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This article is #1 in a series of three about the Brooklyn clothier-turned-politician and his iconic sign that adorned the right field fence in Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. It remains perhaps the most famous ballpark sign in baseball history. This article is a biography, focusing on Abe Stark’s life and achievements. For a […]
The Saskatoon Quakers welcomed a new catcher in 1913, 20-year-old Roxy Walters. He was never a large man; his listed playing height when he reached the majors was 5-feet-8 and he weighed 160 pounds, a stature at which he might have proved a target for a baserunner who confronted him blocking the plate. But he […]
Walter William Weiss was a tough player — physically and mentally. “The look in his eye always said, ‘Don’t even think about taking me out of the lineup unless the bone’s sticking out and maybe not even then,’” said Weiss’s coach at the University of North Carolina, Mike Roberts.1 His first big-league manager, Tony La […]
Among the many essential cogs in the Go-Go White Sox machine of 1959 was Bob Shaw, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound right-handed pitcher. In just his second full season in the majors, Shaw won 18 regular-season games and finished third in the American League in ERA. He paired with mentor Early Wynn to give the Sox a […]
An excellent receiver but a weak batsman, catcher Walter Van Grofski personified a now-vanished species: the career minor-league ballplayer. Apart from a handful of spring training exhibition games, Van Grofski never came close to playing in a big-league contest. In fact, he was never a serious prospect, only once rising as high as Class AA […]
As has always been the case, mining can be a dangerous occupation. Bob Duliba lost his father when he was just 9 years old. “He worked in the mines like everybody else in them days. He died when he was 50 – he had already worked 40 years in the mines. He was a slate […]
He might not be a household name today, but in 1916 Cliff Markle was called the “Find of the Baseball Season” and touted as one of the best up-and-coming pitchers of his day.1 He was also identified as the first major-league baseball player killed in World War I.2 So, that raises two questions: If he […]
The tale is familiar to followers of baseball legend: Young boy growing up in rough-and-tumble circumstances, running roughshod over parents and teachers, unrepentantly scoffing at law and decency, finally ends up in front of the local magistrate who has him declared incorrigible and packed off to the nearest reformatory. There, the lad discovers an outlet […]
A strong keystone combination is considered essential for a good team. Before there was Whitaker and Trammell, before The Wizard and Tommy Herr, before Tinker and Evers (and Chance), there was Nicholson and Scheibeck. Who, you ask? In 1890, Parson Nicholson and Frank Scheibeck became just the third major league combo to start every game […]
Bob Dillinger brought deadball skills to the longball game that took hold after World War II. A .306 hitter in his six seasons in the majors, he led the American League in stolen bases three straight years, but hit only 10 career home runs. With his lack of power and poor defense, Dillinger never produced […]
If there was one thing the Detroit Tigers could do under player-manager Ty Cobb, it was hit. They set an American League record with a .316 team batting average in 1921, and six of their eight starters in 1922 finished over .300. Even four of their backups hit over .300 that year. They were strong […]
Right-handed pitcher Bob Kline was a very large ballplayer, with a self-reported playing weight of 235 pounds and standing 6’4”. [1] When Red Sox trainer Bits Bierhalter put him on a diet regime, he lost effectiveness. Red Sox scout Jack McCallister discovered him at Central High School in Columbus, Ohio, where he played baseball, football, […]
Southpaw Pat Caraway garnered national attention in his rookie season with the Chicago White Sox in 1930 for his unorthodox pitching motion. “[He has] one of the most elaborate, complete and amusing windups ever seen in the majors,” mused sportswriter Hardin Burnley. “The lanky human slingshot twists himself into an intricate knot before suddenly hurling […]
Bob Feller was a 35-year-old veteran of 15 major-league seasons in 1954 when the Cleveland Indians won 111 games and swept to the American League pennant by eight games over the New York Yankees. His fastball had lost a good deal of its luster and manager Al Lopez had reportedly wanted to release him during […]
In the annals of baseball dating back to when it first became a game played by professionals, the great teams have always taken on the persona of their managers. This includes the old Chicago White Stockings of the National League led by their first baseman-manager Adrian “Cap” Anson, and continues with managers such as Ned […]
At six years of age, Russ Christopher was diagnosed with rheumatic fever. As a result, his heart became damaged. There was a small leak in one of his heart valves through which blood seeped, not allowing full circulation to his lungs. As a result, He was always out of breath. At times, when he overexerted […]
Wahconah Park: an outdated barn or a precious relic? A swamp or a hallowed slab? A money pit or a landmark? After well over a century, the dichotomy persists. Baseball players were facing off there before Babe Ruth was born, before “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was written, before architects sketched the […]
“What, me worry?” was the famous catchphrase of Alfred E. Neuman, the gap-toothed boy who regularly graced the cover of Mad Magazine.1 The motto could also have been adopted by Montreal Expos rookie infielder Al D. Newman after his 19th-inning at-bat against the Houston Astros in a game that began on the evening of July […]
Like all the other major-league teams, the Boston Red Sox had lost many of their best players to military service during World War II. In 1945 five pitchers who had been regulars, Tex Hughson, Joe Dobson, Mickey Harris, Earl Johnson, and Mace Brown, were serving in the military. The Red Sox had finished in fourth […]
On August 1, the 2000 trade deadline had come and gone, but in the final days of July, the Baltimore Orioles had dealt many starting players to other teams, including Mike Bordick, Harold Baines, Charles Johnson, B.J. Surhoff, and Will Clark, as well as relief pitcher Mike Timlin. Baltimore was sitting in fourth place in […]
The Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, two teams firmly entrenched at the bottom of the National League standings, squared off in an unlikely pitchers’ duel at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia on August 22, 1921. Fans who attended were treated to a “herculean pitching battle”1 fought by two unlikely mound combatants, journeymen slingers Elmer Ponder […]
The fans were excited as they entered Marlins Park for the Friday night game pitting the Miami Marlins against the St. Louis Cardinals. While playing in the United States, Ichiro Suzuki had 2,998 hits and was only two away from the magic number of 3,000. The Marlins made it known that Ichiro would be in […]
The New York Mets faced the Houston Astros in the final game of a four-game series on the night of June 12, 1977. For Tom Seaver, the Mets’ starter against Floyd Bannister, it was his last game before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds. Both teams had losing records and the Mets needed a win […]