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When 41-year-old Steve Carlton faced the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 27, 1986, the Philadelphia Phillies’ left-hander led all active major-league pitchers with 315 career wins and ranked second only to Nolan Ryan in all-time strikeouts – but an early-season 7.25 ERA reflected struggles uncharacteristic of his Hall of Fame career. Carlton’s bid to regain normalcy […]

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 […]

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 […]

No one knew it was the Athletics’ last home opener in Philadelphia, though if you looked closely you could see the writing on the peeling walls of recently rechristened Connie Mack Stadium. But Opening Day 1954 felt less like the end of an era and more like the beginning of one. The uniforms were new, […]

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 […]

Nothing in the early spring of 1951 gave any clue that this would be the New York Giants’ season of miracles. The year when the Giants overtook the Dodgers in baseball’s most dramatic pennant race saw the New Yorkers drop 12 of their first 14 games, and by the end of April they were in […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Of the Cincinnati Reds’ 18 extra-inning games in 1969, none was more dramatic than the extraordinary comeback win they accomplished on July 19. The Houston Astros appeared to have the game in hand with a 9-0 lead after their at-bat in the top of the sixth inning. But the Reds bounced back and tied the […]

It was a “Veeck” of a ballgame for the St. Louis Browns and their 1,115 managers in the stands at Sportsman’s Park on August 24, 1951, in yet another amazing stunt pulled by the Browns’ legendary owner Bill Veeck Jr. Since winning the American League pennant in 1944 and finishing third in 1945, the only […]

The Houston Astros (originally the Colt .45s) had begun play in 1962, and the Astrodome had opened in 1965, but the team had endured a long wait for its first postseason appearance. In 1980 the Astros survived a one-game playoff with the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the NL West division with a 93-70 record. […]

His first time up on August 20, 1960, in the final season of his 19-year career with the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams drew a walk. It was career base on balls number 2,000.1 Only one player had ever walked more – Babe Ruth, who’d earned 2,062 walks.2 Ted got walk number 2,000 in his […]

One of baseball’s eternal debates is naming the hardest-throwing pitcher of all time. A dark horse in the field is Harry “The Flame Thrower” Fanok. Harry appeared in just 16 big-league games for St. Louis in 1963-64 — but his fastball branded the memories of those who saw him. Just ask Joe Morgan. The former […]

The leadoff men of the 1960s were known mainly for slapping singles and stealing bases. Into this game stepped Don Buford, a versatile switch-hitter with speed and a little power, and also the ability to draw walks and get on base. He had some success for a few years with the White Sox, but it […]

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) […]

Dick Kelley was a major-league pitcher for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves from 1964 to 1968, and the San Diego Padres in 1969 and 1971. A nearly 6-foot-tall left-hander, Kelley pitched 520 innings in the major leagues, finishing with a record of 18-30 and an ERA of 3.39 that was just above league average. He […]

They called him “Dirty Jack,” but John Joseph “Jack” Doyle never quite understood why. The name was given to him in recognition of his aggressive style of play and of his insistence that the base paths belonged to the runner. “I was a hard base runner,” he later recalled. “You had to be in those […]

“And in no field of American endeavor is invention more rampant than in baseball, whose whole history is a lie from beginning to end. … The game’s epic feats and revered figures … all of it is bunk, tossed up with a wink and a nudge.” — John Thorn, Baseball in the Garden of Eden […]

Gerald “Gee” Walker was one of the most popular players in Detroit Tigers history, even though he often drove his managers crazy with his risk-averse approach to baserunning. Walker also played for the Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, and Cincinnati Reds in a major-league career that went from 1931 to 1945. Walker was […]

Nick Young’s baseball career illustrated important aspects of the game’s early development. He was a cricketer who took up baseball during Civil War service; afterward he joined a club of amateurs that grew increasingly competitive and came to include paid players. This evolved into helping organize the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, which […]

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 […]