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Rick Manning, to quote journalist Steve Eby, “just might be the ultimate Cleveland Indian.”1 He was drafted by the Indians in 1972 and played center field for them from 1975 to 1983, when he was traded during the season to the Milwaukee Brewers. He played for the Brewers through 1987. Manning returned to Cleveland to […]

Right-handed pitcher Chick Brandom reached the pinnacle of his professional career at the tender age of 22. A promising but little-used member of the 1909 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates, Brandom fared poorly the following spring and was promptly relegated to the minors by the pitching-rich Pittsburgh club. He remained there until reprieved by the […]

Getting caught stealing forever links Ray Morgan to Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore. Getting out of jail — a month into a year’s sentence — when Clark Griffith showed up in court with a scouting job offer — is another reason Morgan has a place in the game’s lore. Morgan played second base for the Washington Senators in the final […]

John Samuel “Jocko” Thompson pitched in 41 major-league games between 1948 and 1951. The 6-foot left-handed pitcher spent his entire major-league career with the Philadelphia Phillies. Overall, Thompson played 12 years of professional baseball between 1940 and 1955: four with the Boston Red Sox organization (1940-1941, 1946-1947) and eight with the Phillies organization (1948-1955). He […]

Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on September 28, 1949, Mario Miguel Guerrero Abud played over eight years as a shortstop and second baseman for four different teams. He was the younger brother of Epy Guerrero (born 1942), who is regarded as one of the greatest scouts in major-league baseball history and was responsible for […]

Player, coach, manager, scout – such was the lot of a baseball lifer in the first half of the twentieth century. Dutch Zwilling, with more than 60 years in baseball, filled all of those roles and many more. From the early days of the nascent American League to the cusp of free agency, Zwilling was […]

Catcher/first baseman Don Pavletich broke into the big leagues on April 20, 1957, but had to wait until April 29, 1962 — a little more than five years — before he got his first base hit. He was only 18 at the time of his debut with the Cincinnati Redlegs. Just a couple of months […]

Alabaman Leo “Lefty” Townsend is not the same Leo Townsend who was once a Hollywood screenwriter and alleged Communist sympathizer in the 1950s.1 Nor is he the same Townsend as Ira “Texas” Townsend, a right-hander who pitched for the Boston Braves in 1920 and 1921. This Leo Townsend pitched in seven games in September 1920 […]

Saturday Night Live’s Garrett Morris popularized the line “Béisbol has been berry, berry good to me.” Long before that sketch, pitcher Bob Harmon was living proof of what a baseball career could do for the life of a player. He carefully managed his paychecks and invested in oil fields while still pitching for the St. […]

It’s not easy following in the footsteps of a famous big brother. Arthur “Doc” Hillebrand, two years older than Homer, was one of the most well-known athletes in the country at the turn of the century. A two-time All-American as a tackle on the Princeton University football team, Art was enshrined in the College Football […]

Hal Keller was 12 years old in 1939 when his brother Charlie became a hitting sensation for the New York Yankees. “I was in sixth grade when he played in his first World Series,” Hal remembered 71 years later. “I was proud as a peacock. They were all day games, and the teacher brought a […]

The nucleus of a formidable Oakland Oaks team that captured the 1948 Pacific Coast League title was commonly referred to in the media as “the nine old men.”1 The roster included such notable ex-major leaguers as 40-year-old Ernie Lombardi and Cookie Lavagetto and Billy Raimondi — both past 35. Relative youngsters (at 34) included Jim […]

San Francisco’s Mike Finn was a pioneer professional as a California baseball player and manager. A versatile performer, he was an adept infielder, outfielder, and catcher, but was, in the Oakland Tribune’s opinion, “a pitching star of magnitude.” His managerial legacy was five championships during the California League’s formative years (1886-1893), more than any other pilot. An established […]

David Fultz had a full career in three different fields: baseball, football, and law. He was an All-American in both sports at Brown University, becoming the school’s first Walter Camp All-American in football. His scoring records on the gridiron weren’t eclipsed by another Brown player for a century. After obtaining his undergraduate degree in 1898, […]

Over the past 10 years, baseball fans in Minnesota have been given the gift of watching this beloved sport in two new, spectacular ballparks — Target Field and CHS Field. While those in the stands relax on a beautiful summer evening at the Twins game in Minneapolis or the Saints game in St. Paul, there […]

Even for serious fans of early baseball, it can be difficult to know what to make of Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame member Arthur “Foxy” Irwin. On one hand, Irwin popularized the baseball glove, inspired a character in a Zane Grey novel, and served as a team captain, player-manager, manager, scout and minor-league owner during […]

Though his major league career consisted of only five hitless at-bats for the 1980 Baltimore Orioles, Drungo Hazewood remains a legendary baseball cult figure, chiefly because of his unique moniker. Eyewitnesses to Hazewood’s feats of power and speed, however, wondered what might have been had the muscular outfielder learned to hit a curveball before leaving […]

Aspects of the life story of obscure mid-1880s pitcher Fleury Sullivan have doubtless been lost to time. But the surviving historical record militates that any profile of the brawny Sullivan focus on his relatively brief ballplaying career; his involvement in the political affairs of East St. Louis, Illinois; and his proclivity for resolving differences via […]

Win Noyes was one of several ballplayers for whom service in World War I interrupted a promising big-league career. His brief stint with the 1919 White Sox was merely a footnote in a long, if not especially distinguished, baseball career. Various baseball references say Winfield Charles Noyes was born on June 16, 1889, in Pleasanton, […]

“A baseball season’s never ended. You play ’em all over during the winter, awake or asleep. The only difference this winter is that they’ll be pleasant dreams instead of the nightmares I used to have at Boston and Brooklyn.” – Casey Stengel1   Before the story of the 1949 World Series could unfold, the drama […]

On July 9, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Mark Camps wrote: “If you plan to come to Candlestick and are looking for wild scoring games, save your eight bucks and rent an NBA All-Star game video.”1 By the end of the day, he could have printed a retraction. In 1987 the St Louis Cardinals and the […]

When Montreal lost the Triple-A Royals after the 1960 season, the city had to wait nine years for the big-league Expos to bring professional baseball back to town. When Toronto lost the Triple-A Maple Leafs after the 1967 season, it waited 10 years for the major-league Blue Jays to arrive. Canada’s capital, Ottawa, had them […]