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Bill Hallahan “cast a spell of impotence over the bats of the slugging Athletics,” gushed St. Louis scribe J. Roy Stockton after the Cardinals southpaw’s overpowering three-hit shutout of heavily favored Philadelphia.1 Hallahan “pitched magnificently,” in the eyes of sportswriter S.O. Grauley of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “His curve ball was just wild enough to keep […]

Thirteen teams played in the Middle States League, an integrated minor league, in 1889. The season opened with one Negro team, the Cuban Giants, representing Trenton, New Jersey, and five white teams in Pennsylvania.1 Six more white teams and a Negro team known as the New York Gorhams joined the league in midseason, but nine […]

It looked like the best-of-five National League Championship Series was going to be a short one. The Montreal Expos had outhit Los Angeles in Game One, but they couldn’t get the big hit when they needed it. The frustrating loss was their 10th in a row at Dodger Stadium and the 19th in their last […]

“Pretty humbled right now, the ways things have gone. Time might not be on my side.”1 These were the words of 42-year-old John Smoltz on August 6, 2009, after what turned out to be the final start of his seven-week stint with the Boston Red Sox. He had given up eight earned runs to the […]

Max Macon, the new manager of the Montreal Royals, knew exactly what was expected of him.1 The Royals, a Brooklyn Dodgers Triple-A affiliate, were not unlike most minor-league teams in the 1950s: Turning a profit usually took precedence over player development.2 “The only orders I had were to win and draw big crowds,” Macon acknowledged.3 […]

On April 26, 1875, two games into the season, the Brooklyn Atlantics peaked. They vaulted to fifth place in the National Association that day, thanks to John Cassidy’s 3-2 win over the Elm Citys of New Haven. Entering play exactly a month later, May 26, the Atlantics had nothing to show but 10 additional losses, […]

Don Richard “Richie” Ashburn, a Hall of Fame outfielder, who made the most putouts of any outfielder in major-league baseball during the 1950s, started out as a catcher, which should not be surprising because throughout his long career in baseball, Richie Ashburn had always been his own man. His independent quality even emerged during his […]

For a couple of months in 1954, Tom Herrin was a big leaguer, a right-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. It was the culmination of 5½ years of work in the minor leagues following his signing in February 1949 by Red Sox scout George Digby. He was a sophomore at Louisiana Tech at the […]

Perhaps the greatest example of the old baseball cliché “good field, no hit,” Raymond Francis Oyler was the regular shortstop for two late-1960s Detroit Tigers teams, including the world champion 1968 squad, as well as the original Seattle Pilots the following season. Ray compiled a sub-”Mendoza line” .175 career batting average—the lowest of any player […]

In Candlestick Park on September 2, 1963, the final nine outs were tallied by closer Lindy McDaniel, insuring the 20th win of the season for the tall Chicago Cubs left-handed starter. This particular win, coming off a 20-loss campaign the preceding year, would etch the youngster’s name with a mere six other hurlers who, since […]

Redheaded lefty pitcher Charlie Perkins got into just 19 major-league games in 1930 and 1934. His record was an uninspiring 0-3, with a 7.50 ERA. “I had one fault,” he said looking back in 1976. “I had a good arm but I was wild. To stay in the big leagues, you had to throw that […]

Two months after Ulysses Brooks Lawrence’s major-league debut as a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1954, sportswriter Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described this newcomer to the team and his amazing accomplishments since arriving: “Ulysses Brooks Lawrence, an eager-beaver of the mound with the heart of a lion, the hide of […]

With a graceful and deceptive side-arm delivery, Tex Carleton was a tough, no-nonsense right-handed pitcher who enjoyed an eight-year major-league career between 1932 and 1940. Notching exactly 100 career victories, Carleton was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals’ Gas House Gang championship team in 1934, helped lead the Chicago Cubs to the World Series […]

Between 1840 and 1930, roughly one million French Canadians emigrated to the United States.1 A majority settled in nearby New England, drawn by employment in the textile industry which actively recruited Canadian workers in the boom following the Civil War. According to Smithsonian Magazine, by 1900 one in 10 New Englanders spoke French.2 Children from […]

Rich Rollins’ 10-year career in the major leagues included two All-Star Game appearances and playing in the 1965 World Series with the Minnesota Twins. Richard John Rollins was born on April 16, 1938, in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. His father, a welder, was ambidextrous, and played baseball in coal mining leagues. The family later […]

Sled Allen may have been born in Missouri, but he found both his home and his calling in the West Texas town of Lubbock. He fielded a baseball team there in the 1920s and won what was then the country’s most prestigious semipro tournament in 1925. He was a top wrestling promoter and later became […]

In a poll of National League sportswriters conducted in April 1964, Larry Bearnarth was tabbed as the New York Mets’ best young pitcher.1 The franchise’s first bonus player and the first hurler to win four consecutive major league decisions, the tall blond right-hander established a club record with 58 appearances during his rookie season. Bearnarth’s […]

Monongahela Cemetery in North Braddock, Pennsylvania offers some of the most spectacular views in the Pittsburgh area. Overlooking the Monongahela River Valley, the cemetery has its origins in a charter issued on February 24, 1893, by “the Hon. John H. Barley, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the establishment of a cemetery in […]

In George Vecsey’s modestly titled Joy In Mudville: Being a Complete Account of the Unparalleled History of the New York Mets from Their Most Perturbed Beginnings to ’Their Amazing Rise to Glory And Renown, a moment illustrating the time-flies transformation of the Mets franchise from bottom feeders to top dogs in eight short seasons is […]

The score stood at 11-1 when Tim Lollar left the mound and Wes Gardner took over in the seventh inning in the sixth game of the season at Chicago. With Boston’s comfortable lead, Gardner could relax a little for this, his first game in a Red Sox uniform and his debut in the American League.  […]

His baseball ability was once described as good mouth, no hit. Not known for his bat but a solid glove man, Jimmy Smith built an 8-year major league career with his wit and his mouth. Referred to as “Serpent Tongue,” Smith rode a great ability as a bench jockey to remain on rosters while compiling […]

“When Mr. Reardon speaks you are under the impression that he has just spit out a hand grenade.” — Harry A. Williams, Los Angeles Times1   Beans Reardon learned a lot about umpiring at the age of 16 when he worked as a riveter’s assistant. “Riveting was good education for umpiring,” he recalled. “If I […]

The years have not been particularly kind to Altoona, Pennsylvania. When the Pennsylvania Railroad crumbled after World War II, Altoona crashed down right along with it. The smokestacks and hulking railroad shops are almost all gone now, replaced by the garish lights of the chain restaurants and strip malls that seem to stretch into infinity. […]

Major League Baseball’’s revenue generating power exploded during the 1950s and 1960s due in large part to franchise relocations and expansion, though in truth it had to be dragged into the lucrative expansion era. William Shea drummed up support, at least on paper, for a third major league to be called the Continental League in […]