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It was pouring rain at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh in the waning twilight of October 15, 1925, when Pirates outfielder Carson Lee Bigbee stepped into the left-handed batter’s box to pinch-hit. There were two out in the bottom of the eighth inning of the seventh game of the 1925 World Series. The Washington Senators had […]

“Dirty Al” Gallagher was the first native San Franciscan to play for the Giants after their move from New York. Gallagher played for his hometown team for three years before being traded to the Angels. After his playing days came to an end, Gallagher enjoyed a long career as a manager in the minor leagues, […]

John Clapp was a part of so many beginnings in baseball history that his middle name should have been Genesis. He was the second batter that the Cincinnati Red Stockings faced in their Eastern tour of 1869; in the opener of Al Spalding’s groundbreaking tour of the British Isles in 1874, he delivered the game-winning […]

Just five lefty pitchers born and raised in Hawaii have made it to the majors.1 Carlos Diaz was the third. In December 1983, coming off his best season, the wiry reliever was part of a unique trade involving Hawaiian lefty #4, Sid Fernandez. That deal paid off for the New York Mets. Fernandez was a […]

More than 19,000 players have played Major League baseball, but Dr. Bobby Brown’s life story has no parallel. He played professional baseball on a team that won five world championships, was a practicing cardiologist in Texas, served as interim president of the Texas Rangers, and spent 10 years as president of the American League. Robert […]

Stanley Cayasso (1906-1986) is one of Nicaragua’s baseball icons. Like Lou Gehrig, he was known as El Caballo de Hierro, The Iron Horse. A strong and durable hitter who also pitched in his younger days, Cayasso became a respected manager and coach. He came to symbolize his nation’s baseball because of his personality traits: honor, […]

His prep school coach almost kicked the youngster off the team, saying he was too hardheaded to ever make it as a ballplayer. The coach was wrong. Dutch Ruether had a long and successful career in professional baseball. He had a number of things in common with his future roommate, Babe Ruth, and outperformed the […]

Baseball and baseball players need people like Grover Resinger — those who dedicate their lives to the sport so that others may achieve the success they never had. “People say I do nothing but talk baseball,” said baseball lifer Resinger. “Is there anything else?”[fn]Tom Loomis, “Grover Resinger – Another Bit of Tigers Class,” Toledo (Ohio) […]

A.J. Bushong was better known as Doc or Bush in baseball circles. The Bush nickname is self-explanatory. The doctor reference denotes his degree in dentistry from the University of Pennsylvania. He obtained the degree early in his major-league career but only dabbled at the profession until his baseball career ended nearly a decade later. As […]

Tucked in the northwest corner of Rhode Island, just 10 miles from both Massachusetts and Connecticut, is the village of Chepachet, where Phillips Steere Paine was born on June 8, 1930. When Paine was a teenager in the 1940s Chepachet didn’t have a high school, so each school day Paine traveled five miles north to […]

Right-handed pitcher Elmer Riddle was from a mill town in Georgia, and is one of the few such players who did not enter the major leagues through the textile leagues. He was also half of a brother act in baseball, joining his brother, catcher Johnny Riddle, with Indianapolis in the minor leagues and Cincinnati and […]

A leading slugger of the 1930s, Zeke Bonura was “one of baseball’s best-loved figures.”1 He was a colorful first baseman with an indomitable spirit, and his great enthusiasm resonated with fans. In seven major-league seasons, he hit .307 and averaged 100 RBIs per season. During World War II, he received the Legion of Merit medal […]

In 1972 Hank Morgenweck achieved a long-held dream—a full-time umpiring job in the major leagues. Four seasons later, in bitter and disputed circumstances, he lost it. An experienced minor-league ump with a National League playoff game on his résumé, Morgenweck was named to the American League’s umpiring staff in spring 1972. But his contract was […]

Walter “Dobie” Moore was one of the greatest shortstops in Black baseball history. Nicknamed “The Black Cat,” he was a powerful hitter and gifted fielder. He began his career playing for the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry baseball team (a squad that produced more than a dozen Negro League players in the years surrounding World War […]

Richard Arlin Billings was born on December 4, 1942, in Detroit to Arlie and Dimple Billings, and played parts of eight seasons with the Washington Senators, Texas Rangers, and St. Louis Cardinals.1 The oldest of six children, Billings was recruited to play at Michigan State while playing “federation ball” in the Detroit area, teaming with […]

Almost 40 years after he first played for the Boston Red Sox, Hal Janvrin was described by a veteran Boston Postsportswriter as “the greatest schoolboy athlete of all time.”1 As a student at Boston English High School, Janvrin had earned three letters in baseball, three letters in football, three letters in hockey, and three letters […]

Eugene Desautels, a right-handed-batting catcher and protégé of Crusaders coach Jack Barry, jumped directly from Holy Cross College to the major leagues in 1930 without a stop in the minor leagues. He’d been a high school football star and was admitted to Holy Cross on an athletic scholarship, but his plans to play college football […]

Is Rollie Naylor the unluckiest pitcher in baseball history? Pitching for the then-hapless Philadelphia Athletics from 1917 through 1924, he amassed a 42-83 career record and an ERA+ of 101. Through 2016, more than 800 pitchers with at least 100 decisions to their credit have earned an ERA+ of at least 100. (With this retrospectively-calculated […]

It was a battle for the American Association pennant, but “not a good game from a scientific standpoint,” opined the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.1 The first-place Philadelphia Athletics (63-28) arrived in the Gateway City to kick off a pivotal three-game series with the second-place St. Louis Browns (61-31). On a season-ending 13-game road swing, the Athletics […]

The first game of the Sunday doubleheader at Comiskey Park was a close, well-played, low-scoring affair until everything suddenly fell apart for the hosting Chicago White Sox. Starting for the White Sox was Buck Ross, a 27-year-old veteran wrapping up his seventh year in the big leagues. The North Carolina native was 5-5 coming in […]

Even though they were making their first postseason appearance in more than a decade, the New York Mets were ready for the pressure of Game One of their National League Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Four must-win games over the previous four days had prepared them for the postseason. “Since we’ve been through it […]

“Naturally we’re going to miss him,” said Philadelphia Phillies manager Eddie Sawyer about left-hander Curt Simmons. “No team can lose a pitcher of Curt’s caliber without feeling it.”1 In his breakout campaign, the 21-year-old southpaw made his last start on September 9 of the Phillies’ most exciting season in history since their last pennant, in […]

On May 5, 1943, the Chicago Tribune was chock-full of news. For a cost of 3 cents, one could absorb 48 pages from the Trib, self-described as the “World’s Greatest Newspaper.” With the United States nearing its 17th month as a combatant in World War II, the bulk of the front page centered on military […]

Twenty-four-year-old pitcher Dave “Boo” Ferriss completed one of the most spectacular seasons in Boston Red Sox history when he won 25 games against only six losses in 1946. He was the beneficiary of a potent Red Sox offense that lost only 50 games during the regular season. They captured their first American League pennant since […]