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In his memoir, former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Steve Blass extolled the virtues of the non-verbal communication between a catcher and pitcher. “The reality of a pitcher’s relationship with his catcher is that if he is on a roll, he is almost his own decision maker…But Manny knew me just as much psychologically as the nuts […]

Lloyd Merriman’s timing couldn’t have been worse. A college football star, he interrupted his studies to serve in World War II. A bonus baby, he was rushed to the majors after a single year in A ball. A Marine Corps pilot, he was called back into service during the Korean War and missed two full […]

Without the benefit of hindsight, we can imagine that John Weldon Wyckoff thought himself lucky. Fresh from college at Bucknell and with a year of seasoning in the Tri-State League, he was called up to the big leagues in 1913, to the powerhouse Philadelphia Athletics no less, for which he pitched on two pennant winners. […]

“Has a pitcher ever made his major league debut as a pinch-hitter?” asked Cleveland sportswriter Harry Jones in his column after the Indians’ 1960 Opening Day 4-2 loss to the visiting Detroit Tigers.1 Detroit scored two runs in the top of the 15th inning to take the lead. After a one-out double in the bottom […]

When walking through the exhibits at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, it is difficult not to absorb slices of the game’s history and lore, and to learn about the role the sport has played in both American and world history. It also quickly becomes clear that the stories of the […]

Perhaps no Virgin Islander made a greater lifetime contribution to baseball than Elrod Hendricks (1940-2005). The native of St. Thomas also embodied Baltimore Orioles tradition; only Brooks Robinson wore the orange and black for even half as many games. Ellie’s major-league career spanned 12 seasons from 1968 to 1979, but he also spent a remarkable […]

Third baseman Charlie Hayes was a solid journeyman. He played for seven teams over 14 years in the majors from 1988 through 2001. He had a good glove, a strong arm, and some pop in his bat. His best offensive numbers came in 1993 with an expansion club, the Colorado Rockies. Yet the moment for […]

An Indianapolis native and prosperous city hotelier with no previous connection to baseball, J. Edward Krause served as club president and principal public spokesman for the Indianapolis Hoosiers, the premier franchise of the Federal League for the first two of the circuit’s three-season existence. On the field, the Hoosiers were sterling, capturing the flag in […]

The 6-foot-5, 225-pound right-handed pitcher saddled with the seemingly unfortunate nickname Pinky was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, as George Rowland Woods on May 22, 1920. Every standard source presented the year of his birth as 1915, but after being asked why he was playing high school ball at the age of 23, his brother Francis confirmed […]

Over his 22-year career, fleet-footed center fielder Bernard “Frenchy” Uhalt knocked out more than 3,000 hits and was elected to the Hall of Fame. His name might not be familiar to many baseball aficionados, though, since 21 of those seasons and all but 40 of his hits came in the minor leagues, and because he […]

Cincinnati Reds right-handed pitcher Johnny Cueto started his windup, his hips twisting to allow his chest to face second base. He delivered a slider to San Diego Padres rookie catcher Eddy Rodríguez. Rodríguez had just been called up to the majors after six years in the minors (including two years in independent ball) with two […]

In the long history of professional baseball, almost 100 major-league players were nicknamed “Doc.” About half of them were medical professionals: physicians, dentists, an optometrist, a pharmacist, and even a veterinarian. Among the physicians was John Lavan, a graduate of the University of Michigan medical school who also earned a doctorate in public health. Lavan […]

If Joe Pepitone were a car, he’d be a Ferrari — powerful, Italian, and high-performance. Though his career .258 batting average may not evidence power, Pepitone placed in the American League’s top 10 in total bases twice, in RBI twice, and in home runs thrice in his 12-year major-league career (1962-1973). He also clouted seven […]

A right-handed pitcher with a side-arm, almost underhanded delivery, Earl Caldwell, born on April 9, 1907 in Sparks, Texas, spent most of his lengthy professional baseball career in the minor leagues, winning 323 games, beginning with Temple/Mexia of the Texas Association in 1926 and ending with Harlingen of the Big State League in 1954. Caldwell […]

With his poor eyesight, and notoriously poor control, flame-throwing pitcher Ryne Duren’s fastball put the fear of God into opposing hitters in the late 1950s and early 1960s. “Duren was the standard by how we ranked hard throwers,” All-Star pitcher and pitching coach Jim Kaat said. “We’d say [so-and-so] can throw almost as hard as […]

Jay Tessmer pitched in parts of four seasons in his major-league career. Although he won only a single game, he was a member of three World Series championship teams, playing for the New York Yankees in 1998, 1999, and 2000. Appearing in 22 games during his major-league career, Tessmer pitched 23⅓ innings and finished with […]

A lifetime of baseball as a major league catcher, minor league manager, and major league coach would usually be thought of as a happy life; it was that for Larry Cox, but he unfortunately passed away at the age of 42 before he could complete his baseball journey. Larry Eugene Cox was born on September […]

Roger Clemens’ last major-league start, on October 7, 2007 — for the New York Yankees against the Cleveland Indians, the very team against which he had made his major-league debut in May 1984 — ended with him limping off the mound after only 2⅓ innings with a hamstring injury. Clemens had already allowed the Indians […]

The Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles were a study in contrasts in 1894. The Phillies possessed a “quiet deportment and even temper,”1 whereas the Orioles were rowdy and aggressive. The Phillies were an offensive juggernaut, a “team of heavy hitters,”2 while the scrappy Orioles relied on cunning and guile. The Orioles won the 1894 pennant, […]

For much of the 1938 season, Lou Gehrig struggled to hit with his usual consistency and power, and some sportswriters called for him to end his renowned consecutive-games streak, by then over 2,000 games long.1 Finally, in mid-August he found his groove, hitting .419 with seven homers, seven doubles and 27 RBIs over a 15-game […]

After a last-place finish in 1901, the Cincinnati Reds began the following season hoping for better things, but initial results didn’t offer much reason for optimism. Opening at home against the Chicago Cubs, second-year manager Bid McPhee entrusted the first two games of the campaign to a pair of 23-year-old pitchers – Len Swormstedt, a […]

In the years leading up to the First World War, baseball − not hockey − was Canada’s national sport.1 Inconsistent winter weather in many parts of the country, coupled with a lack of indoor ice, hampered hockey’s early development. The National Hockey League didn’t even exist until late in 1917.2 Baseball, on the other hand, was flourishing […]

1876 St. Louis Brown Stockings. 1 – Joe Blong, 2 – George Bradley, 3 – Herman Dehlman, 4 – Joe Battin, 5 – John Clapp, 6 – Tim McGinley, 7 – Lipman Pike, 8 – Mike McGeary, 9 – Dickey Pearce, 10 – Denny Mack, 11 – Ned Cuthbert. (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY) […]