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It was a team effort. It took 21 Red Sox players to win the game but win it they did. This was win number 97 of the 2018 season, when Boston set a franchise record with 119 wins, 108 of them in the regular season, and won the World Series, their fourth world championship of […]

They called it the Chicago showdown. The Minnesota Twins, in first place in the American League since May 30, held a five-game lead over the Chicago White Sox, winners of 26 of 39 games leading up to a crucial two-game series between the two Midwestern contenders on September 8 and 9 at venerable Comiskey Park. […]

“I can’t be concerned with the fans,” Astros manager Art Howe said after a 1-0 victory in extra innings over the Cincinnati Reds. “I have to worry about [Darryl] Kile’s arm.”1 Howe had received an earful from the 10,869 in the Astrodome when public-address announcer J. Fred Duckett told them Kile had been lifted for […]

“[W]ith his great right arm in splendid order,” gushed the New York Sun, Amos Rusie “proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is still the best pitcher in America.”1 The praise came pouring in for the Hoosier Thunderbolt, making his first appearance on the mound for the New York Giants in more than […]

The year 1959 was one Ted Williams may have wished he could forget. He suffered a really bad crick in his neck during spring training in Arizona. It turned out to be a pinched nerve and he was in traction for three weeks.1 He didn’t get into a game until May 12, when he went […]

George Culver was feeling sick. “I had an upset stomach,” said the 25-year-old right-hander in his first season with the Cincinnati Reds. “I felt lousy, real weak and listless.”1 Not only bothered by nausea and a loss of appetite, the converted reliever suffered from a terribly ingrown toenail. I had to get a shot of […]

The Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves played Game Five of the 1993 National League Championship Series on October 11 in Atlanta after splitting the first four games. The favored Braves, who won 104 games during the regular season to secure their third consecutive NL West Division title, had outscored the Phillies 27-13 during those first […]

Prior to the start of Game Seven of the 1964 World Series, Cardinals starter Bob Gibson grudgingly obliged the press by posing for pictures with his mound opponent, the Yankees’ Mel Stottlemyre. By this time in the Series, Gibson was running on fumes; after his 10-inning, complete-game victory in Game Five, he had commented, “I […]

It was a delightful morning on April 4, 1994, when the Colorado Rockies and defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies began batting practice on Opening Day at Mile High Stadium in Denver. The temperature was near 70 degrees,1 but weather reports called for falling temperatures, with wind and snow developing before the end of the […]

On October 4, 1969, nearly 40,000 fans filed into Memorial Stadium in Baltimore for the first-ever American League Championship Series. Beginning in 1969 the American and National Leagues were separated into two divisions, East and West. At the end of the season, each division winner would square off in a best-of-five series to decide who […]

After Game One of the 1935 World Series, Detroit’s playing manager, Mickey Cochrane, shared, “You’ll go a long time until you see better pitching than that Warneke tossed at us this afternoon.”1 Cochrane knew of what he spoke firsthand, having gone 0-for-4 including three taps back to Lon Warneke. Warneke’s performance was outstanding; he shut […]

Discerning Beaneaters fans had a choice on Friday, May 19, 1893. Should they skip that afternoon’s game with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms because of the threatening weather or risk getting wet to see their heroes take on Ed Stein, the young season’s hottest pitcher? A 27-game winner the prior year, Stein, after dropping his first start, […]

Negro League historian James A. Riley wrote about Satchel Paige, “A mixture of fact and embellishment, Satchel’s stories are legion and form a rich array of often-repeated folklore.”1 There is truth in the assertion that a lot of myth-making has been involved in constructing Paige’s life story: however, as Riley also noted, “The stories are […]

Mark Leiter was a right-handed pitcher who appeared in 335 games over 11 major-league seasons between 1990 and 2001 (1990-1999, 2001). He started 149 games and appeared in relief 186 times. Leiter pitched for eight clubs: the New York Yankees (1990), Detroit Tigers (1991-1993), California Angels (1994), San Francisco Giants (1995-1996), Montreal Expos (1996), Philadelphia […]

Bob Scherbarth was a catcher for the Red Sox. He played in just one major-league game — and never did get the opportunity to bat. His “cup of coffee” came on April 23, 1950, in the first game of a doubleheader against the PhiladelpJoe McCarthyhia Athletics. “I went up there for a month,” he recounted […]

As a baseball coach at Army, Eric Tipton amassed a record of 234-201-5 during the years 1958 through 1977. Tipton, known in the big leagues as Duke or Blue Devil, debuted on June 9, 1939, for the Philadelphia Athletics, as an outfielder. He played in 501 games for Philadelphia and the Cincinnati Reds from 1939 […]

From the late 1970s through the early 1990s, few players were as feared with the bat or possessed the brashness of Jack Clark. Twice he powered teams to the World Series. Four times he played in the All-Star Game. His prowess at the plate moved his manager to call him “the greatest fastball hitter of […]

He was not the first man to be recognized as a threat to break Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a season, but Frank Howard was surely one of the first to draw such attention while still in the minor leagues, or even in college. This gentle, humble man would be no match […]

Connie McGeehan appeared in five major league games as a pitcher-outfielder, all shortly before his 21st birthday in the summer of 1903 with the Philadelphia Athletics. After returning to the minors to gain experience, he developed a terminal illness within two years and ultimately perished in what his local newspaper called “the most pathetic double […]

Taking on the writing of a biography of a man named John Smith seemed to be a daunting undertaking. It is perhaps still the prototypical generic male name in American society, though as the 2010 baseball season got underway the Boston Red Sox had two players named Ramon Ramirez on the 40-man roster and no […]

Veteran broadcaster Lanny Frattare was the “Voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates” for two generations of fans. He belongs to a special roster of long-serving Pirates on-air talent that includes Rosey Rowswell, Bob Prince, and the team’s current play-by-play man, Greg Brown.1 Frattare served the Bucs from 1976 to 2008. He never called a World Series […]

After a nine-year career in Japan, where he won an unprecedented seven consecutive batting titles, seven consecutive Gold Glove awards, and three consecutive MVP awards, Ichiro Suzuki became the first position player from Nippon Professional Baseball in the major leagues in 2001. Proving many doubters wrong, his stellar hitting continued in the U.S. against major-league […]

Manuel García Carranza was born in Manacas, Las Villas, Cuba on December 28, 1905. Little is known about his youth and family background, as is often the case with Cubans of bygone generations. García started playing weekend baseball games in his late teens for the Central Washington (Washington Sugar Mill). There, a promoter known today […]

The years have not been particularly kind to Altoona, Pennsylvania. When the Pennsylvania Railroad crumbled after World War II, Altoona crashed down right along with it. The smokestacks and hulking railroad shops are almost all gone now, replaced by the garish lights of the chain restaurants and strip malls that seem to stretch into infinity. […]