Search Results

Johnny Lucadello was a hard-hitting and versatile infielder who, like many of his generation, saw a promising Major League career fizzle after he lost four prime years to military service. John Lucadello was born on February 22, 1919, in Thurber Texas.1 At its peak, in the early 1900s, Thurber, situated between Fort Worth and Abilene, […]

“Christy Mathewson is the Roy Hitt of the big league.”— Los Angeles Herald, August 11, 1914 One of the finest pitchers in Pacific Coast League history, Roy Hitt was a seven-time 20-game winner between 1905 and 1914. The southpaw compiled a 31-12 record for the San Francisco Seals in 1906, the year of the great […]

Once described by Baseball Digest as the “Rodney Dangerfield of baseball,” Cecil Cooper was a great player who didn’t get the respect he deserved.1 An introverted Texan, Cecil Cooper remained in the shadows for much of his 17-year playing career. The left-handed first baseman spent his major-league years with Boston and Milwaukee from 1971 to […]

Red Thisted never saw a professional baseball game until he was 20 years old. He made up for lost time, though. Over the course of four decades, he attended every home game played my Milwaukee’s ballclub, plus all of the away games when not prevented by wartime travel restrictions. From the start of the 1926 […]

Sam Jethroe was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1950, playing for the Boston Braves, and the first African American to play major-league baseball in Boston. Five years earlier, he’d tried out for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, along with Jackie Robinson and Marvin Williams, but the Red Sox pursued none […]

Johnnie Dawson’s life was bookended by unknowns. His early life was full of uncertainties and the end of his life passed without mention. Even his date of birth is up for debate. Most sources agree that Dawson was born on November 8, but the year varies from 1914 to 1915 to 1916. The birth year […]

Walt Tragesser’s career could be defined by the things he missed out on. A Boston Brave in 1913 and 1915, Tragesser did not play for the 1914 “Miracle Braves” that upset the heavily favored Philadelphia Athletics to win the World Series and enter baseball legend. And he missed the chance to catch a no-hitter thrown […]

The heir to Moe Drabowsky, Tug McGraw, and Roger McDowell, Turk Wendell kept the tradition of lovable zany relievers alive. Wendell had a unique litany of on-field antics, plus a trademark necklace of animal teeth and claws – from beasts he’d hunted himself. “Turkey spurs too,” said the avid outdoorsman, “but no shark teeth.” Yet […]

Rocky Ellis is one of the many Negro League players whose statistics tell only a fraction of the full story. Sandwiched between official league contests were the numerous battles against teams of varying skill. These games made up the meat of a player’s diet but usually are not taken into consideration when the breadth of […]

David Alexander Liddell is the only New York Mets position player to bat a perfect 1.000 for his career.1 Born on June 15, 1966, in Los Angeles,2 Liddell had the proverbial “cup of coffee” in the major leagues, getting a pinch-hit single in what turned out to be his only at-bat in the major leagues. […]

Of the 22 men who played for the Boston Red Stockings over the five years from 1871 through 1875, 17 were American-born and the other five were born in other countries. There was one Canadian, one Irishman, and three from England. George Hall (Stepney) and Harry Wright (Sheffield) were both English natives. So was Samuel […]

 Cub Stricker was a nineteenth-century second baseman who played for seven different clubs over an 11-year major-league career (1882-1885, 1887-1893). Affectionately referred to as Cub because of his diminutive stature – he was 5-feet-3 inches tall and weighed between 135 and 140 pounds – the right-handed-hitting and -throwing Stricker was considered an average hitter with […]

Between 1870 and 1920, over a million Swedes emigrated to the United States, primarily seeking greater economic opportunities.1 This influx produced notable second- and third-generation Swedish-American baseball stars like Charles “Swede” Risberg and Freddie Lindstrom. But only four Swedish-born players made the big leagues. Collectively they appeared in just 149 major-league games.2 Pitching for the […]

Tillar “Pug” Cavet won 302 games in a career that spanned two decades. He won 11 games in the majors, with the 1914-15 Detroit Tigers, and 291 in the minors. He was a four-time 20-game winner, with Mobile in 1913, Nashville in 1917, and Indianapolis in 1919 and 1921. The 6-foot-3, 175-pound southpaw pitched side-arm […]

Michael James Ryan was born on November 25, 1941 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, to parents John and Lorraine Ryan. He was born into athletic stock, his father John a tackle who nearly made the Boston Yanks of the National Football League. His grandfather’s cousin Jack Ryan had been a major-league ballplayer, breaking in with Louisville of […]

Bill Harman was a shy country boy who became a leader. He was a star basketball and baseball player at the University of Virginia. As the basketball team’s captain, he led the Cavaliers into the 1941 National Invitational Tournament. And then he played one summer for the Philadelphia Phillies, collecting exactly one base hit. He […]

Clarence “Cito” Gaston was a National League outfielder from 1967 to 1978. At his best, he was an All-Star in 1970. He also made a vivid impression on the fans in Venezuela, where he won two batting titles in winter ball. However, Gaston attained much greater fame and respect as a manager. He became the […]

José Luis Meléndez García was born on September 2, 1965, in Naguabo, a small town on the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. The municipality is famous for its empanadillas de chapín, a tasty fried turnover stuffed with cowfish. Blessed with a powerful right arm, Meléndez was destined to toil not as a fisherman, but rather […]

Times were tough in June 1934. It was in the midst of the Great Depression. A Dust Bowl drought ravished the Midwest during one of the hottest summers on record. Rogue bank robbers pervaded the heartland. But with the World’s Fair under way on the lakefront, Chicago was a happening place to be. A place […]

Joe DiMaggio was scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Game Six of the 1977 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the Yankees dressing room before the game, DiMaggio grabbed a stool and sat next to New York’s star right fielder Reggie Jackson. A high-priced […]

When Chicago Cubs rookie Vic Saier stole second base against the Cincinnati Reds in the second game of a doubleheader on September 7, 1911, few recognized the significance of the event. Reds catcher John “Larry” McLean was unable to throw out the fleet-footed Saier, snapping his streak of 14 baserunners caught stealing.1 As of the […]

Buried in Cornell University’s baseball media guide, in the list of the Big Red’s all-time records against non-NCAA and defunct opponents, is a line indicating that the Ivy League school far above Cayuga’s waters has a 0-1-0 record against the Cleveland Indians.1 Behind that line is a story involving one of baseball’s most revered pitchers. […]

The Boston Red Sox display a large 2004 World Series banner covering the left-field wall at Fenway Park during their home opener on April 11, 2005. (Courtesy of Kurt Blumenau)   Opening Day ceremonies at Fenway Park were notably different in 2005. For the first time in 86 years, fans who were present were able […]

On May 6, 1915, New York Yankees pitcher Jack Warhop threw a pitch that gave him an unwanted place in baseball history. In the third inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox, Warhop surrendered a home run to rookie pitcher Babe Ruth. It was the first of Ruth’s 714 career round-trippers, a big-league […]