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Steve Garvey played on 10 All-Star teams for the Dodgers and Padres and holds the National League record for playing in 1,207 consecutive games. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   The Los Angeles Dodgers, returning to the postseason after an eight-year absence, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates twice on the road to open the 1974 National League Championship Series. […]

Duke Snider, the Duke of Flatbush, had a phenomenal stretch, blasting at least 40 home runs in five straight seasons (1953-1957) while batting .311 with a .407 on-base percentage and a .618 slugging percentage, yet did not win an MVP award. (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive)   Sportswriters expected another duel between the starting pitchers, but Duke […]

Jeff Bagwell was a dominant player in the National League for most of his 15-year career. Eight seasons he drove in more than 100 runs. Nine times he hit 31 or more home runs and scored over 100 runs. In 1994 he was unanimously selected as the Most Valuable Player. Despite these and other accomplishments, […]

When radio came along in the 1920s, it brought sports, including baseball, directly into people’s homes. Radio also created a new type of sports reporting: now, fans could not only read about the game in their favorite print publications but also listen to play-by-play announcers telling the story of the game in real time. In […]

The 1969 Miracle New York Mets will always have a special place in baseball lore. Not only are the Amazin’ Mets remembered for their stunning upset over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles, but also in the way in which they won, with some of most remarkable defense and pitching ever displayed in World Series history. […]

When Bowie Kuhn was named the fifth Commissioner of Baseball in early 1969, he was touted by owners as the man needed to modernize and strengthen the game of baseball, which was declining in popularity as pro football’s increased. It was a time, Daniel Okrent noted, when professional baseball was fighting for survival.1 Kuhn, a […]

His nickname says it all: The Human Rain Delay. In the years before seemingly every big-league ballplayer stepped out of the box after every pitch to go through a routine of incessant equipment adjusting, Mike Hargrove was an anomaly and drove pitchers, managers, fans, and even broadcasters mad. “With machine-like precision,” wrote Bob Sudyk, “Hargrove […]

A five-tool threat, Bobby Abreu combined power, speed, and plate discipline across 18 major-league seasons. He finished with over 2,400 hits, 400 stolen bases, and nearly 1,500 walks. (Jerry Coli / Dreamstime)   On August 3, 2019, the Philadelphia Phillies included on their Wall of Fame a Venezuelan who in the United States was known […]

“Mystique” is a word often linked with Sandy Koufax. He was dubbed “The Left Arm of God” for his pitching feats – especially over the five years from 1962 to 1966. A long litany of statistics attests to his brilliance during this period, but perhaps the most salient points are these. Koufax became the first […]

Joe Cambria was one of the most prolific scouts in major-league history, signing hundreds of men to professional contracts as a scout for Clark Griffith and the Washington Senators. He also inked countless others as a promoter of semipro and Negro Leagues baseball in Baltimore and minor-league teams throughout the country. He was one of […]

A three-sport star in high school, Don Gullett became a professional baseball player at the age of 18. After a short stint in the minors, he became the mainstay of the Cincinnati Reds pitching staff. Before he was 25 years old he was being compared to Sandy Koufax and seemingly was headed for Cooperstown. But […]

George Stovey came of age just as overhand pitching became legal. A left-hander, he hit the top minors in 1886 at the age of 20 and dominated, winning 50 games over two seasons. He struck out more than 300 batters and posted stellar 1.13 and 2.46 earned-run averages, respectively. Surely, a major-league club could use […]

When wild-eyed rookie right-handed pitcher Bruce Kison was thrust into relief with two outs in the first inning of Game Four of the 1971 World Series against the overwhelmingly favored Baltimore Orioles, the Pirates were in a three-run hole and in danger of losing their third game of the Series with just one victory. But […]

At age 25, Bob Elson had the ideal attributes to appeal to a fledgling radio industry. With a clear voice, an engaging personality, and the innate skill to immediately convert the action before him into words, he was able to parlay a radio contest in St. Louis into a broadcasting career in Chicago covering more […]

At 15 Victor Rodriguez started playing competitive adult baseball against men twice his age. Before the season was over, he was a minor leaguer with the Baltimore Orioles. He spent parts of two seasons in the major leagues and played in Organized Baseball for 19 years. Victor Manuel Rodriguez was born on July 14, 1961, […]

“How does it feel to be the smallest player in the majors,” a Houston reporter asked Fred Patek in 1968. “A heck of a lot better than being the tallest player in the minors,” countered the rookie shortstop.1 Patek’s quip matched his quickness on the field and the basepaths for 14 years in the major […]

When the Houston Astros signed Andújar Cedeño out of the Dominican Republic in 1986, their manager, Hal Lanier, said what many were thinking: “He’s got a lot to live up to.”1 After all, Dominicans Joaquín Andújar and César Cedeño (no relation) had each been big-league standouts. Although Andújar Cedeño never became an All-Star like his […]

“He’s that baseball dude who got banned for steroids or something, which makes him more than famous. He’s like infamous, and dangerous, and a kind of cool, a cross between Babe Ruth and Count Dracula.”1 – J.R. Moehringer, writing of Alex Rodríguez in 2015. What is fame? “I’m not too sure but I’ll know it […]

In the long history of professional baseball, almost 100 major-league players were nicknamed “Doc.” About half of them were medical professionals: physicians, dentists, an optometrist, a pharmacist, and even a veterinarian. Among the physicians was John Lavan, a graduate of the University of Michigan medical school who also earned a doctorate in public health. Lavan […]

Heralded as the second coming of Whitey Ford, the New York Yankees inestimable ace of the time when he broke into organized baseball, Walter Gary “Rip” Coleman eventually became one of baseball’s many might-have-been stories. A fast-balling left-handed pitcher, Coleman was born on July 31, 1931, in Troy, New York, to Walter Donald and Martha […]

With his trademark dark glasses and red socks, Bob Addie, the son of a New York City butcher, was a respected and popular fixture on the Washington sports and social scene for almost 40 years. A columnist and Senators beat writer for the Washington Times-Herald and the Washington Post, Addie served as president of the […]

“We wouldn’t have won the World Series without him.” – Kevin Millar1 Mark Bellhorn is quite possibly the most underrated player on the 2004 Red Sox team. While other players like David Ortiz, Curt Schilling, or Dave Roberts rightfully garner much praise for the success of the Red Sox’ 2004 championship run, Bellhorn and his […]

Perseverance is defined as “(continuing) despite difficulties, opposition, or discouragement.”1 Robert Louis Hartman was a model of the above. He persevered throughout a baseball career that began at age 14 with the semipro Kenosha Chiefs and labored through five minor-league seasons. A 20-win season in 1958 earned the left-handed pitcher a promotion to the Milwaukee […]

This article was originally published in SABR’s Bittersweet Goodbye: The Black Barons, the Grays, and the 1948 Negro League World Series (2017), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin.   It has been asserted that baseball makes an effective metaphor for the history of the United States, reflecting the changing circumstances and values of […]