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Mets manager Bobby Valentine and Yankees manager Joe Torre. (Courtesy of Jerry Coli / Dreamstime)   It was a once-in-a-century event for baseball fans in New York. The Mets and the Yankees were facing each other in two different ballparks on the same day.1 The Yankees started the day a half-game in front of Toronto […]

When the 1969 baseball season got underway, the Cincinnati Reds’ fiery right-hander Jim Maloney felt that he had something to prove. For two seasons he had battled chronic shoulder pain that had taken a few notches off his heater. He was no longer the consistently overpowering hurler who had posted a 74-34 record over a […]

As rain poured outside in Houston on June 15, 1976, forcing the first rainout in the Astrodome’s history, the Houston Astros served dinner to players and team employees on the field behind second base. (COURTESY OF THE HOUSTON ASTROS)   A rainout in the Astrodome? How is that possible? It’s domed, protected from the elements. […]

Baseball records, like other forms of knowledge, are not chiseled in stone. Our knowledge changes over time as new information comes to light.1 At the start of the twenty-first century, baseball’s consensus was that Jimmy “Nixey” Callahan had thrown the American League’s inaugural no-hitter, in 1902, and Bob Rhoads had tossed the first one for […]

In a battle of the seventh- and eighth-place teams in the American League, the Chicago White Sox took out all the frustration of an 11-game losing streak on four hapless Philadelphia Athletics pitchers to win 18-1, in the second game of a doubleheader. White Sox ace and future Hall of Famer Red Faber finally won […]

The Pirates were in New York for their first series against the Mets in 1971. Pittsburgh had defeated New York six times the previous September to claim the National League East crown and keep the Mets from returning to the postseason. Both teams were vying along with the St. Louis Cardinals and Montreal Expos for […]

Acquired in an offseason trade with the Philadelphia Phillies, hard-throwing Kirby Higbe tied teammate Whit Wyatt for the NL lead in wins (22) to help lead the Dodgers to the NL pennant in 1941. (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive)   The 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers got their season started on the wrong foot – and to add insult, […]

“Of all the skills wrapped up in the complex game of big league baseball, none is practiced with more ingenuity and less publicity than the fine art of diamond larceny.” – Martin Abramson1 A wiring system sending signals to an in-ground junction box and a vibrating device or maybe a telescopic sight from a World […]

Eddie Plank had 287 major-league victories to his credit when he took the mound for the opening game of a doubleheader between the host St. Louis Terriers and the Brooklyn Tip-Tops on May 29, 1915. A native of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Plank had spent his previous 14 seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics, posting seven 20-win seasons […]

Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn posted a 59-12 record for the National League’s Providence Grays in 1884, but that was still 10 years in the future. He’d won 48 in 1883. In his 11-year career, there were three times Radbourn won more than 30 games. Al Spalding had only a six-year career, if one excludes the […]

The 1871 Cleveland Forest Citys, who committed 18 errors that day in losing to Boston, 31-10. (Courtesy of John Thorn)    The Boston Red Stockings were riding a scoring spree. In three of the preceding seven games, they had scored 20 or more runs, with an average of 16.57 runs per game. When the Forest […]

The 1953 Dodgers enjoyed so much success against the St. Louis Cardinals that it has stood the test of time. It was impressive dominance by a great team against a pretty good team that struggled mightily at Ebbets Field. The Ladies Day game between the Dodgers and Cardinals on September 1 was the last of […]

The Chicago Tribune described the Chicago White Stockings as “disaffected, demoralized and crippled” as the club prepared to clash with the Boston Red Stockings in a match of pennant contenders on September 29, 1871.1 With third baseman Ed Pinkham sick in bed and the club suffering from a host of other injuries, Chicago had not […]

At a time when a pint of Kentucky bourbon cost $1.251 and a round-trip train ticket between Chicago and Niagara Falls, the honeymoon capital of the world, cost $8,2 the stars of the Negro Leagues played one of the most dramatic ballgames ever. On a sunny Sunday afternoon in Chicago, 30,000 fans gathered to watch […]

The 1966 Binghamton (New York) Triplets of the Class A New York-Penn League played most of their home games at Johnson Field, a tired old facility that defined the phrase “dead ballpark standing.” New York State had taken title to the park in September 1965 as a first step toward tearing it down and building […]

George “Jeff” Jefferson’s meteoric rise and fall differed greatly from the trajectory of his older brother Willie’s late-blooming career. At just 22 years old, George was pitching in the Negro World Series for the Cleveland Buckeyes, and by his 30th birthday he was out of professional baseball. George Leo Jefferson was born 18 years after […]

Norris O’Neill, one of three nineteenth-century baseball figures nicknamed Tip, made a name for himself on the West Coast, where he captained the Oakland squad for several years. He played and/or managed in the minors from 1885 to 1899. In his youth, O’Neill was an acclaimed catcher, but after turning pro he tired of the […]

A rich lineage lies behind Adair Bushyhead Mayes’ memorable baseball name. His grandfather, Samuel Mayes (of Scots-Irish descent), married Nancy Adair (granddaughter of a full-blooded Cherokee woman) and was recognized as a Cherokee. In early 1838, the young couple joined a group of Treaty Party Cherokees (tribal members aligned with leaders who had signed the […]

Tim Murchison was a 23-year old left-hander who went north in the spring of 1920 with the eventual World Champion Cleveland Indians. He had excelled at Guilford College and logged about 600 innings in the minors. The St. Louis Cardinals had given him a brief look in 1917. But he worked only five innings for […]

Charles C. Crabtree was born on January 31, 1888, in Farmersville, Texas. His father, Jim, was a carpenter, and his mother, Susie (Burns) Crabtree, was a housewife and helped with chores on their farm.1 When Charles died on March 30, 1943, at the age of 52 in Houston, his death certificate gave his name as […]

The only native Pennsylvanian on the first Phillies pennant-winning team, outfielder Bud Weiser stepped into major-league play directly from Class D baseball. The “Ty Cobb of the North Carolina League” served in an apprentice’s role in 1915, and had a cup of coffee in 1916.1 Weiser then returned to the minors and independent ball, where […]

Bob Ferguson, one of the most respected and influential baseball players of the 19th century, was the game’s first switch-hitter. He may not have done it regularly and, surprisingly, he didn’t do it for the reasons hitters do today; he didn’t switch-hit depending on whether the pitcher was right-handed or left-handed. (At the time, there […]

There have been countless cosmetic changes in how baseball has been played during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, but the tools and rules of the game — and of the professional sport — have not been radically altered. A spectator from 1901 would recognize the game in 2021. The revolutionary advances occurred in the 19th […]

John Henry Johnson — the lefty pitcher, not the Pro Football Hall of Famer or the baseball executive1 — pitched in eight big-league seasons from 1978 to 1987. He enjoyed his greatest success as a 21-year-old rookie. Primarily a starter in his early years, Johnson moved to the bullpen and was effective at times, though […]