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Thirteen years before Yankee Stadium opened, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Deacon Phillippe hit a second inning inside-the-park grand slam in Forbes Field during a 14-1 rout of the Brooklyn Superbas.1 Phillippe remained the only pitcher to achieve the feat until 55 years later, when right-hander Mel Stottlemyre lined Bill Monbouquette’s first pitch between Red Sox left […]

With 40,930 fans in attendance, it only took 2 hours and 40 minutes for the San Francisco Giants to crush the Montreal Expos, against the beautiful backdrop of the China Basin (McCovey Cove). Both teams boasted lineups that produced impressive accomplishments in future years. The Expos had Orlando Cabrera and Vladimir Guerrero.1 The Giants’ starting […]

It all boiled down to one game. The Boston unbelievables had once again come back from adversity, and in the process had defied all odds and logic. The preseason 100-1 long-shot Red Sox had swept the Minnesota Twins in the final weekend showdown and won the American League pennant. They came back from a three […]

Some baseball records may never be broken: Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, Rickey Henderson’s 1,406 career stolen bases, the career triples mark of 309 by Sam Crawford, Cal Ripken Jr.’s 2,632 straight games played, and Cy Young’s 511 career wins are frequently cited examples. Another record some considered unassailable was the consecutive scoreless innings mark […]

 Two weeks after the Cleveland Indians’ Larry Doby broke the America League’s color barrier on July 5, 1947, Kansas City Monarchs stars Hank Thompson and Willard Brown received a telegram from Bill DeWitt, general manager of the last-place St. Louis Browns. They were told to report to St. Louis for the following night’s game, making […]

The 1961 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Yankees moved to Cincinnati’s Crosley Field for a pivotal third game with the Series tied at a game apiece. The Reds, under temperamental manager Fred Hutchinson, had won the National League pennant by four games over the Los Angeles Dodgers.1 They were in […]

Richie Hebner entered the 1976 season without a contract. Given what the Pittsburgh Pirates wanted to pay him, it’s understandable. General Manager Joe L. Brown offered a 20 percent pay cut—the highest reduction allowed—after Hebner, who had broken into the majors playing in two games with the Pirates in 1968, refused to agree to an […]

The Los Angeles Dodgers entered Game One of the 1966 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles on October 5 as 8-to-5 favorites.1 They had swept the New York Yankees in 1963 and had defeated the Minnesota Twins in seven games the previous season, so it was understandable that the oddsmakers predicted a third title in […]

Three years before Willie Mays made perhaps the most famous catch in baseball history, he made a throw for the ages. Although Mays’s iconic over-the-shoulder catch of a long drive by Vic Wertz in Game One of the 1954 World Series is better known, the finest defensive play of his career might have been on […]

The 1880 Chicago White Stockings were unstoppable, winning 67 against only 17 losses. Their .798 winning percentage has never been equaled by another National League team.1 During that dominant season, no pitcher gave Chicago more trouble than Jim McCormick. A first-year captain of the Cleveland Blues,2 McCormick defeated the White Sox four times, including twice […]

“Cannon Ball Redding and others of days gone by had plenty of speed, but Frank Wickware, speed ball artist from Coffeyville, Kan., was recognized as the king until LeRoy (Satchel) Paige arrived on the scene with his fast ball.” — Chicago Defender, 19301   Frank Wickware was one of the premier Negro pitchers from 1910 […]

Fred Claire wasn’t a politician. However, like many politicians, the erstwhile executive vice president of the Los Angeles Dodgers said one thing when he was talking about Pedro Martínez in 1992, ended up doing the opposite, and regretted his action. “I won’t trade Pedro Martínez, I don’t care who they offer,” said Claire.1 Well, he […]

Bob Turley was a rich businessman who once won a Cy Young Award pitching for the Yankees. “Bullet Bob” was one of the hardest-throwing pitchers of the 1950s and one of the wildest of any generation. Turley’s business success far surpassed his baseball accomplishments. His top baseball salary was $35,000, but he earned millions in […]

Suter Sullivan was a standout player on what was arguably the worst ballclub in major league baseball history, the woefully inept 1899 Cleveland Spiders. After the Spiders lost their 100th game of the season, the New York Times wrote, “Sullivan seems to be out of place on such a poor team as the Clevelands. He […]

Cecil Duff was a fixture of the semiprofessional circuits of northeast Oregon before pitching three games for the Chicago White Sox in September of 1922. When his playing days were done, Duff returned to Oregon to work in the lumber mills, briefly managing a semipro team called the Loggers. With the ponderosa pine forests depleted […]

When manager John McGraw needed a clutch win for his New York Giants during their four-year run as National League champions (1921-1924), he often relied on ace southpaw Art Nehf, winner of 184 games for four teams in his 15-year career (1915-1929). Described as a “money pitcher” by sportswriter Frederick G. Lieb, Nehf won the […]

In a pitching career that lasted 10 years in professional baseball, and considerably longer in adult-league competition, all 22 of Dan Morogiello’s major league appearances came in 1983. The lefty was an unsung hero for the Baltimore Orioles team that won that season’s World Series. Daniel Joseph Morogiello was born on March 26, 1955, in […]

“I’m going to have a good year because I’m Al Oliver. I always have a good year. The question is how good.”1 That confident self-assessment came in 1978, a little over halfway through this slashing line-drive hitter’s long and successful career. In 18 seasons, the lefty-swinging first baseman-outfielder amassed 2,743 hits and posted a .303 […]

In a nine-year career spent with three teams, outfielder Tito Landrum never received more than 205 official at-bats in a season. Yet he earned two World Series rings and was a League Championship Series hero for both the 1983 Orioles and 1985 Cardinals. Terry Lee Landrum was born on October 25, 1954 in Joplin. Missouri. […]

Australian Chris Oxspring pitched in just five big-league ballgames in September 2005. However, he also performed in Nippon Professional Baseball, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), and the Australian Baseball League (ABL). In addition, the righty represented his homeland in international competition — most notably in the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the semifinal against Japan’s “Dream […]

Eleanor Callow was more than just the greatest power hitter in All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) history. On top of being the all-time leader in home runs and triples, Callow was perhaps the league’s best all-around position player. A speedy outfielder with a strong throwing arm, Callow ranks in the Top 10 in career […]

A severe sinus condition kept Tommy Holmes out of the service during World War II, but the chances are that if he had been drafted and sent into harm’s way, several hundred fans from one particular portion of Braves Field would have been willing to follow him into action. Holmes was among the most popular […]

Mark DeJohn was never a household name. As of 2015 he was monitoring minor-league practices for the St. Louis Cardinals. Though his title, field coordinator, was modest and his public profile was low, DeJohn fulfilled his two primary goals: “I just want to stay in the game and be a Cardinal.”1 DeJohn was a light-hitting, […]

The school system in Jackson, Michigan, discontinued the baseball program about the time Benny Frey reached high school. Undaunted, Benny learned to pitch on the sandlots and from his brothers. He played summer ball for a variety of teams in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio before being signed by the Toledo Mud Hens of the Double-A […]