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On their way to an abysmal 23-112-2 (.169) last-place finish in the 1890 National League pennant chase, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys auditioned no fewer than 20 different starting pitchers. On June 19 player-manager Guy Hecker handed the ball to new arrival Billy Gumbert, a 24-year-old righty just recruited from the local amateur league ranks. The prospect […]

Ed Delahanty, one of baseball’s most feared sluggers and most tragic figures of the 1890s and 1900s, appeared in what turned out to be his final game on June 25, 1903, seven days before his death in the Niagara River at age 35. It was fitting that Delahanty’s last game was in Cleveland, his hometown, […]

When Shufflin’ Phil Douglas arrived on the baseball scene in 1910 at the tender age of 20, he brought with him size and a fastball impressive enough to draw comparisons to Walter Johnson’s. Douglas, a product of Cedartown, Georgia, was a big man, especially for that era, standing 6-feet-3 and weighing 190 pounds, who threw […]

When Willie Montanez walked to the plate from the on-deck circle he would flip his bat end over end like a baton. When he swung and missed he had a high, circular finish reminiscent of a matador twirling his sword at a charging bull. At first base, he would sometimes tap runners on the rear […]

Doug Jones grew up listening to the roar of the 650-horsepower engines and watching as the drivers raced their cars around the dusty dirt tracks of the Indiana sprint-car circuit. Jones’s father was a part-time racer, and young Doug hoped to follow in his father’s tire tracks some day. When the elder Jones thought his […]

George Kaiserling was born to a German immigrant couple, Frederick and Johanna (Becker) Kaiserling, on May 12, 1893, in Steubenville, Ohio. He was the sixth born of eight, six sons and two daughters. His father worked as a millhand in the basic steelmaking industry and his mother was a homemaker.1   There is only data […]

“Flynn is one of the best natural hitters who ever lived, but booze kept him in the bushes.”1 Don Flinn, the 1915 and 1916 batting champion in the Georgia-Alabama League, was the less famous pitcher-turned-position player on the league’s pennant-winning 1916 Newnan (Georgia) Cowetas. Flinn skyrocketed from the Class D loop to the majors over […]

Despite 100-plus big-league victories, a half-dozen straight workhorse campaigns of 200-plus innings tossed, and a crucial role in a historic mid-’60s American League pennant drive, Pedro Ramos’s small degree of diamond immortality will likely always rest upon two individual pitches tossed in the midst of an erratic 15-season sojourn. Both fateful deliveries came while he […]

Right-handed pitcher Bill Evans had a very brief major-league career, with a total of one decision (sadly, for him, a loss) in the 13 games he pitched over two seasons of big-league baseball. He worked in four games in 1949 for the White Sox, and in nine games in 1951 for the Red Sox. He […]

Art Shires arrived on the major league scene in 1928 with much fanfare, almost all of it of his own making.  The Italy, Texas native nicknamed himself “Art The Great,” once boasted that, next to Babe Ruth, he was the biggest drawing card in the American League, and frequently stopped passersby on the sidewalk to […]

A fine major league pitcher for several years, Jim Brosnan wrote the first honest portrayal of the life of a baseball player. The Long Season and subsequent works have earned him continued praise ever since. His writings paved the way for many other players’ “autobiographies,” usually written with considerable help, and filled with more tawdriness […]

Babe Ruth, John Montgomery Ward, George Sisler, Smoky Joe Wood, Lefty O’Doul, Bobby Darwin. Bobby Darwin? At first glance he seems to be out of place among this list of major-league luminaries. However, closer examination reveals that he indeed does belong. Why? Because he is one of a handful of major-league pitchers who successfully transitioned […]

After nearly a century, many baseball historians still wonder how Shoeless Joe Jackson’s career might have turned out were he not permanently banned from baseball after the fixing of the 1919 World Series. The same question remains for another slugging outfielder who was also thrown out of Organized Baseball after he was accused of taking […]

“Baseball is a bum’s game, and so is football,” Ferdinand Maguolo would tell his son Lou.1 Lou Maguolo, however, defied his father to become a highly successful scout for the St. Louis Browns and the New York Yankees from 1936 through 1975. Though Maguolo was only 5-feet-5 and topped out at 135 pounds, he was […]

“First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League”1 — Charles Dryden’s memorable line was certainly one of the most fitting epigrams ever penned to capture just about any inept big-league baseball team from just about any epoch. Authors Brendan C. Boyd and Fred C. Harris went one hilarious step further when […]

Once labeled the “lightest player in the major leagues,”1 Eddie “The Midget” Mensor (5-feet-6, 125 pounds) had over 2,600 professional career at-bats, yet he never hit a home run that landed over a fence. Nonetheless, the utility player drew the affection of Pittsburgh Pirates manager Fred Clarke and owner Barney Dreyfuss during the 1912-1914 National […]

Hitting mammoth home runs and striking out ten hitters a game look great in highlights or on the back of a baseball card, but those who excel at these feats are few and far between. The soul of the game is the baseball lifer. Lifers count their number of spring trainings in decades, not just […]

“I’d like to have played in the Majors.”1 — Spotswood Poles   Spotswood Poles. One could not ask for a more memorable name. And with the unique appellation, not surprisingly, his name was misrepresented in multiple ways in official documents. The1886 Winchester, Virginia Register of Birth, the earliest official notification of Poles’ arrival, spelled his […]

Joe Adcock smashed some of the longest home runs ever witnessed. Although measuring the distance home runs traveled has historically been an imprecise science, driven by myth and legend, Adcock belongs to a select few sluggers, among them Mickey Mantle, Frank Howard, and Willie Stargell, whose feats still inspire awe. As a vocal leader of […]

Robert “Buck” Fausett was a 36-year-old major-league rookie who finished his brief time in the big leagues as the answer to a trivia question: “Who was the only major-league pitcher ever to be relieved by a 15-year-old?” But don’t define Fausett as a baseball player by his .097 average in 13 major-league games (most of […]

The once thick and perfectly groomed dark hair grew thin and gray over a professional career spanning a remarkable sixty-nine years. From 1920 to 1989, Johnny Neun served in the capacities of player, coach, manager, instructor and scout. Along the way, he earned a reputation as a great baseball mind, an excellent storyteller, and an […]

For two years, 5-foot, 9-inch Bob Saverine teamed with 6-foot, 7-inch Frank Howard on the Washington Senators. But, that’s not all. The talented pair, along with several other Senators players, formed a basketball team.1 Prior to the 1968 season, newly named manager Jim Lemon watched as they played an exhibition game and defeated a team […]

In Candlestick Park on September 2, 1963, the final nine outs were tallied by closer Lindy McDaniel, insuring the 20th win of the season for the tall Chicago Cubs left-handed starter. This particular win, coming off a 20-loss campaign the preceding year, would etch the youngster’s name with a mere six other hurlers who, since […]

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw celebrates after closing out Game Six of the 1980 World Series, clinching the first championship in franchise history. (Courtesy of the Philadelphia Phillies)   In the Beginning The first National League game in Philadelphia was played in 1876 with the Boston Red Stockings facing the Philadelphia Athletics, one of several […]