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For decades, Emil Verban was remembered as an obscure minor-league infielder who made the majors because of depleted wartime rosters, then played for losing teams and hit one home run in 2,911 times at bat. But more than 20 years after his retirement, Verban won a measure of fame as the namesake of the Emil […]

Through the 2019 season, only nine men born in Saskatchewan, Canada, have appeared in a major-league game. The most prominent were pitcher Reggie Cleveland and outfielder Terry Puhl. The first was Ralph Buxton, a right-handed pitcher who made his debut with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1938. The second, pitcher Aldon “Lefty” Wilkie, debuted three years […]

“One of the greatest things the Red Sox ever did in all the years I’ve known them was when they brought Pop Popowski up here after 30 years in the minors working with young players and made him a coach. He’s one of the greatest baseball men I’ve ever known in this game.” — Ted […]

His big brother in college was Martin Luther King Jr. Somehow, it’s appropriate to begin with that fact when discussing Donn Clendenon. During his college years at Morehouse College, one of the most pivotal players in Mets history was mentored by the greatest and most pivotal African American of the 20th century. The big brother […]

Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter Jr. was born August 13, 1915 in Montchanin, a community in New Castle County, Delaware. A month later, in nearby Philadelphia, the Phillies captured the first National League pennant in the team’s 32-year history. There was no connection then between these two events, but in time the Carpenter name and the […]

In the late 1930s, Monty Stratton of the Chicago White Sox was one of the best and most praised pitchers in major-league baseball and was about to enter the prime of his career. “Monty Stratton looks as if he is going to furnish many a page in baseball history before he gives up,” Philadelphia sportswriter […]

Rolland Edison “Tex” Hoyle was the third youngest of nine brothers in a baseball-playing family. He was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, on July 17, 1921, to Alexander S. Hoyle Sr. and Alice (Hazen) Hoyle. His father was of English and Welsh descent and his mother German. The elder Hoyle was a baseball fan. He played […]

With the clarity of hindsight it seems appropriate that an action photograph of Robert Gaston by noted African-American photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris shows what looks like Gaston launching a home run. As the backup to Josh Gibson and teammate of Buck Leonard, Gaston certainly saw his share of home runs. Gibson abandoned the Homestead Grays […]

Milt “Pinky” Shoffner was destined to be a ballplayer. He was born on November 13, 1905, in Sherman Texas, the only child of minor league pitcher Herman Daniel Shoffner and Jessie Lee ( Combs) Shoffner. Herman played throughout Texas and Oklahoma for nearly a decade during which Milt was born. Herm taught Milt the game […]

In the spring of 1913, 20-year-old Claude Cooper was impressive in his audition with the National League champion New York Giants. Hailed as “another (Tris) Speaker” when he came out of the Texas League to play for John McGraw, Cooper possessed good speed afoot, had a strong throwing left arm, and was an outstanding fly […]

A once-promising Philadelphia Phillies prospect, catcher Joe Lonnett collected fewer than 400 major-league plate appearances yet put in nearly 50 years in professional baseball. An avid fan of the Pie Traynor/Frankie Frisch-led Pirates who played less than 50 miles from his boyhood home, he manned the third-base coaching box during the franchise’s famous “We Are […]

In 1969 the expansion Seattle Pilots hired Eddie O’Brien as bullpen coach. His role was to assist manager Joe Schultz and pitching coach Sal Maglie. Asked at the start of the season to specifically describe his duties, O’Brien offered “Well, I look in to Sal or Joe, and they let me know when I’m supposed […]

A left-handed entomologist who forged a career in baseball? Handedness is immaterial in science, but successfully pitching left-handed in baseball is a sought-after skill. Bill Werle had a decent run, winning 29 games over six big-league seasons (two partial) from 1949 through 1954. Werle’s playing career spanned from 1943 to 1963, and he also managed […]

With Aaron Ward at second base, the New York Yankees won three consecutive American League pennants from 1921 to 1923. He was a capable hitter, but he drew comparisons with Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins, and Frankie Frisch for his splendid fielding. “Next to Babe Ruth,” Ward “is the most valuable man” on our team, said […]

The 1935 East-West All-Star Game at Comiskey Park in Chicago, the third consecutive year of the Negro League version of the midsummer classic, ended on a Mule Suttles three-run homer to drive in Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson. Pittsburgh Courier writer Chester L. Washington, in recounting the contest, made special note of a critical […]

Art Doll had a strong arm which allowed him to play professional baseball as both a catcher and a pitcher. His talents, however, resulted in only seven major-league games for the Boston Braves/Bees of 1935, 1936 and 1938, where he pitched in four games and caught three others. “Moose,” as he was known for his […]

Nicknamed the “Iron Man,” the remarkably durable Ray Mueller caught an average of 153 games per season between the Pacific Coast League and National League from 1942 to 1944. He set the NL record by catching 233 consecutive games, including all 155 for the 1944 Cincinnati Reds. Mueller was a backstop for 1,598 total games […]

A star outfielder at the University of Georgia and reputedly a cousin of Ty Cobb, Rucker Ginn received a two-game tryout with the 1914 Cleveland Naps. Farmed out for seasoning, Ginn proceeded to lead the Eastern Association in batting. Yet by the following June, his professional playing days were behind him. Over the ensuing 15 […]

Floyd “Jelly” Gardner was a prototypical leadoff hitter who played 13 seasons in the Negro Leagues, from 1919 to 1931, most notably for Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants. The speedy Gardner stood just 5-feet-6½ and weighed 160 pounds, and his base stealing prowess created constant pressure on opposing defenses. He was a left-handed hitter, threw […]

Best known today as the first active major leaguer to enlist for service in World War I, Hank Gowdy was a “fair-haired skyscraper” (he stood 6’2″ and weighed 180 pounds) who caught more than 100 games in only three of his 17 seasons in the majors.1 Gowdy had what we would now call a Zelig-like […]

On Monday, March 18, 2024, at the Spaghetti Western Italian Restaurant, thirty-nine members and guests of the Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston met in-person or via Zoom for the February Larry Dierker SABR chapter meeting.  For those who were not able to attend our March 18 chapter meeting, a recording can be found on the […]

The last time Johnny Antonelli’s team appeared in a World Series he was a clubhouse pariah. The Boston Braves signed the 18-year-old out of high school in June 1948. Because of the size of his bonus, reportedly more than $50,000, the Braves were required to keep him on the major-league roster for two years. Antonelli’s […]

After three seasons as a Cleveland Indians coach, former big-league catcher Wally Schang was looking for a challenge. It had been almost eight years since his last major-league game, and he was itching to get back into active duty.1 The 49-year-old Schang made an unorthodox move. He signed on to become the player-manager of the […]

Harvey Haddix attained no-hit fame the hard way. On May 26, 1959, the Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander, fighting a cold, pitched 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves before surrendering a 13th-inning hit to Joe Adcock and losing the game, 1-0.1 His little brother Fred had it easier, albeit against lesser competition. On May 17, 1957, […]