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The Saturday matinee was a matchup between the first-place Detroit Tigers, who entered play with a three-game lead over the Washington Senators in a tightly contested American League pennant race, and the homestanding Philadelphia Athletics, who were mired in last place, 17½ games behind the Tigers.1 The 4,526 fans in attendance at Shibe Park that […]

Almost 90 games into the 1890 season, the National League had a tight pennant race on its hands. On August 5, the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Beaneaters were both within two games of the leader, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, and the Cincinnati Reds were in fourth place, six games back. At the other end of the […]

There was a pennant race going on. This Wednesday night game drew 58,462 to Yankee Stadium. Only percentage points separated the New York Yankees (82-48, .631) and Cleveland Indians (84-50, .627), with the Boston Red Sox just four games behind (77-51, .602) and still 20-some games to play. The Indians were hosting the Tigers. Casey […]

After a successful inaugural season in 1943, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) expanded into Milwaukee and Minneapolis.1 It soon became obvious that the move into larger metropolitan areas was a mistake, as both teams struggled to draw fans.2 The Minneapolis entry, which had been previously known as the Millerettes and Lakers, picked up […]

The New York Yankees on November 4, 2001, were one game from winning their fourth consecutive World Series and their fifth in six years.1 With New York City still shaken by the events of September 11, the Yankees had fought their way through the postseason, providing their city and fans some relief from the devastation. […]

In the wee hours of July 7, 1920, near Wawa, Pennsylvania, George Herman “Babe” Ruth, prodigious New York Yankees baseball slugger and notorious automobile speeder, careened his $10,000 Packard around a tight corner, lost control, and overturned. Ruth’s passengers were his wife Helen, Yankees coach Charlie O’Leary, and two teammates: backup catcher Fred Hofmann and […]

Gabby Street may not have been much of a batsman in his career. His high mark for batting average was .238 in 1905, a season he split between Cincinnati and the Boston Beaneaters. Perhaps he was aided by only 105 at-bats, the second lowest total of his career. There may have been a slight decrease […]

Any list of the greatest sluggers ever to wear a Detroit Tigers uniform has to include Hank Greenberg. Despite losing four years of his physical prime to World War II, he still put together a 13-year career (all but one with the Tigers) that included 331 home runs with 1,276 RBIs. A .313 hitter, he […]

Karl Olson was an outfielder who began to show a great deal of promise coming up through the ranks in the Red Sox farm system, until a stint in the military during the Korean War years seemed to derail his career.  He nonetheless played parts of six seasons in the majors, largely in a backup […]

California native Red Worthington was a hard-hitting outfielder with a powerful throwing arm. A top prospect in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, Red, who threw and batted right-handed, appeared to be on the fast track to major-league stardom. Before his ascent to the major leagues, a sportswriter wrote of Worthington, “This young man from the […]

Less than one percent of players hit a home run in their first major-league at-bat. Achieving the hitting Triple Crown – leading a league in batting average, homers, and RBIs – in the minors is similarly unlikely.1 Through 2023, an exclusive fraternity of just three members have achieved both of those feats: Gene Hasson, Bob Nieman, […]

It took a special type of athlete to play for Chicago American Giants manger Rube Foster. He liked to engage in small ball and built his teams around speed and bunting. He wanted only smart competitors on his team. Foster was known to say, “If you haven’t got intelligence enough to fit into this play, […]

While baseball history is most often made by winning teams and talented players, there are many less visible people who have had just as profound an impact on the sport. They include Alex Monchak. During his career, he played on 16 baseball teams, managed eight different teams over 13 seasons, coached for four major-league teams […]

Charley Pride, the son of a Mississippi sharecropper, dreamed of becoming a Hall of Famer. “Years from now,” he once said, “when they ask who hit the most home runs, I don’t want the answer to be Babe Ruth, I want it to be Charley Pride. When they ask who was the last player to […]

“When I lost Frank I lost one of my best friends. Baseball lost one of its best managers. He was one of the best catchers we ever saw.” — Buck O’Neil1 Frank Duncan’s legendary Negro League career lasted 27 years and his unquenchable zest for life was etched across each and every one of them. […]

Matt “The Scat” Alexander holds an odd distinction: He is the foremost pinch-running specialist in major-league history. Over parts of nine seasons (1973-81), he played in 374 games — yet amassed only 195 plate appearances. A favorite of manager Chuck Tanner, Alexander won a World Series ring with the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates. Along with his […]

Dick Brown signed his 1966 contract with the Baltimore Orioles in January, shortly after his 31st birthday.1 During his nine-year major-league career with Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox, Detroit, and Baltimore, the catcher typically entered spring training battling for a starting job – most often ending up as a reserve. However, with the trade of […]

In all of Major League Baseball history, 119 players originated in the “Tree Planters’ State”1 of Nebraska. Charlie Abbey was the first, arriving during “the mauve decade”2 of the 1890s. Abbey doggedly zig-zagged his way through the loosely knit minor leagues with uneven progression. He was an anomaly as a lefty second baseman early on […]

A flashy dresser and world-class trash talker, Benny Kauff was the Deion Sanders of the Deadball Era. “I’ll make them all forget that a guy named Ty Cobb ever pulled on a baseball shoe,” the brash 26-year-old told reporters on his arrival with the New York Giants in 1916. Kauff’s boastfulness was not without some […]

Jackie Robinson was the trailblazer who integrated major-league baseball in the 20th century. However, many other pioneering players were the first to integrate particular states or teams, and their proper acknowledgement took much longer. Bill Greason, a right-hander who began his baseball career with the Nashville Black Vols in 1947, is a case in point. […]

When Jim Holt played for the Minnesota Twins, sportswriter Bob Fowler wrote that he was the type of ballplayer every winning team needed, one who knew how to play the game and was ready whenever called upon. “Every team has an underrated player, a man who isn’t a most valuable player but a most valued […]

After capturing the American League pennant in 1954, the Cleveland Indians finished in second place to the New York Yankees the next two seasons. They sank to the middle of the pack in 1957 and 1958 but, led by a newcomer from Detroit, were back in the pennant chase in 1959. The newcomer was Tito […]

Harry “Socks” Seibold had a rather modest pitching career, compiling a record of 48 wins and 85 losses in 191 games over eight major league seasons. He was given the nickname “Socks” by his first manager, Connie Mack, who earlier had managed Philadelphia Athletics outfielder Ralph “Socks” Seybold. What was unusual about Harry Seibold’s career […]

An auto accident curtailed this pitcher’s modest major-league career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960s. But when he moved on to Duke University, Butters became a smashing success. He served as baseball coach from 1968-70 and then found his true métier — The Sporting News labeled him the world champion of fundraisers. Noted sports […]