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Baseball on the radio is an important part of the lives of countless people. The radio play-by-play announcer serves as the narrator of the game. The personal connections developed between fans and their favorite announcers can last for decades. The radio talent becomes the “voice of baseball” and the inside, personal connection that fans have […]

“I can play this game,” said Lee Lacy confidently. “For hustle and determination, I won’t take a back seat to anyone.”1 An All-Star at three different infield positions in the minors, the right-handed-hitting Lacy broke in with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1972 and fashioned a 16-year big-league career spent primarily as a versatile utilityman […]

Which New York Yankees player had the highest batting average in 1964? Mickey Mantle hit .303 and Elston Howard .313 – but nobody topped Elvio Jiménez’s .333 mark. “Look it up,” he said.1 Despite batting .309 over 13 seasons in the minors, however, Jiménez appeared in just one major-league game, going 2-for-6. Following a 17-year […]

“He would come in and relieve Satchel, and when they put Johnson out there, we thought we’d have it easy then. And he would come in and throw harder than Satchel did! Just like jumpin’ from the frying pan into the fire.” – Warren Peace, Newark Eagles1   Connie Johnson made his White major-league debut […]

The American League’s 1954 Rookie of the Year, Bob Grim was the first New York Yankee pitcher since 1910 to win 20 games in his rookie season.1 In 1955 he developed elbow problems which lingered for the rest of his eight-year major-league career. Although he never duplicated his first year’s success, from 1955 through 1959 […]

In 1978 Cincinnati Reds’ manager Sparky Anderson, referring to the San Francisco Giants’ mound corps, said, “That’s the best pitching staff in baseball and Knepper is their best pitcher.”1 A year later, future Hall of Famer Willie McCovey echoed this sentiment when he compared his club’s rotation to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ fearsome staffs of […]

To experience the heart-pounding thrill of espionage, the horror of a plane falling from the sky, or the dread of government agents laying siege to your home, would by itself be enough for any person’s lifetime, let alone enduring all three – not to mention, all while engaged in the rigors of a major-league baseball […]

Juan Pizarro was a talented, durable Puerto Rican pitcher. The lefty pitched in all or part of 18 major-league seasons, starting as a rookie with the 1957 Milwaukee Braves. The Braves rushed him to the big club after one eye-opening season in Class A, yet their very deep pitching staff limited Pizarro’s opportunities. He did […]

Baseball fans love streaks. And though the number 8 is not as recognizable as 56 or 2,632, it is nonetheless a cherished part of the national pastime’s lore. After bouncing around the minor leagues for 11 seasons, 30-year-old Dale Long was the unlikely center of national media attention in 1956, his second full season with […]

Right-hander Claral Gillenwater spent most of the 1920s pitching in mid-level minor leagues without much sustained success. His brief major-league career was no different. Given a late-season tryout by the Chicago White Sox in 1923, Gillenwater lasted barely three weeks on the roster. But before he was released, Gillenwater managed a performance of true artistry: […]

Cincinnati was a veritable catcher factory in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Beginning with Buck Ewing, the region churned out long-time performers like Farmer Vaughn, Kid Baldwin, Mike Kahoe, Admiral Schlei, and Red Dooin, plus an equal number of short-term major leaguers. The surge peaked when the 1906 Philadelphia Phillies took three catchers from […]

Jacobs Field in Cleveland was the site for Major League Baseball’s 68th All-Star Game on July 8, 1997. A sold-out crowd of 44,916 turned out for the midsummer classic as it returned to the shores of Lake Erie for the first time since 1981. The host Indians ended the first half of the season on […]

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Darrell Porter leapt into the waiting arms of relief pitcher Bruce Sutter after the last out of the 1982 World Series. Fireworks lit up the sky above Busch Stadium. Fans roared with delight; many jumped onto the field and joined the celebration. Porter, voted the Series MVP, said afterward, “I didn’t […]

Howard Johnson was a solid major-league player for several years. He was probably best known for a combination of power and speed that made him the darling of fantasy baseball owners as that variant of the national pastime took off in the 1980s. He was a member of two World Series championship teams, the 1984 […]

Before he ever threw a pitch in the major leagues, Marino Pieretti had already experienced more challenges than most big-leaguers face in their entire career. A high school team reject, minor-league afterthought, serious injury survivor, and a risky contract holdout—his journey was anything but ordinary. How did a 5-foot-7, Italian-born pitcher, overlooked at every turn […]

Mike Paxton, a right-hander for the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians, pitched for parts of four seasons in the major leagues and never had a losing record. Like most pitchers in the 1970s, he began his career as a starter. Once in the majors, he split time as a starter (63) and reliever (36). […]

If one wished to find the spiritual reincarnation of prototypical renaissance man Leonardo Da Vinci within the all-time register of major league baseball players, they would do well to consider one William Grover Slayback. Slayback, who walked with the gods of baseball during the summer of 1972 while pitching for the Detroit Tigers, would most […]

“I certainly had no idea of ever being a pitcher. I had never pitched as a kid,” said 13-year big-league veteran Big Jim Hearn, who won 109 games for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Phillies from 1947 through 1959.1 A college basketball player, Hearn was signed by the Cardinals as a […]

 The switch-hitting José Vidro made three All-Star teams and batted over.300 for five straight seasons, 1999 through 2003. He remains the best second baseman in the truncated history of the Montreal Expos. Born on August 27, 1974, in Mayaguez, on Puerto Rico’s west coast, Vidro grew up about 15 miles away in Sabana Grande, where […]

Fred Warren Waters was born to Wyatt and Mattie Waters on February 2, 1927, in Benton, Mississippi, an unincorporated community in Yazoo County. One of 12 children, young Fred shared duties with his nine brothers (Wyatt, Wilton, Melvin, Jack, Louis, David, Herbert, Leslie, Luby) and two sisters (Fredene, Betty Ann), around the family farm located […]

A five-tool threat, Bobby Abreu combined power, speed, and plate discipline across 18 major-league seasons. He finished with over 2,400 hits, 400 stolen bases, and nearly 1,500 walks. (Jerry Coli / Dreamstime)   On August 3, 2019, the Philadelphia Phillies included on their Wall of Fame a Venezuelan who in the United States was known […]

East Field as pictured in 2021.   Over the course of a month and a half in March and April 1980, East Field in Glens Falls, New York, went from an unremarkable city-owned baseball field notable mainly for its swampiness to a showcase for some of the Chicago White Sox’ top prospects.1 It happened this […]

“It would be so easy to believe, had you not seen it, that there couldn’t possibly be, ever, such a game as this. Having seen it, you know you never had seen one like it before and that you never could forget it. Never as long as you live.” – Frank Graham1   Writing about […]

The 1950 All-Star Game returned to Comiskey Park for the first time since the inaugural game in 1933. A capacity crowd of 46,127 witnessed the most suspenseful All-Star Game to date as the National League prevailed, 4-3, on Red Schoendienst’s 14th-inning home run off Detroit’s Ted Gray to end the American League’s four-game winning streak. […]