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Until Hugo came along in 1989, Hurricane Hazel (1954) was the strongest storm ever to strike the South Carolina coast. Thus it is fitting that a man from the Palmetto State should be the mighty storm’s namesake: right fielder Bob Hazle, who hit the National League with a bang late in the 1957 season. Although […]

Vada Edward Pinson, Jr., star center fielder for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1960s, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on August 11, 1938. When he was seven, his family moved to Oakland, California. His father found work as a stevedore at the Bay Area docks, while his mother did domestic work. In 1952, Pinson enrolled […]

Of all the many achievements that fill the Hall of Fame dossier of Walter Emmons Alston, perhaps the most impressive was the first, one that came with the final out of the seventh game of the 1955 World Series. That Brooklyn Dodger win in the final game of the season gave the city, and the […]

He was a bundle of contradictions, this imperfect man who pitched a perfect game. Don Larsen disdained training rules and had a mediocre major-league career; yet he pitched the greatest game in World Series history. He married out of a sense of duty; yet he refused to support his wife and baby daughter. He kept […]

There was never an Alex Grammas question on Family Feud. However, if Richard Dawson, the late and long-time host of the popular game show, were to have asked a hundred of his contemporaries how they remembered Grammas, the survey would invariably point to three answers: flawless fielding, excellence as a third-base coach, and his Hellenic […]

Jerry Moses aspired to become a major-league ballplayer, and declined football scholarships at Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities to pursue his dream. A 1970 American League All-Star, Jerry became the youngest Red Sox to hit a home run, at age 18 and 289 days, with a pinch-hit rocket off Jim “Mudcat” Grant on May 25, 1965. […]

If not for a spectacular catch by Hank Bauer in the ninth inning of the sixth and final game of the 1951 World Series, Sal Yvars might be remembered quite differently today. Yvars’ only appearance in a Series at first looked like the stuff of legend. He struck a ball deep into the outfield of […]

After his third year in organized baseball, 22-year-old right-handed pitcher Bill Burwell was drafted into the United States Army in 1917 and was assigned to the recently formed 89th Infantry Division, the “Rolling W,” and later deployed to Europe. During one of the last major offensives of the war, the Battle of Saint-Mihiel in northeastern […]

Left-hander Ted Bowsfield spent seven seasons in the big leagues, initially signing with the Red Sox but later becoming arguably the best pitcher in the first year of Los Angeles Angels baseball. He later became director of stadium operations and team travel for the Angels, then head of the Kingdome in Seattle. Bowsfield was born […]

At 6-feet-4, and close to 300 pounds, Jumbo Brown lived up to his name.1 Part of baseball’s first wave of relief pitchers, the massive righty saw action in 249 major-league games, starting just 23. He compiled a 33-31 won-lost record with 28 saves and a 4.07 ERA. The Rhode Island native played with many of […]

From the 1960s until his death in 1991, Bert Convy was a household name with an authentic nice-guy persona. But before that, he was a minor-league baseball player. It was not well known to the millions of people who knew him as an entertainer—game show host, actor, and, briefly, member of a 1950s rock group […]

Throughout his 12-year professional playing career, Walter John Hriniak (pronounced RIN-ee-ack) brought Gas House Gang-style intensity to the game. Typically wearing the filthiest uniform, he was dubbed “The Rat” for his tendency to “grovel around the dirt and grime and do anything to win a ballgame. ‘I don’t have the God-given ability of others, so […]

At age 17 he signed his first professional baseball contract. Several years later he helped the Cincinnati Reds win two National League pennants. For a while, Jim McGlothlin was one of the best pitchers in baseball. However, a series of injuries and a debilitating illness brought his career to a premature close. At the age […]

The stage was the fifth game of the World Series, on October 15, 1970. The Baltimore Orioles had taken a three games to one Series lead over the Cincinnati Reds. Brooks Robinson had already delivered a game-winning home run in the opener, robbed Tony Perez and Johnny Bench of base hits with a pair of […]

“Henry Aaron in the second inning walked and scored. He’s sittin’ on 714. Here’s the pitch by Downing. Swinging. There’s a drive into left-center field! That ball is gonna be … outta here! It’s gone! It’s 715! There’s a new home run champion of all time, and it’s Henry Aaron!”  — Atlanta Braves’ announcer Milo […]

In 1960, Tony Curry became the third man from the Bahamas to play big-league baseball. He followed his close friend André Rodgers (preceding them was Negro Leaguer Ormond Sampson). Curry got just one full season and bits of two others in the majors, but he joined Rodgers in inspiring many young Bahamians. Throughout his life, […]

In four seasons, right-hander Al Schroll pitched for four major-league ball clubs – the Red Sox and Twins in the American League and the Phillies and Cubs in the National League. He won a total of six games and lost nine. Schroll was lucky to be alive, not to mention making the major leagues; a […]

When Jeremy Hermida stepped up to the plate for his first at-bat in the major leagues on August 31, 2005, he wasn’t thinking about accomplishing something no one in baseball had done for more than a century. With the bases loaded and the game out of reach for the Florida Marlins, the 21-year-old rookie was […]

Brooklyn-born Mike Fiore was signed by the New York Mets on July 2, 1962, while he was still a 17-year-old student at Lafayette High School. He’d been the unanimous choice for all-city first baseman in the 1962 season, batting .476 with nine home runs. In three years of high school baseball, he had struck out […]

Pitcher Mike Nagy jumped from Class A to the Boston Red Sox in 1969 and became the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year. The 21-year-old righty was 12-2 with a 3.11 ERA. Yet he never recaptured that form, winning only eight more games in fractions of five more seasons in the majors. Nagy hung […]

The New York Yankees teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s under manager Ralph Houk struggled to find an identity after their long stretch of dominance in the American League ended in 1965. Following the departure of franchise legends, several young talents emerged in this period of transition. The Yankees looked to the future […]

Throughout the 20th century and to the present, numerous luminary figures have gained everlasting fame as members of the storied New York Yankee franchise. Starting with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the 1920s, icons like Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford became household names during their illustrious careers. Every decade produced […]

The 1890 Louisville Colonels – dubbed the “Cyclones” in newspapers in Louisville and other American Association cities1 – had already doubled their 1889 win total when the Syracuse Stars came to town for a three-game series on August 9. Baseball’s first-ever 100-game losers at 27-111-2 in 1889, a season that included the majors’ first players […]

Home fans at Forbes Field booed Roberto Clemente on the first Sunday of the 1969 season, the 15th of his legendary career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, following inflammatory local press coverage of a spring-training injury, three comeback-stalling double plays in two games, and an error in right field. Clemente acknowledged the crowd graciously, tipping his […]