Search Results

As the 1986 season dawned, the New York Mets occupied the doorstep of greatness. A potent collective of young talent and established stars, the 1984-85 Mets equaled the Tigers and Blue Jays for the major leagues’ most regular-season wins over those two seasons, but experienced the postseason as spectators in both years. The 1984 Mets […]

Early on Sunday morning, May 2, 1954, a group of 37 people from Chillicothe, Missouri, boarded a chartered bus for the first leg of a round trip to Busch Stadium1 in St. Louis to see a doubleheader between the Cardinals and New York Giants. The Midwestern town’s depot agent, J.E. Brotherton, had arranged the excursion, […]

Perhaps more than 3,242 people would have shown up at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington on September 28, 1971, if they’d known that what was going to happen there wouldn’t occur again for more than 33 years. The Washington Senators, playing out the string before moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area the next season, […]

It had been 12 years since the Yankees participated in the postseason. In 1964 they lost a thrilling seven-game World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. Up to then they had won the American League pennant in 14 of 16 seasons beginning in 1949. Love the Yankees or hate them, it is unquestionably one of […]

The Washington Nationals (68-65) were coming off a big win the night before, having trounced Atlanta (54-80, 20½ games back of the Mets) by the score of 15-1. Although the Nationals were trailing the Mets by six games in the National League East, they hoped to gain ground in the standings before the Mets came […]

The Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves were two teams headed in opposite directions. Brooklyn, with 96 wins and the National League pennant already clinched, had a World Series date with the New York Yankees. On Saturday, September 27, 1952, Dodgers manager Charlie Dressen gave the ball to pitcher Joe Black as a final regular-season tune-up.1 […]

It was a perfect day for a perfect game. Under a clear blue sky 64,519 fans trooped into historic Yankee Stadium to witness a World Series contest between the two dominant teams of the era. The world champion Dodgers were facing the club that had won more World Series titles than any other two clubs […]

The fireworks arrived a few days before the Fourth of July. On Wednesday, July 2, 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers blasted the New York Giants, 11-3, in the first of a four-game series at Ebbets Field to gain sole possession of first place in the National League. The next day, the Giants exploded with five home […]

“Dressen first saw this boy in Boston in 1944 when a group of boys came to Braves Field for a tryout. Charlie liked him then and the club (Brooklyn) signed him.” – Brooklyn scout John “Red” Corriden, speaking about Clem Labine, October 2, 19511   He would ultimately become known as the man with the […]

Wait ’til Next Year! The phrase became a euphemism for a baseball season gone awry and nowhere did it receive greater play than in the 1940s and 1950s with the Brooklyn Dodgers and their long-suffering fans.1 The Dodgers had never won a World Series and in those two decades leading to the 1955 season, they […]

In December 2020, the Negro Leagues were recognized as major leagues. The Amaro family might thus have retroactively become the first to send three generations of players to the top level,1 ahead of the Boones, the Bells, the Hairstons, and the Colemans.2 Their worthy heritage started with their big Cuban patriarch, Santos Amaro, who had […]

When Bud Parmelee was pitching for Double-A Columbus in 1932, his good-luck charm was a blind boy, Charlie Medick. “He would root for me and pray for me when I pitched and I never lost a game there.” It worked: Parmelee went 14-1 for Columbus with a 2.80 ERA. Two years later, Parmelee was with […]

“I think I was put on this earth to be a coach.”1 “Have you ever had an itch you can’t scratch? Athletes have one for life, a ‘jock’s itch’ that a ton of Tinactin won’t cure.”2 So writes Tom House, former left-handed pitcher who, after he retired from baseball, went on to pursue graduate studies. […]

Right-hander Edwin Correa spent parts of three seasons (1985-1987) as a starting pitcher with the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers before suffering a career-ending shoulder injury. Only 19 when he earned his first victory, he was the majors’ youngest player for all but one of his big league appearances.1 Although he pitched some Friday […]

Former Army drillmaster Clyde Barfoot, a tall, husky, brown-haired and blue-eyed pitcher, relied on a “twisting fadeaway” called a “screw ball,” much like Christy Mathewson before and Carl Hubbell after him.1 His three seasons in the majors were sandwiched around his most successful professional campaign, winning 26 games in the Pacific Coast League in 1925 […]

Right-hander John Leister (pronounced Lister) worked in 10 major-league games for the Boston Red Sox: eight in 1987 and two in 1990. He’d been considered for a career in professional football — but baseball proved to be his calling. After his six-year pro career (1984-90) ended, he became a college coach. John William Leister was […]

A former New York City police commissioner thrust into the role of Philadelphia Phillies president, William F. Baker oversaw the franchise’s first National League pennant, followed soon after by 13 consecutive years of mediocrity as Baker traded away most of his best players and churned through managers. Doing so earned Baker the reputation of being […]

In a city fueled by flash, Wes Parker was anything but. A child of southern California privilege, Parker grew up in Brentwood with a private school education, material needs met, and natural athletic ability in several sports besides baseball. Money, though it bestowed abundant opportunity, did not generate airs, snobbery, or a feeling of entitlement […]

Mid-1880s outfielder Ed Glenn had various skills needed for an extended stay at the major league level. In the field, he was an exceptional defender, a ground-covering, sure-handed flycatcher with an excellent throwing arm. On the base paths, he was a fleet-footed, intelligent runner. And in the clubhouse, he was a positive presence, a quiet […]

Due to a single base-running blunder on September 23, 1908, Fred Merkle became known by such unflattering epithets as “Bonehead,” “Leather Skull,” and “Ivory Pate.” Those who knew the right-handed cleanup hitter, however, described him as a “gentleman and scholar” and “voracious reader”; in fact, teammate Chief Meyers called him “the smartest man on the […]

Coaker Triplett, a righty outfielder, was an outstanding hitter in the highest reaches of the minor leagues for many years. However, he was never able to fully transition that talent to the majors, even during the talent-depleted years of World War II. In six big-league seasons with the Cubs, Cardinals, and Phillies, his lifetime average […]

Throughout his 12-year major-league career, Ted Sizemore was known for his versatility and competitiveness, as well as for his love of baseball. When he was playing youth sports, some skeptics told him he was too short to be a major leaguer (sources would later claim he was either 5-feet-9”1 or 5-feet-10”; but in high school, […]

Hard-throwing Bill Caudill pitched in the majors from 1979 through 1987. The righty struck out a batter per inning at a time when that was much less common. “Caudill doesn’t have much finesse,” said The Scouting Report annual for 1983, the year after he emerged as a closer with the Seattle Mariners. “He throws a […]

Herbie Moran, a late-season acquisition in the Boston Braves’ pennant drive in 1914, acquired for his speed and outfield defense, was one of the heroes of the Braves’ unexpected Series sweep: The winning run in Game Three scored when his bunt with runners on first and second in the 12th inning was fumbled by Philadelphia […]