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William Rufus Wheaton was born in New York City on May 7, 1814. Part of his education was achieved at the Union Hall Academy, located on the corner of Madison Avenue and Oliver Street. After graduation, Wheaton read law with John Leveridge, a well-known East Side attorney.  Wheaton was later admitted to practice by Chancellor Walworth […]

Robert Cannon came to love baseball as a boy growing up in Milwaukee. His father, Ray Cannon, represented several of the accused Black Sox in salary disputes and took Charles Comiskey to court in 1924 on behalf of Joe Jackson. Ray Cannon also fought on behalf of all the players as head of a short-lived […]

Fred Schulte played center field for the pennant-winning 1933 Washington Senators. His three-run homer in Game Five of the World Series against the Giants pulled the Senators even. But New York won on a 10th-inning homer by Mel Ott that tipped off Schulte’s glove. The victory gave the Giants the championship. In his 11-year big-league […]

Standing at 6-feet-1 and weighing only 165 pounds during his playing days, Rafael Santana may not have been a big man but he played big for the New York Mets when they needed him to. Santana did not carry a big bat but he fielded his shortstop position with flair at times. Some of Santana’s […]

Speed and power made switch-hitting outfielder Junior Félix a top prospect, but his career was derailed by defensive deficiencies, injuries, and concerns about his real age. Félix was believed to be just 21 when he hit the first pitch that he faced in the majors for a home run in 1989. By 1994, however, when […]

When the legendary University of Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant was growing up in Arkansas in the 1920s, he and his friends eagerly followed the exploits of quarterback Carey Selph of Ouachita Baptist College in Arkadelphia.1 Then called “the greatest football player in Arkansas,”2 Selph was a fierce competitor who “simply believed no team […]

The baseball career of Bartolo Colón might be impossible to believe if it wasn’t true. He overcame a humble upbringing in a foreign land, rebounded from a career-threatening injury, and survived scandals and controversies to become an almost mythical cult hero in his final seasons, beloved for his cheerful demeanor and a roly-poly physique that […]

Someone once wrote that his rise to fame was meteoric, and like a meteor his flame burned out quickly. Certainly, his rise was rapid. At 16 he was playing in the highest classification of minor league baseball. Two years later he became the youngest player ever to appear in the World Series, a distinction he […]

“Some in the press and in the stands considered him too casual about his job, but that was a misperception. In fact, he was driven, not merely by a desire, but by a rage to succeed.” David Halberstam, “October 1964”1   When the June 15 trading deadline rolled around in 1964, Cardinals general manager Bing […]

Tom Delahanty was the spitting image of his celebrated older brother Ed, but smaller and far less gifted athletically. Tom’s major-league playing career was brief, in no way comparable to that of his Hall of Fame sibling. Nor was it a match of the fine 13-year career enjoyed by younger brother Jimmy Delahanty. Indeed, Tom […]

“I am proud of my two boys. Baseball is a clean, manly sport,” Amanda Cobb declared. “I cannot deny that I am prouder of Tyrus’ achievements than he ever is, and I know Paul will make good, too. He, some day, will be as great a ballplayer as his brother.”1 Whatever her other talents, Mrs. […]

Nolan Ryan has more strikeouts and no-hitters than any other pitcher in history. Despite never winning a Cy Young Award, he started more games than anyone except Cy Young. Though he played mostly for mediocre teams, his 324 wins are as many as contemporary Don Sutton, who pitched for four pennant winners and just missed […]

“They say I’m a good pinch-hitter, but maybe if I ever came to the plate 500 times, they might learn I’m a good hitter, period.” — Jim Henneman, The Sporting News1   Terrence Michael Crowley was born on February 16, 1947, in Staten Island, New York, and grew up rooting for the Yankees. Despite his […]

Jim King started in left field for the San Francisco Giants in the first major-league game played in California. His best seasons, however, came after he was selected by the expansion Washington Senators, with whom he remained for 6½ years, longer than any of the other 27 players the team drafted in December 1960. King […]

A late-season addition by the Detroit Tigers in 1905, right-hander George Disch posted a 2.64 ERA in eight games. Initial reports were positive, and a bright future was predicted. However, he could not crack a Tiger rotation of George Mullin, Ed Killian, Bill Donovan, and Frank Kitson (116 complete games in 137 starts in 1905) […]

Except for a brief September call-up in 1953, Eddie Phillips spent his entire 11-year pro baseball career in the minor leagues. Yet, during those 2½ weeks with the St. Louis Cardinals, he established a record for most runs scored in the major leagues (four) without a plate appearance or taking a defensive position. His pinch-running […]

Bill Rodgers played for three major-league teams in his first year in the leagues, but he only played in four games in his second – and last – year. He played for Cleveland and the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds in 1915, swiftly moving from one team to another, and then appeared in […]

In nine years of major-league baseball, left-hander Dick Littlefield pitched for nine different major-league clubs – though it wasn’t as neat as each season being with another team. One could even argue that he played for 10 clubs, in that he was with the St. Louis Browns in 1952 and 1953 and then with the […]

When the Houston Astros hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers for a midseason series in July 1967, struggle and disappointment were themes applicable to both clubs. For the 28-47 Astros, their 10th-place standing represented an all-too-familiar spot. The Sporting News cited relief pitching that failed to materialize, bad infield defense, and overall poor team play as […]

When Matt den Dekker replaced Bryce Harper in the Washington Nationals lineup in the sixth inning, Harper had walked four times, scored four times, and collected an RBI; all without swinging the bat at any of the 20 pitches he was offered. Only three other players since 1914 had scored four runs without registering an […]

With the best pitching in the National League taking on the league’s best offense on July 11, 2003, at Coors Field, the outcome of the game rested on a confrontation between a backup third baseman and a well-traveled set-up reliever. The 2003 season had been very good to the Dodgers pitching staff, which had given […]

After the 2002 All-Star Snafu in Milwaukee — which ended in a tie when the National League ran out of pitchers — Major League Baseball took steps to prevent a recurrence. One was telling managers to hold back some pitchers in the case of extra innings. The other was to let the outcome of the […]

The Ballpark at Old Orchard Beach, as pictured in 2023. (Courtesy of Kurt Blumenau)   Before there was The Ballpark at Arlington, The Ballpark at Jackson, The Ballpark at Harbor Yard or The Ballpark at Disney’s Wide World of Sports, there was simply The Ballpark, in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.1 The pine-bordered park with the […]