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Tex Hughson was a big right-handed power pitcher out of the University of Texas who principally wore the number 21 during his tenure with the Red Sox (he would also be assigned the numbers 29, 15, and 27) and, like his numerical counterpart and fellow Longhorn Roger Clemens four decades later, was the dominant Red […]

During the early 1880s, fireballer Jim Whitney ranked among baseball’s most accomplished pitchers, notching two seasons with 30-plus wins and pitching the Boston Beaneaters to the National League pennant in 1883. But afterwards, events conspired to undermine Whitney’s productivity. After the 1885 season, he was sold by Boston and thereafter consigned to labor for dismal, […]

Baseball lifers Branch Rickey and Fred Haney described Cal Hogue’s knee-buckling curveball as one of baseball’s best — if he could control it. Seven years after signing his first professional contract, Hogue finally reached the majors in 1952, tossing a four-hitter in his first start. He never harnessed the potential of his breaking ball and […]

In a meaningless end-of-the-season contest before fewer than 2,000 spectators at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Boston Braves manager Casey Stengel sent his starting pitcher back to the mound for the home half of inning 12. The Chicago Cubs scored the decisive run, delivering a league-leading 20th loss to Nate Andrews, a dubious distinction that the […]

Long-limbed southpaw Graeme Lloyd became the first Australian to win a World Series ring. The 6’8”1 reliever joined the New York Yankees bullpen late in the 1996 season and remained with the club for the 1998 championship too. Through the 2011 season, this distinction remained unique among Aussies. Just one other of Lloyd’s countrymen, Grant […]

In 37 seasons as an infielder and third-base coach for the Yankees, Frank Crosetti was on the field for 23 fall classics, of which New York won 17. After a while “The Crow” had collected so many rings that the Yankees started giving him engraved shotguns instead. Sandwiched between Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio as […]

As of the end of the 2020 season, 789 players born in the Dominican Republic had played major-league baseball. Of the 363 who were primarily nonpitchers, 57 made All-Star teams and 35 appeared in a World Series for the eventual champions, but only 12 completed their careers with exactly one hit.1 Before Orioles rookie Carlos […]

When Jackie Robinson debuted with the Montreal Royals on April 18, 1946, he became the first Black player to appear in what was then known as Organized Baseball in nearly 47 years. Canadians feel a special connection to Robinson because of his year spent in Montreal. What many Canadians don’t know is that they have […]

Right-hander Frank Corridon achieved some success pitching in the early Deadball Era. But plagued by a fragile constitution, recurring illness, and arm miseries, Corridon’s major league career was over by 1910. Yet a century later, the name of this otherwise unmemorable player lingers in baseball annals. The reason: Frank Corridon is often cited as the […]

A short but stellar stint with the late 19th century Baltimore Orioles and a famous last name have preserved Joe Corbett in baseball memory. A right-handed pitcher and the younger brother of heavyweight boxing champ James J. Corbett, Joe first came to public attention as a 20 year-old, hurling two 1896 Temple Cup victories for […]

After winning the American League pennant by 12 games in 1946, the Boston Red Sox had slipped to third in 1947, finishing 14 games behind the champion New York Yankees and two games back of the second-place Detroit Tigers. In an attempt to improve their hitting and pitching, the Red Sox pulled the trigger on […]

“A ballplayer making good in the big league, a handsome fellow in any company, his waving brown hair carelessly thrown back from his brow, his voice pitched in those taking North Carolina accents, was it any wonder that he found ready listeners?”1 Thus wrote the Twin-City Daily Sentinel (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) of George Suggs, whose […]

The son of a successful Nebraska merchant, Henry Clarke was a well-educated young man who was athletic enough to play a little major-league baseball before the turn of the twentieth century. While on summer break from college and law school, he pitched six games and played three more in the outfield for the Cleveland Spiders […]

Sherry Smith was a laconic Georgian who narrowly lost a World Series game to the young Bambino, fashioned a long mound career despite missing a season as a doughboy during World War I, and later nabbed small-town scofflaws as efficiently as he had baserunners who’d strayed too far off the first sack. Sherrod Malone Smith […]

Ray Chapman, star shortstop for nine seasons with the Cleveland Indians, might have ended up in the Hall of Fame had he not been fatally injured by a Carl Mays fastball on August 16, 1920, at the Polo Grounds. An ideal number two hitter who crowded the plate, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Chapman led the league in […]

When they joined the Boston Braves in late June of 1915, teenage brothers Joe and Maurice “Red” Shannon attracted immediate attention. During pregame warm-ups, the local press corps took note of their good size (5-feet-11, 170 pounds), athleticism, and strong righty throwing arms. But the brothers’ appearance was even more striking: boyishly good-looking, with fair […]

When big-league players heeded the call of duty during World War II, many teams were left scrambling to find replacement players. One such wartime player was slap-hitting Augie Bergamo, who debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1944 after six years in the minor leagues. A versatile outfielder and pinch-hitter with a good eye, Bergamo […]

George Crowe was Indiana’s first Mr. Basketball and became a “Big Daddy” to early black players in major league baseball. “Crowe was the most articulate and far-sighted Negro then in the majors,” Jackie Robinson wrote. “Young Negroes turned to him for advice.”1 Yet this splendid athlete and respected leader chose to spend one-third of his […]

In José Santiago’s first appearance on a major-league mound, he entered a 6-6 tie game against the New York Yankees to pitch the eighth inning. It was September 9, 1963 and he got Elston Howard to ground out back to him on the mound, Joe Pepitone to line out, and Clete Boyer to strike out. […]

Sam Jones was an intimidating pitcher. He was big (6 feet 4 and 200 pounds), threw hard, had a massive sweeping curveball, and could be quite wild. Three times he led the National League in both strikeouts and walks (1955, 1956, and 1958). He narrowly missed this feat a fourth time in his finest season, […]

Jesse Orosco appeared in 1,252 regular-season games during his career, the most of any major-league pitcher. As of Opening Day 2015, the active hurler with the most appearances was LaTroy Hawkins with an even 1,000, so Orosco’s record endured for at least some time. The lefty spent most of his 24 seasons in the majors […]

The Toronto Blue Jays’ “former shortstop of the future,” Eddie Zosky, a first-round draft choice, selected 19th overall in 1989, played in 44 major-league games for four teams over five seasons and hit .160.1 His baseball “future” came up very short. Is his story a tragedy in which a collegiate star, named All-American by The […]

Rising prospect Pie Traynor turned heads after winning the Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting third-base job out of spring training in 1922. He began building his legend almost immediately, exemplified by the two-run 10th-inning home run against the Boston Braves on May 15 at Forbes Field that transformed impending defeat into a 6-5 Pirates’ win and heralded […]

There is no better way to spend a midsummer afternoon than at the ballpark. The anticipation might have you thinking about the fortunes of your favorite team, or perhaps it’s the pitching matchup that has intriguing possibilities. The beauty of the occasion is that what will happen in the field of play has infinite possibilities. […]