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Some major league players are blessed with good fortune. Their talents are discovered early, they remain relatively healthy throughout their careers, and they always seem to be in the right place at the right time. Bob Ramazzotti was not one of those guys. His career began late, was interrupted by war, and was stifled by […]

Pitching isn’t just about throwing hard. It’s about contrast and ball movement, and Enrique Romo kept hitters off stride and guessing. He had a broad repertoire, featuring a screwball, which he delivered from various arm angles while constantly changing speeds. “He’s the kind of pitcher you don’t want to face even once in a game,” […]

It simply should not have taken six years for Gary Carter to get into the Hall of Fame. He was one of the best catchers of his era, and many observers put him in the top ten in major-league history. He was an outstanding defender with a strong arm who did all the other things […]

“I don’t think there’s any play in baseball that excites more than someone really making a long home run. It’s one of the two best feelings a man can have.” – Sam Horn1   The beauty of his lefty swing had scouts swooning, epitomizing lethal power. At 6-feet-5, 215 pounds2, he seemed to tower over […]

Editor’s note: This article was selected as a winner of the 2012 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award.   In the early 1880s prosperous tobacco merchant John B. Day re-established the national pastime in New York – operating teams in both major-league circuits with great success. In 1884 Day’s New York Metropolitans were American Association pennant winners […]

Irving Melrose “Cy the Second”/“Young Cy” Young was born on July 21, 1877, and raised in Colum­bia Falls, Washington County, Maine, in the state’s “Downeast” area. His father, William Wallace Young (1844-1911), worked as a farmer at the time of the 1880 census, and he and his wife, (the former Syldania French), raised six children […]

Over four seasons with a Chicago Cubs club that finished no better than fourth and was once dead last, Tony Kaufmann was a reliable starter and occasional reliever. During that stretch, 1923-1926, the righthander had a 52-41 record with a 3.68 ERA. But it was a turbulent 1927 season that shaped the rest of his […]

Tom Ferrick was a baseball lifer. The right-hander won Game Three of the 1950 World Series, pitching in relief for the Yankees, a high point of a playing career in the majors that spanned 12 years. He served three years in the Navy in World War II and pitched for five teams from 1941 to […]

During Welcome Back, Kotter’s run as a popular television sitcom, one of the “Sweathogs” – Robert Hegyes’ fictional Epstein character – routinely identified himself as a “Puerto Rican Jew” to comedic effect. Less than a decade after the show aired its final episode in 1979, a real-life Dominican Jew commenced his nine-season (1988-1991, 1993-1997) big-league […]

Lou Piniella was a key member of the expansion franchise Kansas City Royals. Piniella earned the nicknamed “Sweet Lou” because of his sweet swing and (facetiously) his temper tantrums. As a member of the Yankees of the 1970s, Piniella was never the best player on a team of superstars, but he was always a fan […]

In high school he starred in four sports, and drew the most plaudits for his exploits in basketball and football. He received a football scholarship from a prominent university, but Gordy Coleman deserted the gridiron to pursue a career in professional baseball. A successful career it was, with nine seasons in the major leagues, most […]

“Not all veteran fans remember him. Credit it to the fact that he was simply too good at what he did, which was use his voice with the range and subtlety of a concert violinist,” wrote TV Guide of Ray Scott. “CBS’s National Football League coverage didn’t make a move to any big game without […]

Almost. That’s Larry Jackson’s career in a word. He almost led his junior college football team to an undefeated season. In baseball’s major leagues, he won almost 200 games, almost pitched a perfect game, and almost won a Cy Young Award. Jackson was one of the National League’s top pitchers for almost a decade. His […]

Baseball is a sport with a deep history. While there are many famous names, a vast multitude of players have fallen into obscurity. These are the names found in old box scores, defunct team rosters, and newspapers long out of print. One of those names found deep in the archives is Henry Easterday or “Harry […]

Star player, manager, general manager, league president—only one man in baseball history has followed a career path like this one. Joe Cronin, one of the greatest shortstops in the game’s history, spent 50 years in the baseball without being fired or taking a year off. Every job was a promotion, and he came within a […]

After six seasons in the minor leagues, Charlie Metro stepped to the plate at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis wearing for the first time in a regular-season game the uniform of the Detroit Tigers. It was May 4, 1943, a Tuesday afternoon as America approached its 18th month at war. The next day, the radio […]

During a five-season career (1963-1967) spent mostly with the Washington Senators, right-hander Buster Narum tossed shutouts at Yankee Stadium and White Sox Park, and he struck out six future Hall of Famers.1 But Narum, owner of a .059 career batting average, is perhaps better remembered for homering in his first major-league at-bat. He was just […]

This article was published in the June 2015 issue of the SABR Black Sox Scandal Research Committee newsletter.   On September 28, 1920, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Hartley Replogle announced, “We are going after the gamblers now. There will be indictments in a few days against men in Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and other […]

St. Louis third baseman Tommy Glaviano was having a solid start to the 1950 baseball season. Slotted in as the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter, he was hitting .342 with an on-base percentage of .464. He’d made four errors in his 20 games at the hot corner, but no one could have foreseen the disastrous defensive inning […]

“We’re just like everyone else. When good things are happening, sad things happen as well.” – Joe Torre, October 27, 19991 “Making good on your moves does make you seem smart. Getting help from everyone makes you even smarter.” – Writer Shaun Powell describing Joe Torre and his cast of heroes after the 1999 World […]

For years, the major-league baseball season began in mid-April. The leagues expanded to a 162-game schedule beginning in 1961, but it wasn’t until 1984 that the Boston Red Sox started the season before April 5. They opened that year on April 2 in Anaheim against the California Angels. You win some; you lose some. So […]

Well after midnight, as July 21 turned to July 22, Mike Napoli’s solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning allowed those remaining from the Sunday night crowd of 38,138 who had packed Fenway Park to head home after seeing the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees, 8-7. […]

The World Series headed into a seventh game for the third year in a row. Brooklyn’s come-from-behind victory in the sixth game gave Dodgers fans hope that this might be their year. The team had never won the championship in three previous appearances. The last time they appeared in the postseason classic, the Dodgers lost […]

Emerging as one of the American League’s top young pitching talents in his first full major-league season, 20-year-old Boston Red Sox left-hander George Herman “Babe” Ruth matched up against one of the greatest pitchers in baseball, Walter “The Big Train” Johnson of the Washington Senators, for the first time in August 1915. Ruth, who had […]