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It was the top of the ninth inning with a runner on first and one out. The date was September 15, 1979, and the visiting Boston Red Sox had a comfortable 5-2 lead over the Baltimore Orioles. The batter hit a ground ball to the shortstop, but instead of turning two to end the inning, […]
On September 28, 1983, the Philadelphia Phillies were on the verge of clinching their fifth National League East Division title in eight seasons. That afternoon they were scheduled to play the rubber match of a three-game series at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs. A victory against their division rivals would secure the title, and […]
Weather forecasts predicted rain but when the sun rose on New York, there were clear skies as the Brooklyn Dodgers prepared to face off against the Yankees for the second time since 1941. The wind “played tricks with the pennants high above the roof” of Yankee Stadium and “sweaters and topcoats formed standard equipment for […]
For the first of its eventual 110 wins, the 1927 Yankees team braved overflowing crowds, raised its 1926 pennant, and saw the Bambino whiff twice before being removed for a pinch-hitter in an 8-3 Opening Day victory against the favored Philadelphia Athletics. “The weather was lovely, the peanuts and hot dogs were unusually tasty,” wrote […]
The Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates were heading in opposite directions on Memorial Day 1955. Entering the day, the National League-leading Dodgers claimed the majors’ best record at 30-10, six games ahead of the Chicago Cubs. The cellar-dwelling Pirates were tied with the Baltimore Orioles for the majors’ worst record at 13-29. The Dodgers opened […]
The Brooklyn Dodgers opened their 1955 season against the Pittsburgh Pirates on a chilly and drizzly weekday afternoon at Ebbets Field. One newspaper account reported, “The thermometer hung in the 40’s; the thin, cutting spray hung like a gray sheet over the field.”1 Brooklyn wanted to atone for the previous year’s second-place finish to their […]
“I knew I had a no-hitter after the first inning,” said Larry Dierker with an air of seriousness before breaking into a chuckle. “Walking back to the dugout, I wondered, ‘When was the last time I got through the first inning without giving up a hit?’”1 Dierker had come close to a no-hitter before. As […]
The Baltimore Orioles were flying high as June 1997 approached. The 34-15 Orioles carried the AL’s best record, and a 7½-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East Division, into a two-game weekend showdown against the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians. Baltimore opened the 1997 season with a four-game winning streak and maintained […]
Things looked bleak for the Chicago Cubs in the top of the ninth inning against the Cincinnati Reds on May 5, 1919. They had made two Keystone Kops plays and they were down 6-0 and had only four hits. Ironically, a third Keystone Kops play by the Cubs in the ninth actually helped them tie […]
When the New York Yankees won the first two games of the 1947 World Series, many fans started calling it the “worst World Series in history.”1 After Brooklyn beat the Yankees 9-8 in Game Three, Dodgers fans showed up at Ebbets Field hoping to see their team even the Series. History-minded Brooklyn fans might have […]
“It was a tough play I needed to make, and I didn’t make it” — Pete Harnisch 1 Somewhere around the fifth inning of a potential no-hitter, the whispers begin in the stands. Nobody uses the dreaded “no-hitter” term for fear of jinxing the pitcher. All anyone might say is that things are starting […]
“I was a damn effective pitcher. It pains me to be remembered for one unfortunate pitch — and, unfairly, a pitch surreptitiously signaled to the hitter — as opposed to a hurler who, for a number of years, had good stuff.” — Ralph Branca1 The young Brooklyn Dodgers fan raced home from school on […]
It was April 1964. The top five songs on the Billboard Hot 100 were by the Beatles. The Ford Mustang was introduced to consumers.1 The New York Yankees were the Kings of American League Baseball. A perennial power throughout the ’50s and beyond, the Yankees were the only American League champions thus far in the […]
Joe Wood’s reign as one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball history lasted a brief two seasons, but it left an indelible impression on those who witnessed his greatness first-hand. “Without a doubt,” Ty Cobb later recalled, “Joe Wood was one of the best pitchers I ever faced throughout my entire career.” In 1911 […]
Steve Garvey was the epitome of the Southern California cultural icon in baseball spikes. Photogenic, fan-friendly, and media accessible, he projected the image of an All-American success story and devoted family man. As a Los Angeles Dodger in 1974, he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award after starting the All-Star Game at first […]
Babe Ruth was not the first batter Paul Hopkins faced in his major league debut on September 29, 1927, at Yankee Stadium. Pitching for the Washington Senators, Hopkins did serve up Ruth’s 59th home run, which tied a record Ruth set in 1921. Ruth’s second blast of the game was a grand slam on a […]
“He was, in fact, the closest thing to a saint that I came across in baseball,” remembered Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson about his 1964 St. Louis Cardinals manager, Johnny Keane.1 Maintaining a quiet, patient demeanor, punctuated with occasional well-timed outbursts of Irish temper, Johnny drew on his 17-year minor league managerial experience to […]
Hitting for average and power and stealing bases with aplomb, the diminutive infielder was the star of the Castlemont High School baseball team in Oakland, California. Major-league scouts were well aware of the quality of play in the East Bay. Among alumni of Oakland schools were such recent luminaries as Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, and […]
John Henry Johnson — the lefty pitcher, not the Pro Football Hall of Famer or the baseball executive1 — pitched in eight big-league seasons from 1978 to 1987. He enjoyed his greatest success as a 21-year-old rookie. Primarily a starter in his early years, Johnson moved to the bullpen and was effective at times, though […]
On October 4, 1955, outfielder Edmundo Amorós helped “Next Year” arrive at last for the Brooklyn Dodgers. His racing catch off Yogi Berra near the left-field line at Yankee Stadium saved the Bums’ 2-0 lead in Game Seven of the World Series. Johnny Podres held on for the remaining three innings to bring Brooklyn its […]
Grant Johnson, baseball historian Gary Ashwill argues, “was the best everyday player in Black baseball from 1895 to 1909.”1 After slugging his way to a legend with a hometown Findlay, Ohio, club in 1894, “Home Run” Johnson’s career mapped the finest Black teams of the era. He starred at shortstop for the Page Fence Giants, […]
Willy Miranda epitomized the “good field, no hit” shortstop. He was a lot more than good in the field, though—Tom Lasorda, to name just one, thought the flashy little Cuban was the best he ever saw at short.1 Wielding the same battered, patched, and secretly doctored glove for nearly his entire pro career, Miranda was […]
In 1949 Bantam Books published Joe DiMaggio’s autobiography Lucky To Be a Yankee. It could be the title of Johnny Blanchard’s life story as well. “I was so lucky to have been a member of the best New York Yankee team ever,” Blanchard says, referring to the 1961 Bronx Bombers. “With any other organization, I […]
In 1973, Jason Miller’s angst-enabled play That Championship Season won both a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award. The drama, set in Scranton, Pennsylvania, focused on the 25th-anniversary reunion of the players and the coach of a high-school basketball team that won the state championship. Full of booze, brooding, bigotry, bitterness, betrayal, and bruised feelings, […]