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Aside from his colorful name, Putsy Caballero is known for being one of the youngest position players to appear in the major leagues. Despite his limited number of major-league at-bats, he participated in more than his share of baseball history. After his retirement, his exploits came to the attention of younger fans thanks to a […]

From 1979 through 1984, Scott McGregor’s six-year winning percentage of .650 was the majors’ best.1 Characterized by his strong Christian faith and constant changing of speeds with his pitches, the lefty had great success over parts of 13 seasons (1976-1988) with the Baltimore Orioles. McGregor was an All-Star, a 20-game winner, and pitched clinching games […]

“What I have done after my baseball career and being able to help people with their lives — means more to me than all the things I did in baseball.” — Don Newcombe1   Don Newcombe was the third black pitcher to appear in a major-league game after Dan Bankhead and Satchel Paige. Playing at […]

Chico Walker once told Boston sportswriter Peter Gammons, “Getting to the big leagues wasn’t the problem. But staying in the big leagues was.”1 Walker epitomized the utility man in baseball. From his major-league debut in 1980 through 1993, he played for four different teams, in both leagues, over 11 seasons.2 Yet it took until 1991, […]

A strong keystone combination is considered essential for a good team. Before there was Whitaker and Trammell, before The Wizard and Tommy Herr, before Tinker and Evers (and Chance), there was Nicholson and Scheibeck. Who, you ask? In 1890, Parson Nicholson and Frank Scheibeck became just the third major league combo to start every game […]

August 27, 1968. Yankee Stadium. Bottom of the sixth. Angels 1, Yankees 0. Bases loaded, two out.  The crowd of 21,419 lets out a tremendous roar as Mickey Mantle is called upon to pinch hit. Although it was the last year of The Mick’s career, he’d already hit 16 homers and was still a threat […]

In 1934, at the height of the Great Depression, 17-year-old Phil Cavarretta helped support his family by playing professional baseball in the Chicago Cubs organization. At the end of his first and only season in the minor leagues, the Chicago native made his first start in the big leagues two months after his 18th birthday […]

During the 1970s and early ’80s, every announcer or writer had to dish the dirt on his story. He played major league baseball in summer, but Richie Hebner dug graves in winter. Beginning in the ninth grade, he continued digging throughout his 18-year major league career, even when free agency expanded his paychecks beyond 1976, […]

Tommy Thevenow earned a place in the record books for the home runs he didn’t hit. He never cleared the fences in 15 big league seasons. He hit three inside-the-park homers in 17 days in 1926 — two in September and one in the World Series — then didn’t manage another for his last 3,614 […]

Near the end of his long major-league career, Rudy May said, “I learned that it’s better to throw an 85 mile an hour fastball on the outside corner than it is to throw a 95 mile an hour fastball down the middle.” Asked when he discovered that, he replied, “When I couldn’t throw a 95 […]

To many who saw Al Luplow dive over the right-center field fence at Fenway Park on June 27, 1963 to glove a potential game-winning home run, it was the greatest catch they’d ever seen. An outfielder with the Cleveland Indians, Luplow was instinctively doing something he’d done as a Michigan State running back — launching […]

During a seven-year period from 1985 to 1991, Tom Browning was the most durable starting pitcher in major-league baseball. In a career that spanned 12 major-league seasons and just shy of 2,000 innings pitched, Browning was most notable for working the majority of his career as a sturdy, dependable starter who would take the ball […]

Ted Williams was becoming known as someone it might be better to walk than to let hit. He was enjoying a spectacular 1941 season, one that most dedicated fans know resulted in the last time a major-league player hit over .400 in a full season. After a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics on August 31, […]

The visiting Washington Nationals (17-29, 10½ games back of division-leading Atlanta) were stumbling through the defense of their World Series title as the abbreviated 2020 schedule entered its final quarter. Perhaps it was the dreaded World Series hangover, perhaps it was the lack of live fans in the stands, perhaps it was the players who […]

Stan Musial’s career was winding down. It was September of his final season, and his St. Louis Cardinals were making a late run toward the National League pennant, trailing the league-leading Los Angeles Dodgers by three games entering play on September 13, 1963. Just 16 days earlier, at the close of play on August 28, […]

Unlike Chicago, New York, or St. Louis, Boston never got to celebrate a one-city World Series or “Subway Series.” The American and National League teams representing the Hub of the Universe never managed to reach the World Series in the same year before the National League Braves left town prior to the 1953 season. Fans […]

In the first two contests of the 1970 World Series, Baltimore had come away with two one-run victories (4-3 and 6-5). The Orioles defense, particularly the stellar play of Brooks Robinson at third base, had made the headlines. In Game Three, that defense “continued to amaze, Brooks Robinson and Davey Johnson making sensational diving stabs […]

It was, without question, one of the wildest ninth innings in postseason history. The Brooklyn Dodgers, holding a 4-3 lead over the New York Yankees in Game Four of the 1941 World Series, were one strike away from evening the Series at two games apiece. Dodger reliever Hugh Casey, who had pitched scoreless ball since […]

Fans in Brooklyn lined up outside Ebbets Field for tickets to the World Series on Monday, October 4, 1920. For $1 or $2 they could get a ticket to see their hometown heroes the Dodgers, Brooklyns, Superbas, or Robins play in the World Series against the Cleveland Indians. It didn’t matter which nickname a fan […]

The once-struggling Cincinnati Reds were rested and ready1 on Friday, August 12, 1966, when they hosted the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates for the start of a three-game series at Crosley Field. The Reds had won six of their last seven games against the Pirates, but trailed eight games to seven in the season’s rivalry. As Pittsburgh […]

In the history of major-league baseball, 24 pitchers have won 300 or more games. At the top of the list is Cy Young with 511 wins, and tied at 300 wins are Lefty Grove and Early Wynn. The oldest pitcher to win his 300th game was Phil Niekro, when he was 46 years old. The […]

If you had mentioned the name Tony Mullane to his teammates and opponents during his baseball-playing days, many differing opinions of his actions might come to mind. For example, Mullane, who came to the United States with his family from Ireland in 1864, was handsome and is said to be one of the reasons that […]

Rising prospect Pie Traynor turned heads after winning the Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting third-base job out of spring training in 1922. He began building his legend almost immediately, exemplified by the two-run 10th-inning home run against the Boston Braves on May 15 at Forbes Field that transformed impending defeat into a 6-5 Pirates’ win and heralded […]

It had been a long night at the ballpark. You couldn’t blame any fans who wanted to take advantage of a lopsided score to head home early, especially those who had to go to work the next day. After all, the home team was down by five runs in the bottom of the ninth … […]