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It was a “Veeck” of a ballgame for the St. Louis Browns and their 1,115 managers in the stands at Sportsman’s Park on August 24, 1951, in yet another amazing stunt pulled by the Browns’ legendary owner Bill Veeck Jr. Since winning the American League pennant in 1944 and finishing third in 1945, the only […]

Hugh Duffy strode to home plate in the bottom of the ninth inning. His Bostons trailed 12-11 but Bobby Lowe stood on third and Herman Long was on second after his clutch double. It was another roller-coaster thrill ride for the 2,100 fans in attendance but this was special, as it would be the last […]

The Pittsburgh Rebels made it three in a row over the pennant-contending Indianapolis Hoosiers before a crowd of 1,700 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh on July 24, 1914. The Hoosiers were in the midst of a tight Federal League pennant race with Chicago, Baltimore, and Brooklyn. The win allowed the lowly Rebels to escape the […]

No matter how much the residents around Shibe Park loved the Athletics, their proximity to the ballpark was a mixed blessing the night before the fourth game of the 1913 World Series. Not long after Philadelphia won the third game in New York and took a two-games-to-one lead, fans started gathering outside the ticket windows. […]

If you were listening carefully, you might have picked up on it — a subtle, perhaps unconscious acknowledgement that the curtain was falling. As Sportsman’s Park public-address announcer George Carson introduced the home team, he left something out. For the first time all season he didn’t refer to them as the “World Champion Cardinals.”1The New […]

The Milwaukee Brewers’ last home game in 2000 was played on Thursday, September 28, against the Cincinnati Reds. A day contest, it featured two teams well out of any postseason consideration. Despite the seeming lack of attraction, 56,324 people attended. It was the largest regular-season crowd in County Stadium’s history. Fans were there not just […]

Harvey Haddix attained no-hit fame the hard way. On May 26, 1959, the Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander, fighting a cold, pitched 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves before surrendering a 13th-inning hit to Joe Adcock and losing the game, 1-0.1 His little brother Fred had it easier, albeit against lesser competition. On May 17, 1957, […]

The legendary exploits of major-league baseball players are a primary component of the game’s enduring appeal. Fans fondly recall now-mythical figures like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, and Hank Aaron, all of whom had extraordinary careers. They also remember players like Bobby Thomson, Bill Mazeroski, and Joe Carter, whose reputations were cemented by memorable […]

For more than a century, the correct answer to the baseball trivia question Who was the first player to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat? was Baltimore Orioles outfielder Mike Griffin. The title holder’s record-setting blast came in the top of the first inning of an April 16, 1887, American Association […]

Always willing to entertain the crowd, Germany Schaefer’s antics as a player and coach helped pave the way for later baseball clowns. An infielder with decent range and an average bat, Schaefer had impeccable timing, and more than once delighted fans with clutch performances, including legendary homers off Rube Waddell and Doc White. He gained […]

Late-1880s pitcher Billy George was a flame-throwing but incurably wild left-hander, an early prototype of the Steve Dalkowski model.1 In his rookie season with the 1887 New York Giants, George established an ignominious major-league pitching record that stands to this day – most walks issued by a pitcher in a single game: 16.2 Years later, […]

Grant Johnson, baseball historian Gary Ashwill argues, “was the best everyday player in Black baseball from 1895 to 1909.”1 After slugging his way to a legend with a hometown Findlay, Ohio, club in 1894, “Home Run” Johnson’s career mapped the finest Black teams of the era. He starred at shortstop for the Page Fence Giants, […]

For an obscure two-season pitcher, mid-1880s left-hander Cyclone Miller had a disproportionate effect on the major league record book. For example, without Miller and his contribution to the troubles of the 1884 Providence Grays, it is improbable that teammate Hoss Radbourn would have won 60 games that year, the all-time major league single-season record. Nor […]

Texan lefthander Cliff Hill overcame family tragedy to become a stalwart minor league starter from the late 1910s into the early 1920s. He once won 14 straight games, as well as a 20-inning complete game. Hill pitched in one game in the major leagues, for the cellar-dwelling Philadelphia A’s of 1917. Clifford Joseph Hill was […]

The Woodman surname has a distinguished history in the string of coastal suburbs north of Boston known as the North Shore. A local restaurateur named Lawrence “Chubby” Woodman claimed to have invented the fried clam there in July 1916. Whether Woodman was truly the first to fry clams is open to debate. What’s certain is […]

How did a ballplayer from Indiana whose entire major-league career saw him pitch for the Boston Americans come to be known as Tex? His given name was Charles Leroy Pruiett. It wasn’t his lanky stature; he was 5-feet-8 with a listed playing weight of 176 pounds. The answer is probably a simple one: It likely […]

The Cincinnati Reds of the 1930s were the National League’s weakest team, logging five last place finishes from 1931 to 1937. That futility ended when Bill McKechnie took over as the Reds’ manager in 1938. McKechnie led Cincinnati to back-to-back pennants in 1939 and 1940 and a world championship in 1940. Although several key players […]

During an eastern road trip in the middle of the 1912 season, Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey made two moves to strengthen his thin pitching staff. One was the purchase of Eddie Cicotte from the Boston Red Sox. The other was the acquisition of a hard-throwing youngster from the Burlington, Iowa club of the […]

Vic Aldridge, the Hoosier Schoolmaster, taught big-league hitters about his sharp-breaking curveball and nasty heater for nine seasons, notably in the Windy and Smoky Cities. In 1925 he held class in the World Series, disciplining his pupils from the nation’s capital with two complete games in the Pirates’ championship campaign. Victor E. Aldridge was born […]

Willie Ramsdell, nicknamed “Willie the Knuck,” mixed a colorful personality with the unpredictable knuckleball to produce a 13-year professional baseball career. Ramsdell made two brief pitching appearances for the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, but was ineligible for the World Series. He subsequently pitched in 32 games for the Dodgers over the next two seasons, and then […]

Alejandro Oms made a significant mark on baseball in his native Cuba, and in Venezuela and the United States. During his nearly 30-year career he was considered among the best Latino outfielders. Well regarded as a player, he was also respected as a man, earning the nickname “El Caballero” or the gentleman, for his deportment […]

Perhaps no Virgin Islander made a greater lifetime contribution to baseball than Elrod Hendricks (1940-2005). The native of St. Thomas also embodied Baltimore Orioles tradition; only Brooks Robinson wore the orange and black for even half as many games. Ellie’s major-league career spanned 12 seasons from 1968 to 1979, but he also spent a remarkable […]

In the months leading up to his graduation from high school in 1968, Bill Greif, a 6’5″, 200-pound, multi-sport athlete, was in demand. He starred in track and field, started on the basketball team, led the football team to a state championship as the starting quarterback. As a pitcher he had been attracting baseball scouts […]

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Business of Baseball Committee’s Fall 2010 newsletter, “Outside the Lines”. Beirne, a retired Rhode Island priest and active member of the Boston Braves Historical Society, presented this paper at SABR 40 in Atlanta. “Shocking! I am shocked that there is gambling in this place!” One of the […]