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Reaching the major leagues is the pinnacle of a baseball player’s rise through the professional ranks. A player whose uniform says “Philadelphia” rather than “Scranton” knows without being told that he is competing against the greatest players the game has to offer. For some, a long and fruitful career is in the offing. But for […]

Teammates remembered his hands — “bear claws for hands,” one said.1 Those powerful hands could pat you on the back or clamp you so hard your knees buckled. No formula can explain leadership, but Terry Moore knew the secret. As center fielder and captain of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940s, Moore earned the […]

When he made his debut in a mid-August 1923 game against the Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago left-hander Paul Castner secured a line for himself in the record book of the national pastime. That entry, however, would be a slender one, as Castner made only five more big-league appearances before abandoning the game at the close of […]

A bright future appeared to lie ahead for Boston Braves outfielder Max West after he became a major-league regular in 1938 at the age of 21 and was the team’s top offensive performer a year later. Following a memorable appearance in the 1940 All-Star Game, when he hit a home run to win the contest, […]

“There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer,” said the greatest player of his time, or most any other time — Honus Wagner. He may be the greatest player in National League history. One of five sons and four daughters of the former Katrina Wolf and Peter Wagner, Honus (a diminutive of […]

Charlie Rivera was a third baseman, second baseman, and shortstop who played with several clubs in the Negro leagues for parts of five seasons, from 1939 to 1944. He was a right-handed hitter who stood 5-feet-9 and weighed 155 pounds.1 Carlos Manuel Lavezzari y Sierra was born to Manuel Lavezzari and Trinidad Sierra on September […]

East of Puerto Rico lie the isles of Vieques and Culebra. Along with a sprinkling of cays, they are sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. As of 2018, pitcher Julio Navarro was the only viequense ever to make the majors, largely because the island is an undeveloped place with a population of only about […]

Life was hard for an Appalachian coal miner and his family in the 1920s and 1930s. So it was for Lloyd “Whitey” Moore. His father died when the lad was 13. He and his older brother Lester dropped out of school and found employment to support their mother and younger brother. Lloyd Albert Moore was […]

Howie Fox was a right-handed pitcher who spent most of his career with the Reds during the club’s franchise-worst stretch of 11 consecutive losing seasons. By the time Cincinnati finished over .500 again, Fox had been traded, released and tragically murdered. Howard Francis Fox was born on March 1, 1921, in Coburg, Oregon — population […]

“History is the essence of innumerable biographies,” wrote historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881). Here is another contribution, a biography of William Wallace McCredie. Life teaches lessons, and here are three from his: follow your dreams; engage in public service; and don’t provoke your family into suing you. William Wallace — “W.W.” — was born […]

Tom Greenwade with Mickey Mantle during the 1952 World Series. (Courtesy of Angeline Greenwade McCroskey.)   The Mick Each scout is typically associated with his top signee, that marquee player no one else took note of but him. For Tom Greenwade that player was Mickey Mantle. How the two became forever linked has been retold […]

Harry Butts was a left-handed pitcher who played professional baseball from 1946 through 1953. His résumé included stints in the Negro American League, the ManDak League, the Piedmont League, winter-league play in Puerto Rico and Venezuela, and at least two starts in a Newark Eagles uniform in 1946. In the early 1950s he was one […]

When a reader sees the nickname “Wild Bill” associated with a pitcher, the first thought is that the fellow suffered with awful control. For example, Wild Bill Donovan debuted in 1898 and walked 69 in only 88 innings. Wild Bill Hallahan led his league in walks every season he pitched over 200 innings. In more […]

George Pfister spent 56 years in Organized Baseball. However, he played just once in the majors, with the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers. It came on September 27, in the second to last game of the NL pennant-winners’ season. Pfister, then 23 years old, came in for the last five innings – but there was just one […]

It was the kind of trade that barely got noticed. A few lines buried within the stories of the daily newspaper and perhaps mentioned in the “transactions” column in the back of the sports section. During the season it might have been mentioned on the local sportscast, with some statistics mixed in. But the news […]

With baseball nearing the end of its second season of play since the United States declared war on Germany and entered World War I, the game’s continued operation was being called into question by high-ranking military officials, particularly the provost marshal of the US Army, General Enoch Crowder, who was in charge of the military […]

After his brain cramp in Game Two of the 1951 World Series, Eddie Stanky used guile to spark the New York Giants to a 6-2 triumph over the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds in Game Three and a 2-1 Series lead. Rarely does a stolen base matter more than a three-run homer, but […]

Willie Mays topped the National League in slugging percentage five times. (Photo: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)   In 1954, few teams needed a player to return from military service during the Korean War as much as the Giants needed Willie Mays. In 1951, though he had played in only 121 games, Mays was […]

The Cincinnati Reds and the city of Cincinnati were looking forward to the arrival of the defending National League champion Boston Beaneaters for a holiday doubleheader. A newspaper headline said: “Big Bostons. They will be here To-Day. The Two Fourth of July Battles. Can the Reds Give the Leaders Two Falls?”1 In the middle of […]

“I used to go to a game in Indianapolis once in a while, and also in Chicago, and I always enjoyed it,” said Benjamin Harrison, the newly elected U.S. president, in 1889. “I find a good deal of pleasure in watching a good game of ball.”1 On Monday, June 6, 1892, Harrison became the first […]

On August 26, 1887, the Baltimore Orioles started a three-game American Association series with the Cincinnati Red Stockings at Cincinnati Park.1 The second-place Red Stockings came into the contest sporting a record of 58-45, three games ahead of their visiting Baltimore opponents, who were in fourth place at 52-45, but 17 games behind the first-place […]

Before the 2020 baseball season got underway, the national pastime was rocked by scandal. An investigation by Major League Baseball revealed that both the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox, World Series winners in 2017 and 2018, respectively, were involved in using technology to steal opponents’ signs and gain an illegal advantage. As a result, […]

In 2013, eight Boston Red Sox players stopped shaving during the season as a show of team unity. “It’s a bonding element,” manager John Farrell said of his team, which was headed to a World Series title. “You have to have ways to have fun sometimes. It takes the focus off the daily grind.”1 More […]

A month into the 2008 season, the top two teams in the American League’s Central Division battled in the second game of a three-game series. The 16-15 Minnesota Twins held a one-game lead over the 15-16 Chicago White Sox. The Wednesday-night contest before a crowd of 21,092 fans at U.S. Cellular Field was delayed by […]