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When the Washington Senators1 were founded in 1891, they played their games at Boundary Field in Northwest Washington. Boundary Field was named for its location on the northwest boundary line of the District of Columbia at Boundary Line and Seventh Street. The field is labeled on the 1904 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map as “Athletic Fields,” […]

John Gibbons has seen a lot of ups and down in his career. A highly touted prospect for the Mets who was expected to be their future catcher, but a lack of production and the acquisition of Gary Carter stood in the way. Gibbons became a major-league manager for the Toronto Blue Jays, but mediocre […]

Jack Hayes was a doctor’s son and former pre-med student — an apt coincidence, since he needed medical attention often during his major league career. “He should be recognized as the holder of some sort of record for being injured every season,” the Chicago Tribune’s Irving Vaughan wrote.1 When Hayes was healthy, his White Sox […]

“There are ballplayers who can’t remember the last town they were in, much less the first fellow to ever help them, but Woody Woodward remembers both and also has a habit of remembering to be right there any time someone needs his help. He sees nothing strange about that. ‘That’s the only way to do […]

Russell J. “Russ” Cowans was known in Detroit as the “Dean of Black Sportswriters.”1 In fact, during the 1920s and 1930s, he was that city’s only full-time Black sports reporter. The Detroit Tribune, the newspaper for which he wrote during that era, was located on St. Antoine Street, and because he was so knowledgeable about […]

William Matthews is one of those early 20th century players for whom a lot is not known. He was a right-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox near the end of the 1909 season, but we don’t have any information on his height or weight – though one news report had him as 6 feet […]

A Wisconsin hero on the football gridiron and the baseball diamond, Robert James ‘Red’ Wilson was a bright, talented, and dedicated student-athlete who later enjoyed a good major league career as a catcher for the Chicago White Sox, the Detroit Tigers, and, briefly, the Cleveland Indians from 1951 to 1960. One of the greatest athletes […]

If not for a spectacular catch by Hank Bauer in the ninth inning of the sixth and final game of the 1951 World Series, Sal Yvars might be remembered quite differently today. Yvars’ only appearance in a Series at first looked like the stuff of legend. He struck a ball deep into the outfield of […]

“Pinch hit hero mobbed by rabid Red Sox enthusiasts” was a sub-headline of the October 17, 1912, edition of the Boston Globe reporting on young Olaf Henriksen’s game-tying base hit in the eighth and deciding game of the 1912 World Series, against a dominant Christy Mathewson. It was a crucial blow off the great Mathewson, […]

History has not been kind to Don McMahon. Now largely forgotten, McMahon had a very long –often excellent – career, pitched in the postseason four times, helped win two world championships, and was clearly one of baseball’s best relief pitchers in a number of seasons. Playing in the days before the closer became such a […]

When asked in the twilight of his life to reflect on his baseball career, Gus Munch revealed why he never made it to the major leagues: His mom talked him out of it. This was perhaps a bit of a simplistic answer, as there were several instances of mutual interest expressed between Munch and major-league […]

Most famous for his wildly successful tenure in the New York Yankees front office from 1920 through 1945, Ed Barrow left his mark on the Deadball Era as well. Though he never played a game of professional baseball, the ubiquitous Barrow was a key participant in the careers of countless players and a major actor […]

Jim Walkup, known by his middle name, Elton, for much of his playing career, was a hard-throwing right-hander with a devastating curveball. He debuted with the lowly St. Louis Browns in 1934 with comparisons to Dizzy Dean. Walkup, however, was plagued by control problems and never reached the potential many thought he possessed, posting a […]

Bob Osborn was a right-handed pitcher for the Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates in parts of six seasons from 1925 until 1931.  A spot starter and reliever in 1926 and 1927 for the Cubs, Osborn spent all of 1928 and most of 1929 in the minor leagues before Chicago made him a late-season call-up […]

Labeled “a right-handed Eddie Lopat … [George Susce] was regarded as a junkman, just like the great [New York] Yankee lefthander.”1 The son, brother and uncle of professional baseball players who made their mark collectively over seven decades, Susce dreamed of reaching the big leagues ever since his days as a child selling scorecards and […]

“I want to give it my all and teach my kids you can get knocked down and people can say you’re no good, you’re old, blah blah, but if you have passion, you can work really hard and you can go and give it your all, and if it doesn’t work out, at least you […]

Mark S. Polhemus, known as “Humpty Dumpty,” was a gifted right-handed batter who performed for clubs in several minor leagues in the 19th century with a brief appearance in the National League.i He was born on October 4, 1860, in Brooklyn, New York, the younger of two sons of Garret G. Polhemus, a livery-stable keeper, […]

Summoned straight from the amateur ranks to a major-league rotation, Arch McCarthy was the first of seven pitching recruits brought up by the Detroit Tigers in the summer of 1902. After his first two big-league starts — both complete games on consecutive days — McCarthy looked to have a good shot to stay at the […]

In 1971 The Sporting News reported “Joe Moeller, the sometime starter, sometime relief pitcher of the [Los Angeles] Dodgers [was] a ‘situation’ pitcher.’ ‘The problem,’ Moeller [joked] ‘is that they haven’t found the right situation.’”1 Dubbed the hardest thrower in the Dodger stable of flamethrowers in 1962—a remarkable claim considering the presence of future Hall […]

There was no digging in at home plate when Rube Melton was on the mound. Standing six feet five and weighing 205 pounds, Melton was blessed with a right arm capable of throwing a baseball with speed that few possessed. Brooklyn Daily Eagle columnist Tommy Holmes wrote that Melton was “very fast and uncommonly wild.”1 […]

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in SABR’s “The National Pastime,” Vol. 6, No. 1, Winter 1987. To read more from the TNP archives, click here.   Conceived and nurtured by Information Concepts Incorporated (ICI), a systems company, and published by The Macmillan Company, The Baseball Encyclopedia: The Complete and Official Record of Major League […]

July 1976 was filled with breathtaking events. Operation Sail’s parade of Tall Ships in New York Harbor marked the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.1 NASA navigated the Viking 1 lander onto the surface of Mars to search for evidence of life.2 And Israeli commandos freed 103 hostages from a hijacked […]

Several hundred loyal Boston rooters blew their tin horns, banged their noisemakers, and cheered themselves hoarse against the roar of 12,000 Oriole fans. They had followed their team to the showdown series of the 1897 pennant race and had come prepared for a party unlike any other. The trip seemed such a unique and spectacular […]

Despite St. Louis’s last-inning heroics the previous day, the fact remained that New York had taken Game One of the 1942 World Series. Going into Game Two on October 1, the Cardinals faced a must-win situation — no team had ever come back to win a best-of-seven Series after dropping the first two contests.1 And […]