Search Results

The neighborhood surrounding 11th and Wharton Streets in South Philadelphia is known for producing entertainers Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Fabian Forte, and Chubby Checker. John Marzano wasn’t a teen idol. He didn’t star in Beach Blanket Bingo and he didn’t invent “The Twist.” However, at one point in his baseball career, Marzano was considered the […]

For an eight-year period before, during, and after World War II, Bucky Walters was the premier pitcher in the National League and one of the best in the major leagues. Over the years from 1939 to 1946, Walters led the majors in wins (141), innings pitched (2,030), complete games (178), support-neutral wins (146), and, among […]

The lesser known of two professional baseball-playing brothers, Mutz Ens had a nightmarish tryout with the 1912 Chicago White Sox. In three early September games, he went hitless at the plate, made a rash of physical and mental miscues at first base, and was relieved of his uniform little more than a week after making […]

Jim Sundberg is one of the greatest defensive catchers in major-league history. From 1976 to 1981, he won six straight American League Gold Glove awards while playing for the Texas Rangers. Of Sundberg’s defensive prowess, his former Rangers teammate Toby Harrah once stated: “When he came along, everyone else seemed like slow motion. You can’t […]

Tom Wright, a left-handed hitting outfielder who played major league baseball over nine seasons, still lived in 2007 in the town where he was born: Shelby, North Carolina. Wright was born on September 22, 1923, one of 10 children (five boys and five girls) raised on the family farm run by his father, J.B. Wright. […]

Fourteen consecutive years in first place. Bobby Cox’s teams hold a unique distinction in major-league baseball. Prior to The Streak, the team finished last three years in a row. Robert Joe Cox was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 21, 1941. He recalled his younger days: “We moved from Oklahoma when I was about three […]

Bobby Richardson played second base for the New York Yankees from 1955 to 1966, a key contributor during one of the Yankees’ most successful stretches in their legendary history. Richardson was by all accounts a slick, rangy glove man and a steady stick man. He won the Gold Glove Award five times, he batted over […]

The remarkable longevity of Thomas Edward John’s career is surprising considering the left-hander’s actual performance as a pitcher. While Tommy John was a solid pitcher with a good curve and a sinking fastball, he did not possess the overpowering stuff of near-contemporaries like Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, or Steve Carlton, nor did he have the […]

“Everyone dreams about playing in the majors, but I never thought I’d get the chance. Almost no one else from there had ever done it, so I didn’t think about it. Baseball was just for fun.” — Kevin Tapani1   When he was growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Kevin Tapani didn’t expect […]

An article appearing in the Galveston Daily News during 1912 reads, “It was the first of the seventh when the redoubtable Christy Mathewson stepped into the pitching box to perform for the last three innings. He was greeted by an ovation from grandstand and bleachers as he trotted upon the field and grinned one of […]

Brother against brother? The brothers united as batterymates? Les freres Gaston faced both scenarios. They played against each other in 1926 when Alex Gaston was a catcher with the Red Sox and brother Milt was a pitcher for the St. Louis Browns, and they were batterymates after Milt was acquired by Boston and brother Alex […]

Alfonso “Chico” Carrasquel was the first great Hispanic defensive player in the major leagues. His play at shortstop made him as recognizable a big-leaguer as there was for several years. Carrasquel may not have revolutionized the position defensively like latter-day greats Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel – but he brought panache, born of his innate […]

From 1960 to 1971, outfielder Tony González enjoyed a fine major-league career, He was never an All-Star – no insult, considering that Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Roberto Clemente were his peers – but he might have accomplished even more had he not suffered from back and eye problems. (The latter could have stemmed from […]

Erv Palica, a laconic Californian, was little more than a bit player during the 1947 season, but four years later he was at the epicenter of a midseason controversy that may have cost the Dodgers the 1951 pennant. Palica was born on February 9, 1928, in Lomita, California, a small town west of Long Beach. […]

In the 2007 postseason, the 96-66 American League Central Division champion Cleveland Indians faced the 94-68 wild-card New York Yankees in one AL Division Series, while the 96-66 AL East champion Boston Red Sox hosted the 94-68 AL West-winning Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the other.1 From their 13th game of the season, on […]

On the first Saturday of summer in 1986, Bo Jackson gave the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers a stiff-arm that would’ve made John Heisman proud. In a long-anticipated press conference held in Birmingham, Alabama, Jackson, the former Auburn University running back who six months earlier had won the trophy bearing Heisman’s name and iconic pose, rejected […]

In other seasons, the Opening Day faceoff between the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings on April 10, 1981, might have been one of the most dramatic and memorable games of the year for fans of both teams. On an unseasonably gorgeous afternoon in western New York, Pawtucket jumped out to leads of […]

On July 15, 1942, Washington Nationals1 manager Bucky Harris stuck by 22-year-old rookie right-hander Early Wynn for 11 innings, through 15 hits and 4 walks. Wynn rewarded Harris with a 4-3 win over the Detroit Tigers. Wynn first pitched for Washington in September 1939, making three late-season starts at age 19. He threw 20⅓ innings, […]

Stan Wasiak’s nearly five-decade bus ride in professional baseball reached its final stop on August 28, 1986. Wasiak, known as “the King of the Minors,” spent a record-setting 37 consecutive years as a minor-league manager in cities from Valdosta, Georgia, to Idaho Falls, Idaho, to Appleton, Wisconsin, to El Paso, Texas. Working at every level […]

The Minneapolis Millers produced a rich history in the American Association and in 1955 won their ninth pennant, tying them with the St. Paul Saints for the most first-place finishes since the league was formed in 1902. However, the Millers had only one appearance in the Junior World Series, the postseason matchup between the champions […]

As the Cubs occupied themselves with preparations for Game Four of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians, their fans were busy trying to convince themselves that the home team could overcome the previous night’s 1-0 loss — the second Cleveland shutout of the Series — that had put Chicago into a 2-1 Series deficit. […]

The Cleveland Naps of the American League struggled early in the 1911 season. The players were deeply saddened by the death of their ace pitcher, Addie Joss, in April. Manager Deacon McGuire resigned after the team won only six of its first 17 games. And Nap Lajoie, the star second baseman, for whom the team […]

On a cool 1960 September evening in Bloomington, Minnesota, one of the greatest rivalries in minor-league baseball came to an end. But nobody knew. When the St. Paul Saints visited Metropolitan Stadium to play the Minneapolis Millers on September 8, little did anyone know that it would be the last game ever between the two […]

Few multi-purpose stadiums in North American history can rival Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium for the number, variety and stature of events held there. Set in a vast fairgrounds complex on the shore of Lake Ontario, the municipal facility originally known as Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) Stadium served as the largest sports and entertainment venue in Canada’s […]