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Clyde Beck was your prototypical good-field, no-hit utility infielder.  He was by no means a star in an era when players like Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx made headlines with their prodigious blasts. But he was the kind of player every team needs, someone who provided the bench depth and versatility that helped the 1929 […]

In addition to being a pretty good pitcher and the first German-born player in the major leagues, Charles Getzien had one of the better nicknames in nineteenth-century baseball: Pretzels or Pretzel Twirler. Before becoming a Boston Beaneater, Getzien gained prominence as a star for the Detroit Wolverines of the National League, winning a championship with […]

IN SEPTEMBER 1996, speedy 20-year-old outfielder Eugene Kingsale became the first man from the Caribbean island of Aruba to play in the major leagues. Since then, as of 2024, there have been five more. Starting in 1989, there have also been 17 big-leaguers from the neighboring island of Curaçao. That’s a lot of talent for […]

Clad in the uniform of his hometown team, Paul Molitor stood on third base after he collected the 3,000th hit of his major-league career. The first player ever to reach the milestone with a triple, Molitor enjoyed a number of memorable moments in a Minnesota Twins uniform through the final three seasons of his 21-year […]

José Luis Meléndez García was born on September 2, 1965, in Naguabo, a small town on the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. The municipality is famous for its empanadillas de chapín, a tasty fried turnover stuffed with cowfish. Blessed with a powerful right arm, Meléndez was destined to toil not as a fisherman, but rather […]

Chances are if one were to poll SABR members about the greatest left-hander in the history of the Dodgers franchise, the most frequent response would be, “Sandy Koufax.” But they would be incorrect. Without a doubt, the honor of greatest southpaw in organizational history belongs to Vincent E. Scully. Since the emergence of baseball broadcasts, […]

Baseball has had its share of memorable nicknames, particularly in a bygone era. The moniker ‘Cuddles’ bestowed on Clarence Marshall is certainly one of these. Marshall pitched for the New York Yankees and St. Louis Browns in parts of four seasons between 1946 to 1950. He was a tall righty with a lively fastball but […]

After Fred Thomas of the Boston Red Sox left for the Navy in July of 1918, third base was a tough position for manager Ed Barrow to fill. Catcher Wally Schang played there on occasion, but the hot corner was mostly played by a succession of career minor leaguers. All had strengths and weaknesses as […]

Despite winning three professional batting titles, outfielder Luis Mercedes played only 70 major-league games over parts of three seasons (1991-1993) for the Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco Giants. After retiring, he became a renowned hitting instructor in his native Dominican Republic. Luis Roberto Mercedes Santana was born on February 15, 1968, in San Pedro de […]

Two injuries defined Mort Flohr’s pitching career—one wildly exaggerated, the other all too real. Flohr, fresh out of Duke University and pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics, hit Babe Ruth on the wrist with his very first major-league pitch on June 8, 1934. Sportswriters inflated the event in later retellings: One account had the young left-hander […]

Tim Naehring played for the Boston Red Sox during portions of eight seasons — from 1990-97. He hit .282 overall, with 49 home runs and 250 RBIs. Known for his versatility, he played various infield positions before becoming the team’s regular third baseman in 1995. Unfortunately, his time in the major leagues was frequently interrupted […]

“He’s wild, his fast ball isn’t fast, his curve ball is just a wrinkle, he gives up a lot of walks, he weakens in the eighth or ninth inning, and we knock him out of the box —but we can’t beat him.  He must live right.”1 So exclaimed Chicago White Sox manager Jimmy Dykes after […]

With their A’s once again mired in the American League cellar, an above-season-average 10,268 fans nonetheless found their way to Philadelphia’s Shibe Park on the last day of the 1941 season.1 A Lefty Grove Day observance celebrating their once-dominating southpaw held a degree of interest as the old-timer returned with the Boston Red Sox. But […]

Ralph Kiner’s 301 home runs, the product of an unparalleled slugging spree in the late 1940s and early 1950s, ranked first in Pittsburgh Pirates franchise history when Willie Stargell made his big-league debut in 1962. Blossoming into a prodigious, consistent power threat over the next decade, Stargell overtook Kiner in 1973 with his 302nd career […]

Following a last-place finish by the Orioles in 1902, the city of Baltimore was left without a major-league franchise. The team packed up and relocated to New York, leaving disheartened Charm City fans rooting for a series of minor-league franchises for the next 50 years.1 The Boston Braves’ move to Milwaukee in 1953 began a […]

The Baltimore Orioles fell to fourth place in the six-team American League East Division on August 28, 1974, eight games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox. Loser of six of their last seven games, and 20 of their last 34, Baltimore had a record of 63-65. The Orioles had never been under .500 this late […]

Tom Lasorda is lucky Dodgers fans were willing to give him a second chance. Lasorda built a Hall of Fame career as manager of the Dodgers from 1976 to ’96, but his first stint with the franchise came as a minor leaguer in 1949. By the mid-’50s, he was a young pitcher trying to break […]

On July 8, 1952, it rained all morning in Philadelphia. It rained the previous night and more rain was predicted for the afternoon. It was not a day for baseball. Commissioner Ford Frick had a dilemma. The 1952 All-Star Game was scheduled for that day. Since the inaugural contest in 1933, no All-Star Game had […]

Hard-throwing Dazzy Vance was in agony. Brooklyn sportswriter Thomas W. Meany reported that Vance suffered from serious inflammation in his right shoulder caused by warming up too quickly six days earlier against the Pittsburgh Pirates.1 According to Robins beat reporter Thomas S. Rice, Vance’s right arm was “blue from the rupturing of a blood vessel,” […]

Despite the Seattle Mariners having made three playoff appearances in the previous six years, expectations for the team were tempered heading into the 2001 season. An aging roster, the oldest in the American League, had been stripped of three superstars in a tumultuous 2½-year span. First, a 1998 trade-deadline deal with the Houston Astros had […]

The 1974 season turned out to be magic for the Rochester Red Wings of the Triple-A International League. The Baltimore Orioles’ top farm club finished first in the IL’s North Division with the most wins in the league,1 then beat the Memphis Blues and Syracuse Chiefs to claim the league’s playoff title, the Governors’ Cup, […]

  After losing a tight 2-1 decision in Game One of the 1973 World Series, the New York Mets hoped to salvage a split of the first two games against the Athletics in front of 49,151 spectators on a Sunday afternoon in Oakland. The starters for Game Two, the Mets’ Jerry Koosman and the Athletics’ […]

Manny Mota is frequently considered to be the Montreal Expos’ first player.1 Although Mota was the initial player chosen by the Expos in the National League expansion draft in October 1968, he wasn’t the first player under contract with the fledgling organization. That honor went to pitcher Dave Hartman, who was drafted by Montreal in […]

Rinky-dink in a most charming way, Jarry Park — or Parc Jarry to Quebec’s French-speaking population — was home to the Montreal Expos from 1969 through 1976. The little ballpark seated just 28,456, and that was only after additions pumped it up from its amateur capacity of 3,000. Since the era of wooden stadiums ended, […]