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Welcoming back their popular soldier-catcher Hank Gowdy after nearly a two-year absence, the Boston Braves held a ceremony in his honor on Saturday afternoon, May 24, 1919, before a game against the Cincinnati Reds.1 Gowdy had been the first active major leaguer to enlist for military service in World War I. John Heydler, the president […]

As the 10th annual East-West All-Star Game at Chicago’s Comiskey Park approached, the Black press was abuzz with the expectation that Negro League players might finally have the opportunity to break into the major leagues. This hope stemmed from Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis’s July statement in which he had declared, “There is no rule in […]

The Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians were coming off second- and fifth-place finishes, respectively, in 1936, and Detroit was just two seasons removed from back-to-back World Series appearances. Each team had high expectations for the new campaign. On Opening Day 1937, Detroit hosted Cleveland at Navin Field before a crowd of 38,200, who saw right […]

Fans in the US capital were thrilled when Major League Baseball announced that the Montreal Expos were relocating to Washington for the 2005 season. Yet sports commentators expected more futility from the franchise that had lost 95 games the previous season. Baseball Prospectus surveyed its staff writers, and all 12 of them predicted that the […]

“He was everything a ballplayer should be: dark, handsome eyes, and a raw-boned build – and he hit home runs at a remarkable rate.” — Terry Pluto1 If you were to stroll by a Little League field in greater Cleveland in the late 1950s, you might have seen a trend among the players. You might […]

Fans arriving for the second portion of the Boston Beaneaters’ morning-afternoon Memorial Day twin bill with Cincinnati on May 30, 1894, had reason to anticipate a pleasant afternoon. It was warm and sunny, with a breeze blowing from the south and southwest.1 Beyond the pleasant conditions, their three-time defending National League champions had won four […]

  Willie Mays sprinted deep into the Polo Grounds outfield and made his most famous catch off a Vic Wertz flyball in Game One of the 1954 World Series. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   “We were beaten by the longest out and the shortest home run of the year,” said an incredulous Al Lopez, skipper of the […]

In the time when Giants walked the earth and roamed the Polo Grounds, none was more honored than Christy Mathewson. Delivering all four of his pitches, including his famous “fadeaway” (now called a screwball), with impeccable control and an easy motion, the right-handed Mathewson was the greatest pitcher of the Deadball Era’s first decade, compiling […]

Erv Palica, a laconic Californian, was little more than a bit player during the 1947 season, but four years later he was at the epicenter of a midseason controversy that may have cost the Dodgers the 1951 pennant. Palica was born on February 9, 1928, in Lomita, California, a small town west of Long Beach. […]

The fifth-winningest pitcher of all time, Warren Spahn went 363-245 over parts of 21 years from 1942 to 1965. Only by remaining in the game two seasons too long did he fail to finish with an ERA under 3.00 (3.09) and a winning percentage over .600 (.597), and his totals are all the more impressive […]

Roy Partee’s career as a scout rivaled that of his career as a catcher. He caught for the Boston Red Sox for five seasons, 1943-48, and he scouted (mostly for the Mets) for more than a quarter of a century. He also managed in the minor leagues and helped win World War II. Partee was […]

In the days before radio, Billy Sunday was the most successful evangelist America had ever known. The renowned preacher and temperance crusader found the Lord while playing for the Chicago White Stockings in the 1880s. He was an exciting player, speedy and daring on the base paths and acrobatic in the outfield. His earnest and […]

Many major leaguers are more remembered for their accomplishments in the minors. Ron Necciai’s 27 strikeouts in a minor-league game outshone his lackluster performance with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ox Eckhardt’s lifetime minor-league average of .367 overshadowed two brief trials in the majors. And Leo Kiely’s achievement of winning 20 games in relief during a season […]

Viola Thompson’s contribution to World War II was a rather unusual one. She didn’t do war work in a factory, or enlist in the armed services. Rather, she became a pitcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), and helped to keep the national pastime going during the war years. She was modest about […]

Tenacity and zeal were hallmarks of Gail Henley’s game, which along with stellar baseball skills fueled a rapid rise to the major leagues and engendered high regard from renowned talent evaluators. That tenacity and zeal also played a part in making his big-league career much shorter than expected. The native of Wichita, Kansas, developed a […]

In the summer of 1904, the Zanesville, Ohio, baseball team had a game scheduled with a team in neighboring New Concord. “When the time arrived for the boys to take the bus, there was one player missing, so the bat boy had to be used in right field to complete the team. As luck would […]

Catcher Charlie Hoover debuted with the Kansas City Cowboys in the American Association on October 9, 1888, one month after he turned 23. “Hoover made his debut behind [Henry] Porter and did well in the field,” wrote the Kansas City Times, despite two errors against one assist.1 Described as 170 pounds and 5 feet 9 […]

Fred Caligiuri’s career as a major league pitcher was brief, just seven starts and 11 other mound appearances over a little more than a calendar year. But for a day, at the end of the 1941 American League season, he was center-stage as events left baseball with one of its most enduring statistics: .406. And […]

Timon1 Bowden had nine at-bats in September 1914 for the second-division St. Louis Browns and manager Branch Rickey, a former opposing collegiate skipper. Yet that wasn’t Bowden’s greatest athletic achievement. Prior to his short time in the majors as an outfielder, he was considered “one of the finest of Southern athletes in his era, 1910-13” […]

One might say that Jim Boyle went into the family business – recruited by no less than Hall-of-Fame manager John McGraw himself1 – but ultimately he chose his own path after being the first Boyle to attend college. Jim Boyle followed his uncles Jack Boyle and Eddie Boyle as a catcher into the major leagues. […]

Of all those who proudly wore the uniform of the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League, Monte Irvin was one of the last surviving players. He went on to a Hall of Fame career as a pioneering African American player in the major leagues. Montford Merrill Irvin was born in Haleburg, Alabama, on February […]

Originally signed by the White Sox as a shortstop, Tom Hurd finally made the majors as a Red Sox right-handed relief specialist some nine years later. He played for Boston for three years in the mid-1950s, appearing in 99 games, all in relief. His lifetime record was 13-10 with 11 saves. In 1955, he led […]

A catcher’s close proximity to the home plate umpire doesn’t bode well for a receiver with a propensity for umpire baiting and “rowdy tactics.” This was the case for Harry “Spike” LaRoss, whose many fines and suspensions, along with many injuries, necessitated a move to the outfield early in his career. The 5’11”, 170 pound […]

The list of National League batting champions from the 1930s and early ’40s contains many familiar names: Hall of Famers like Joe Medwick, Johnny Mize, and Stan Musial and stars such as Pete Reiser and Dixie Walker. Amid this listing is an obscure name, Debs Garms. Little known, he is now recalled as the answer […]