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The warmth of early summer welcomed the Ladies Day crowd of 13,643 who gathered at Ebbets Field to watch the Redlegs play the Dodgers, each trying to gain ground on the league-leading Braves.1 Bonus baby Sandy Koufax took the ball for the defending World Champions, and faced off against Cincinnati’s Hal Jeffcoat. A dramatic comeback […]

Backed by stout defense,1 Dick Rudolph easily won his second game of the quartet, throwing just 94 pitches in a complete game as the Miracle Boston Braves shocked the baseball world by sweeping Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics, 3-1. Although Philadelphia finally cooled the scalding bat of Hank Gowdy, Boston captain Johnny Evers delivered a clutch […]

For most fans, watching a pitcher strike out 16 hitters in a game would be a memorable experience. Now, imagine seeing a pitcher strike out 16 hitters — only to be outdone by the other starter’s 24 whiffs. The 462 fans who saw two teams in the Class A New York-Penn League play the second […]

Wait ’til Next Year! The phrase became a euphemism for a baseball season gone awry and nowhere did it receive greater play than in the 1940s and 1950s with the Brooklyn Dodgers and their long-suffering fans.1 The Dodgers had never won a World Series and in those two decades leading to the 1955 season, they […]

On May 22, 1901, Noodles Hahn of the Cincinnati Reds shattered the National League record for most strikeouts in a game since 1893, when the 60-feet-6-inches distance between home plate and the pitcher’s box was established.1 Hahn struck out 16 Boston Beaneaters in the Reds’ 4-3 victory at South End Grounds in Boston. In addition […]

The day Robin Roberts, the pride of Philadelphia, was elected to the Hall of Fame in January 1976, sportswriter Bob Gross penned an article detailing Roberts’ collegiate feats at Michigan State University and memories from his major-league career.1 Gross recounted Roberts’ bittersweet memory of a conversation he had with his father after a game in […]

The expression “wait ’til next year” permeates baseball. But for fans waiting for the White Sox to entertain the Seattle Mariners on July 1, 1985, the past was very much part of the program as Comiskey Park’s message board noted: “CELEBRATING 75 YEARS THE PALACE OF BASEBALL.”1 The oldest ballpark in the majors at the […]

Interleague play brought National League clubs to American League ballparks – and vice versa – during the 1997 regular season, an occurrence previously limited to the World Series and exhibitions. The first interleague game at Minneapolis’s Metrodome was played on June 16, when the Minnesota Twins hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mark Smith, the first-ever designated […]

“As a diehard Yankee hater and former Yankee killer, I even helped to germinate the seeds of the feud by spreading some fertilizer of my own.” — Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Boston Red Sox pitcher, 1969-1978.1 Books have been written, blogs have been posted and newspaper accounts have captured the intensity of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, […]

“Magee came up to bat next, threw his bat on the ground, and started to call me names. He is bad when irritated—and tolerably easy to irritate, as shown by the way he knocked down Finneran, the umpire, last season.” – Christy Mathewson, Pitching in a Pinch (1912)1   During the third inning of a […]

Just five months before Cleveland’s Ray Chapman was hit on the head and killed by a pitch, Chick Fewster had his own brush with death. It was during spring training, in March of 1920. He was in his fourth season with the New York Yankees, still hoping to become a regular but coming off a […]

He was a hardnosed player whose blue-collar work ethic maximized his talent and inspired his teammates. His red hair and true grit made him the most recognizable Blue Jay as their starting third baseman for nearly four years. Josh Donaldson? No, Roy Howell, whose career included stops with the Texas Rangers and the Milwaukee Brewers […]

Following his death in February 1945, long-forgotten turn-of-the-century pitcher Ham Iburg was accorded a singular accolade by The Sporting News. “Iburg is credited with having the slowest ball ever hurled in the majors or higher minors,” declared the Bible of Baseball. “He had three speeds – slow, slower and slowest.”1 Some 40-plus years earlier, it […]

When the United States acquired the Philippines in December 1898, troops began occupying the islands to protect our interests by quelling rebellions and spreading American ideals. Interestingly, one of the more successful strategies in this effort was employing “baseball follows the flag” diplomacy. From the outset, our soldiers carried bats and balls throughout the islands, hoping the […]

“They set all the records and we won the game.” That was Gino Cimoli’s comment after Game Seven of the 1960 World Series, won in dramatic fashion by the Pittsburgh Pirates when Bill Mazeroski’s home run fell over the ivy in left field, as outfielder Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees could only watch. […]

“What is one to say about June — the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade?” — Gertrude Jekyll1   On the afternoon of June 23, 1984, at Wrigley Field, the hometown Chicago […]

Russ Scarritt enjoyed an exceptional rookie season for the Boston Red Sox in 1929, leading the club with 71 runs batted in, second (to Jack Rothrock) in average with .294, and legging out 17 triples – a single-season Red Sox total that has not been topped since 1914. He was born in Pensacola, Florida, on […]

A three-sport star in high school, Don Gullett became a professional baseball player at the age of 18. After a short stint in the minors, he became the mainstay of the Cincinnati Reds pitching staff. Before he was 25 years old he was being compared to Sandy Koufax and seemingly was headed for Cooperstown. But […]

From 1923 to 1952, the Chicago Cubs had 10 managers but only one head trainer—Andy Lotshaw. He was also the head trainer for the Chicago Bears. Players called him “Doc,” and he indeed doctored them, though he lacked formal education in the medical field. He administered his own homespun remedies for sore arms, charley horses, […]

Howie Fox was a right-handed pitcher who spent most of his career with the Reds during the club’s franchise-worst stretch of 11 consecutive losing seasons. By the time Cincinnati finished over .500 again, Fox had been traded, released and tragically murdered. Howard Francis Fox was born on March 1, 1921, in Coburg, Oregon — population […]

This article was published in The 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox: Grinders and Gamers (SABR, 2025), edited by Eric Conrad, Mark Morowczynski, Bill Nowlin, and Don Zminda.   ESPN Radio Chicago Sports Anchor and Talk Show Host Tom Shaer and Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk after Shaer MC’d the August 7, 2005 unveiling of […]

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2021 as part of the SABR Century 1921 Project.   1921 New York Yankees team photo (SABR-RUCKER ARCHIVE)   The 1921 New York Yankees are the team that started it all. As the most successful franchise in baseball history, the Yankees (as of 2020) have won 27 […]