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Blessed with speed and quickness, Bill Bruton was arguably the fastest man in professional baseball in the 1950s. While prowling center field, he could race back for well-hit long balls and charge in to scoop up potential Texas Leaguers. When batting, he used his speed to intimidate opponents into making throwing and fielding mistakes. He […]

The knock against Pat Malone, a big, hard-throwing right-hander who debuted for the Chicago Cubs in 1928 after seven years in the minors, was that he enjoyed the night life too much and didn’t take baseball seriously enough. Discarded by New York Giants manager John McGraw for his wayward behavior, Malone found his mentor (and […]

Catcher Al Evans is one of many rural Southern boys, among them Art Fowler, Johnny Riddle, and Mickey Livingston, who made his way from textile league baseball to the big leagues, and managed to make a lifelong career of the game of baseball. He was born in Kenly, North Carolina, on September 28, 1916. Kenly is […]

By age 17, in the summer of 1885, William Moffat “Billy” Earle was already handling the swift slants of fellow Philadelphian Charles “Tod” Brynan with the local Somersets, among the strongest amateur clubs in the East. Earle and Brynan would eventually team as battery mates with no fewer than four professional clubs, but Brynan’s arm, […]

For most of his 16-season professional baseball career, George Maisel distinguished himself as a fleet center fielder who made many circus catches. He compiled a .282 major-league batting average with the St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago Cubs. But illness, injuries, and World War I combined to limit him to just 168 games over […]

Twenty-one-year-old Mickey Mantle received the Art Griggs Memorial Award in 1953, as “the Oklahoma baseball player who has brought the state the most distinction with his past year’s performance.”1 Mantle may have wondered who was Art Griggs. A natural hitter, Griggs distinguished himself in the minor leagues as a slugging first baseman, and as an […]

Equally at home rounding the bases or rounding up cattle, Dave Philley played major-league baseball with the same no-nonsense efficiency he successfully utilized in operating his 557-acre ranch and managing his other business enterprises. David Earl Philley was born on May 16, 1920, in Garret’s Bluff, a suburb of Paris, Texas, in the northeastern part […]

Entering the last day of the 1939 season New York Yankees’ righty Steve Sundra owned an unblemished 11-0 record, but a September 30 home run from Boston Red Sox rookie Ted Williams spoiled that. From 1900-60 Sundra’s .917 winning percentage ranked fifth among pitchers with 10 or more decisions in a single season. Combined with […]

A wild southpaw, Fred Besana spent the first month of the 1956 season with the Baltimore Orioles, appearing in seven games and winning one of his two starts. Besana also played parts of eight seasons in the minors and starred in semipro leagues around four years of Air Force service. Frederick Cyril Besana was born […]

Those Americans who grew up in the Great Depression, went to fight in World War II, returned home, and went to work bringing the country back to life are now called, thanks to Tom Brokaw, the “Greatest Generation.” Such a man was James Bartholomew Prendergast — who also happened to play professional baseball. He worked […]

Left-handed pitcher William Oliver “Billy” O’Dell, nicknamed “Digger” after a character in the radio-TV show The Life of Riley, was signed by the Baltimore Orioles as a bonus baby right out of Clemson University, and never played a day in the minors. In his 13-year major-league career, he pitched in five seasons for the mediocre Baltimore […]

The first major-league ballplayer to play on championship teams in both the United States and Japan was John Logan, Jr., known to the baseball world as Johnny. For 14 straight years (1948-1961) he was Milwaukee’s shortstop, the first five with the American Association Brewers, the last nine with the National League Braves. A four-time All-Star, […]

“There is something inspiring to discouraged ball players in the career of William Hinchman, of the Pirates. A man who had had his show and apparently failed, it took years of patient plodding before another opportunity presented itself.”1 That’s how author J.C. Kofoed introduced his Baseball Magazine article on Hinchman, who had an all-star-worthy year […]

Thomas Jefferson Davis Bridges was born on December 28, 1906, in Gordonsville, Tennessee, 50 miles east of Nashville. Tommy’s father and grandfather were doctors, but after pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the University of Tennessee for two years, Tommy enrolled in the business school. In those days, major leaguers who attended college for a few […]

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 […]

James Edward O’Neill, the original “Tip,” was one of the most extraordinary Canadian batsmen in the history of baseball. He was born on May 15, 1860, in the village of Springfield, Ontario, the second eldest of four sons and three daughters of Irish Canadian innkeepers James and Mary O’Neill (nee Jeffrey).1 His parents owned the […]

Perhaps it’s a good thing when you have a major-league baseball affiliate in your hometown.  Right-handed pitcher Rudy Minarcin was born in North Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, and the year he turned 17 the Philadelphia Phillies happened to situate a Class C farm team there, the Vandergrift Pioneers of the Middle Atlantic League, managed by Pat Patterson. […]

“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, […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

  Sad Sam Jones had won the season opener for the Red Sox with a 6-3 win in Washington on April 13. Now those same Senators had come to Boston for the Fenway Park home opener. This time his opponent was George Mogridge. Mogridge had started his career with the White Sox in 1911, and pitched for […]

Considered one of the best defensive shortstops of his era, Hall of Famer and 10-time All-Star Pee Wee Reese was the quiet yet forceful captain of the postwar Dodgers. (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive)   Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field was hosting the All-Star Game for the first time, the last of the major league locations in existence in […]

The Boston Red Sox hadn’t won a pennant for 28 years, not since 1918. They’d suffered through the doldrums of the 1920s, when they hardly ever edged out of last place. They’d started to show some real promise just before World War II, finishing in second place in 1938, 1939, and 1941, and then again […]