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Rothsay, Minnesota, (population 497 in 2000) is not only the home of the world’s largest prairie chicken (9,000 pounds) and an historic blacksmith shop, the J. A. Johnson blacksmith shop, built in 1903[i], but also is the hometown of one of the Minnesota Twins’ best pitchers, Dave Goltz, a 20-game winner in 1977. A huge […]

Johnny Lazor was a ten-year veteran of the minor leagues and a wartime major-league outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, playing for four seasons from 1943 through 1946. Why he never appeared in the ‘46 World Series is a matter of conjecture, but there appear to have been a couple of good reasons. He was […]

Baseball defined the essence of Ethan Allen. The game was his life’s work. A true student athlete who earned two degrees, Allen went from the University of Cincinnati to his hometown Cincinnati Reds in 1926 and remained in the majors for 13 seasons, never playing in the minors. He also played for the New York […]

Caught up in the numbers and derailed by injuries, this promising southpaw appeared in just two games in the majors. “I didn’t get a cup of coffee,” he joked in 2010. “I got a demitasse!” Yet the bright and scholarly man had mapped out his direction. After his final pro season in 1968, he turned […]

George Goetz is among those rare pitchers who won his only major-league game. It was in 1889 for Baltimore of the American Association, which existed from 1882 to 1891. In contrast to so many other major leaguers over the decades who played very few games at that level, Goetz had a very short career in […]

It took a tremendous blast to hit a home run over the 86-foot high right field roof at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field. From the time of the roof’s construction in 1925, until the stadium’s final game in June 1970, only 19 balls, hit by 10 different players[1], ever cleared the roof. Among the men who accomplished […]

At age 25, after becoming the best hitter in three different minor leagues – preceded by two-years’ service as an officer in the US Navy – Frank Saucier was the St. Louis Browns’ most sought-after and anticipated post-World War II rookie since the club signed future 20-game-winning pitcher Ned Garver and slugger Roy Sievers, the […]

Baseball has had its share of memorable nicknames, particularly in a bygone era. The moniker ‘Cuddles’ bestowed on Clarence Marshall is certainly one of these. Marshall pitched for the New York Yankees and St. Louis Browns in parts of four seasons between 1946 to 1950. He was a tall righty with a lively fastball but […]

On May 25, 1950, Philadelphia Phillies rookie pitcher Bob Miller shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates on eight hits for his third straight victory of the season. Phillies coach Benny Bengough spoke to the Associated Press after the game about his young hurler: “… He hasn’t any trick deliveries but he can hit a dime with […]

In 1970 Billy Conigliaro played all three outfield positions for the Boston Red Sox, the majority of them in left field. His brother and teammate Tony played right field almost exclusively. Together they hit 54 home runs (Tony hitting 36 and Billy half as many — 18), the combined total setting a major-league record for […]

An average major-leaguer and a professorial manager who tried to treat his ballplayers like grown men, Steve Boros was a baseball lifer whose career spanned over two dozen teams across six decades. Broadcaster Ernie Harwell called him “one of the most cerebral baseball men I’ve ever known.”1 Born September 3, 1936, in Flint, Michigan, Stephen […]

Baseball history is filled with stories of Irish American players, particularly in the 19th century, whose promising careers were derailed by alcohol abuse. Few stories are more tragic than that of Dan Lally. Called “Handsome Dan,” Dapper Dan,” and “the Adonis of the diamond” during his playing days, Lally was a consistent .300 hitter during […]

Superman had his fortress of solitude. Mike Pérez had the pitching mound. On it, there was no hesitation, no bullying, no talking. Teased by neighborhood kids for his stutter, Pérez found solace on the mound, where his strong right arm balanced the odds and silenced the opposition bats. Drive and determination took Pérez all the […]

Maynard Faye Throneberry was the decidedly less-colorful — and less-celebrated — of the major leagues’ two Throneberry brothers. His younger brother was dubbed “Marvelous Marv”, a player who gained infamy as a symbol of baseball ineptitude, particularly in the field and on the base paths. Faye (he was never referred to by his first name) […]

The cover photo on the Sunday magazine insert of the June 29, 1958, edition of the Columbus (Ohio) Citizen was of a young boy wearing a Little League baseball uniform gazing admiringly at an older, bespectacled gentleman who was squatting, a baseball bat in hand. As the accompanying article explained, the man in the photo […]

Maybe it was Leon Wagner’s bad luck to have been born too soon. A major-league outfielder for 12 years, Wagner was a two-time All-Star who averaged 29 home runs and 87 RBIs from 1961 through 1966. Still, because of fielding deficiencies that were either imagined (his opinion) or real (his managers’ views), he always seemed to […]

He was an eight-time All-Star, batted .300-plus seven times, and upon his retirement after the 1988 season, held the major-league record for hits (2,472) and doubles (483) by a catcher, to go along with 248 home runs and 1,389 RBIs. In December 2019, 25 years after receiving only 3.7% of the vote in his first […]

Ameal Brooks played for semipro and Negro League teams from the late 1920s to 1950. He was known primarily for his work as a versatile catcher and outfielder, his clouting abilities at the plate, and an affinity for alcohol, which may explain his habit of jumping from team to team, sometimes in midseason. For more […]

More than a few contemporary baseball insiders viewed John Clarkson as the finest pitcher of the 19th century. He won 30 or more games in a season six times, including two of the top four all-time totals, 53 in 1885 and 49 in ’89. In the 10-year period between August 1884 and July 1894, he […]

If not for two years of military service and four years at the University of Texas, baseball lifer Grady Hatton’s career as player, manager, scout, and front office executive would have surpassed a half century. Mainly a third baseman, he played in 12 big-league seasons (1946-56; 1960). Reflecting on his playing career in 1966, Hatton […]

Few paths to organized baseball were as unique as that of Joseph Mitchell Tysko’s. A collegiate pitcher in West Texas, the right-hander captured the attention of the Abilene Blue Sox after stymieing the team in an exhibition match; no other hurler had held the hard hitting Class C club to so few runs. In May […]

A two-out, seventh inning single by New York Mets’ right fielder Ron Swoboda was the margin between a 21-year-old left-hander and a no-hitter – a feat that would otherwise have capped the youngster’s fine, 16-win, 1965 season. Possessing one of the greatest curveballs of his time, his immediate splash in the major leagues had the […]

It could be a good question in a serious trivia contest: “Who was the first African-American ballplayer honored by the Hall of Fame?” Rather few people would correctly guess Grover Jones. “My real name is Grover William Jones, Junior,” Deacon Jones explained in a 2008 interview. “Everybody started calling me Deacon because my father was […]

A journeyman for most of his eight seasons in the minor leagues, left-handed pitcher Alpha “Al” Brazle overcame career-threatening arm injuries by reinventing himself as a slick side-arm sinkerball pitcher. After an unexpectedly strong first half with the Sacramento Solons in the Pacific Coast League in 1943, Brazle debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals in […]