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The Dominican Republic has often been called “The Land of Shortstops,” and not without reason. On September 24, 2005, for example, 14 different Dominicans played the position in the major leagues. Many of those players come from a particular city in the southeastern part of the country, San Pedro de Macoris, which also sent a pair of […]
An infielder, outfielder, pitcher, coach, manager, scout, farm director and baseball executive, Melvin Douglas Queen, had been all of them. He has the distinction of having entered the major leagues as an outfielder and finishing as a pitcher. The son of a former major leaguer, Mel was born on March 26, 1942, in Johnson City, […]
Once labeled the “lightest player in the major leagues,”1 Eddie “The Midget” Mensor (5-feet-6, 125 pounds) had over 2,600 professional career at-bats, yet he never hit a home run that landed over a fence. Nonetheless, the utility player drew the affection of Pittsburgh Pirates manager Fred Clarke and owner Barney Dreyfuss during the 1912-1914 National […]
Through dedicated and honorable achievement, baseball executive John Heydler rose to the position of National League president, and the league became known as “the Heydler circuit.” He retired in 1934 after 32 distinguished years of service in the league office. J.G. Taylor Spink of The Sporting News called him “a veritable Rock of Gibraltar” who […]
Once labeled the “lightest player in the major leagues,”1 Eddie “The Midget” Mensor (5-feet-6, 125 pounds) had over 2,600 professional career at-bats, yet he never hit a home run that landed over a fence. Nonetheless, the utility player drew the affection of Pittsburgh Pirates manager Fred Clarke and owner Barney Dreyfuss during the 1912-1914 National […]
Over his 22-year career, fleet-footed center fielder Bernard “Frenchy” Uhalt knocked out more than 3,000 hits and was elected to the Hall of Fame. His name might not be familiar to many baseball aficionados, though, since 21 of those seasons and all but 40 of his hits came in the minor leagues, and because he […]
Justin Fitzgerald was small. Had a bad arm. Even a bad leg. Even caught the Spanish Flu. Yet he managed to hit over .300 for close to a decade with the San Francisco Seals, winning acclaim as one of the fastest and most exciting players in the Pacific Coast League in the 1910s. He was […]
The Dodgers had another chance to stop the Yankees’ World Series winning streak at nine games. Brooklyn had blown a golden opportunity to at least tie New York in the top of the seventh but Pee Wee Reese ran into an out and Dixie Walker’s subsequent groundout ended the threat. Dodgers manager Leo Durocher was […]
The Hall of Fame second baseman is not the only significant figure in New York baseball history to have the name Joe Gordon. Decades before Flash was anchoring the infield of great World War II-era Yankees teams, an earlier Joe Gordon was helping to put the franchise on the map, serving as the first president […]
Never known for his hitting ability, catcher El Tappe played 145 games of major-league baseball over parts of six seasons with the Chicago Cubs. In addition, his suggestion in December 1960 to use a rotating system of instructors turned into owner Philip Wrigley’s decision to employ the College of Coaches in 1961 and 1962. Tappe […]
Alex Gaston was noted as the poor-hitting catcher who broke up his own brother’s no-hitter. It was on September 12, 1926, in the second game of a doubleheader in St. Louis. Milt Gaston was pitching for the Browns and brother Alex was playing for the Red Sox. Boston had won the first game, 11-3. Milt […]
Trying to throw a baseball as hard as you can from 60 feet, six inches and hitting a target 17 inches wide by approximately 24 inches high is hard enough as it is – but when that target is shrunk down to a height of less than three inches, it’s nearly impossible. That’s the task […]
During the period from 1991 through 1997, Chuck Knoblauch was the best second baseman in the American League, accumulating 38 Wins Above Replacement1 (WAR), significantly more than Hall of Famer and runner-up Roberto Alomar (31). Moreover, from 1995 through 1997, he was one of the top players in the AL regardless of position, tying another […]
If laughter is the best medicine, then Lou Costello should have won a Nobel Prize. Costello’s legacy of laughter rests on a body of work encompassing burlesque, Broadway, radio, films and television. Its anchor is a baseball comedy sketch derived from a burlesque staple — straight man explaining to a friend that words known primarily […]
Though he played ten years in the majors, when people look back at Ossie Vitt’s career, they tend to remember the player mutiny against him by the team called the “Cleveland Crybabies” when he was manager of the Indians in 1940. He managed the Indians from 1938 through 1940, and 18 seasons in the minor […]
In his prime in the 1940s, Walker Cooper was thought to be the best catcher in baseball and the game’s strongest man. At 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, he was an intimidating presence behind the plate and, in addition, possessed one of the strongest and most accurate arms in the National League. He was destructive at […]
When baseball made its return to the Olympic Games in 1984, the star of Team USA’s mound staff was John Hoover. That same year, he’d capped a glittering collegiate résumé: Hoover had shattered records, was named college baseball’s pitcher of the year, and became the Baltimore Orioles’ first-round draft pick. The right-hander possessed a wicked […]
When the Philadelphia Phillies arrived for spring training in March 1911, future Hall of Famer Grover Alexander was not the only highly touted pitching prospect in camp. Held in equal regard was George Chalmers, like Alexander a recent graduate of the Class B New York State League. The previous season, Chalmers, a strapping [6-feet-1, 190 […]
“I’m just a guy who worked hard to get into this position. Nobody recruited me out of high school. The Houston kids got all the publicity. If a scout came to town, we all figured he was from the marines. I had to go to a tryout camp to get a junior college scholarship. I […]
Moses Fleetwood “Fleet” Walker, an African-American, made his major-league debut with Toledo on May 1, 1884, in an American Association game. The contest was staged in Louisville, and not all Kentuckians and game participants appreciated having a black man playing with and against white men. Many let him know that he was not welcome to […]
Fittingly, pitcher Leroy Matlock was called “the Black Carl Hubbell” in press releases promoting a 1937 barnstorming tour.1 Hubbell, who entered the Hall of Fame in 1947, had completed a high-profile streak of 24 wins in a row earlier in 1937 for the pennant-winning New York Giants. Matlock, also a lefty, had 26 straight victories […]
Everyone has their proverbial fifteen minutes of fame. For Mickey Stanley they came during two weeks in the fall of 1968 when he was cast under the intense spotlight of the baseball world. The shift of a career outfielder to the unfamiliar position of shortstop during the 1968 World Series has been called one of […]
Daniel Staub? Who the hell is Daniel Staub? Nobody has ever heard of a ballplayer named Daniel Staub. But everyone has heard of Rusty Staub, and for the French and English fans of a brand-new ball club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he was known — and loved — as Le Grand Orange. Daniel Joseph “Rusty” […]
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the SABR Baseball Research Journal, Vol. 37, in 2008. When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 1918, it was their fifth triumph in the fifteen years of the modern classic. The club had the best player in baseball, outfielder-pitcher Babe Ruth, another top hitter […]