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Romeo had Juliet, Anthony had Cleopatra, and the borough of Brooklyn had their Dodgers. Theirs was a love affair that included the likes of Duke, Campy, Pee Wee, Newk and Jackie. But the name of only one of the Boys of Summer was translated into Brooklynese. The 5-foot-10, 165-pound right-hander, with the large number 17 […]

When walking through the exhibits at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, it is difficult not to absorb slices of the game’s history and lore, and to learn about the role the sport has played in both American and world history. It also quickly becomes clear that the stories of the […]

As he walked to elementary school in La Jolla, California, Bruce Robinson tested his throwing arm with rocks. “I had to hit every sign from a certain distance or I couldn’t go to school,” he said. “I was on a mission from the time I was about 10 years old to become a major league […]

“There is a catcher that any big league club would like to buy for $200,000. His name is Gibson. He can do everything. He hits the ball a mile. He catches so easy he might as well be in a rocking chair. Throws like a rifle. Too bad this Gibson is a colored fellow.” — […]

In his short major-league career, Albert Edward Kaiser played only 155 games and batted only .216. Yet from 1909 through 1914, he was known in the Midwest as an exceptionally fast outfielder, daring baserunner, and somewhat reckless player. In fact the Indianapolis Star, reviewing the 1913 season, said that “his great speed enabled him to […]

The inaugural 1966 season of the Atlanta Braves began with Tony Cloninger as the ace of the pitching staff, but it ended with Pat Jarvis as the ace. Jarvis was in the middle of a so-so season with the Braves’ Triple-A Richmond club when Atlanta’s new manager, Billy Hitchcock, needed fresh arms. Assigned to the […]

Joe Cascarella was the son of a fruit merchant and grocer who had come to America from Italy in 1886. Joseph and Freda Cascarella were both Italian natives, and they gave their four children standard biblical names: Mary, James, Joseph, and John. The younger Joe’s 2002 obituary in the Baltimore Sun characterized his father as […]

As a player on the great New York Yankees teams of the 1950s and later as a manager with five different major-league clubs, Billy Martin was known to be brash, bold, and fearless. He played the game hard and made no excuses for the way he handled himself on or off the field. Many people, […]

Voted by the Pittsburgh fans as the greatest right-handed pitcher in Pirates history, Deacon Phillippe may have been the greatest control pitcher ever — his 1.25 walks per nine innings is the lower ratio of anyone who hurled after the modern pitching distance was established in 1893. Longtime teammate Honus Wagner recalled that Phillippe “wanted […]

Frankie Frisch may have been playing possum, or just being coy. But after the St. Louis Cardinals won Game Six of the 1934 World Series, the big question was which pitcher manager Frisch would send to the hill for the seventh and deciding game. His star pitcher, Dizzy Dean, was coming off a loss in […]

James Thomas McGuire, who would be known as “Deacon Jim” based on his gentlemanly, fair-play approach to the game, was the most durable catcher of his era. It was widely reported that he was never put out of a game or fined. He was steady in performance and temperament with some of his greatest baseball […]

Baseball fans from the 1970s may have faint memories of a lanky backup catcher for the San Diego Padres. Bob Davis, a native of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, became a familiar face for the Padres faithful during the organization’s early years. Standing six feet and weighing 180 pounds, Davis caught 166 games for the Friars before […]

Chick Hafey was one of the first position players in the major leagues to wear eyeglasses. Problems with his eyesight did not prevent him from winning a National League batting title and being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.   Hafey broke into the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1924, and most […]

Chris Short won 135 games in his major-league career. He pitched 15 big-league seasons and was arguably the National League’s second-best left-hander in the 1960s after Sandy Koufax. From 1964 through 1968, an average season for Short consisted of 250-plus innings pitched, 190-plus strikeouts, and 17 wins. He was twice named to the All-Star team. […]

Bob Tufts was one of six big-leaguers known to have converted to Judaism during their careers.1 When it came time for Tufts to select his Hebrew name, something meaningful to him, he chose Sandy Koufax. His rabbi laughed but wasn’t impressed. He shook his head and asked Tufts to pick another name. Bob selected Reuven, […]

Victor Starffin’s life reads like a Hollywood novel and, in a way, so do his pitching statistics …” — Richard Puff   It is highly probable that no professional baseball player — from any era, country or league — ever lived a more erratic, dramatic, and in the end tragic life than did the pitcher […]

A tall, lanky South Carolinian, Nate Snell didn’t debut in the majors until age 32. “It didn’t come as quickly as I would have liked,” he said. “But the point is that it came.”1 With good control and an outstanding sinker that induced lots of ground balls, the right-hander recorded a 3.29 ERA in 219 […]

William H. “Bill” Lennon was the first player in a professional major league baseball game to score a run. From 1871-1873, he played in 28 games in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, recording 26 hits and batting .215 with 13 RBIs. He also umpired 15 games in that circuit through 1874. Previously, […]

If you spend much time at the Hall of Fame perusing the files of obscure players, it will not be long before you find a note written by Joe Simenic. In particular, if you think you’ve found a promising new lead on one of the approximately 250 mystery major leaguers whose death information is unknown, […]

Between the two of them, the baseball-playing Bender brothers embodied much of the popular turn-of-the-century American Indian stereotype, both positive and negative. Tall, dignified, and stoic, Charles “Chief” Bender epitomized the Noble Savage. He was also one of the finest pitchers of the Deadball Era. Never the staff workhorse, Chief Bender was manager Connie Mack’s […]

By the late 1920s, the longstanding prohibition against playing baseball on the Sabbath had largely evaporated. Not surprisingly, Puritan Boston was one of the last major-league locales to sanction attendance at Sunday rites in the Green Cathedrals of the national pastime.1 By order of the people, as expressed through a November 1928 statewide ballot question, […]

There are a few reasons why one may see a position player take the mound. The most common occurrence is when a game is hopelessly out of reach for the trailing team and its manager wants to save the bullpen. The other circumstance – less frequent than mop-up appearances, but happening more often than before […]

Heading into the 1961 season, the National League pennant race looked to be a five-team battle. Only three teams, the Cubs, Phillies and Reds, appeared to have no chance to challenge for first place.1 However, Cincinnati manager Fred Hutchinson was optimistic about the team’s prospects. “I don’t care about anyone’s pick,” he said on the […]

With four games left in the 2000 season, the only role available to the Baltimore Orioles was that of spoiler. The Toronto Blue Jays were trying to make the playoffs, and the Orioles stood in their way. With four games left to play, Toronto (83-75) was 4½ games behind the American League East Division-leading New […]