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When Cincinnati Reds pitcher Dr. Harley “Doc” Parker stepped onto the mound at Brooklyn’s Washington Park on June 21, 1901, it’d been five years since he last pitched in a National League game. Opportunities created by the American League’s transformation to major-league status paved the way for Parker’s return. Unfortunately for him, it was one […]

The Tampa Bay Rays, 6½ games behind the New York Yankees, were trying to stay in contention for the playoffs against the tough competition of the American League East. The Toronto Blue Jays meanwhile struggled after the opening month of the 2009 season and were looking to trade their pitching ace, Roy Halladay, after he […]

On October 16, 2014 – 63 years to the month after Bobby Thomson hit “The Shot Heard ’Round the World” to give the New York Giants an improbable 1951 National League pennant – the San Francisco Giants sought to eliminate the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Championship Series for the second time in three […]

Typically stocked with ballplayers past their prime or otherwise below average, major-league expansion teams have had little prospect of participating in pennant races during their inaugural seasons. As a result, their fans celebrated lesser triumphs – like their first win, their first win at home, and their first walk-off win. The Kansas City Royals collected […]

Right fielder Joe Ferguson’s first career assist came on a key throw to home plate in the 1974 World Series. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   The first-ever all-California World Series pitted two contrasting teams. The two-time defending American League (and World Series) champion Oakland A’s featured a new manager and experienced teammates. The National League champion Los […]

Rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, US Senator Sam Nunn, Hockey Hall of Famer Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, soul-funk pioneer James Brown, baseball Hall of Famers Johnny Mize and Luke Appling,1 and two members of US President Jimmy Carter’s Cabinet were among the famous names who attended the Atlanta Braves’ 1977 home opener.2 Shining brightest among the […]

Delivered from minor-league limbo in 1979 as a pinch-hitting specialist with the World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates, Mike Easler assumed a larger role as a platoon left fielder when injuries jeopardized Pittsburgh’s title defense in 1980. Easler’s play as the platoon’s lefty-swinging half heralded his arrival as a big-league slugger, most prominently when he hit […]

Cleveland pitcher Walter “Duster” Mails was feeling his oats, and why wouldn’t he be? He was living a dream after he was acquired by the Indians on August 31, 1920, in an effort to shore up the pitching staff. But manager Tris Speaker got much more than he bargained for when in eight starts in […]

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 […]

Praised for his outfield defense and savvy base running skills, Matty McIntyre was the starting left fielder and leadoff hitter on two Detroit Tiger pennant winning teams. Although a broken ankle in 1907 somewhat diminished his defensive abilities, McIntyre was still able to contribute with the bat upon his return and was considered to be […]

When Rocco Baldelli emerged as a young star in the minor-league system of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, he drew comparisons to Joe DiMaggio. Though that association was almost certainly setting him up for failure, the speedy outfielder had been more earnestly compared to a young Andre Dawson or Dale Murphy. Within a few years, […]

From 1934 to 1951, the name Johnny Hayes appeared in newspaper sports pages and box scores for seven Negro baseball teams. His career, interrupted by service with the US Army during World War II, was split between the second Negro National League (NNL2), the Negro American League (NAL), and the short-lived United States League (USL). […]

In the months leading up to his graduation from high school in 1968, Bill Greif, a 6’5″, 200-pound, multi-sport athlete, was in demand. He starred in track and field, started on the basketball team, led the football team to a state championship as the starting quarterback. As a pitcher he had been attracting baseball scouts […]

Lefty pitcher Tom Bolton played professional baseball for 19 years (1980-1998). He was in the majors for three full seasons and parts of five others from 1987 to 1994. The sinkerballer was at his best in 1990 for the Boston Red Sox, going 10-5 with a 3.38 ERA and helping Boston win the American League […]

Effa Manley co-owned the Newark Eagles with her husband, Abe. In 2006 the Special Committee on Negro Leagues elected her to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for her work as a baseball executive. As of 2019, she was the only woman inducted into the Hall of Fame. On March 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, seamstress […]

Clint Brown was a member of the Cleveland Indians starting staff for four years before a broken wrist sidelined him in 1934. He was relegated to the bullpen and eventually was sold to the Chicago White Sox. With Chicago he established records (all since broken) for relievers by appearing in 220 consecutive games without a […]

From 1922 to 1929 George Harper batted .314 with 91 home runs for five National League teams. Only six NL players hit more home runs during those years.1 He was a superb defensive outfielder with a cannon arm. In a career that spanned from 1913 to 1936, Harper amassed more than 2,500 hits with a […]

Clarence Bruce belongs to the majority of Negro League players who toiled in relative obscurity and whose stories can never be told in their entirety. Though the Negro Leagues became a subject for research in the late 1980s, the focus tended to be on the superstars who already had gained belated induction into National Baseball […]

Left-hander Ron Perranoski’s sinking fastball, sharp-breaking curve and ability to thrive in critical situations made him one of baseball’s top relievers. Over 13 seasons (1961-1973) with four teams, mostly the Dodgers and Twins as well as the Tigers and Angels, he pitched in five postseasons and three World Series — earning championship rings with Los […]

Early Black baseball figure Hurley McNair played professionally from 1910 through 1937. Yet despite being a key cog of the dominant Kansas City Monarchs lineups of the 1920s, the outfielder remains relatively unknown. Statistics can build a legacy. But when stats are hard to come by, legacies are built by stories. Nothing crafts a compelling […]

After nearly a century, many baseball historians still wonder how Shoeless Joe Jackson’s career might have turned out were he not permanently banned from baseball after the fixing of the 1919 World Series. The same question remains for another slugging outfielder who was also thrown out of Organized Baseball after he was accused of taking […]

Major-league pitcher and umpire J. Harry Colliflower was born on March 11, 1869, in Petersville, Maryland. His first name was the same as his father’s: James, a carpenter. His mother was Catherine Cramer Colliflower. The family was reasonably well-off; they had a domestic living with them at the time of the 1870 U.S. census. There […]

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 […]

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the December 2021 issue of the SABR Black Sox Scandal Committee Newsletter. Peter J. Wilt, a lifelong White Sox fan and soccer executive, has solved a Black Sox mystery, discovering the unmarked grave of pitcher Lefty Williams at Melrose Abbey Memorial Park in Anaheim, California. The location […]