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During the summer of 1913, a left-handed pitcher from the Philadelphia Phillies named Addison Brennan gained notoriety and a place in baseball lore when he was fined $100 and suspended for five days for punching New York Giants manager John McGraw after a game in Philadelphia. During the seventh inning of the contest between the […]

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 […]

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 […]

“Coldwater Jim” Hughey is still the last major league pitcher to lose 30 games in a season. Hughey was more than a footnote in history, more than someone who had the misfortune to pitch for a team, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, that made the 1962 Mets look like an invincible juggernaut. At the time, he […]

Del Rice was a major-league catcher for 17 years, primarily with the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Braves. While he was not a good hitter, his longevity was attributable to his excellent defensive skills and his ability to work with pitchers. He also knew how to win as a member of two World Series champions, […]

With the last name of Roenicke, you’d think he’d be a “baseball first” kind of guy. Righty pitcher Josh Roenicke’s father, Gary Roenicke, was a major-league outfielder, as was his uncle, Ron Roenicke. So, it seems strange that Josh was a “recruited walk-on”1 at UCLA as a quarterback but walked on to the baseball team […]

During the 1890s southpaw Bert Inks pitched for six different major league clubs – but posted a winning record for only one of them. More than a century later, that performance prompted a 19 th century baseball scholar to declare, “Bert Inks exemplified the lengths to which teams often go to give a left-handed pitcher […]

A tall (6-foot-2), brown-haired, blue-eyed, Christy Mathewson look-alike, Walt Smallwood finished two September games on the mound for the sixth-place New York Yankees in 1917 before heading off to Siberia and France as an army sergeant during the Great War. The Maryland native played in six more games with the Yanks in 1919, toiled in […]

If somebody claimed that a person could simultaneously throw three baseballs with one hand accurately to three different catchers, or, with one hand could throw two balls, one a curve and one a fastball, accurately to two catchers, it would sound too weird to be believed. How about a claim that a person, suspended upside […]

Underappreciated in his late-19th-century heyday and largely forgotten for decades thereafter, Roger Connor was baseball’s first great slugger, the game’s career home-run leader prior to the arrival of Babe Ruth. A fastball-loving left-handed batter, Connor spent virtually every season between 1880 and 1894 among league leaders in a wide array of offensive categories. Over time […]

For a Red Sox team suddenly lacking Babe Ruth in 1920, having Tim Hendryx for that year helped soften the blow. He didn’t hit many home runs; in fact, he didn’t hit any. But he did drive in 73 runs, and he hit .328 with a .400 on-base percentage. It was, by far, his best […]

As World War II began to encroach on major-league baseball teams as well as their minor-league affiliates, doors opened to players who otherwise would have been considered to lack major-league talent.  Some who were rejected for military service and classified 4-F became increasingly prime candidates to play in the majors – selected because it was […]

On June 1, 1986, 31-year-old pitcher Chris Welsh made his debut for the Cincinnati Reds, the hometown team he grew up rooting for. “I had my family and my friends there,” Welsh said years later.1 But trouble started right away. He walked the leadoff man, and not just any leadoff man. He then proceeded to […]

Like Gummo Marx, Willie Delahanty is the forgotten member of a famous brothers act. A decidedly lesser talent, the youngest Delahanty never scaled the professional heights attained by his five ball playing siblings or garnered the public attention accorded them. About the only distinction that can be claimed by Willie is the fact that he […]

Charles Richard “Charlie” Maxwell, the popular outfielder of the Tigers from 1955 to 1962, often called “Paw Paw” by fans, writers, and broadcasters, was one of Detroit’s best power hitters. A lefthanded batter who averaged .264 lifetime, Charlie hit 148 home runs and batted in 532 runs in a major league career lasting from 1950 […]

Twenty-five years after his playing days ended, Pastor Tom Johnson was again coming in as a reliever; this time, though, he was headed half-a-world away from the scene of his success as a home-grown Minnesota Twins pitcher. Speaking humbly, but still exhibiting the confidence he took to the mound, Johnson explained his move to the […]

Few post-1960 sportscasters have enjoyed a broader national impact in the United States than Dick Enberg. During his 60-year career, Enberg was a fixture for NBC and CBS television networks, delivering his signature exclamation “Oh My!” while announcing NFL football (including eight Super Bowls), college basketball (including four Final Fours), Wimbledon tennis, and events in […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

“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, […]

It was a night like no other. A night to say farewell to an old friend. A night full of memories. A night that would go down in history. And so it was, on September 21, 2008, that more than 54,000 people showed up for the final game to be played at the old ballpark […]

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 […]

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 […]