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On December 6, 1960, the American League awarded Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., expansion franchises that would play in the league beginning in April 1961. With only four months to put a franchise together, Los Angeles owner Gene Autry first hired Bob Reynolds as team president and Fred Haney as general manager. When it came […]

After serving his country for three years during World War II, Chuck Diering played parts of nine seasons (1947-1956) for three major league teams. Regarded as a top-notch defender by his contemporaries, the lithe center fielder became the first player to earn team Most Valuable Oriole honors when big league baseball returned to Baltimore in […]

“One day you’re skipping school to watch the Giants play in the ’62 Series against the Yankees. … (Two years later), you’re pitching against Mickey Mantle.” — Wally Bunker1 The youngest athlete to garner Most Valuable Player consideration, in 1964 Wally Bunker tied the American League record for most wins by a rookie. Through 2015 […]

Although he became a star for the most famous team in baseball, for whom he helped win three pennants and a World Series, Jim Bouton’s most lasting contribution to the sport would come a few years later, after he lost his fastball and returned to the major leagues as a struggling knuckleballer for an expansion […]

Marvin Eugene Throneberry was born to be a Met. His very initials — MET — said so. As a member of the original 1962 New York Mets, Marv Throneberry’s colorful exploits (both good and bad) earned him the nickname “Marvelous Marv.” While remembered as much for his gaffes as his clutch performances, Throneberry carved out […]

“All (Bobby) Del Greco has to do is hit a little better, and he’ll be one of the greatest. There isn’t a better fielder anywhere.” 1 – Gene Mauch. Philadelphia Phillies manager (1960-68)   An outstanding center fielder, Bobby Del Greco’s inability to consistently hit big-league pitching (.229 lifetime) prevented him from playing more regularly in […]

The first thing one might note in glancing at the major-league baseball record of left-handed pitcher Tom Borland is that his career line was 0-4, with a 6.75 earned run average. Was it a burden he bore for the rest of his life? Regardless of anything else, he accomplished something that tens of millions only […]

Billy Hunter played shortstop with a flashy glove, great team spirit, and a zest for the game. The Brooklyn Dodgers thought he could someday succeed Pee Wee Reese. But as things turned out, they traded Hunter away before he reached the major leagues, and by the time Reese retired, Hunter was playing out the string. […]

One of the premier “bonus babies” of the 1950s, Frank Matt Baumann was born on July 1, 1933, in St. Louis, Missouri. He lived with his parents and younger sister, Rose Ann, on the north side of the city within walking distance of Sportsman’s Park, home field for both the Cardinals and the Browns. Frank’s […]

To the layman, the life of a professional baseball player is nothing but glitz and glamour. Large salaries, first-class travel and accommodations, and the adoration of millions are considered the norm for athletes who play at the highest levels. While that may be true for a Mike Trout or a Mickey Mantle, it is definitely […]

Outside MCU Park in Coney Island, there stands a statue of two baseball players. Both are famed Brooklyn Dodgers. Both are Hall of Famers whose legends transcend batting averages and fielding percentages. One is a white Kentuckian. The other is an African-American from California. They are Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson. The statue depicts […]

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 […]

Charles Augustus Nichols was born into a large family on September 14, 1869 in Madison, Wisconsin.  His father was a butcher there for many years and briefly served as an alderman.  For a few years before Charles was born, his half-brothers James and John were regulars for Madison’s Capital Citys club, which was connected to […]

Dick Stuart was fun – as long as you didn’t have to be on the field with him. He ran the bases head down and looking anywhere except at the third-base coach or the outfield or a teammate who might be able to tell him something, often sending his team out of the inning. As […]

Tony Lucadello was one of the best “ivory hunters” of all time — a scout with a keen eye for talent and street-smart in the way he watched and signed players. He was generally a quiet man, never drank or swore, and always dressed sharply in jacket, tie, and hat — a “gentlemen’s gentleman.”1 But […]

In 1955 Toledo, Ohio, suffered the double indignity of losing both its baseball team and its baseball park. The departure of the Toledo Sox and the fall of Swayne Field were unexpected, sudden, and brutally final, and the effects were long-lasting. As the 1955 baseball season drew to a close, no one in Toledo suspected […]

It was a Goliath vs. Goliath situation. On July 14, 1967, Eddie Mathews smacked the 500th home run of his career — a three-run shot off fellow future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal. The Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Mathews in 1978, Marichal five years later. Wearing a Houston Astros uniform after a storied 15-year […]

When fireworks launched on America’s 196th birthday, the nighttime celebration was an afterthought for Mets fans. Earlier in the day, Tom Seaver gave them another reason to rejoice when he took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the San Diego Padres; Leron Lee’s one-out, broken-bat single prevented the Mets ace from getting his first […]

There on the ball diamond in Arlington, Texas, was Teddy Ballgame himself — Ted Williams, dramatically symbolic of dreams having come true for thousands of North Texans. It was a Friday evening, April 21, 1972, when Frank Howard, “the Washington Monument,” as he was known in Washington before the franchise migration, and his Texas Rangers […]

During the 1926 American League season, there were a handful of instances where the capacity of Comiskey Park in Chicago was exceeded by the demands of the public, usually when the New York Yankees came to town.1 In these situations, the excess attendees were allowed onto the playing field and rather ineffectively roped off from […]

The year 1962 represented a solid start for Red Sox catcher Bob Tillman. He began his nine-year major-league career with a home run in his first at-bat. The following month, on June 26, Tillman caught a no-hitter thrown by Earl Wilson – a game in which Wilson himself provided the winning run with a third-inning […]

Time and time again over the decades, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have met in high-stakes, high-intensity games with a direct bearing on the American League pennant race. Their game played on Tuesday night, May 18, 1965, was not one of those epochal battles. Both teams were struggling, showing early signs of […]

It was a foregone conclusion that the Cleveland Indians were headed to the postseason for the first time since 1954 when they faced the New York Yankees on Wednesday evening, September 13, 1995, at Jacobs Field. The Indians owned the best record in baseball (88-39) and enjoyed a 24-game lead over the Kansas City Royals […]

This article appears in SABR’s “Go-Go to Glory: The 1959 Chicago White Sox” (2019), edited by Don Zminda.   On May 7, 2000, Dodgers announcer Vin Scully gave Fordham University’s 155th commencement speech. “Don’t let the winds blow away your dreams or your faith in God,” he said. “And remember, sometimes your wildest dreams come […]