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“A real man is Bill Tuttle – someone who will stand up and tell the truth.” – Joe Garagiola, 1998[1] Bill Tuttle was a capable journeyman outfielder who played during 11 seasons in the American League (1952; 1954-63). He had his best year at age 25, manning center field for the 1955 Detroit Tigers. He appeared […]

It may surprise you to learn that by 1960 just two players born in the Dominican Republic had played in the majors: Ozzie Virgil and Felipe Alou debuted in 1956 and 1958, respectively. In 1960 they were joined by Julian Javier in the season’s second month. On July 3, 1960, Rudy Hernández became the first […]

Roger Craig and “split-finger fastball” will forever be linked in baseball history. It was Craig’s work teaching first Jack Morris and then Mike Scott how to throw the pitch that gave the former right-handed pitcher lasting fame. “People think I invented that,” Craig said. “I did not. Bruce Sutter did. I just found a way […]

He accomplished what no other pitcher had done — came straight off the prep diamonds and hurled a major-league shutout. Fresh out of Chester (Pennsylvania) High, 18-year-old Lew Krausse strode to the mound on June 16, 1961, before the largest single-game crowd of the season up to that point in Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium to […]

Harry David Brecheen (pronounced Bruh-KEEN) was born on October 14, 1914, in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. He was the first of three children born to Texans Tom and Lucy (Tyree) Brecheen, who had settled in the small town near the Texas border when Oklahoma was still a territory. By the time Harry was 10, his family […]

Dwight Bernard took an unusual path to the major leagues. He played one year of high-school baseball, in which he pitched just a few games and won only one, then went to a tiny Baptist college that did not offer intercollegiate sports. He transferred to another small college that had a baseball team but to […]

Benny McCoy was the talk of every town in 1940 when the obscure rookie became baseball’s first big-money free agent. He failed to live up to the hype — who could? — and crumpled under the weight of great expectations. “Benny’s problem was too much attention,” Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Cy Peterman wrote.1 We’ll never know […]

After seeing Nomar Garciaparra play, Red Sox great Ted Williams called Boston’s general manager Dan Duquette and said, “That shortstop you brought up reminds me of a player, but I can’t figure out who.”1 Exuberant upon remembering, Williams called back. Without saying hello, he yelled, “DiMaggio! That’s who he reminds me of, DiMaggio! The build, […]

A journeyman outfielder during his 12 major-league seasons, Dave May was called by The Sporting News “a good man to have on a team.”1 The stocky 5-foot-10½, 186-pound left-handed hitter played in 1,252 games for Baltimore, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Texas, and Pittsburgh, posting a .251 average with 96 home runs and 422 runs batted in. Best […]

“They had a Tony Taylor Day in 1963 in Connie Mack Stadium, another in 1970 in Connie, and another Tony Taylor Day last year in Veterans Stadium,” said Antonio Nemesio Taylor Sánchez during spring training in 1976. “I must be doing something right. Right? There is this big love affair between the fans and Tony […]

No one chooses to become a professional widow, and Eleanor Gehrig derived little satisfaction in being called one. Yet few ballplayers’ wives maintained a level of such prominence so long after their husband’s death as they had when he was alive. Mrs. Lou Gehrig was married less than eight years; she was a widow for […]

While common wisdom dictates that baseball games are won with bats, balls, and gloves, Charlie Dressen believed until his dying breath that any game could be won with brains. Well, any game could be won with his brains. And it’s not hard to see why. Few field leaders had the percentages figured better than Dressen, […]

Chroniclers of the game have rarely been kind to Andrew Freedman, principal owner of the New York Giants from January 1895 to September 1902. According to one team historian, Freedman was “naturally arrogant (with) a bad temper at the end of a very short fuse.”1   In much the same vein, Bill James memorably described him […]

Michael Anthony Easler played 14 major-league seasons between 1973 and 1987. A left-handed hitter and right-handed thrower, Easler was nicknamed “The Hit Man” and “Line Drive” for his prowess at the plate. He was also sometimes referred to as Easy in reference to his last name, his graceful hitting stroke, and his quiet demeanor.1 The […]

Eddie Plank fidgeted. On every pitch, Plank went through a seemingly endless ritual: Get the sign from his catcher, fix his cap just so, readjust his shirt and sleeve, hitch up his pants, ask for a new ball, rub it up, stare at a base runner if there was one, look back at his catcher, […]

It’s unlikely that Pop Corkhill is discussed as an outfielder on par with Mays, Mantle, and Musial. Perhaps he should be. During his major-league career — from 1883 to 1892 — Corkhill placed in the top 10 for fielding percentage eight times; range factor seven times; assists five times; and putouts four times.1 For his […]

For a brief period in the early 1890s, Al Johnson was an influential, if not overly trustworthy, actor on the major league baseball scene. A wealthy young industrialist, he was the first and the most important of the money men attracted to the Players League cause. In the league’s formative days, Johnson recruited other capitalists […]

High and InsideThe Newsletter of the BioProject CommitteeSociety for American Baseball Research (SABR)May 2020 Past newsletters Editor: Andrea Long The BioProject on Social Media From the Directors Update on BioProject Submissions From the Editor Project Poobahs   Let’s be Sociable! ©Nabisco We’re not baked and savory, but we are every bit as appealing as a […]

Hoyt Wilhelm pitched in 1,070 games in his 21-season major-league career, a record at the time. Of those games, 1,069 were played in the United States. The knuckleballer’s only appearance in Canada occurred on June 17, 1970, a little more than a month before his 48th birthday, when his Atlanta Braves matched up against the […]

Big-league success didn’t last for Jim Hughes, but when he was hot, no one was hotter. The Minnesota Twins’ rookie pitcher won the American League Player of the Month award for May 1975, posting a 6-0 record and an 0.87 ERA in six games.1 He worked seven innings of shutout relief on May 4 to […]

Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie is often referred to as the American’s League’s first superstar, excelling both offensively and defensively. Cy Young, who knew Lajoie first as an opponent and later as a teammate, said of the career .338 hitter, “Lajoie was one of the most rugged hitters I ever faced. He’d take your leg […]

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League’s barnstorming tour of 1950 was not for the faint of heart. The Springfield Sallies and Chicago Colleens were scheduled to play 95 games in just 94 days, traveling by bus throughout the Eastern United States, with a brief foray into Québec.1 The road-weary players had kicked off their trek […]

New York Giants fans loved Willie Mays, the exciting young outfielder who could do it all. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   Willie Mays Sprinted deep into the Polo Grounds outfield to make his memorable over-the-shoulder catch of a Vic Wertz fly ball in Game One of the 1954 World Series. As soon as the ball settled into […]

“A baseball season’s never ended. You play ’em all over during the winter, awake or asleep. The only difference this winter is that they’ll be pleasant dreams instead of the nightmares I used to have at Boston and Brooklyn.” – Casey Stengel1   Before the story of the 1949 World Series could unfold, the drama […]