […]