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“That was the best play I’ve ever seen in my life.” — Happy Chandler, soon-to-be commissioner of baseball, September 18, 1945, reportedly commenting on a sparkling play by Johnnie Cowan in the 1945 Negro World Series1 From his Stockham Valves and Fittings industrial league team in Birmingham, Johnnie Cowan moved in 1940 to the Birmingham […]

On July 28, 1994, Texas Rangers left-hander Kenny Rogers had been perfect for eight innings and needed three more outs to make baseball history. A crowd of 46,581 fans was standing and cheering at the brand-new Ballpark in Arlington as Rogers warmed up to face the bottom third of the Angels’ order. Rookie outfielder Rusty […]

A superb gloveman, infielder Billy Clingman spent 17 seasons in professional baseball beginning in 1890. As a player he witnessed the start of Honus Wagner’s career, once cleanly handled 22 chances in a double header, and was the first Washington Senator to hit a home run. As a manager, he is given credit for developing […]

The apex of Billy Meyer’s major league career came in 1948, when The Sporting News named the rookie pilot as Manager of the Year. He kept an undermanned Pittsburgh Pirate team in the middle of the pennant race until late September. That accomplishment sealed his reputation as a quintessential “baseball man.” William Adam (“Billy” or […]

In September 2002, 22-year-old right-hander Steve Bechler debuted for the Baltimore Orioles and pitched in three games. In spring training the following February. he collapsed during a running exercise and died shortly thereafter. Weight-loss supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids were blamed for his sudden death. Their subsequent ban by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration became […]

As of 2021, lefty pitcher John Cerutti is the last man from Amherst College to have played in the majors. Over seven major league seasons from 1985 to 1991, Cerutti posted a winning record in nearly an equal number of starts and relief appearances. Other than his final season with the Detroit Tigers, he spent […]

After an eight-year apprenticeship in the minor leagues, from 1959 to 1966, Norm Gigon played one year of major-league baseball in 1967 as a utility infielder-outfielder with the Chicago Cubs. Following his retirement as a player, Gigon coached the baseball team at Lafayette College, where he most famously nurtured Joe Maddon, a future major-league manager, […]

“You were a good man to have on a team. You kept the spirits up. You were the life of the party.” — Ted Page, to Jake Stephens 1   Jake Stephens may have been the greatest defensive shortstop of all time. He was on par with Modern Era defensive shortstops like Mark Belanger and […]

Lloyd Pepper Bassett made his name in Negro League baseball as the “Rocking-Chair Catcher.” If calling a game and receiving pitches while sitting in a rocking chair seems like a gimmick, the reason is that it was one. Bassett began his professional career with the New Orleans Crescent Stars, and low attendance led him to […]

“I’ll never forget the experience of going to spring training for the first time. Then, there was our first opening day against the Mets in New York. We came back to Denver for our first home game and Eric Young hit the home run leading off the bottom of the first inning. The home run […]

James Lee “Jimmie” Newberry was a starting pitcher for the Birmingham Black Barons from 1942 to 1950. Most newspapers and historical sources refer to “Jimmy” as the diminutive of Newberry’s first name. However, the best evidence, which includes two autographs, signed “Jimmie Newberry,” is that he preferred to use the variant “Jimmie.”1 Newberry was born […]

Bob Messenger, Bates College Class of 1908, is an enigma. Like a meteor, he blazed a trail across the school’s Garcelon Field, then vanished in a flash. Five years later, reunited with classmate Harry Lord, he reappeared with the Chicago White Sox. But what a life he lived — before, between and after. Messenger played […]

At age 29, Dana Kiecker was named Red Sox Rookie of the Year in 1990, a season in which Boston won the AL East. He won eight games in the regular season, posting a 3.97 ERA, and pitched well in the clutch in the one opportunity he had in that year’s American League Championship Series. […]

The tall, lanky, left-handed pitcher George Mogridge is best remembered today as the answer to a trivia question: Who pitched the first no-hitter in New York Yankees history? Yes, the answer is George Mogridge, on April 24, 1917, against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. During his time in the major leagues from 1911 […]

Clyde Kluttz, a journeyman catcher-turned-scout, convinced Charlie Finley to pay a young North Carolina pitcher named Jimmy Hunter $50,000 to sign with the Athletics in 1964. A decade later, Kluttz, then a super scout with the Yankees, persuaded the All-Star now known as “Catfish” to accept $3.75 million to come to New York in the first of a flood […]

For about a decade near the turn of the last century, now forgotten Manhattan Field served as an important New York sports venue. Hastily erected in 1889 to accommodate a displaced New York Giants franchise and initially called the New Polo Grounds, the park was an early success, hosting good regular season crowds plus that […]

In over a century of existence, through 2016 the New York Yankees have been run by only five different ownership groups.1 To their great fortune and that of their fans, the three longest tenured were well-capitalized and committed to winning. They also had a terrific knack for finding great baseball men to work for them. […]