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In 2011 the Cincinnati Enquirer published a list of the 100 greatest players in the 130-year history of the Cincinnati Reds.1 Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan topped the rankings, which were brimming with the names of renowned ballplayers. But coming in at number 62 was Curt Walker, a long-forgotten right fielder who spent […]

Thanks to Dickey Kerr serving his teammates a dose of rejuvenating elixir in Game Three, the Chicago White Sox had regained their confidence and were ready to take Game Four of the 1919 World Series at Comiskey Park. “Reassured by yesterday’s shutout of the Reds, the White Sox today declared they were ready to back […]

In 1990, 26-year-old Randy Johnson was in his third year as a big-league pitcher and his first full season with the Seattle Mariners. He was better known for his lack of control and unprecedented height than as someone who could win multiple Cy Young Awards and become a Hall of Famer. At 6-feet-10, the “Big […]

In this present era of pitch counts, innings limits, and rare complete games, it is difficult to imagine two starting pitchers grinding it out over the course of a 16-inning contest. Yet such was the case on July 8, 1924, when Cincinnati Reds left-hander and future Hall of Famer Eppa Rixey prevailed over Philadelphia Phillies […]

In 1964 Johnny Pesky, longtime Boston Red Sox star, was in his second season as Red Sox manager. According to his SABR biography, Pesky “brought some fire to the position, after years of yawns under the likes of Pinky Higgins.”1 Boston had not posted a winning record since 1958. Since 1961, when the American League expanded […]

The Kansas City Royals were on the threshold of experiencing their greatest franchise moment to date: their first World Series. The year before, the California Angels clinched the American League West Division crown during the season’s last week, outpacing Kansas City by three games. From 1976 to 1978, the Royals lost three consecutive American League […]

The honor roll of great Fenway Park pitching performances would fill a rich leather-bound antique book. It includes rookie Hugh Bedient outdueling the legendary Christy Mathewson in Game Five of the 1912 World Series; Joe Dobson giving the St. Louis Cardinals just two hits in Game Five in 1946; Earl Wilson pitching the first American […]

Pumpsie Green holds two places in Boston Red Sox history – one well-known and eternal, the other obscure and perishable. The switch-hitting infielder, born Elijah Jerry Green, is remembered as the Red Sox’ first Black player, integrating the major leagues’ last segregated team on July 21, 1959. He played in 327 games in four seasons […]

On August 5, 1977, the Kansas City Royals gave the Chicago White Sox a taste of their own medicine. The host Royals smacked four home runs en route to a 12-2 victory in the Friday night opener of a three-game weekend series. Making the defeat worse for the visiting White Sox was watching the Royals […]

Tex Hughson was a big right-handed power pitcher out of the University of Texas who principally wore the number 21 during his tenure with the Red Sox (he would also be assigned the numbers 29, 15, and 27) and, like his numerical counterpart and fellow Longhorn Roger Clemens four decades later, was the dominant Red […]

During the time when so many strong ballplayers were making their way from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees, catcher Al DeVormer was one of those sent to Boston in exchange. Most of the deals had already been done. Babe Ruth was sold in January 1920. Others on the 1922 Yankees who […]

Alex Remneas, mistakenly considered by some to be the first Montanan to make the big leagues, was born in Minneapolis before moving to Watson Township, Montana (Great Falls), as a baby.1 After three career games with the 1912 Detroit Tigers and 1915 St. Louis Browns that amounted to 7.2 innings pitched, the “Iron Duke” returned […]

Long before free agency and specialization promoted frequent player movement between teams, the journeyman tag was most aptly applied to men like Pat Ragan. Ragan played for seven major-league clubs between 1909 and 1923, and as of the end of the 1920s was one of only seven men to play for six or more major-league […]

Si Burick’s byline adorned the sports pages of the Dayton Daily News in seven decades, from the 1920s to the 1980s. Over that impressive span, he demonstrated that it’s possible to have a big-league career without ever working in a big-league city. In 1983 he received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award “for meritorious contributions to […]

In an era when the common impression of a baseball catcher was a sturdy player with bulging shoulders, a husky framework, and brute strength, the 5-foot-7 (many sources say 5-foot-9), 155-pound Ray Schalk did not convey an imposing figure behind the dish. But as John C. Ward wrote in Baseball Magazine in 1920, “Schalk is […]

Newark Eagles shortstop Benny Felder was born on December 9, 1926, in Tampa, Florida.1 Little is known of his family. In an interview with Brent Kelley, Felder said, “My family was brick masons.”2 Benjamin Franklin Felder was the ninth of 10 children born to Porter Henry Felder (1882-1944) and Minnie Lee (Fluker) Felder (1886-1979). The […]

Down two games to none to the Minnesota Twins in the 1965 World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers found themselves in a precarious situation after Don Drysdale lost Game One, 8-2, and Sandy Koufax, who refused to pitch the opening game because it fell on Yom Kippur, lost Game Two, 5-1. Left-hander Claude Osteen, scheduled […]

Mike Pasquella had more names than a viscount and a gift for running in fast company and sharing a good story about it afterward. His best tale revolved around his own Major League career, which was short, colorful, and quirky. Born in Philadelphia seven months after Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders had charged up San Juan […]

Jorge Comellas didn’t impress during his brief stint in the major leagues at the age of 28, as a right-handed pitcher with the pennant-winning Chicago Cubs in 1945.  He was demoted before June 1.  However, he pitched for six years in the minors before the war, and at the age of 20 was good enough […]

Clara Díaz Chacón was a little girl who lived on a street in the fishing village of Puerto Caimito in Panama. A few houses up the road was an elementary school classmate. That boy’s studies ended in the ninth grade, but their paths crossed again when they were teenagers. They became boyfriend and girlfriend, and […]

“Times of adversity make you stronger. And sometimes those times make you so tired that when your son says to you, ‘Dad, I want to be there at the last game you pitch,’ you tell him, ‘Kid, you might have been there already.’”1 — Bret Saberhagen on August 8, 2001, one day after his last […]

Twenty-one members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at The Original Crusoe’s Restaurant in South St. Louis on Monday, February 20, 2017. Chapter president Brian Flaspohler called the meeting to order. The first topic of discussion was the recent Hot Stove Luncheon held on SABR Day, January 28. Everyone who attended the luncheon […]

LaGrave Field is the name of two baseball parks in Fort Worth, Texas. The first LaGrave Field was the home of the minor-league Fort Worth Panthers from 1926 to 1958 in the Texas League, 1959 in the American Association, a shared home of the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers from 1960 to 1963 in the American Association […]

Baseball traveled through rough waters beginning in the late 1960s, as it navigated increasing player unrest and the growing power of their union. Court cases, strikes, hearings, lawsuits—it was challenging to follow baseball in this period without a law degree. The off-field headliners—Curt Flood, Bowie Kuhn, Marvin Miller, Andy Messersmith, Charlie Finley—are as famous as […]