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When he stepped to the plate as the leadoff hitter for the Kansas City Athletics on the final day of the 1958 season, 18-year-old second baseman Lou Klimchock was looking for his first major-league hit, not to make modern major-league history. Playing in just his second major-league game, Klimchock achieved both. On the mound that […]

Scott Taylor had a seven-season professional career as a pitcher (1988–93; 1995), including two stints as a September call-up for the Boston Red Sox in 1992 and 1993. Taylor’s major-league service was limited to one start and 20 total appearances, a disappointing body of work for a highly regarded prospect “with a wider assortment (of […]

Jim Winford pitched professionally for 14 years (1929-1942). The lanky, 6-foot-1 right-hander spent parts of six seasons in the major leagues with the St Louis Cardinals (1932, 1934-1937) and the Brooklyn Dodgers (1938).  He was a knuckleballer who could be counted on as both a starter and a long reliever.  Nicknamed Cowboy for his Oklahoma […]

In November 1970 Boston Red Sox slugger Carl Yastrzemski was in Florida working with the organization’s young hitters when a hard-throwing right-handed hurler commanded his attention. “[Lynn McGlothen] is going to be a winning pitcher in the major leagues,” predicted the future Hall of Fame outfielder. “I don’t just mean a pitcher. I mean a […]

If anyone knew the definition of pain, it was right-hander Al Nipper, who toiled for parts of seven seasons in the big leagues (1983-1988, 1990), most notably for the Boston Red Sox. His list of injuries and maladies seems hard to fathom: nerve problems in his neck and elbow, chronic elbow inflammation, a blood disorder […]

“Gus Weyhing is one of the swiftest pitchers in the business. He is, comparatively speaking, a small man and his appearance gives no indication of the muscular power necessary to manipulate the ball at the speed with which he delivers it.”1 The 145-pound Weyhing was a true rabble rouser, often as mischievous off the field […]

It was a long journey for George McQuinn to the 1947 New York Yankees, where he became a key figure in their run to the pennant. In addition to his normal stellar play at first base, McQuinn batted .304 and drove in 80 runs, a significant upgrade from Nick Etten, a .232 hitter for the […]

Although pitcher Jim Panther never appeared on a Topps baseball card, he nonetheless was able to stake a claim in baseball history as one of the original members of the Texas Rangers. After his relatively brief big-league career came to an unceremonious end, a new career in baseball began for Panther as a decorated high-school […]

Andy Warhol once suggested that “In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Hal Smith was no exception, even though he had only about 13 minutes of fame, or even less. Smith could have been the hero of the 1960 World Series were it not for several events that occurred shortly after his […]

Good size/Above-average stuff/Poor attitude. This familiar micro-profile would have neatly summarized Frank Schneiberg, a right-handed pitching prospect in the early 1900s. Innate talent afforded Schneiberg a fair degree of success in the minor leagues, particularly while he was hurling for clubs situated in his native Wisconsin. But a lack of self-discipline and other temperament problems […]

Frank Thomas played during an era when team owners looked upon their players as chattels. By their standards, Frank Joseph Thomas was considered a rebel. Much of his career was spent bickering with management over his worth to them. In his early career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thomas’s adversary in such battles was the man […]

“Turkey Stearnes — that cat could play and hit. He could’ve made it.” — Thomas “Monk” Favors1 Over the years, the Baseball Hall of Fame’s research department routinely requested retired baseball players to submit a form whose details painted a picture of the player’s birth, family, and early years, and a sketch of his playing […]

Bullet Jack Thoney was once called “the unluckiest player in the history of baseball.”i Boston Red Sox owner John I. Taylor had paid what was thought to be the most money ever paid for a player at the time, but it seemed as though every time Thoney made a major-league team, he broke a limb. […]

“I have never seen a recruit pitcher with a more deceptive hook,” gushed syndicated sportswriter (and AL umpire) Billy Evans about rookie right-hander Sam Gray of the Philadelphia A’s in 1924.1 Gray rode his impressive curveball to a 10-year career, the final six with the St. Louis Browns. Three years after winning 20 games for […]

The October 3, 1929, issue of the Sporting News printed a sampling of observations of beat writers from around the Major Leagues with their predictions on who would win the World Series between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago Cubs. Of the 106 writers polled, 53 picked Philadelphia, 42 liked the Cubs, and 11 others […]

An outstanding three-sport high school athlete from Lima, Ohio, Bill Sharp earned a football scholarship from powerhouse Ohio State before entering professional baseball. With the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers, Sharp was a spray-hitting swinger and a skilled defensive outfielder for parts of four major-league seasons (1973-1976) before knee problems ended his career. William […]

Tall righty Nate Minchey pitched in parts of four major-league seasons (1993-1994, 1996-1997), though he never appeared in more than six games in a given year. He then built a successful career in Japanese baseball, earning 74 victories from 1998 to 2004. Following his playing days, he spent more than 15 years working as an […]

In the mid-1960s, noted artist Norman Rockwell lived and painted in the Berkshires region of Western Massachusetts.1 The baseball-related events that took place there on Thursday, May 13, 1965, seem perfectly suited to his brush—wholesome, all-American, small-townish, and, to a twenty-first-century eye, vanishingly obsolete. Schools in the small city of North Adams let out at […]

As the 2021 trade deadline passed at the end of July, the Atlanta Braves seemed to be facing an uphill battle in the National League East standings. At the end of play on July 31, the Braves were tied with the Philadelphia Phillies at 52-54, both five games behind the New York Mets. Over the […]

On April 16, 1972, Apollo 16, NASA’s eighth of nine manned lunar missions, took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On that same day, some 3,000 miles away in Anaheim, California, there was another blast-off of sorts. The Texas Rangers, behind eight strong innings by hard-throwing right-hander Pete Broberg, won their first-ever game. After 11 mainly […]

One of the more exciting days on the baseball calendar is the trade deadline on July 31.1 Networks and sports talk shows fuel the speculation and rumor mill about who could be on the move. Team officials must determine if their club is a pretender or a contender, a buyer or a seller. With the […]

Larry Bowa and Joe Hoerner crossed paths for the first time as teammates on the 1970 Philadelphia Phillies. Bowa, signed and developed by the Phillies’ organization, was a 24-year-old rookie shortstop batting leadoff for a mainly veteran team. Hoerner, a 33-year-old lefty reliever, was acquired in an offseason trade with the St. Louis Cardinals to […]

This game is tied as the second longest in big-league history in terms of innings.1 Fifty players took part — 26 Cardinals and 24 Mets — and nine stayed in throughout. 12 other records were set or tied.2 The seesaw between monotony and intrigue lasted 7 hours and 4 minutes and ended at 3:12 A.M. […]

Baseball is a humbling game. On any given day, even one of the league’s best hitters can look lost at the plate and fail miserably in the clutch. That’s exactly what happened to New York Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez against the Philadelphia Phillies on August 14, 1985. Hernandez, the National League’s batting champion and […]