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On April 6, 1970, the Cincinnati Reds were a club transitioning from one era to another. By midseason the Reds would leave their longtime home at Crosley Field for the brand-new Riverfront Stadium. Without necessarily knowing it, the Reds stood on the brink of the most successful era in team history. Expectations were raised. Cincinnati […]

In 2011 the Cincinnati Enquirer published a list of the 100 greatest players in the 130-year history of the Cincinnati Reds.1 Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan topped the rankings, which were brimming with the names of renowned ballplayers. But coming in at number 62 was Curt Walker, a long-forgotten right fielder who spent […]

With two shortstops sidelined and their improbable run for the National League Central Division title in jeopardy, the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had spent 1997’s run-up trading off experienced players and shedding salary obligations, played against type by acquiring veteran Shawon Dunston from the Chicago Cubs at the August 31 postseason roster deadline. Dunston made an […]

After three consecutive seasons of finishing in second place in the National League, the 1921 New York Giants captured the pennant.1 The Giants began the season by splitting their first 12 games and then won 19 of 26 from April 30 to May 28. Further, they were victorious in 16 of 20 games played at […]

The 1952 World Series was the fourth straight for the New York Yankees and the third in six seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The teams had met in the last Game Seven, in 1947, with the Yankees winning—a familiar outcome. In 1952, New York was looking for its 15th world championship, the Dodgers, seemingly as […]

Pete Vuckovich’s consistency contributed to his American League Cy Young Award season in 1982. Teammate Gorman Thomas had a consistent remark for Vuckovich after each of his victories that season. After Vuckovich went the distance in the Brewers’ 4-3, 11-inning victory over the Boston Red Sox on September 20, Thomas uttered the same remark to […]

As play began on the final day of the 1971 regular season, the San Francisco Giants were clinging to a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. A once-comfortable 8½-game lead on September 5 had all but evaporated as the Giants lost 16 of their next 23 games. During that […]

Four thousand fans arrived at Maryland Park on Sunday, August 3, 1924, for a doubleheader between the hometown Baltimore Black Sox and the visiting Brooklyn Royal Giants. The Black Sox were in third place in the eight-team Eastern Colored League (ECL) with a 22-16 record, and the Royal Giants were in sixth place with an […]

Both starters worked into the ninth inning, and it seemed like a game the Red Sox didn’t want to let get away. Three times they had to take the lead, even in those first nine frames. And then they had to do it once again in the 12th, with one swing from their venerable left […]

Ted Williams bounded down the first-base line at Briggs Stadium like the kid he was. He clapped his hands twice as he neared the bag then bounded over it with a joyful skip as he made his way around the bases. Williams’s three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth had just […]

There was a feeling of goodwill in the air during America’s bicentennial year. When 1976 began, it was less than 18 months since President Richard Nixon’s resignation caused by the Watergate scandal and less than a year since the cessation of military involvement against North Vietnam. But the Bicentennial gave well-needed succor for a country […]

Game Three of the 1982 World Series was the first Series game in Milwaukee since 1958. It was the first World Series for the Milwaukee Brewers, who had entered the league in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, and the 13th World Series for their opponents, the St. Louis Cardinals. Milwaukee had a heavy-hitting lineup that […]

Typically stocked with ballplayers past their prime or otherwise below average, major-league expansion teams have had little prospect of participating in pennant races during their inaugural seasons. As a result, their fans celebrated lesser triumphs – like their first win, their first win at home, and their first walk-off win. The Kansas City Royals collected […]

Willie Mays had three hits, Ray Dandridge had four, and Hoyt Wilhelm threw seven shutout innings as the Minneapolis Millers defeated the Columbus Red Birds, 11-0, in the Millers’ home opener of the 1951 American Association season. Dubbed the “Black Mush Bowl,” the game was played in rain-soaked conditions in front of 6,477 fans.1 Included […]

When the Detroit Tigers took the field at Yankee Stadium on October 3, 1990, for the final game of the regular season, it didn’t feel like a momentous event. Only 13,380 fans were present on a Wednesday night to watch the home team finish the season in last place. The Tigers, who also had a […]

Sheriff Blake, was not really a sheriff, but rather a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher whose best days came during a six-year period for the Chicago Cubs, from 1925 to 1930, when he averaged 12 wins and 216 innings per season as a dependable starter and occasional reliever. After winning a career-high 17 games and tying for […]

Russ Nixon spent more than half a century in baseball. A catcher who played 12 years for the Red Sox, Indians, and Twins, he went on to coach and manage at levels from rookie ball to the major leagues, with five seasons as a big-league manager.     The son of farmers Thomas and Edith Nixon […]

During the 1890s southpaw Bert Inks pitched for six different major league clubs – but posted a winning record for only one of them. More than a century later, that performance prompted a 19 th century baseball scholar to declare, “Bert Inks exemplified the lengths to which teams often go to give a left-handed pitcher […]

In January 1983, NBC television debuted a new action series titled The A-Team. The show followed the exploits of a fictional group of former U.S. Army members with such colorful names as Face, Hannibal, and the brawling, straight-talking, ludicrously bejeweled B.A. Baracus, the fictional embodiment of the character’s actor, Mr. T. Within months of the […]

It’s perhaps difficult to blame Jim Steiner for “jumping” to the Mexican League for the 1946 season. Once there, unlike several other American ballplayers who made the move, Steiner stayed for a few seasons. Steiner began his pro career as a teenager and put in 11 seasons in minor-league ball (four times batting over .300) […]

One of the top two-sport athletes to come out of the Twin Cities, Bill Davis starred at the University of Minnesota in both baseball and basketball in the early 1960s. After graduation Davis began his professional baseball career by signing with the Cleveland Indians. Davis played parts of three seasons in the majors but could […]

From 1942 to 1944, when World War II deprived major-league baseball of many of its top players, Al Javery was considered by some to be among the better pitchers left playing in the United States. At the very least he was one of the better players on the mediocre Boston Braves of the time. But […]

On Saturday, August 20, 2016, the Bob Broeg St. Louis SABR Chapter hosted its second annual Research Conference at the Indian Trails Branch of the St. Louis County Library in St. Louis, Missouri. Four speakers presented a variety of subjects, hoping to capture the Jim Rygelski Research Award bestowed by the local chapter. The award […]