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The year 1933 was one of the low points of the Great Depression. Even Babe Ruth was not immune to economic circumstances, as he took a pay cut of $23,000 from his previous year’s salary of $75,000. The Single-A Eastern League had folded in July of 1932 and with it the Hartford Senators. This was back when […]

John Wright was the “owner of a blazing fast ball and a sharp-breaking curve and plenty of control”1 and his sinker brought “despair (to) opposing batsmen.”2 To many who saw him, “He dominated batters.”3 Wright will forever be linked in history with Jackie Robinson as the first two players to break the color line in […]

Mickey Casey was a stout, 5-foot-7½-inch, 200-pound journeyman catcher who had a 12-year professional career in the Negro Leagues. Known for his strong work ethic, the well-traveled backstop was characterized as “a mediocre hitter, not noted for either consistency, contact ability, or power.”1 Though accurate from an offensive perspective, it understates Casey’s value to the […]

Another couple of miles west and New Hampshire could have claimed Harry Lord as a New Hampshire native. Porter, Maine – where our guardian of the hot corner was born on March 8, 1882 – is that close to the state line. But Mainers take pride in the Porter lad, for Harry Lord was a […]

“He would come in and relieve Satchel, and when they put Johnson out there, we thought we’d have it easy then. And he would come in and throw harder than Satchel did! Just like jumpin’ from the frying pan into the fire.” – Warren Peace, Newark Eagles1   Connie Johnson made his White major-league debut […]

A utility player is one capable of playing several different positions. Often utility players are not great hitters, yet they are valuable in their ability to fill in for injured regulars, give others in the lineup a much-needed rest, serve as late-inning defensive replacements, and occasionally pinch-hit. In short, they provide teams with a greater […]

Euthumn Napier remembered a bus ride north on April 15, 1947, on which he joined his Homestead Grays teammates in whiling away the hours by talking about the biggest baseball news of the day. Jackie Robinson had started at first base that day for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the modern color barrier. “We were all […]

Pittsburgh’s historic Ammon Field was renamed Josh Gibson Field in 2008 to honor the Baseball Hall of Famer who started his semipro career there in 1928. Harold “Hooks” Tinker, the Ammon Field regular who signed Gibson while player-manager of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, once spoke very fondly of a mutual teammate, middle infielder Charlie Hughes: The […]

Gus Greenlee, famed owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, came from a family that valued education. His three brothers earned medical or law degrees, but Gus left college after a year and moved away from his family at age 19 to work in Pittsburgh. He soon purchased his own taxi and began running bootleg liquor out […]

With a truncated index finger on his pitching hand,1 southpaw Willie “Three Finger” Gisentaner was the Negro Leagues’ counterpart to the major leagues’ Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown. Gisentaner moved from team to team in a career that lasted two decades. He was recognized as a smart pitcher and a good hitter. On December 11, 1899, William Gisentaner […]

In the early 1900s the fledgling automobile industry sought out connections to the national pastime. The Chalmers Motor Company presented a car to the most valuable player. Ty Cobb considered opening a Hupmobile dealership. According to a newspaper ad, “ ‘Hans’ Wagner, ‘Ty’ Cobb, Sam Crawford and other ball players ride in their own machines […]

Every human being who has lived on this Earth has done so with a shaky psychological   underpinning. Most of us manage to hold onto our senses and live out our lives keeping our balance. Then there are those unfortunate ones who lose their psychological balance and go under. Major leaguers are not exempt. Claude Rossman was […]

“When I lost Frank I lost one of my best friends. Baseball lost one of its best managers. He was one of the best catchers we ever saw.” — Buck O’Neil1 Frank Duncan’s legendary Negro League career lasted 27 years and his unquenchable zest for life was etched across each and every one of them. […]

“I had a slow ball, a slow fastball, a fast fastball, and a drop ball. You could count the seams on my slow fastball, and you could just barely see my fast fastball. But you couldn’t hit either one of ‘em.” — Lefty Mellix1   By his account, Ralph “Lefty” Mellix pitched in more than […]

As the 1913 regular season neared its end on Tuesday, September 23, the Philadelphia Athletics under Connie Mack had clinched the pennant behind a stellar 1-0 shutout performance by Eddie Plank the afternoon before. Plank’s gem was the second game of a doubleheader following a 4-0 shutout by Bullet Joe Bush earlier in the day. […]

The New York Mets faced the Houston Astros in the final game of a four-game series on the night of June 12, 1977. For Tom Seaver, the Mets’ starter against Floyd Bannister, it was his last game before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds. Both teams had losing records and the Mets needed a win […]

The Tampa Bay Rays were the defending American League pennant winners in 2009. Just 11 years after their expansion season in 1998, the Rays ran through the gauntlet that is the American League East in the regular season, eclipsed Chicago and Boston in the playoffs, and were then crowned AL champs. The ultimate dream of […]

“The East-West Game became the spirit and life of Negro League baseball, serving to entertain, educate, and ultimately provide a forum to integrate our national pastime many years later.” — Larry Lester1   The idea for a Negro League all-star game is attributed to sportswriters Roy Sparrow of the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph and Bill Nunn of […]

“You won’t see two better pitchers in your whole life than those two today,” declared Chicago Cubs skipper Leo Durocher about the Independence Day 1969 matchup between future Hall of Famers Fergie Jenkins and Bob Gibson.1 While Jenkins went the distance in the Cubs’ 10-inning win over the St. Louis Cardinals, “It was a strange […]

The third time was supposed to be the charm for manager Hughie Jennings and the Detroit Tigers. The skipper had led the Detroiters to the World Series in each of his three seasons at the helm, but unfortunately had dropped the first two against the Chicago Cubs. The 1909 Series pitted two of the best […]

The 1911 season began well for the Detroit Tigers. By May 19 they already had two six-game winning streaks and a nine-game winning streak, and their 27-5 record was 9½ games ahead of the second-place Chicago White Sox. They cooled off with two losses to the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Athletics and another loss […]

In 1911, their 11th year in the American League, the Nationals had yet to have a winning season.  The team had been so lackluster in its years in Washington that its ownership solicited fan suggestions and changed its name from the Senators to the Nationals in 1905 in hopes of inspiring a change in fortunes.1 […]

Tom Seaver pitched with the precision of a NASA engineer using a slide rule to calculate rocket trajectories. The boyish-looking right-hander led the National League in strikeouts five times; led the major leagues in ERA twice and the National League once; won three Cy Young Awards; and received the highest percentage vote for induction to […]

This article was originally published in The 1939 Baltimore Elite Giants (SABR, 2024), edited by Frederick C. Bush, Thomas Kern, and Bill Nowlin.   By 1939 the Elite Giants had earned the moniker “The well-traveled Elite Giants.” The team’s arrival in Baltimore in the spring of 1938 marked the end of a long search for […]