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Dwain Anderson was a utility infielder who played in 149 major-league games over the course of four seasons between 1971 and 1974.  He threw and batted right-handed and was a versatile infielder, playing second base, third base, and shortstop over a ten-year career in professional baseball.  Frequently included in early 1970s trades, Anderson played for […]

Before Ray Chapman, Mickey Cochrane, Tony Conigliaro, Dickie Thon, and Adam Greenberg, the list of careers compromised by pitched baseballs claimed Danny Hoffman. On July 1, 1904, a Jesse Tannehill fastball caught the dynamic Philadelphia Athletics outfielder above his right eye, nearly killing him. Hoffman returned after months of recovery, and, despite significant damage to […]

 “LaMarque was probably the most unassuming of all the Monarch players. … He didn’t stand out. And he liked it like that. Lefty quietly went about his business.”  – Ray Doswell, curator, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum1   Jim LaMarque, who like so many southpaws was nicknamed Lefty, said he almost quit in 1942, his first year […]

“I always hope he hits the ball to left so I can watch him run, because I’ve never seen anything like him turning second.” — Dwight Evans of the Red Sox, talking about Willie Wilson in 19801 “Having Willie Wilson in center field is like having four outfielders.” — Billy Scripture (Wilson’s first minor-league manager) […]

Howard Ehmke is best remembered as the 35-year-old right-hander of the Philadelphia Athletics who unexpectedly started Game One of the 1929 World Series against the slugging Chicago Cubs and struck out a then record 13 en route to a surprising triumph in one of Connie Mack’s most famous tactical decisions. But it would be an […]

Marty Krug appeared in only 20 games in 1912, his rookie season, mostly as a pinch-hitter, or a late-inning replacement. He watched the World Series from the superior but disappointing vantage of the winning team’s bench. He never once stepped onto the field against the New York Giants in those eight dramatic games. The knock […]

In the fall of 1992, our Milwaukee-area church invited a local ballplayer who had appeared in the recently released movie A League of Their Own, to join us for a family tailgate party. Little did we know that her spirited presentation of her playing days in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) would prompt […]

First we’ll use Spahn, then we’ll use Sain, Then an off day, followed by rain. Back will come Spahn, followed by Sain And followed, we hope, by two days of rain. —Gerry Hern, Boston Post, September 14, 1948   Nobody would mistake Post sportswriter Hern’s famous lines for “Casey at the Bat” or even poetry […]

Stan Williams worked in professional baseball for more than 50 years. The Dodgers signed the big, tall, right-handed fireballer after he completed high school in the 1950s, and he was still on a major-league payroll as a scout as late as 2010. Williams had a knack for contributing to winning teams. In just his second […]

The 6-foot tall, 210-pound catcher for the Jersey City Jerseys looked like a giant to the boy. It was Camera Day at Jersey City’s Roosevelt Stadium in 1960. The Jerseys were the Cincinnati Reds’ Triple-A club. The catcher was Dutch Dotterer, a charming and intellectual athlete. Years later, Santa Ana High School’s Athletic Director, Frank Alvarado, would […]

“My only regret is that I can’t sit in the stands and watch myself pitch.”1 No one ever accused southpaw Bo Belinsky of being modest. And probably no pitcher in baseball history ever got more mileage out of 28 wins (against 51 defeats) in parts of eight big-seasons as Belinsky. Belinsky took baseball by storm […]

On August 7, 1923, the Washington Senators sent rookie hurler Monroe Mitchell to the hill versus Cleveland. Mitchell was coming off a five-hit shutout of the Browns which had earned him his first major league victory. Against the Tribe, he lost his shutout immediately when Charlie Jamieson led off with a triple and scored on […]

It takes only one swing to hit a home run. It takes two teams to play the game. Three strikes and you’re out. Four balls will mean a walk. Unfortunately, there aren’t many times in baseball when the number five sticks out. Melvin Mora may be the exception, though. Although he had a successful 13-year […]

Against a Pittsburgh Pirates lineup whose first three batters were each hitting .300 or above (Maury Wills at .300, Matty Alou at .303, and Roberto Clemente at .344), New York Mets rookie Tom Seaver pitched his first major-league shutout in the first game of a doubleheader on August 13, 1967. New York’s 3-0 win was […]

For the Washington Nationals, the drama of the 2008 season came at the very beginning of the season and at the very end. The grind of the in-between was punctuated by two losing streaks of nine games each, a 12-game losing streak, and a season-ending stretch of nine loses in 10 games. On opening night […]

Allowing five runs in the top of the ninth inning, the Kansas City Royals wasted a quality start from Zack Greinke and blew an 8-3 lead in front of 13,621 fans at Kauffman Stadium. Veteran right-hander Liván Hernández, pitching his lone season in the American League, opposed Greinke and threw six innings, allowing 13 hits […]

Neither team had won a championship in decades. The Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs, the two teams with longest postseason title droughts, knew that one of them would finally end the years of disappointment. For the Cubs, it had been 108 years since their last championship. Indians fans had to go back only 68 […]

If a team’s success is attributed to how many world championships it has won, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies would be on even ground since 1995. As of 2018, each club had raised the Commissioner’s Trophy exactly once. The Braves won the whole enchilada in ’95, and the Phillies in 2008.  Atlanta by far […]

For the first time since 1956, the major leagues had a Subway Series,1 pitting the New York Yankees against the New York Mets. At the start of the season there was nothing etched in stone that would suggest the Yankees and the Mets would meet for a World Series title. The Yankees, who were trying […]

Major-league brothers are relatively rare. Brothers playing in the same game are even rarer. Brothers filling the positions of pitcher and catcher at the same time are rarer yet. But that’s what occurred with Andrew Romine and Austin Romine for the Chicago Cubs against the Milwaukee Brewers on August 12, 2021. The circumstances for this […]

“I saw Robinson coming in. I didn’t move because I had to stay to make the call on the pitch first. That’s why I stayed crouched over. I saw it perfectly. Yogi put the ball at the back of the plate and Robinson slid across the plate into the glove. I’m satisfied I made the […]

Desperately needing a win, the Orioles entered Memorial Stadium in downtown Baltimore for Game Two of the 1983 World Series. They had lost Game One the previous day and were aware that no team had recovered to win the Series after losing the first two games at home. The Orioles’ Mike Boddicker had fashioned a […]

Editor’s note: This article was first presented at the 2003 SABR convention and was republished in the June 2013 edition of SABR’s Black Sox Scandal Research Committee newsletter.   By Ralph J. Christian Most people’s visions of Iowa and its connection to the Black Sox Scandal have been shaped by the movie Field of Dreams. […]

Greenlee Field, located in the 2500 block of Bedford Avenue, had its official opening on April 29, 1932, when the Crawfords hosted the New York Black Yankees and lost a tough 1-0 game. (NOIRTECH RESEARCH, INC.)   In 1931 the United States economy was drowning in the sea of the Great Depression, which brought nearly […]