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Three months removed from high school, hard-throwing right-hander Joe Coleman burst on the national scene by tossing a four-hit complete-game victory in his debut with the Washington Senators in 1965. Among the most durable pitchers of his day, Coleman averaged 15 wins and 252 innings over an eight-year span (1968-1975) for the Senators and Detroit […]

In the early 1990s, no major-league pitcher’s nickname fit better than Steve Avery’s — The Kid. Unfortunately for Steve and the teams he played with, the trials, tribulations, and disappointments that sometimes come with adulthood came much too fast. Steven Thomas Avery was born in Trenton, Michigan, on April 14, 1970 to Kenneth W. and […]

One of the most electrifying ballplayers of his generation secured his place in baseball history by following a simple rule: See the ball, hit the ball. Vladimir Guerrero was a force of nature. Watching Guerrero hit from the stands was one of the great pleasures a baseball fan can have on a beautiful summer day. […]

Ellie Rodriguez loved to catch. The catching position put him in the center of the action of a baseball game, from his sandlot days in the Bronx Federation League and a Spanish league in New York City to a nine-year major-league career with five teams. In 1969, Rodriguez was the Kansas City Royals’ only selection […]

During Hank Peters’ 12 seasons (1976-1987) as the Baltimore Orioles’ general manager, his teams won at least 90 games six times. Twice he was named The Sporting News’ Executive of the Year – following Baltimore’s 1979 American League pennant and 1983 World Series championship. But Peters accomplished much more over his 45 years in professional […]

Chuck LaMar once commented, “I’m a baseball guy and my heart lies with the people out in the field. … I was one of those and I started out in professional baseball as an area scout and I drove 50,000 miles a year away from the wife and those kiddos as much as anybody so […]

The first legitimate home run hitter in baseball history, Buck Freeman escaped the coal mines of Northeastern Pennsylvania to become one of the premier sluggers during the first decade of the American League. Freeman won seven home run titles during his professional career, and his astonishing 25 homers for the Washington Senators in 1899 shocked […]

On October 16, 1975, in the eighth inning of Game Five of the World Series, the Red Sox trailed the Reds 5-1. In the bottom of the eighth, Dick Pole walked Johnny Bench and Tony Perez. Diego Segui, one of Boston’s two Cuban pitchers, replaced Pole and inherited a tough situation: two men on, no […]

Franklin Walter Olin was born on January 9, 1860, in a backwoods logging camp in Woodford in the southernmost corner of the Green Mountains, near the Vermont-Massachusetts line. From that humble origin he went on to build a multi-million-dollar business that became the giant Olin Corporation, one of the largest in America’s military-industrial complex. En […]

Right-handed pitcher Roy Wilkinson reached the pinnacle of his modest baseball career in only his second major-league game. A capable seven-year minor-league veteran, Wilkinson had been acquired by the Chicago White Sox late in the 1919 pennant chase to provide some respite for a strained pitching corps. Given a September start against the Philadelphia A’s, […]

Rudy Regalado is one of few players—perhaps the only player—to have participated in the College World Series, Caribbean World Series, the Junior World Series, and the Major League World Series.  He was successful on the diamond on every level from high school to the major leagues.  In his career, he was in the company of […]

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” During his 18-year career in the Major Leagues, John Phalen “Stuffy” McInnis’ teams finished in first place six times, winning five World Series, and in last place four times. He started his career by becoming the youngest member of Connie Mack’s famed “$100,000 […]

A hard-throwing right-hander, Fred Beebe began and ended his major-league career in fine style. As a rookie in 1906, he posted 15 wins and led the National League in strikeouts. Ten years later, he provided excellent spot starter-relief work as a midseason Cleveland Indians call-up. In between, Beebe suffered from bouts of wildness, arm problems, […]

When Jerry Buchek was growing up on the south side of St. Louis, he and his father, John, made the trip to Sportsman’s Park a few times a year. They would usually sit in the outfield bleachers, and one day a couple of balls came their way. “Do you think you can hit a ball […]

A hitting star for more than a decade in the minor leagues, Joe Hicks batted over .380 twice and compiled a career batting average of .313 while playing in the White Sox, Senators, and Mets farm systems. Hicks’s major-league career was brief and a lot less successful (a .221 career average in 416 official at-bats), […]

During the summer of 1954 the Cleveland Indians visited New York to play a three-game series against the Yankees with both teams in contention for the American League pennant. The story of the second game wasn’t the Yankees’ 4-1 victory, or Eddie Lopat outdueling Mike Garcia, but the 12-year-old batboy in the Cleveland dugout, Mike […]

Irish Meusel was the starting left fielder on New York Giant teams that won four consecutive National League pennants from 1921 to 1924. He was one of the leading sluggers of the era, a clutch hitter known for his ability to drive in runs. In 1923 he struck out only 16 times while leading the […]

Every baseball player whose career has been eclipsed by a single bad play during a World Series – Bill Buckner, Mickey Owen, and Fred Snodgrass – benefits from the redeeming quality of infamy: They are remembered. And, in most cases, they have also secured a place in baseball history, a much smaller berth, for the […]

Cy Young is a name familiar to all but the most casual of baseball fans, well over 100 years after his pitching career ended. After all, he is the one the Cy Young Award is named after, the award given every year to the best pitcher in each league. Young also holds numerous baseball records, […]

Minnie Miñoso was coming home to Chicago after two seasons with the Cleveland Indians. On December 6, 1959, the White Sox reacquired the 34-year-old Miñoso in a multiplayer deal with the Indians.1 Miñoso had played left field for Chicago from 1951 through 1957 before being traded to Cleveland for Al Smith and Early Wynn. A […]

As the 1986 season dawned, the New York Mets occupied the doorstep of greatness. A potent collective of young talent and established stars, the 1984-85 Mets equaled the Tigers and Blue Jays for the major leagues’ most regular-season wins over those two seasons, but experienced the postseason as spectators in both years. The 1984 Mets […]