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The Clown Prince of BaseballDid 5,000 gigsFor 50 years he shared the billWith circus dogs and talking pigsAnd by the 9th inningHe’d be back at the motelWith an early morning wake-up callAnd the next night he’d be someplace else.1   Max Patkin never made it to the big leagues as a player. But that did […]

[With research assistance from John Leidy] Ray Fisher has been justly honored for his 38 seasons as head baseball coach at the University of Michigan. He was elected to Michigan’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1959, the American Association of College Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1966, and the University of Michigan Hall of […]

Del Rice was a major-league catcher for 17 years, primarily with the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Braves. While he was not a good hitter, his longevity was attributable to his excellent defensive skills and his ability to work with pitchers. He also knew how to win as a member of two World Series champions, […]

The 21st-century epithet “ump show,” coined to describe umpires who make themselves the center of attention, could have been created 100 years earlier to describe Charles Van Sickle. Brawls, riots, ejections, and suspensions followed Van Sickle throughout his 20-year career, which included 67 games in the 1914 Federal League and stints in more than a […]

The year 1959 was Jerry Mallett’s best year in baseball. He had his best year in minor-league baseball and he also had the opportunity to play four games of major-league ball for the Boston Red Sox. Mallett later earned a doctorate and became a successful educator and school administrator, and worked his way up to […]

As a rookie with the 1947 Chicago American Giants, Johnny Ritchey won the Negro American League batting title. The following year he broke the Pacific Coast League color barrier playing for his hometown San Diego Padres. In 1951, he became the first Black professional baseball player in Vancouver, British Columbia, and won the Western International […]

During the time when so many strong ballplayers were making their way from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees, catcher Al DeVormer was one of those sent to Boston in exchange. Most of the deals had already been done. Babe Ruth was sold in January 1920. Others on the 1922 Yankees who […]

Once labeled the “lightest player in the major leagues,”1 Eddie “The Midget” Mensor (5-feet-6, 125 pounds) had over 2,600 professional career at-bats, yet he never hit a home run that landed over a fence. Nonetheless, the utility player drew the affection of Pittsburgh Pirates manager Fred Clarke and owner Barney Dreyfuss during the 1912-1914 National […]

The steamship S.S. Colombo arrived in New York from Naples, Italy, on December 6, 1921, bearing a boy who had just turned two years old, Rinaldo Ardizzoia, accompanied by his mother, Annunziata (Mossina) Ardizzoia, a tailor from Oleggio, in northern Italy, where Rinaldo had been born on November 20, 1919. The mother and son were […]

Mike Pasquella had more names than a viscount and a gift for running in fast company and sharing a good story about it afterward. His best tale revolved around his own Major League career, which was short, colorful, and quirky. Born in Philadelphia seven months after Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders had charged up San Juan […]

“That long, long list of pitchers…like a lost platoon.”[1] So the Chicago Tribune described the many young hurlers who came through the Cubs system in the late 1960s. Some of those prospects went on to better things after trades, but others got only a cup of coffee – if that. Pat Jacquez – the elder […]

Sam Jones was an intimidating pitcher. He was big (6 feet 4 and 200 pounds), threw hard, had a massive sweeping curveball, and could be quite wild. Three times he led the National League in both strikeouts and walks (1955, 1956, and 1958). He narrowly missed this feat a fourth time in his finest season, […]

On June 18, 1974, Paul Splittorff threw a two-hit shutout against the Brewers in Milwaukee. After the game Splittorff and his roommate, Steve Busby, were talking about no-hitters. Splittorff did not consider himself to be a no-hit-type pitcher. But he had a list of pitchers who he considered could throw a no-hitter every time out […]

One of the premier “bonus babies” of the 1950s, Frank Matt Baumann was born on July 1, 1933, in St. Louis, Missouri. He lived with his parents and younger sister, Rose Ann, on the north side of the city within walking distance of Sportsman’s Park, home field for both the Cardinals and the Browns. Frank’s […]

Jim McDonnell, a backup catcher for the Cleveland Indians who got into 50 games from 1943 through 1945, left Organized Baseball after one season (1948) as a minor-league manager, and then figuratively disappeared. Though there is a file on him at the Baseball Hall of Fame, his post-baseball activities are uncharted. James William “Mack” McDonnell […]

“Running! turning! leaping! like little Al Gionfriddo — a baseball player, Doctor, who once did a very great thing.” The great thing novelist Philip Roth described took place on October 5, 1947. It was Game Six of the World Series. Outfielder Al Gionfriddo, a little-used reserve, made a racing, twisting catch in deep left-center at […]

Artie Wilson’s career makes just the barest impression in the old Baseball Encyclopedia: 19 games and 24 plate appearances spread across five weeks in the spring of 1951. But both before and after that short stint with the famously fated ’51 Giants, Wilson ranked for years as one of the biggest stars in two big-time […]

A combination of accountant, impresario, and American success story, Russian-born Leonard Koppett wrote with verve and understanding about the personalities, games, and statistics of the national pastime and other major sports for over half a century. Today, he is honored from Israel to Cooperstown. Born Leonard Kopeliovitch in an apartment near Red Square in post-revolutionary […]

As of 2016, three major-league pitchers had triple-digit lifetime ERAs.[1] One was Frank “Socko” Wurm, a 20-year-old veteran of World War II who allowed four runs to score in one-third of an inning with the Brooklyn Dodgers in September 1944. After his rocky debut, the lefty never got a chance to lower his 108.00 mark. […]

When the New York Giants won seven National League pennants and three World Series between 1921 and 1937, Frank “Pancho” Snyder was a player or coach on each of those clubs. A strong-armed catcher, Snyder’s playing career spanned all or part of 16 major league seasons (1912-1927), beginning and ending with the St. Louis Cardinals. […]

ONE DEAD, FIVE HURT IN WRECK – Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1929. The one who was killed was Portland Beavers center fielder Denny Williams. The five injured were other players on the team, hurt when their automobile overturned near San Clemente, California. They were on their way to spring training at Santa Ana, California, […]

The 1891 Cincinnati Reds looked to improve on their 77-55 record and fourth-place National League finish of 1890, but an early-season slump seemed to sap the life out of the team. By June 27 the Reds were last in the eight-team NL, 12 games behind the front-running New York Giants and Chicago Colts. It was […]

In front of a May 5, 1933, Ladies Day crowd of approximately 3,000 at the Baker Bowl, St. Louis Cardinals leadoff hitter Pepper Martin had a field day against the Philadelphia Phillies. In five at-bats, he contributed “Four Dashes of Pepper”1 – a home run, triple, double, and single – as he hit for the […]

The Boston Americans ran away with the American League pennant in 1903, finishing the season by winning the first World Series between AL and National League champions. The Cleveland Naps spent much of the season in the middle of the AL standings, but a stretch of 13 wins in 14 games in August enabled them […]