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Flamboyance, like flakiness, is in short supply in 21st-century major league baseball. José Lima, the Dominican who pitched for five teams in the majors from 1994 to 2006, was one of the last distinct “characters.” Zany and irrepressible, extreme and exasperating, Lima was a born showman who loved being the center of attention. He was […]

Robert Cannon came to love baseball as a boy growing up in Milwaukee. His father, Ray Cannon, represented several of the accused Black Sox in salary disputes and took Charles Comiskey to court in 1924 on behalf of Joe Jackson. Ray Cannon also fought on behalf of all the players as head of a short-lived […]

Many baseball fans know about the 1894 Philadelphia Phillies team that featured four outfielders who each batted over .400. In fact, if you look at the Phillies’ lineup on Baseball-Reference, all of the starting eight batted over .300 and the team led the league, hitting .350. The lowest average for a position player with over 100 at […]

Imagine being able to say you’d seen the big-league debuts of Ernie Banks, Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Bill Mazeroski1 – not to mention an All-Star Game, a no-hitter, a four-homer game, and a batter hitting for the cycle. Some baseball lovers spend a lifetime hoping to see those kinds of milestones. Bill […]

The third pitcher selected by the New York Mets in the 1961 National League expansion draft, French-Canadian Ray Daviault (pronounced dah-vee-yoh) debuted in New York’s inaugural home game, at the Polo Grounds. He walked the first batter he faced, then chased him home with a pair of wild pitches. After two eventful innings, Mets manager […]

How many big-leaguers since World War II have been born in England? How many have appeared on Topps “Rookie Stars” cards in three separate years? The answers (as of 2020): seven in each category.[1] Keith Lampard, who played 62 games for the Houston Astros in 1969-70, claimed both odd distinctions. Christopher Keith Lampard was born […]

At one end of the Red Sox dressing room stood a pitching master, a winner of 306 games and a future Hall of Famer with “flecks of gray in his hair,” wrote Bill Parrillo of the Providence Journal.1 His reputation preceded him. At the age of 41, Tom Seaver was in a Red Sox uniform […]

If one had to summarize Bill Madlock’s career in song, the best two numbers to choose would be Noël Coward’s “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” and Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing if You Ain’t Got That Swing.” The former because “Mad Dog” was his nickname, the latter because it took only one cut for […]

A shortstop by trade, Bob Bailor could also play the outfield quite well. In fact, he played every position but first base and catcher during his 11 big-league seasons. Bob Murphy, the late New York Mets radio announcer, said, “He’s not a heavy hitter, but he is a tough competitor.” Like Rex Hudler and Joe […]

As fast as he was on the bases and in the outfield, at times it seemed Ken Henderson couldn’t outrun an expectation first pinned on him at age 17. While it came with a big name, Henderson said the expectation was never one he sought. Instead, he often considered it unfair and unrealistic. But it […]

Once described by Baseball Digest as the “Rodney Dangerfield of baseball,” Cecil Cooper was a great player who didn’t get the respect he deserved.1 An introverted Texan, Cecil Cooper remained in the shadows for much of his 17-year playing career. The left-handed first baseman spent his major-league years with Boston and Milwaukee from 1971 to […]

To many who saw Al Luplow dive over the right-center field fence at Fenway Park on June 27, 1963 to glove a potential game-winning home run, it was the greatest catch they’d ever seen. An outfielder with the Cleveland Indians, Luplow was instinctively doing something he’d done as a Michigan State running back — launching […]

Don Dennis was a right-handed relief pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1965 and 1966. He was the winning pitcher in the inaugural game at Busch Stadium II. The sinkerballer appeared in 79 major-league games, compiling a 6-5 record with a 3.69 ERA. Donald Ray Dennis was born on March 3, 1942 in Uniontown, […]

With Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch blocking your path in one year, and Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby the next, your prospects of sticking in the major leagues are dim. Such was the conundrum facing rookie second baseman Elbert “Scottie” Slayback of the 1926 New York Giants. So, all he got was one day. September […]

In the early 1950s, the Boston Red Sox signed two left-handed pitchers named Bob Smith. They both batted right-handed and they both were about the same height and weight. Robert Gilchrist Smith was the first one signed, in 1948. He is the subject of a separate biography. In 1950 scout Chuck Koney of the Red […]

Rich Hill had bounced around professional baseball for 10 years before he arrived in Los Angeles in 2016. He began his major-league career as a starter with the Chicago Cubs, debuting in 2005 and compiling an 18-17 record in four seasons there. Over the next six years, he struggled with several injuries, never pitching more […]

After the 1973 season, Yankee Stadium underwent a $100 million renovation, forcing the Yankees to share Shea Stadium with the New York Mets in 1974 and 1975. Finally, on the unseasonably warm afternoon of April 15, 1976, the Yankees returned to the Bronx and their remodeled stadium, as a spirited crowd of 52,613 (the largest […]

The average high temperature in Los Angeles on October 24 is 76 degrees Fahrenheit.1 The weather for Game One of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium did not follow historical trends. Rather, the Los Angeles Dodgers hosted the Houston Astros with the thermometer reading 103 degrees at the 5:11 P.M. starting time, making for […]

The 2001 American League Division Series between the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners headed to Cleveland for Game Three tied one win apiece. The Indians won Game One, 5-0, behind Bartolo Colon’s eight shutout innings and a three-run fourth inning. The Mariners rebounded to take Game Two, highlighted by two two-run clouts in the first […]

Seven games back with 10 to play, the Pittsburgh Pirates had little hope of catching the Milwaukee Braves in the race for the 1958 National League flag as they hosted the Chicago Cubs for a doubleheader on September 14. Pittsburgh nonetheless earned a sweep, capped off by ace Bob Friend reaching a victory level no […]

“[Hideki Irabu] literally took on a nation to come here. He said, ‘I want New York,’” exclaimed New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner after his new pitcher’s successful debut in US major-league baseball.1 Indeed, the road to the Big Apple for the nine-year veteran megastar of Japan’s Pacific League was rocky; systematic restrictions inhibited Japanese […]

Early in the fall of 1887, Brooklyn Grays pitcher Will Terry married, breaking the heart of many a female admirer.1 Recently dubbed “Adonis” by the New York Tribune,2 the tall, slender 23-year-old was popular among men and women alike for his handsome looks, temperate manner and “gentlemanly … conduct on and off the field.”3 On […]

In 1946, for the first time in history, a major-league pennant race ended in a tie when the Brooklyn Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals ended the 154-game season with identical 96-58 records. National League rules specified a best-of-three playoff; the winner of a coin toss could choose to either open the series at home, which […]

The Cardinals entered the 2 P.M. doubleheader with the Brooklyn Robins far off the pace in the National League race. Winners of only 50 of their 118 games to this point in the season, the disappointing club was sixth in the National League, ahead of only the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Braves. The third-place Robins, […]