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Over its first five decades, the Kansas City Royals have had only three ownership regimes. Pharmaceutical entrepreneur Ewing Kauffman landed the Royals expansion franchise for the 1969 season and believed that the team could and should be competitive in a previously unprecedented time frame. He was willing to innovate and spend to boost the Royals […]

Maple Leaf Stadium, circa 1929. (City of Toronto Archives)   Toronto is a world-class city with a proud baseball history, but its ballparks have not always met a high standard. Exhibition Stadium, the American League Blue Jays’ home from 1977 to 1989, was a converted football stadium whose seating arrangements were not entirely suited to […]

The iconic main entry of Ebbets Field was located at the intersection of Sullivan Place and Cedar Street (later renamed McKeever Place). (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive)   On an October afternoon in the 1950s, while the Dodgers prepared for the first game of the World Series, an elderly man walked into Ebbets Field. On the surface […]

Long before most teams had at least one reliever who could routinely hit 100 mph on the radar gun, the Cincinnati Reds had Rob Dibble. In his first four full seasons in the majors (1989–92), the 6-foot-4, 240-pound right-hander had a strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 4-to-1 while setting a record for the fewest innings (368) […]

“He’s that baseball dude who got banned for steroids or something, which makes him more than famous. He’s like infamous, and dangerous, and a kind of cool, a cross between Babe Ruth and Count Dracula.”1 – J.R. Moehringer, writing of Alex Rodríguez in 2015. What is fame? “I’m not too sure but I’ll know it […]

The case of 1920s Negro League pitcher Dave Brown provides a classic example of the oft-quoted line, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend,” a maxim that stems from a John Ford-directed film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. In that movie, reporter Maxwell Scott (Carleton Young) discovers that his subject, Senator Ransom Stoddard […]

He was the second overall pick in the June 1976 amateur draft. In his major-league debut his brother was the opposing pitcher. He was the winning pitcher on Disco Demolition Night. Pat Underwood accumulated only 13 victories over four big-league seasons, but he had a remarkable baseball career. Patrick John Underwood was born on February […]

Steve Lyons was a utility player who spent nine years in the major leagues, including four stints with the Boston Red Sox; a left-handed hitter, he batted .252. But while that number might not seem impressive, it doesn’t tell the whole story. In fact, throughout his major-league career, Lyons frequently got people talking. Fans, sports […]

Solid left fielder Joe Rudi was a core member of the Oakland A’s 1972-74 dynasty. He was the runner-up for the American League Most Valuable Player twice during this period, and he also won three straight Gold Gloves (1974 through 1976). Rudi’s numbers with the bat don’t look dazzling today, but he did lead the […]

Eddie Bressoud played over 1,000 big-league games as a shortstop in a 12-year career, primarily for the New York and San Francisco Giants, and the Boston Red Sox. He played 10 or more games at each of the other three infield positions, and one inning in left field. He was a .252 career batter who […]

Reginald Martinez Jackson was born on May 18, 1946, in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, a largely white suburb north of Philadelphia’s central city. His father, Martinez Jackson, ran a dry-cleaning and tailoring business. As a grown man, Reggie claimed he still knew how to cuff a pair of slacks.1 His father was a veteran of World War […]

George Earnshaw was the right-handed pitching ace of Connie Mack’s last dynasty, but his major-league career started late and ended early. George Livingston Earnshaw was born on February 15, 1900, in New York City, the first of four children of John J. and Maude Earnshaw. One writer described him as “a social register Johnnie” who […]

Phil Cooney1 signed contracts with two major-league teams, neither of which was the team he played for in his one and only major-league game. Born Philip Cohen, he changed his name to Cooney to insulate himself from the anti-Semitic prejudices that prevailed throughout professional baseball. Still, during his entire career, he was given many affectionate […]

Imagine being stationed in center field when your team records the final out of the World Series. To experience that twice is less likely than pitching a perfect game or hitting 500 career homers.1 Even rarer – being in center field for clubs from both the American and National Leagues when they became champions, something […]

“Because Temple and I had once exchanged swings during a clubhouse scuffle, most people figured we had little use for one another. Actually, we were good friends. Temple was a high-strung individual … with an inferiority complex, which he attempted to conceal beneath a cover of braggadocio.“1— sportswriter Earl Lawson One of the top second […]

“I can play this game,” said Lee Lacy confidently. “For hustle and determination, I won’t take a back seat to anyone.”1 An All-Star at three different infield positions in the minors, the right-handed-hitting Lacy broke in with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1972 and fashioned a 16-year big-league career spent primarily as a versatile utilityman […]

Only one man has played on a team that won major league baseball’s World Series and also on a team that won the championship of the National Football League. That man is Hinkey Haines. Haines’ baseball career, though modest, included being part of several memorable moments. His football career led to a great deal of […]

Philadelphia A’s star left-hander and future Hall of Famer Eddie Plank had scattered five hits and had not allowed a run as the Boston Braves batted in the top of the ninth in Game Two of the 1914 World Series. Unfortunately for Plank and his mates, Braves starter Bill James was pitching just as well. […]

The resume accumulated by the investor was something less than the model envisioned by Ban Johnson for club ownership in the fledgling American League. Nor was a bankroll amassed via saloon ownership, bookmaking, horse racing stables, casino operation, and service to Tammany Hall the preferred source of the financial wherewithal needed for relocation of the […]

David Green was one of baseball’s big “what if” stories. The imposing Nicaraguan was often called “the next Roberto Clemente.” His talent has also been compared to that of Vladimir Guerrero, André Dawson, and Darryl Strawberry — even Willie Mays. Alas, personal troubles and nagging injuries stopped him from realizing this vast potential. Looking back […]

Everyone knows about John Smoltz’s dominance as both a starter and as a reliever. Same with Dennis Eckersley. Little do people know they were hardly the first people to be widely praised at both spots in the pitching staff. Though he started his career as a highly touted starting-pitcher prospect, Jim Slaton eventually moved to […]

Former Detroit Tigers righthander Leslie Clyde “Les” Mueller may be best remembered for his single-game record of pitching 19 2/3 innings against the Philadelphia Athletics on July 21, 1945. When he walked off the mound for the last time that evening at Shibe Park, Mueller, the hard-throwing Bengal sidearmer, had surrendered only one run to […]

Mel Parnell devoted a full decade to the Boston Red Sox, from 1947 through 1956, winning 123 games while losing just 75. He ranks first among left-handed Red Sox pitchers in wins, number of games started (232), and number of innings pitched (1,752⅔). The New Orleans native performed exceptionally well in Fenway Park, a ballpark […]

During a relatively short late 19th century playing career, Tommy McCarthy forged a reputation as an inventive baseball strategist, a fine defensive outfielder, and a good, if not exceptional, batsman. A significant member of pennant winners in both the American Association and the National League, McCarthy lingered in memory as the lesser half of the […]