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During the eight-season existence of the major league American Association, no team posted a worse record than the 27-111-2 (.196) of the 1889 Louisville Colonels 1889.1 Joining this hapless club late in the campaign was journeyman minor league outfielder John Galligan, inserted into the lineup as a replacement for the suspended Pete Browning. The newcomer […]

In an era filled with pitching stars, many of them working for the Baltimore Orioles, it took Jim Palmer a few years to rise to the top of the heap. Once he did, he became the greatest pitcher in his league for a number of seasons, and one of the best pitchers who ever lived. […]

In 1970, Bill Melton became the first player in Chicago White Sox history to hit 30 or more home runs (33) in a season. One year later, he was the first Chisox player to lead the American League in homers (again with 33). In more than a half-century since then, only Dick Allen has accomplished […]

“If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases, and performed a miracle in the field every day, I’d still look you right in the eye and tell you that Willie was better. He could do the five things you have to do to be a superstar: hit, hit with power, run, throw and […]

Tom Veryzer got into 996 big-league games from 1973 through 1984, mainly as a shortstop. He didn’t provide much offense, hitting just .241 with 14 homers, but in those days, one could still hold down a starting job at short at the top level on the strength of sound fielding. Veryzer was solid enough to […]

A roly-poly right-hander with a corkscrew motion, Víctor Cruz pitched parts of five seasons for the Blue Jays, Indians, Pirates and Rangers between 1978 and 1983. In his native Dominican Republic, Cruz was known as “El Policía” (The Policeman) for his ability to impose order on opposing hitters. The side-arming reliever saved 37 games in […]

Ray Rippelmeyer pitched 39 1/3 innings in 18 games for the 1962 Washington Senators. Over 11 minor-league seasons, the right-hander compiled a .579 winning percentage with a record of 114 wins and 83 losses in 330 games. He also played winter ball in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. After his playing days, Rippelmeyer’s work […]

Eddie Basinski always conceded that he never looked much like a baseball player. He sported a slender frame and bottle-thick steel-rimmed classes, prompting many fans to view him as a Mr. Peepers in flannels and Brooklyn Dodgers president and general manager Branch Rickey to describe him as “the escaped divinity student.”1 “Inside, I had the […]

Jefferson City, Tennessee, is a small farm town at the western foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Clyde Wright was born there on February 20, 1941. During the 1940s and ’50s, when he was a boy, life in Jefferson City revolved around family, friends, chores, and school. For Clyde, family meant mom, dad, his five […]

For several years baseball was very, very good to Danny Tartabull. The game gave him honors and recognition, though not quite as much as he thought he deserved. Baseball paid him millions of dollars, enabling him to live a luxurious life style that most people could barely imagine. But it wasn’t enough. He was unable […]

Infielder Jeff Richardson played in the major leagues every other year from 1989 through 1993: in 53 games with the Cincinnati Reds from July 14, 1989, through the end of the season, and then brief stints with the Pittsburgh Pirates in May 1991 and the Boston Red Sox in April and May 1993. All told, […]

Born on October 17, 1859, in Hoagland, Ohio, a small town about 53 miles east of Cincinnati, William Ewing was the uncle of twentieth-century major league pitcher Bob Ewing and the older brother of major league pitcher John Ewing, with whom he formed a formidable battery for two years (1890-91) before John left the game […]

Three days before World War II ended, Philadelphia Phillies scout Fred Mathews convinced the mother of Stephen George Ridzik that she should let her 16-year-old son become a professional baseball player.1 Julia Ridzik agreed to sign the contract, provided that Steve finish his last two years of high school. Thus began a 22-year pitching career […]

When Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey died in 1976, he left his entire baseball empire in the care of his wife Jean. At first it appeared that she had no interest in taking his place. However, circumstances arising from internal jockeying by others to take over the ballclub led to her emergence as one […]

June 19, June 20, and July 3, 1928 – during a 15-day span, shortstop Freddie Moncewicz, fresh out of college, played out his entire major-league career with the Boston Red Sox on these three dates. He also played briefly in the minor leagues in 1929. Moncewicz may not have had a lengthy baseball career, but […]

Burgess Urquhart Whitehead was a solid contributor to the success of the Gas House Gang in 1934, appearing in 100 games while spelling Leo Durocher at shortstop, Pepper Martin at third base, and Frankie Frisch at second. In his first full year in the big leagues, Whitehead had 332 official at-bats and hit a solid […]

If the major leagues awarded an MVP for an entire postseason, rather than separate honors for the Championship Series and World Series, Joe Crede built one of the 2005 White Sox’ strongest cases. At the plate, he hit .289/.327/.622 with 4 homers and 11 RBIs, with one of those runs driven in coming at the […]

Pitcher Joe Slusarski rolled with a lot of punches in his career. The college star won medals with Team USA in the late 1980s and made Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list in 1990. Two years later, arm problems rooted in a freak accident left “Slu” a journeyman. From 1993 through 1999, he spent roughly […]

The Atlanta Braves jumped out to a three-games-to-one lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1992 National League Championship Series, outscoring the Pirates by 13 runs in the first four games. Pittsburgh’s bats came alive in Game Five and the Pirates won the next two games, outscoring the Braves by 15 runs, to tie the […]

Certain baseball players were seemingly born with a baseball bat in their hands. They could roll out of bed in the morning, step into the batter’s box, and spray line drives all over the ballpark. The names roll off the tongue: Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Tony Gwynn, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, Pete Rose, […]

The magic number was one. A Minnesota win or Baltimore loss would assure the 1965 Twins of the American League pennant. Baltimore was in no mood to cooperate. They had swept a doubleheader on Saturday night and they were looking for their seventh consecutive win as they took the field on Sunday, September 26, against […]

On July 4, 1911, the Detroit Tigers hosted the Chicago White Sox for two games. As Independence Day dawned, the first-place Tigers had a half-game lead over the Philadelphia Athletics, a team they once led by 9½ games. Detroit had raced to a 27-5 record by May 19, but had been just 19-17 since then, […]

On the morning of September 8, 1972, Red Sox fans woke up to a reality unthinkable just a month and a half before – the Old Towne Team was in first place in the American League East. On that auspicious Friday morning, Boston Globe writer Ray Fitzgerald summed up the turn of events when he […]

1986 Sportsco Living Legends baseball card featuring Harmon Killebrew, Al Kaline, Warren Spahn, and Hoyt Wilhelm (Trading Card Database)   “Give me an Old-Timers Classic over the All-Star Game any day,” wrote Tom Boswell in the Washington Post on the eve of the June 29, 1987, game. “I’m trying to remember the 1986 All-Star Game. […]