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Reflecting on the life and career of Pud Galvin, a writer commented that a proper accounting of Galvin’s achievements “would be a task of time and would … require a volume in size almost equal to the dictionary.”1 Galvin pitched for 16 years during a career that spanned three decades, four major leagues, and countless […]

Chris Hartje’s fleeting big-league career consisted of nine games with the 1939 Brooklyn Dodgers. In 16 at-bats, the right-handed hitting catcher recorded five hits and just as many runs batted in. Hartje, who served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II, was attempting to resurrect his professional baseball career with the Spokane […]

Baseball fans know the stories of superstars like Ted Williams and Bob Feller who lost some valuable years of baseball during World War II. But one pitcher actually gained from those years in the service. Before being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942, Vern Bickford scuffled for the Class D Welch Miners in the […]

Sam Rice broke into the major leagues in August of 1915 as a 25-year-old pitcher with the Washington Nationals. After moving to the outfield midway through the following season, he became one of the leading hitters in the American League. Over the course of a 20-year career, most of which he spent in Washington, Rice […]

While he was hardly a late-nineteenth-century pitching standout, left-hander Ledell Titcomb’s six-season major-league career was not without accomplishments. As a spot starter, he contributed 14 victories to the National League pennant-winning effort of the New York Giants in 1888. Two seasons later, Titcomb authored a no-hitter for Rochester in its only campaign as a big-league […]

Illinois native Del Howard wasn’t as well-known as Hall of Famers Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance, but he was a valuable backup first baseman, outfielder, and pinch-hitter on the Chicago Cubs’ world championship teams of 1907 and 1908. “Del [Howard] has been carried two years with the Cubs and is as full of […]

As major-league debuts go, Mark Grant’s did not lack in drama. On April 27, 1984, the former first-round pick got the start for the San Francisco Giants, squaring off against Joe Price and the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium. Grant took the loss despite working six innings. It was a 9-3 contest between two teams […]

Colorful Dick Cooley crossed paths in his lifetime with personalities as diverse as saloon-smasher Carrie Nation and Broadway star George M. Cohan. For 13 years in the big leagues (1893-1905), Cooley also held his own with the greatest baseball players of his day. In 1,317 games in the majors, he batted .294.  Duff Gordon Cooley […]

Outfielder Newt Randall was one of many forgettable ballplayers who had a promising minor-league career, got a shot at the majors, and then faded away, never to return to the big leagues. He reached the majors at the age of 27 and played just one season, splitting the 1907 season between the Chicago Cubs and […]

Arguably the best prospect produced by the province of Quebec in the 20th century, Paul Calvert’s recurring arm problems prevented him from reaching his full potential. Still, Calvert had an eighteen-year career full of ups and downs. This was never truer than in 1949, during which he had his time in the spotlight, early in […]

“Beware of robbing a wretch or attacking a cripple. Do not laugh at a blind man, nor tease a dwarf, nor cause hardship for the lame. Don’t tease a man who is in the hand of the god (i.e. ill or insane)…” [Instruction of Amenemope, Ancient Egypt]1 Frank James Burke was born on March 19, […]

A genuine pre-modern national star, one of the major league game’s pioneers, and one of the sport’s most enduring and intriguing figures, Louis Rogers “Pete” Browning was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 17, 1861, at 13th and Jefferson on the city’s west side. A lifelong resident of Louisville, Pete Browning was the youngest of […]

For two years, 5-foot, 9-inch Bob Saverine teamed with 6-foot, 7-inch Frank Howard on the Washington Senators. But, that’s not all. The talented pair, along with several other Senators players, formed a basketball team.1 Prior to the 1968 season, newly named manager Jim Lemon watched as they played an exhibition game and defeated a team […]

For the four years from 1931 through 1934 Edward Arthur Brandt, largely forgotten today, was one of the top left-handers in the National League. Toiling for the mediocre Boston Braves, Dutch, as he was called by his teammates, reeled off victory totals of 18, 16, 18, and 16 and was a big reason why the […]

Except for two games in the 1890 Players League, Fred Doe devoted his entire baseball career to the minor leagues in New England. On the diamond, Doe quickly progressed from player to manager during the period 1885 to 1888. In the 1890s, Doe became a non-playing manager and in the early 1900s he moved up […]

Biddy Dolan played just one season of major-league baseball, that being part of 1914 with the Indianapolis club in the short-lived Federal League. The most notable feature about the rangy (he was listed as 6 feet tall) right-handed-hitting first baseman was his prematurely gray hair, which made him appear much older than he was. He […]

The 1934 Washington Senators, defending American League champions, were out of the playoff race by August after being decimated by injuries. Thus, team owner Clark Griffith was willing to take a chance on Reese Diggs, a hard-throwing 18-year-old who caught the eye of one of his scouts while pitching on the sandlots of Baltimore. Starved […]

Remembered for his blazing fastball, Monty Kennedy had an abbreviated minor-league baseball career that was quickly interrupted by military service. Perhaps because of this lack of development time, Kennedy struggled constantly with his control during his time with the Giants and the club eventually ran out of patience with him. However, Kennedy displayed flashes of […]

For generations of fans, the sound of an organ evoked a trip to the ballpark. One of the best-known, best-loved, and simply best baseball organists was Jane Jarvis (1915-2010). Jarvis attracted most attention during her long tenure with the New York Mets (1964 through 1979). However, the one-time child prodigy had a career in jazz […]

A latecomer to the game, Tony Boeckel was 19 years old before he first handled a baseball.1 But he rose to become one of the better third basemen in the early 1920s before his life was tragically cut short at the height of his career. Norman Doxie Boeckel was born in Los Angeles, California, on […]

The seventh-place Chicago White Sox generated some welcome excitement for 25,000 fans at Comiskey Park on July 9, 1921. The White Sox weren’t doing much against the American League in general, but they had a handle on the New York Yankees, with six wins in nine head-to-head games so far in 1921. Eventually they were […]

“I guess maybe I was a little hasty, but I had complete confidence in Sherry.” —Walter Alston, October 8, 1959.1 “I told Joe Becker, our pitching coach, that I felt real good, ready to pitch four or five innings. I never dreamed, actually, that I’d have to go that long.” —Larry Sherry, October 8, 1959.2 […]

Federal League Park, also known as Handlan’s Park, was first used for professional baseball in 1914, providing a home for the St. Louis Terriers of the newly formed Federal League.1 Like other professional ballparks of the day, it included no stadium lighting, a fact that required games to be conducted during daytime, sometimes held hostage […]

Nearly a half-century after its publication, one does not encounter much negative criticism of Ball Four, Jim Bouton’s 1970 journal mainly recounting his previous season pitching in the major leagues. A best-seller at the time of its publication, the book fundamentally changed sports literature and journalism, and the way we view our sports heroes. In […]