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Ruggedly handsome with dark wavy hair, an engaging smile and a boyish grin, the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman was equally capable of leading the league in both home runs and pranks. General manager Branch Rickey suspiciously called him the instigator, to which James Anthony Collins remarked: “Rickey always accused me of being the […]

In 1945, The Sporting News reckoned Eddie Mayo as “an excellent example of the Salvation Army adage, ‘A man may be down, but he is never out.’”1 Acquired by the Detroit Tigers a year earlier after he had failed in several attempts to stick in the big leagues, the 34-year-old infielder helped pace the club […]

After a slow start for the first four weeks of the 1944 season, the Detroit Tigers jelled as a club, climbed into pennant contention, and finally fell one game short of winning the American League flag. In the end, the pitching of a tall recruit right-hander, James Ruffus Gentry, helped fuel Detroit’s pennant run. Speaking […]

Back in the Deadball Era, when sassafrass was the primary ingredient used to flavor root beer, just as ginger provided the flavoring for ginger ale, a baseball player who displayed “sassafrass” or “ginger” was a lively player who put forth extraordinary effort, sometimes compensating for a perceived lack of natural ability. Several players have been […]

When baseball fans think about the national pastime and Rhode Island during the Deadball Era, Napoleon Lajoie stands out as the premier sports personality from “Little Rhody.” However, Joseph Connolly, despite just a four-year major-league career (1913-1916), may have had a greater impact on the social, cultural, and baseball fabric of Rhode Island than any […]

Tom Monaghan has accomplished a great many things in his yet-unfinished life. The billionaire entrepreneur? Certainly. Successful businessman? Sure. Collector? Formerly, but not in any defining sense. Conservative Catholic leader? Definitely. Visionary? Maybe. Twenty-first century evangelist and savior of Western civilization? Possibly, if you talk to him. However you label the owner of the Detroit […]

Who was the fastest man ever to step on a major league diamond?  This question would surely provoke a heated debate among diehard baseball fans, with many names surfacing.  It is a safe assumption that Billy Stage’s name would not come up, yet he is almost certainly the only man to hold world records in […]

Six-foot-seven right-handed pitcher Rich Gale joined Tim Stoddard of Baltimore as the tallest players in the American League when he debuted with an excellent rookie season for the Kansas City Royals in 1978. For a team that would win a third straight division title, he earned 13 of his 14 victories by the first week […]

Robert Lee “Bob” Oliver played baseball with the Kansas City Royals in 1969, their inaugural season, getting his first real opportunity to show off his baseball skills at the age of 26. He toiled in the minor-league systems of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota from 1963 to 1968, receiving a cup of coffee with the […]

Khalil Greene’s performance in youth and collegiate ball was a showcase of abundant talent. The shortstop’s senior year at Clemson University in 2002 bespoke Hall of Fame ability. Less than two years later, Greene ascended to the majors. He had apparently begun to fully realize his huge promise at the top level in 2007. Yet […]

Not unlike the lead character in Winston Groom’s 1986 novel Forrest Gump, Raymond Floyd Sanders (through happy coincidence or, less likely, adroit planning) was able to build a reservoir of memories in baseball, both delightful and unfortunate, that other ballplayers with much longer careers could only envy. In fact, Sanders’ appearance in four World Series […]

Ron Hassey is the only catcher to have been behind the plate for two perfect games in the major leagues. Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Mike Piazza, Mickey Cochrane, Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, and Roy Campanella did not catch any. Buster Posey, Yogi Berra, and Iván Rodríguez have “only” one to their name. In fact, […]

Countless Illinois high-school basketball players knew Bob Freels as “Mr. Steps,” the hawkeyed referee who made sure no traveling penalty went uncalled.1 Freels apparently became so fond of the nickname that he carries it for eternity: It’s etched into his gravestone in his hometown of Mascoutah, Illinois, in the southern part of the state, about […]

Johnny Antonelli, somewhat unfairly, is remembered by the incidents he was part of, instead of as an individual who had an impressive pitching career. Labels abound and, of the memories attached to them, controversies. He was, in the minds of many, a “bonus baby” who never paid his dues in the minors. A player on […]

In groups of twos and threes at first and then, little by little, in larger groups, the fans rose and cheered for their hometown team. It spread throughout Fenway Park until virtually every one of the 35,000 fans had joined in the spontaneous standing ovation. The top of the ninth inning on October 12, 1967, […]

Baseball fans often hear of researchers uncovering records set by current and former players which sometimes lead to discussions about which records are most likely never to be broken. Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak, Cy Young’s career win total, and Cal Ripken’s consecutive games streak are often put up as examples of records that will stand […]

In March 1956, New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel watched in “amazement” as Rod Kanehl, the club’s versatile 22-year-old prospect, “scaled the fence in a do-or-die effort to catch” a home run ball during a meaningless practice game.1 The effort left a lasting impression on Casey that when the New York Mets hired the future […]

During Michael Cuddyer’s 15-year major league career, he was an All-Star in both leagues, helped lead the Mets to the World Series, won a batting championship for the Rockies, and was the longtime heart and soul of the Minnesota Twins. Marked for stardom at a young age, Cuddyer battled to establish himself in the big […]

“When I lost Frank I lost one of my best friends. Baseball lost one of its best managers. He was one of the best catchers we ever saw.” — Buck O’Neil1 Frank Duncan’s legendary Negro League career lasted 27 years and his unquenchable zest for life was etched across each and every one of them. […]

“If you pitch the second game, Newk, I’ll give you tomorrow off to go fishing.” – Brooklyn Dodgers manager Burt Shotton1   With less than four weeks remaining in the 1950 regular season, the Brooklyn Dodgers boarded the train bound for Philadelphia to open a four-game series with the National League’s first-place Phillies. The Dodgers […]

“It’s too hot for a sermon today. Go home, keep the commandments, and say a prayer for Gil Hodges. — Father Herbert Redmond1 Every baseball game has a story. This one has several. Sometimes the story just centers on the action and statistics generated inside the ballpark. This one stretches well beyond. And sometimes the […]

Baseball’s distinctive aspects – the most scheduled games of all team sports, greatest amenability to playing two games in one day, and highest likelihood of suspended games getting completed at a later date – have produced more than a few chronological oddities. On May 30, 1922, Max Flack and Cliff Heathcote swapped teams between games […]

South Side Park, later known as Schorling Park, located on 39th Street between Princeton and Wentworth Streets, hosted its first game on April 21, 1900. (THE INTER-OCEAN, APRIL 8, 1900)   The ballpark on 39th Street in Chicago between Princeton and Wentworth Streets had as many names as any ballpark in the era before corporate […]