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Bill Craver was known as one of the best catchers of his time and an innovator at that position. He was also known as a gambler and a troublemaker — one of baseball’s early wily characters. His run-ins with fans, opponents, teammates, and umpires were noteworthy, yet the biggest impact made by this early star […]

Simon Rosenthal was one of only 16 Red Sox players who was actually born in the city of Boston and — joining Jack Slattery — one of only two to both live and die in Boston. He garnered more at-bats for the Red Sox than any other Boston native, 357 of them during the years […]

From 1905 to 1921, Native American Lloyd Nephew was a first baseman and catcher on White minor-league, semipro, and industrial teams. He got his start in baseball in 1903 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, after Charles Bender and before Jim Thorpe played there. Nephew’s journey illustrates the rocky road of integration. A full-blooded Seneca, […]

With a passion for problem solving fueled by an unyielding streak of empathy for his constituents, Mario Cuomo garnered allegiance from Democrats and respect from Republicans — most notably for his 1984 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. Whether on the stump or in Albany, the 52nd Governor of New York exemplified politicians being […]

Over the final six weeks of the 1982 season, right-hander Brian Denman started nine games for the Boston Red Sox. The last of the nine was a six-hit shutout of the New York Yankees. They were the only nine times he appeared in the majors. He’d worked four-plus seasons in the minor leagues before getting […]

Chroniclers of the game have rarely been kind to Andrew Freedman, principal owner of the New York Giants from January 1895 to September 1902. According to one team historian, Freedman was “naturally arrogant (with) a bad temper at the end of a very short fuse.”1   In much the same vein, Bill James memorably described him […]

One night at Toots Shor’s restaurant, Edward Bennett Williams was asked what he wanted to do when he grew up — an odd question for a man in his mid-30s who’d already gained a reputation as a distinguished trial lawyer. “I want to own a ball club and be president,” said Williams,1 who as a […]

In a period of volatility, heartbreak, and disaster for the New York Mets — including the death of owner Joan Payson, the trading of Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds and Dave Kingman to the San Diego Padres on the same day, and last-place finishes from 1977-79 and 1982-83 — backup catcher Ron Hodges provided […]

On July 17, 1972, young Mark Murphy of Newark, New York, beat out 2,302 other fans to win the Pony Night promotion offered by the Newark Co-Pilots of the short-season Class A New York-Penn League. Murphy opted not to keep the prize animal, instead selling it back to its original provider for an unspecified sum.1 […]