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As Monte Irvin stepped into the batter’s box in the eighth inning of Game One of the 1951 World Series, a frustrated Yogi Berra said to him, “We don’t know how to get you out. We throw you high balls and you hit it, and we throw you low balls and you hit it. Can […]

The baseball dream lasted six seasons in Holyoke, Massachusetts. But in the end, the Western Massachusetts city had to hang up its spikes and retire from the field, metaphorically speaking. In 1977 the economically challenged former mill city on the Connecticut River welcomed its first professional baseball team since 1913, a Milwaukee Brewers farm team […]

Like hundreds of small and mid-sized communities across the country, Lima, Ohio, has a fairly robust baseball history. An industrial city and one-time rail center whose population peaked in the early 1970s at just over 53,000, Lima fielded its first professional baseball team in 1888 and was home to minor-league teams about half the time […]

Shoeless Joe Jackson had gotten off to a hot start in 1911. By the first week of May, the 23-year-old was batting .408, setting up a long-anticipated batting-title showdown with fellow Southerner Ty Cobb. Jackson’s major-league playing career had begun inauspiciously, but by May of 1911 he finally seemed ready to unleash his full capabilities. […]

Baseball card #186 in the 1967 Topps set seems in retrospect like a victory of hope over reality. The card shows New York Mets teammates Ed Kranepool and Ron Swoboda, hitters known more for their power potential than their actual production, kneeling with bats in a spring-training setting above the headline “METS MAULERS.” First baseman […]

Babe Ruth wanted more money. The star pitcher and home-run hitter for the Boston Red Sox made $7,500 in 1918. He hoped to double that figure the following season. Ruth and Red Sox owner Harry Frazee, a theatrical producer, talked over a deal, the Babe deciding to hold out for top dollar.  Both sides haggled […]

It was an eagerly anticipated matchup between opposite styles of play: Harvey’s Wallbangers and Whiteyball. Skipper Harvey Kuenn’s Milwaukee Brewers who led the majors in home runs (216), runs scored (891), and slugging (.455) against manager Whitey Herzog’s St. Louis Cardinals who paced the NL in stolen bases (200) and fielding (.981), while hitting the […]

It was the 1999 American League Division Series, pitting the 94-68 Boston Red Sox, who had finished behind the Yankees in the East, against the AL Central-winning Cleveland Indians (97-65). The Indians had won the first two games in the best-of-five series. They won the first game 3-2 with a tie-breaking run in the bottom […]

The 27,863 fans filing into Nationals Park for this 4 P.M. Saturday game knew that Max Scherzer (8-5, 2.43 ERA) would be pitching for the Nationals (45-42, third in the NL East, seven games back of Atlanta). Who knows what they might see: Mad Max might throw a no-hitter, strike out 20, hit a home […]

On a cold September 7, 1911, a gathering of 5,523 Boston National League fans witnessed a pitching duel between two future Hall of Famers.1 Phillies rookie Grover Cleveland (“Pete”) Alexander allowed just one hit and beat 44-year old Cy Young, 1-0. A Boston Post headline caught the moment perfectly: “Old Cy Twirls Great Game, but […]

The charter Allegheny club of the fledgling American Association played its first four games of the circuit’s inaugural season of 1882 on the road against the Red Stockings in Cincinnati. The visitors from Pittsburgh won the opening match by 10-9, then lost two in a row to the home side by 7-3 and 19-10 before […]

It was the last week of the regular season and the last night to enjoy a ballgame at Nationals Park. The grind of the 2018 season was about to reach an ending that no one, team and fans alike, expected to see. The Nationals had been the odds-on favorite to win the National League East […]

Sunday, April 12, 1992, was a windy, 41-degree day in Cleveland as the Boston Red Sox faced the Indians in a doubleheader at the old Cleveland (Municipal) Stadium, often referred to as “The Mistake by the Lake.” The more than 20,000 in attendance that day were about to witness something that had occurred only twice […]

On September 27, 1963, the Houston Colt .45’s (64-95) were entering the first game of a final three-game home series versus the New York Mets (50-109). They were also on a four-game winning streak and a sweep of the Mets would give them their longest winning streak of the season, surpassing a six-game stretch from […]

When Matt den Dekker replaced Bryce Harper in the Washington Nationals lineup in the sixth inning, Harper had walked four times, scored four times, and collected an RBI; all without swinging the bat at any of the 20 pitches he was offered. Only three other players since 1914 had scored four runs without registering an […]

Before Game One of the 1987 American League Championship Series between the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins, Tigers manager Sparky Anderson made a statement about Pat Sheridan. Although the Tigers outfielder ended the season 5-for-68 and spent most of the last three weeks on the bench during a tight race for first place, Anderson had […]

Detroit Tigers right-hander Lynwood Thomas “Schoolboy” Rowe “gave one of the most courageous exhibitions of pitching ever seen in World Series,” wrote H.G. Salsinger of the Detroit News.”1 After the Tigers’ demoralizing 8-3 loss to Dizzy Dean and the St. Louis Cardinals in Game One of the 1934 fall classic at Navin Field in the […]

In what was described by Bert Walker of the Detroit Times as “one of the most vicious slugfests seen on the local diamond this year,” the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox combined for 43 hits and 31 runs at Navin Field in the Motor City on Tuesday, June 2, 1925. The Tigers enjoyed […]

In 10 years of mostly futile baseball, the Montreal Expos had fluttered few Canadian hearts outside Quebec. Despite some solid players and occasional individual brilliance, they had yet to finish a single season with a winning record. All that changed in the late summer of 1979. Buoyed by a roster of emerging young stars that […]

“We had the makings of being a little flat, but Brownie took care of that for us,” quipped Jim Riggleman, manager of the Chicago Cubs, after Cubs leadoff hitter Brant Brown’s unexpected three-home-run outburst against the Philadelphia Phillies.1 Not known as a slugger, Brant had only 17 major-league home runs, but had an inkling that June […]

“‘Why,’ said an American after the match, ‘your crowd applauded all the fly hits. In the States the crowds only let us know when we miss ’em.’” — Sydney Morning Herald, January 2, 1914   The steamship St. Albans roared into Brisbane, Australia, on January 1, 1914. This was “an American invasion” of Australia on […]

“You ought to have seen it. Mr. Young, formerly of Canton, O., now of this beautiful city of trees and pretty girls, made his debut yesterday at League Park.” — Leader and Herald, August 7, 1890   “Well boys,” murmured Adrian “Cap” Anson as he rose from his downy couch at the Hollenden Hotel in […]

Korean pitcher Dae-Sung Koo spent just 140 days in the majors, all with the New York Mets in 2005; this was his finest. The 35-year-old lefty struck out all three batters he faced that afternoon. What made the game memorable, though, was the batting and baserunning of “Mr. Koo” (as he was fondly known in […]

It might be difficult to imagine in the modern era, with big-money cable TV contracts and team-owned TV stations – but imagine entering the season not knowing where you would be able to watch your favorite team play. In 1972 Boston Red Sox fans found themselves in such a position. The Red Sox had a […]