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“With the bases full Foley caught the sphere fair on the end of his ash and away it went over the left field fence for a home run.”1 This first-inning grand slam on May 25, 1882, by Buffalo Bisons outfielder Charles “Curry” Foley sparked a 20–1 rout over the rival Cleveland Blues. Along the way, […]

In one of his baseball abstracts, Bill James relates an amusing anecdote about the surname change of journeyman pitcher Pete Appleton. The right-hander spent the first six years of his major league career (1927-1933) pitching for various teams under his birth name: Peter William Jablonowski. He then drifted back to the minors. Three years later, […]

Skip and Pete. Two names forever etched in the history of the Atlanta Braves and in the history of baseball on television. Just the mention of their names brings back warm memories and a smile to many baseball fans, and not just those in Atlanta. Rarely is one of them ever mentioned without the other […]

In September 1927, the Cincinnati Reds brought up a 23-year old right-handed pitching prospect named Pete Jablonowski for a late-season look-see. Although he made a good first impression, going 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA and a shutout victory, Jablonowski struggled the following year in 31 games. In 1930-1931, however, he saw considerable service with the […]

Pete Gallagher, born in 1860 as Pete Galligan, played one game for the Washington Nationals in 1886, filling in because Jack Farrell was too sick to play. Pulled from the Chicago Whitings of the amateur Chicago City League, he made one hit and scored a run in five at bats that day, and never played […]

Southpaw pitcher Pete Dowling made his major-league debut with the Louisville Colonels on July 17, 1897, just two days after his 21st birthday, and two days before Honus Wagner played his first game with the Colonels. Louisville acquired the two in separate transactions, Dowling from Paducah, Kentucky, of the Central League for pitcher Jim Jones […]

Catcher Pete Daley played in seven major-league seasons, including five with the Red Sox backing up Sammy White. In 233 games behind the bat for Boston, his defensive skills earned him a fielding percentage of .996; in 1,005 total chances, he was charged with only four errors. Despite irregular playing time with Boston the 6-foot, […]

Reference sources correctly note that Peter Alexander Hoy was born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, on June 29, 1966. That’s where Brockville General Hospital is located, but the Hoy family lived in the nearby village of Cardinal, and that’s where Pete was raised. Described by the Whig-Standard of Kingston as “a sleepy rural town,” Cardinal is […]

The 1970 All-Star Game, at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, was tied at 4-4 with two out in the bottom of the 12th inning. For the National League, Pete Rose was on second base and Billy Grabarkewitz on first. When Jim Hickman lined pitcher Clyde Wright’s offering to center field, hometown hero Rose broke from second […]

During the Deadball Era, physical size was considered a huge asset for a catcher. A big man was thought to be better able to withstand the physical demands of the position and thus be more durable than a smaller man. The success of Detroit’s Charlie “Boss” Schmidt (5’11”, 200 pounds) was probably one of the […]

“Former Well-Known Hamilton Ball Player Died in Chicago” headed the modest notice in the Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator on March 19, 1923. 1 The obituary briefly refers to careers in both baseball and medicine. What is not mentioned: Peter Burke Wood was a talented, intelligent, loyal, strong-willed, and troubled individual who, despite an intermittently brief major […]

“Pete Kilduff, by dipping dust whenever Burleigh Grimes was to pitch a spitter in the 1920 Brooklyn-Cleveland (World Series), tipped off the Indians when a spitter was coming, and they let it pass and clouted his fast one, winning the series by beating the Brooklyn spitball ace, simply because they got onto a spitball sign.” […]

On the very last ball he fielded as a major-league ballplayer, Pete Smith initiated a triple play. It happened in the seventh inning of the Red Sox game against the visiting Los Angeles Angels on September 28, 1963. It was a Saturday afternoon game at Fenway Park. There weren’t many fans in attendance – official […]

A switch-hitter with speed and the patience to draw walks, Pete Stanicek appeared to be an ideal leadoff hitter when he debuted with the Baltimore Orioles. A succession of injuries limited the second baseman/outfielder to parts of two big league seasons (1987-1988), however, and he played his final professional game at 27. Peter Louis Stanicek […]

He “gripped a bat so tight that when you shook hands with him, you shook hands with a callus.”1  The quote epitomizes Pete Fox, who was remembered as a “winning ballplayer, diligent and deadly serious…”2 Fox rose from the sandlots of Evansville, Indiana, to play 13 seasons in the big leagues. A lifetime .298 hitter, […]

Pete Knisely’s story is a familiar one: a player who excelled in the minors, could knock a ball over fences and walls in left field,1 but failed to make an impact in the majors over four seasons from 1912 through 1915. Knisley was known as “Pickleburg Pete”2 or “Pickle Bird.”3 (The origins of these nicknames […]

To be an everyday player for nearly every year of a 13-year career with just one team, a player must be doing something right. For Pete “Pecky” Suder, a career .249 hitter, a dependable glove and versatility were the keys to that longevity. Playing only for the Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics from 1941-1955 (with 1944-45 spent […]

Pete Vuckovich was a menacing figure. He was big: 6-feet-4 and 220 pounds (or more). He glowered over a Fu Manchu mustache and often had a few days’ growth elsewhere to go with his long, unkempt hair. While pitching, he had “a streak of calculated weirdness.”1 Rasputin comparisons arose, and he encouraged them, applauding the […]

Pete Rose’s 24-season career, spent entirely in the National League, included 17 All-Star Game appearances and three batting titles. He won the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1963 and the Most Valuable Player Award in 1973. Rose played on three World Series champions and was the World Series MVP in 1975, when his […]

In the final scene of the Marvel movie Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve Rogers wakes up to find himself in a basic 1940s-style hospital room, with a white metal bed frame, a ceiling fan turning slowly above, and the sound of a baseball game wafting from a wooden console radio. As the camera holds a close-up […]

As many baseball fans know, Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman is the only player to die from an injury sustained during a major-league baseball game. But 27 years after Chapman was struck and killed by a pitch, a Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder came frighteningly close to becoming the second. Long before 1947, Pete Reiser had a […]

Gary Carter had been The Sporting News’ National League Rookie Player of the Year in 1975.1 He was the Montreal Expos’ sole representative at the 1975 All-Star Game and the recipient of the team’s Player-of-the-Year Award.2 But despite all of the accolades, Carter went into spring training in 1976 battling for playing time at catcher […]

If the Boston Red Sox taking the 1975 World Series opener from the Big Red Machine was surprising, 95-win Boston taking a two-games-to-none lead over the 108-win Cincinnati Reds would have been a complete shock to the baseball system. And for the better part of Sunday afternoon, October 12, it seemed that the Red Sox […]