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Right-hander Paul Stuffel had a reputation as one of the hardest-throwing pitchers of his generation. As a Philadelphia Phillies prospect in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Stuffel overpowered batters in several low- and mid-level minor leagues, but also struggled controlling his heater. While pitching for the Schenectady (New York) Blue Jays in the Class-A […]

In an entry for a Philadelphia Phillies blog, Tim Johnson wrote, “Tully Sparks pitched in baseball’s earliest days, a time when hitting was as poor as the players themselves.”i A good line, though one can quibble as to how early in baseball history 1895-1910 truly was, or how poor some of the hitters may have […]

Right-handed pitcher Bennett Flowers worked in 76 major-league games, starting 13 of them, for four different teams over four seasons. He compiled a record of 3-7 with a 4.49 earned run average, earning one win per season in the years 1953, 1955, and 1956. In a lengthy 13-year minor-league career, he was 121-118 (3.51). Flowers […]

On April 20, 1970, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, a new pitching role was initiated for Dave Giusti. That Monday night, Dennis Menke of the Houston Astros stepped into the batter’s box to face Dock Ellis of the Pirates. Within a few moments, Menke smashed a line drive through the pitching box. Unfortunately, Ellis’ right hand got in […]

One can sensibly argue that Hugh Mulcahy was one of the hardest-luck pitchers in baseball history. At first glance a pitcher with a 45-89 career record and a lifetime earned-run average of 4.49, one who was twice the league leader in losses, is not exactly a player one thinks of as a victim of bad […]

During the 2011 baseball season, Jeanette “Jan” Stocker Bottazzi was one of a number of guests of the Lehigh Valley (Allentown, Pennsylvania) Iron Pigs of the International League selected to throw out the first pitch of an Iron Pigs home game. Although 65 years had passed since she played for the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Comets of the […]

Rare is the professional athlete who is privileged to play his entire career in his hometown. Barry Larkin is one of those rare athletes. Born on April 28, 1964 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Barry Louis Larkin played his entire 19-year major league baseball career with his hometown Reds. Robert and Shirley Larkin raised their daughter Robin […]

Right-hander Tom Sturdivant pitched 10 years in the major leagues, for seven different teams over both leagues (wearing seven different uniform numbers). His first team was the New York Yankees, the team that first signed him, and he won Game Four of the 1956 World Series for them, evening the series against the Dodgers at […]

In the spring of 1973 Dick Ruthven achieved a rare baseball feat. He became just the fifth pitcher since the abolition of the final bonus rule in 1962 to leap straight from college baseball into the major leagues. Stardom was predicted. He drew comparisons to Tom Seaver. Ruthven became an All-Star and earned a World […]

The name John Lickert flickered momentarily at baseball’s top level. On September 19, 1981, the catcher appeared in half an inning for the Boston Red Sox. The game ended before he stepped into the batter’s box, and though he played on in the minors through 1985, he was never seen again in a big-league box […]

It took a tremendous blast to hit a home run over the 86-foot high right field roof at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field. From the time of the roof’s construction in 1925, until the stadium’s final game in June 1970, only 19 balls, hit by 10 different players[1], ever cleared the roof. Among the men who accomplished […]

Often mentioned as one of four knuckleball pitchers on the Washington Senators staff of the mid-1940s, Johnny Niggeling gained the reputation as a baseball nomad long before securing a position with the Cincinnati Reds in 1939. His epic journey spanned nearly two decades, playing in ten different leagues, punctuated with two brief chances in the […]

The saying goes, “Once is a chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a trend.”1 The 1934 Philadelphia Athletics’ ability to win appeared to be by chance. On June 8 the seventh-place A’s started a three-game weekend series against the second-place New York Yankees. With a record of 18-26, a month had elapsed since […]

It is known in Expos history as “The Tim Raines Game” and if ever there was a game meant to be named after a player, it was this one. The 1986-87 offseason was an odd one in Major League Baseball as it lacked business and busy-ness. Prominent free agents like Raines, Ron Guidry, and Jack […]

The Philadelphia Phillies opened a two-game weekend series at Wrigley Field on Saturday, April 17, 1976, in a bit of a slump. Their record four games into the new season was an uninspiring 1-3, putting a damper on the enthusiasm surrounding a team that had been picked by many to win the National League East. […]

As rain peppered down on Memorial Stadium and forced two long delays on that Wednesday night, the visiting Kansas City Royals (65-51) managed only two hits in a 3-0 shutout loss to stylish right-hander Jim Palmer (17-7, 2.43 ERA) and the Baltimore Orioles (63-52). Palmer, who notched his major-league-leading 18th win of the season, cruised […]

Three rookies took turns hitting walk-off home runs in three straight games for the Dodgers in June 2019. No major-league trio had ever pulled off such an unlikely feat. Matt Beaty, Alex Verdugo, and Will Smith did it in a weekend series against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Each game attracted more than 50,000 […]

Mike Piazza’s first look at Shea Stadium as a New York Met may have come from a thousand feet up as his flight from Florida made its approach to LaGuardia Airport. Ever since the ballpark’s opening in 1964, pilots had used it as a landmark when visibility was clear enough,1 and if Piazza had a […]

In the 1950s, a kid’s trip to a Dodgers game at Ebbets Field was a very special occasion and one of unimaginable joy. The atmosphere, the color, the noise, and the food challenged all the senses. The game was an opportunity to see Jackie, Pee Wee, Duke, Campy, and all the others. If you managed […]

After a standout career at Sharyland High School in Mission, Texas, Jaime García – born in Reynosa, Mexico, on July 8, 1986 – was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 30th round of the 2004 June Amateur Draft. As was their policy at the time, the Orioles required each of their draftees to pass a […]

The Cleveland Indians hosted the Cincinnati Reds on the afternoon of July 10, 1999, before a packed house of 43,127 fans at Jacobs Field for the second of three mid-July games in the annual Battle of Ohio. The Indians were the best team in baseball at 55-30. Even though they had won only half of […]

In 1987, Ken “The Kid” Griffey Jr. truly was a kid: Just 17 years old, he was beginning his pro baseball career with the Bellingham (Washington) Mariners of the Northwest League. The first half of June 1987 was undoubtedly a whirlwind for the teenager, who had recently graduated from Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati. […]

Seventh place in the eight-club National League in 1946 and 1947, the Pittsburgh Pirates challenged for the pennant in 1948. The team’s success – and left fielder Ralph Kiner’s league-best home-run stroke – pushed total home attendance toward 39-year-old Forbes Field’s all-time high with a month left in the season. On August 31, before a […]