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Curtis Brown’s one game in the majors came on May 27, 1973. He played left field for the Montreal Expos at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, going 0-for-4 against Ron Bryant. Less than two weeks later, the 27-year-old was sent back to the minors, never to return. For reasons unknown, he just didn’t have any […]

“Ben was a fine hitter. He could have starred on any team in the major [leagues] except the Yankees. He wound up playing behind Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel in the Yankee outfield.” — Hall of Famer Joe Sewell[i] One wonders what might have become of a player like Benjamin Edwin Paschal had he actually […]

For Larry Colton, one night in June 1968 seemingly devastated everything he had worked for. Just a few weeks after making his big-league pitching debut with the Philadelphia Phillies, a bar fight led to Colton’s shoulder separation, ending his time in The Show. During his one outing at the top level, he allowed one run […]

When Bob Melvin was a 27-year-old big-leaguer, journalist Bill Glauber described him as “the strong, silent type, with gnarled hands and a no-nonsense manner that commands respect. He is part psychologist, and part intimidator. A good cop. And a bad cop. He is, of course, a catcher.”1 Following a playing career that spanned 10 seasons […]

Nicknamed “Moose” because of his 6-foot-5, 215-pound stature, Mike Marshall spent the bulk of his 11-year (1981-1991) major-league career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Batting and throwing right-handed, he was primarily a right fielder, but with a number of games at first base and in left as well. During his nine seasons with the Dodgers, […]

With his low sidearm/semi-submarine delivery, Jeff Innis provided an effective contrast in the New York Mets bullpen from 1987 through 1993. The righty was typical of his breed of pitcher. He had a good sinker and so kept the ball in the park, giving up just 22 home runs in 360 career innings pitched. He […]

Right-handed pitcher Cory Bailey was a 15th-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1991 at the age of 20. His lengthy career ran through 2008 and featured stints in both the American League and National League, as well as Japan’s Central League, Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League, and Venezuela’s winter league. In the […]

Brothers Harry and William Hinchman were Philadelphia natives who devoted their lives to baseball. Harry was the elder (born August 4, 1878) and played professionally for 19 seasons. He added 12 more seasons as a minor-league manager before he died at age 54. He made a lasting impression in every city (there were 14 of […]

Note: On Wednesday morning, April 23, 2014, Conrado Marrero passed away quietly in his native Havana, Cuba, marking the end to one of the most celebrated and tenacious baseball lives on record. The sad news comes less than two days before the seemingly ageless Cuban legend would have reached his 103rd birthday, extending a remarkable […]

When the hot and humid morning of Tuesday, July 11, 1972, dawned in Detroit, the Tigers found themselves hanging onto a slim one-game division lead over the reigning World Series champion Baltimore Orioles, who were in the midst of a five-game losing streak that had coughed up their hold on first place just a couple […]

On Friday, August 25, 1972, the New York Yankees began a 10-day, 12-game homestand. Early-season rainouts forced the Yankees to make up two games in doubleheaders, and a scheduled twin bill made it three doubleheaders in five late-August days.1 New York ended up playing 33 games in August. Twenty-five innings of baseball in the Sunday, […]

The Brooklyn Dodgers were driving toward another pennant in the summer of 1951, with Jackie Robinson leading the way. He had a .356 batting average and .453 on-base percentage on the morning of July 21. Brooklyn hosted the St. Louis Cardinals that afternoon at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers had moved into first place on May […]

Harmon Killebrew clouted 573 home runs in his 22-year big-league career, but few were more dramatic than his walk-off, two-run smash with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Minnesota Twins an exciting victory over the New York Yankees, 6-5, on Sunday, July 11, 1965, at Metropolitan Stadium. “The scene could have been […]

In 1925 the American League experienced a rebirth at shortstop with four ripe players taking their first stabs at a major-league career. Among them was 27-year-old, pint-sized Jackie Tavener of the Detroit Tigers, who had been once deemed too small to play in the majors but battled back up the ranks to become a fixture […]

The last Saturday in August of 1963 brought an afternoon match at the Met between the Minnesota Twins and the visiting Chicago White Sox. An announced crowd of 23,415 came out to the ballpark for this, the second of a three-game series. Minnesota, at 75-58, had won three in a row and six of its […]

Momentum in the 2020 World Series had swung back and forth through the first three games. Tampa Bay tied the Series in the second game but lost to the Dodgers in Game Three to fall behind again. Now they were looking to swing the pendulum back in their favor in the fourth game. Tampa was […]

On a warm Sunday August evening,1 the hot first-place Atlanta Braves (66-39) were visiting the last-place St. Louis Cardinals (42-63)2 in the final game of a three-game series that pitted two close friends as mound opponents. The strike-delayed start to the 1995 season meant that each team had played only 105 games to this point […]

Offensive firepower made the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds favorites to capture the first NL West crown in the inaugural season of division play in 1969. The heavy-hitting teams looked to profit from baseball’s decision to lower the height of the mound from 15 to 10 inches to increase scoring after the “Year of […]

The New York Mets and Kansas City Royals squared off for the fourth game of the 2015 World Series on October 31. Noah Syndergaard had fired up the Mets with his solid performance in Game Three. It was now Steve Matz’s turn to take the mound. This was a dream come true for the left-hander. […]

Washington Post columnist and author Thomas Boswell once wrote, “There are oceans of consolation, seas of restored appetite, in as humble a thing as a baseball season.”1 No truer were these words than when 45,274 Washington Nationals fans returned to Nationals Park for Opening Day 2013. Entering the 2018 season, only once had more fans […]

One day you will tell your grandchildren “of the glorious deeds of Homer Hank, the big Greenberg boy, of Machine Gunner Charlie Gehringer, of Fire Chief Rogell, the great hop expert, of Marvin Owen, the man with the magnetic mitts.” — Detroit Free Press, August 1, 1935   The Detroit Tigers won the 1934 American […]

Rube Foster of the Chicago American Giants, J.D. Howard, and C.I. Taylor of the Indianapolis ABCs (NOIRTECH / LARRY LESTER)   Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants had been arguably the best team in Negro baseball since 1911, but C.I. Taylor’s Indianapolis ABCs were poised to overtake them in 1916. The rivalry was intense as the […]

At a game on a pleasant afternoon at Eclipse Park in Louisville, the home fans saw five batting records set or tied. Remarkably, they were all set or tied by the same player. Even more remarkably, the record-setting player was a pitcher, Louisville’s Guy Hecker. The trail of statistics was not as well marked in […]