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Pittsburgh manager Danny Murtaugh raised a few eyebrows when he chose Eddie O’Brien to start the first game of a doubleheader in Chicago on September 14, 1957. The Pirates had signed Eddie and his identical twin brother, Johnny, to large bonus contracts as infielders in 1953. After four years, which included 18 months of military […]

In the first of a two-game series with the division rival St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jim Rooker was given his first National League start by skipper Bill Virdon. The former Kansas City Royals hurler had made 23 appearances, all in relief, since joining the Pirates after an offseason trade for Gene Garber.1 The […]

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 […]

“When you win that kind, you’ve got to win the pennant. You appreciate that kind of game. The fellows really pulled me through today. It’s been a long time since I’ve won that kind of game.” — Vernon Law after the Pirates had scored three 10th-inning runs to come from behind and defeat the Giants 8-7.1 […]

Bob Gibson thought he was running out of time. At 35 years of age, the hard-throwing right-hander from Omaha had accomplished almost everything a pitcher could as the 1971 season commenced. The five-time 20-game winner twice tossed complete games to win Game Seven of the World Series (1964 and 1967), won the Cy Young Award […]

Heading into their 163rd game of 1998,1 the Toronto Blue Jays knew they weren’t going to the postseason, but players and fans alike were certain they would be there soon. A month earlier, the team was fourth in the American League East Division, just a game over .500 and trailing the Boston Red Sox by […]

As the Chicago White Sox took the field at Cleveland Stadium on the night of September 22, 1959, the city of Chicago was bracing for a celebration. A victory over the Cleveland Indians would clinch the American League pennant for the White Sox—the first AL crown for the Sox since 1919. That 1919 league championship […]

“But the first time Howard came to bat … he hit a ball that if it ever came down, would be one of the longest home runs in RFK Stadium. It did, and it was.” — Shirley Povich1   Nearly 50 years before Bryce Harper won the 2018 Home Run Derby2in front of the hometown fans […]

In Homer’s Iliad, Diomedes was one of the strongest Greek warriors. He was also the youngest — unlike his namesake, Dominican pitcher Diómedes Olivo. Olivo made his big-league debut with the 1960 Pirates at the age of 41. As of 2018, he was still the second-oldest “rookie” in major-league history, behind only Satchel Paige. Like […]

Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd starts his autobiography recalling back in 1964 when he was 5 years old, and his uncle Frank Boyd brought three civil-rights workers by the family home. Later that same year, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were discovered murdered. Dennis believes they were killed just after they left the Boyd […]

For about a half-hour, Alberto Callaspo was a hero in Oakland. But ultimately, through no fault of his own, Callaspo would become a footnote in baseball history. It was rather a shame for a player who had a solid 10-year career in the majors. The Kansas City Royals had already made the 2014 American League […]

Carlos Beltrán jump-started his Hall of Fame career in 1999 by winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award. He rose to national stardom in 2004, when he turned in one of the greatest postseason performances ever, batting .435 with eight home runs in 12 games. Possessing a rare combination of power and speed, Beltrán […]

Right-hander Bob Purkey learned the knuckleball from Branch Rickey and fashioned a 13-year big-league career with a smorgasbord of pitches plus excellent control. Robert Thomas Purkey was born in Pittsburgh on July 14, 1929. His father, Edward, was an insurance agent and his mother, Anna, a homemaker. The Purkeys had two other sons, Edward and […]

Despite 100-plus big-league victories, a half-dozen straight workhorse campaigns of 200-plus innings tossed, and a crucial role in a historic mid-’60s American League pennant drive, Pedro Ramos’s small degree of diamond immortality will likely always rest upon two individual pitches tossed in the midst of an erratic 15-season sojourn. Both fateful deliveries came while he […]

“Wish we had him. He is not colored.”1 Those were the words that Frank Bancroft, the Cincinnati Reds’ business manager, wrote to team president and National Commission Chairman Garry Herrmann in 1911 about Rafael Almeida. The Reds were in the midst of acquiring Almeida and fellow Cuban player Armando Marsans, and, as the first two […]

Right-hander Jack Meyer seemed destined to become a fan favorite when he debuted for the Phillies in 1955. Solidly built, blond, and handsome, the 23-year-old Philadelphia native possessed considerable pitching talent. Teammate Robin Roberts recalled years later that Meyer had “Nolan Ryan-type stuff with a sharp curveball to go with a blazing fastball.”1 Meyer enjoyed […]

“At 22 Cedeño is as good or better than Willie was at the same age. I don’t know whether he can keep this up for 20 years, and I’m not saying he will be better than Mays. No way anybody can be better than Mays. But I will say this kid has a chance to […]

Serial retirement has a long tradition in sports. Boxing has produced many serial retirees, aging fighters who swear each fight is their last until the promise of another big payday becomes too much to resist. In the 2000s, no NFL season was complete without the will-he-won’t-he drama surrounding Brett Favre’s retirement. But perhaps the king […]

He was a very good ballplayer. Certainly good enough that he posted some outstanding numbers during a long and distinguished minor-league career. Probably good enough that he could have had a substantial major-league life. But Carlos Bernier managed to play only one season in “The Show.” As Steve Treder wrote, “The baseball career of Carlos […]

Bob Ferguson, one of the most respected and influential baseball players of the 19th century, was the game’s first switch-hitter. He may not have done it regularly and, surprisingly, he didn’t do it for the reasons hitters do today; he didn’t switch-hit depending on whether the pitcher was right-handed or left-handed. (At the time, there […]

One of the most feared hitters of his generation, Lee May is one of only 11 major leaguers to have 100-RBI seasons for three different teams. He also had 11 consecutive seasons (1968-1978) of at least 20 home runs and 80 RBIs. In an 18-year major-league career, the “Big Bopper of Birmingham” played for the […]

George Crowe was Indiana’s first Mr. Basketball and became a “Big Daddy” to early black players in major league baseball. “Crowe was the most articulate and far-sighted Negro then in the majors,” Jackie Robinson wrote. “Young Negroes turned to him for advice.”1 Yet this splendid athlete and respected leader chose to spend one-third of his […]

Editor’s note: This article was selected as a winner of the 2014 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award.   The Montreal Expos played 36 seasons (1969-2004). For the last 28, their home was Olympic Stadium – a cavernous concrete edifice built for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. From the outset, “The Big O” was notorious: hailed as […]

SABR Bibliography Committee Research Guide No. 4:  Index to Baseball Stars, 1950-75 Editor’s note: This guide was first published by the SABR Bibliography Committee in 1986. To download the original in PDF form, click here. By Frank PhelpsDecember 1986 This popular annual series of collective biographies commenced with Baseball Stars of 1950, resumed after a […]