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Controversy and contrast defined Scott Perry’s brief major-league career. In 1918, his first full season, the Boston Braves and Philadelphia Athletics battled for his services, exposing the increasing inability of Organized Baseball to govern itself in the pre-commissioner era. Philadelphia retained Perry, and he produced a memorable rookie effort, becoming one of only seven pitchers […]
Dutch Leonard rode his knuckleball to a 20-year big league career, baffling batters, catchers, and umpires until he was 44 years old. As Jackie Robinson described Leonard’s knuckler, “It comes up, makes a face at you, then runs away.”1 Emil John Leonard was born on March 25, 1909, in Auburn, Illinois, the first of five children […]
“Good field, no hit” is an assessment of an athlete with lopsided skills on the baseball diamond. In essence, his contributions are far greater on defense than offense. Many of these men were catchers. In fact, of the ten major-league players with the worst career batting averages (minimum 1,000 at-bats), six were backstops. Barney Gilligan […]
Dick Hughes had a memorable rookie season in the big leagues in 1967. He led the world champion St. Louis Cardinals with 16 wins, while losing just 6 and posting a 2.67 ERA. At age 29, Hughes was runner-up to Tom Seaver for 1967 National League Rookie of the Year honors. The bespectacled right-hander, who […]
Baseball has always loved an underdog. Rugged southpaw Wally Hebert gave fans across the nation during the Great Depression what they craved, at least for a short while: a story about David defeating Goliath. Hebert went from the sandlots of Louisiana in 1929 to the St. Louis Browns and the big leagues in 1931. In […]
The Cleveland Indians’ pitching staff for the 1957 season reads like a Who’s Who: Early Wynn, Mike Garcia, Don Mossi, Bob Lemon, Ray Narleski, Cal McLish and Herb Score. Then there was Stan Pitula, one of the Indians’ top pitching prospects, who spent the 1957 season with Cleveland. He made 5 starts and 18 relief […]
Jimmy Walsh was among the last natives of Ireland to play in the major leagues. He appeared in 541 games from 1912 to 1917, batting .232 with six homers. He was a member of two American League pennant winners with the Philadelphia Athletics, including the 1913 World Series winners, and he joined the Boston Red […]
On Monday, August 19, 2019, over forty members of the Larry Dierker Chapter met for their monthly get-together. We were happy to have our chapter’s namesake join us once again and delighted to meet in a conference room at Minute Maid Park prior to attending the Astros game against the Detroit Tigers. Our meeting featured […]
Opening Day 1910 was quite a day for both of Boston’s major-league teams. The city’s National League team (known as the Doves at the time) was at home, the South End Grounds, against the New York Giants. After being held hitless by Red Ames through seven innings and trailing, 2-0, the Doves forced extra innings […]
“Marvelous. It is the last word in baseball parks. A great thing for baseball.” – National League President John Heydler1 John Heydler was not the only visitor who was in awe of the newly opened Cleveland Stadium. Many dignitaries were on hand as the Cleveland Indians hosted the Philadelphia Athletics in the first ever […]
The 2013 Boston Red Sox season got underway with a road game against the New York Yankees on April 1. In 2012 the Yankees (95-67) had finished first in the American League East, 26 games ahead of the cellar-dwelling Red Sox (69-93).1 Boston’s .426 winning percentage was its worst since 1960. The Red Sox had […]
In this game, 37-year-old Diego Seguí broke the Boston Red Sox franchise record for the most strikeouts in a game by a reliever, setting a mark that lasted nearly a half-century. After 10-plus years in the big leagues, spent mostly as a swingman for the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics, Washington Senators, and Seattle Pilots, […]
The Cleveland Indians’ 1985 season featured a cavalcade of wild and wacky moments. The Indians opened the campaign with five straight losses, were forced to take early-morning fielding practice a week into the season,1 literally lost their best hitter for a game in New York,2 saw their ace put up an “obscene gesture” toward Baltimore’s […]
On September 29, 1996, the last day of the regular season, the Padres and Dodgers were in a dead heat, tied for first place and scheduled to play each other at Dodger Stadium. The winner would be the National League West champion, while the loser would advance to the playoffs as the NL wild card. […]
In the 1926 Negro World Series, pitcher Claude “Red” Grier threw a no-hitter for the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants, setting a Negro League milestone that one would have thought would last for a long time. But almost exactly a year later, another Bacharach, Luther “Red” Farrell, again hurling for the team in a World Series, […]
The New York Mets arrived in St. Louis after losing an exhibition game to their Jacksonville farm team on May 2. New York managed to keep the Triple-A Suns hitless but still lost the rain-shortened game. The Jacksonville team was loaded with future Mets including Tom Seaver, Bud Harrelson, and Greg Goossen. Despite needing some […]
The St. Louis Browns ran off to a fast start to the 1929 season, winning 19 of their first 30 games. On May 23 the second-place Browns began a 25-game road trip with a doubleheader against the fifth-place Cleveland Indians. In fact, the first six games of the road trip were played at Cleveland’s League […]
Rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, US Senator Sam Nunn, Hockey Hall of Famer Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, soul-funk pioneer James Brown, baseball Hall of Famers Johnny Mize and Luke Appling,1 and two members of US President Jimmy Carter’s Cabinet were among the famous names who attended the Atlanta Braves’ 1977 home opener.2 Shining brightest among the […]
“Boston went baseball crazy again yesterday,” exclaimed the Boston Globe in a front-page story on Monday, August 20, 1934.1 A record crowd of 46,995 watched the Boston Red Sox take on the league-leading Detroit Tigers. This amazing figure “set a new American League attendance record for … young Tom Yawkey’s attractive ball park,”2 eclipsing by […]
Greg Minton did everything for the San Francisco Giants during the 1982 season, including stealing the team bus. More about that later. The right-handed relief ace achieved a milestone when he recorded his 30th save of the season in the Giants’ come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 25 at Dodger Stadium. […]
Bob Watson’s situation before the Houston Astros’ game on June 24, 1977, was desperate, he told reporters crowded around his locker at the end of the game. “I’ve had a lot of problems lately, and, seriously, I got with my wife today and we said a prayer.”1 Watson had been seeing a doctor weekly to […]
With an eye toward returning to the top of the baseball world, the 1983 Philadelphia Phillies united three key players from the 1976 World Series champion Cincinnati Reds to boost their roster. Joe Morgan, 39 years old, was acquired from the San Francisco Giants to play second base and 40-year-old Tony Pérez, who had spent […]
Joaquín Andújar was running out of time. Bruce Sutter was, too. When the St. Louis Cardinals opened a season-ending three-game series against the National League East Division champion Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on September 28, 1984, Andújar was making his fourth attempt to win his 20th game. Sutter, meanwhile, needed one save to tie […]
Editor’s note: This essay is from SABR’s “Pitching, Defense, and Three-Run Homers: The 1970 Baltimore Orioles” (University of Nebraska Press, 2012), edited by Mark Armour and Malcolm Allen. The seed that sprouted into the powerful Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1960s and ‘70s was planted by two baseball lifers who despised each other. Together they […]