Search Results

Although he was a four-time All-Star with the Boston Braves and respected throughout baseball as an excellent defensive catcher and steady hitter, Phil Masi is best remembered for being part of one of the most controversial plays in World Series history. During the bottom of the eighth inning in Game One of the 1948 Series […]

J. Lee Richmond, major league baseball’s first full-time1 left-handed pitcher; is best known for pitching the first perfect game. He also accomplished a number of other noteworthy firsts during his six-year major league career. Because he played concurrently as an amateur and as a professional, the first rules were promulgated that banned a professional from […]

In January 1903 twenty-eight year old George Barclay “Win” Mercer had already played nine years in the major leagues, won 131 games, just been given his first managerial job, and was enormously popular with fans and players. He seemed to have the world in the palm of his hand. Yet, less than two weeks into […]

Super Scout: Thirty-five Years of Scouting was the name of Jim Russo’s 1992 memoir. The title was simple and apt. Russo worked full-time for the Baltimore Orioles franchise from 1951, when it was still the St. Louis Browns, until 1986. As the club rose to prominence in the ’60s, he gained acclaim as one of […]

“The biggest thrill was being able to step on the field,” Harry Danning said.1 His 10-year big-league career, all with the New York Giants, gave him plenty of thrills: three World Series, four All-Star Games, and a memorable nickname, “Harry the Horse.” Danning was the answer to the Giants’ prayer for a Jewish star, but […]

Taylor Phillips had an outstanding career in armed-services baseball, good seasons in the minor leagues, and a six-year major-league career highlighted by being part of the 1957 world champion Milwaukee Braves. William Taylor Phillips was born on June 18, 1933, in Atlanta, Georgia, to parents Amos and Jewell Phillips. He had a kidney disease as […]

Don Wilson’s early death in mysterious circumstances ended what might have turned into an exemplary pitching career. Born in Monroe, Louisiana, on February 12, 1945, Donald Edward Wilson moved with his family to Southern California and settled in Compton, a city just south of Los Angeles. He played in the local Little League and for […]

Fred Claire wasn’t a politician. However, like many politicians, the erstwhile executive vice president of the Los Angeles Dodgers said one thing when he was talking about Pedro Martínez in 1992, ended up doing the opposite, and regretted his action. “I won’t trade Pedro Martínez, I don’t care who they offer,” said Claire.1 Well, he […]

Benigno Ayala lives up to his given name, which means “kind” or “friendly.” Following a productive career as a role player, he has bestowed greater gifts on the baseball world, through his work with the Baseball Assistance Team (BAT). Quite a few of his fellow Puerto Rican pros have fallen on hard times since they […]

Garry Lewis Templeton was born on March 24, 1956, in Lockney, Texas, a small town in the state’s northern Panhandle. Templeton’s father, Spiavia, played in the Negro leagues, but Garry was not aware of his father’s history until he was 12 or 13. Spiavia was a backup infielder who played with Satchel Paige (who once […]

Stories about Art Quirk’s golden arm and Ivy League degree accompanied the left-handed pitcher on his rise to the major leagues. There were double-digit strikeout games and a no-hitter. Most newspaper profiles mentioned the rarified source of his college diploma. But the excitement of his 1962 debut was short-lived when he was bumped from the […]

John Gibbons has seen a lot of ups and down in his career. A highly touted prospect for the Mets who was expected to be their future catcher, but a lack of production and the acquisition of Gary Carter stood in the way. Gibbons became a major-league manager for the Toronto Blue Jays, but mediocre […]

The Mike Ivie story is so illogical it was once called the strangest in baseball history.1 A young catcher picked first in the 1970 MLB draft and hailed as “the next Johnny Bench” failed to realize his potential because he wouldn’t try. Consequently, neither Ivie nor anyone else would ever know whether he truly had […]

Leon Brown’s older brother Curtis was a one-game major-leaguer, appearing with the Montreal Expos in May 1973. Leon, who was also an outfielder, didn’t have a whole lot more time at the top level. He got into 64 games for the New York Mets in 1976. Yet both of the Brown brothers pursued their dream […]

Tom Monaghan has accomplished a great many things in his yet-unfinished life. The billionaire entrepreneur? Certainly. Successful businessman? Sure. Collector? Formerly, but not in any defining sense. Conservative Catholic leader? Definitely. Visionary? Maybe. Twenty-first century evangelist and savior of Western civilization? Possibly, if you talk to him. However you label the owner of the Detroit […]

Baseball was already a fixture on the Cuban scene by the early 1870s and it had arrived burdened with its own home-grown Cuban apostles and its own full-blown and home-spun creation myths. It is well documented that a pair of Havana-bred brothers named Guilló (often misspelled as Guillot) had returned from Mobile, Alabama’s Springhill College […]

“Yes, I knew him. He had huge hands with crooked fingers. He was a catcher, you know.” “Hell Yes, Babe was here. When? I don’t know, maybe on Ben Egan day? No! I don’t recall ever seeing him. No! I don’t know of anyone who did.” “Yes, I knew Ben. A great guy, everyone liked him. He […]

At the end of the 2019 baseball season, 25 former major-league baseball players who had seen military service in World War II survived. One of them was Massachusetts native George Edward Yankowski, who served in the United States Army and saw combat with General George S. Patton’s Third Army. At age 96, this ex-catcher said […]

“I was born in 1912 [sic] in Giddings, Texas, a little town between Austin and Houston. Rube Foster came from about twenty-five miles from my house, a little town right above me.” — Hilton Smith 1   Something must have been in the air as the state of Texas produced eight Negro League Hall of […]

As the Cubs occupied themselves with preparations for Game Four of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians, their fans were busy trying to convince themselves that the home team could overcome the previous night’s 1-0 loss — the second Cleveland shutout of the Series — that had put Chicago into a 2-1 Series deficit. […]

Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers were slumping as they prepared to wrap up the season series with the sixth-place Cincinnati Reds (64-79) in Flatbush. Skipper Chuck Dressen’s squad still possessed the best record (89-53) in the big leagues and held a comfortable three-game lead over the New York Giants in the pennant race, but […]

On October 27, 2008, the Philadelphia Phillies were on the verge of winning the second World Series championship in their history. With only their 1980 title since the club’s inception in 1883, another generation of fans was anxiously waiting for another title. Two wins at Citizens Bank Park had given the Phillies a commanding lead […]

As the Boston Red Sox journeyed to Baltimore for a three-game series beginning Monday, May 6, 2019, they were somewhat optimistic about their chances, having won six of their last seven games. They were also going to play an Orioles team that had lost 115 games in 2018. After winning the 2018 World Series, the […]

George Shuba of the Montreal Royals greets teammate Jackie Robinson at home plate on April 18, 1946. (Courtesy of Greg Gulas, Carrie Anderson, Mike Shuba)   Tears welled in Jackie Robinson’s eyes as he was hoisted onto the shoulders of adoring fans, their chants reverberating off the walls of Delorimier Stadium. It was a moment […]