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There have been many baseball games in which the fans have been confused by actions on the field or the infield fly rule. It is less common for that confusion to extend to the players and managers – but it happens. This was one of those games. This was the last regular season meeting of […]

The play sparked immediate controversy and remains one of the enduring questions in World Series history. Did Sam Rice catch Earl Smith’s deep fly while falling into the stands to preserve the Washington Senators’ 4-3 victory in Game Three of the 1925 World Series? Sportswriter Chester L. Smith described Rice’s feat as “one of the […]

Because the third game of the 2018 World Series was being played in a National League city, NL rules applied – which meant there was no designated hitter. Red Sox manager Alex Cora elected to have J.D. Martinez play left field and Andrew Benintendi remain on the bench. Both teams started right-handers, Walker Buehler for […]

As one of the more venerable franchises in minor-league baseball, the Asheville (North Carolina) Tourists were just short of a century of existence in 2014—“the name was first used in 1915 to pay homage to the city’s destination status.”1 “Asheville, beginning in the early 1890s, became a big tourist destination. That’s always been the No. […]

By the seventh-inning stretch, a feeling of doom pervaded Denver. The Rockies’ miraculous “Rocktober” run — winning 21 of their last 22 games, including sweeps of the Division Series and LCS — had been brought to an abrupt halt by the Red Sox winning the first three games of the World Series. And the Sox […]

On Saturday, April 16, 1955, pregame activity at Busch Stadium was lively hours before the 1:30 p.m. tilt between the Cubs and the Cardinals. While Chicago manager Stan Hack amused reporters talking about his badly swollen hand, St. Louis skipper Eddie Stanky and his coaching staff were busy hosting a morning baseball clinic for more […]

In 1922, the defending American League champion New York Yankees and the St. Louis Browns battled for first place all season long. The pennant was at stake when the Yankees came to Sportsman’s Park on a mid-September weekend for a three-game “Little World Series” with only a half-game lead over the Browns. After the teams […]

Hurling baseballs back after opponents’ home runs, flinging caps onto the rink after a hat trick in hockey, and tossing flowers onto the ice in honor of a figure skater’s performance are three traditions where throwing things onto the field of play is acceptable behavior at sporting events. However, take an unlikely baseball power hitter, […]

When baseball returned to Washington in 2005 after an absence of 33 seasons, RFK Stadium became the home of the transplanted Montreal Expos, now the Washington Nationals. Its cookie-cutter design was of its era — round and multipurpose.1 As this baseball finale approached, the state of RFK Stadium could best be described as leaky and […]

The Game Score was introduced by Bill James in his annual Baseball Abstract in 1988.1 It’s a simple stat – a measure of a starting pitcher’s effectiveness by adding and subtracting points from a starting point of 50 based on in-game events. SABR’s Jeff Angus wrote in the Baseball Research Journal that James “humbly called […]

“Jim Rice. Remember the name.”1 The uncredited scribe who wrote that sentence in the September 22, 1973, edition of the Boston Globe proved to be very prescient indeed. Rice hit 382 home runs in a 16-season career spent entirely with the Boston Red Sox, helped Boston teams reach two World Series, and was inducted into […]

Twenty-five-year-old rookie Bert Brenner took the hill in the first game of a September 21, 1912, scheduled doubleheader (game 2 was rained out) in New York. The Cleveland Naps had purchased his contract from Racine and wanted to see what the youngster could do. Using mostly his fastball and working the corners, especially the inside […]

Pitcher Ted Olson played in parts of three seasons for the Boston Red Sox, but recorded only a career record of 1-1 in the 57? innings he worked. Olson was the eldest child of Peter and Esther Olson, Swedish natives who both came to the United States in 1891 when he was about 15 and […]

Life was hard for an Appalachian coal miner and his family in the 1920s and 1930s. So it was for Lloyd “Whitey” Moore. His father died when the lad was 13. He and his older brother Lester dropped out of school and found employment to support their mother and younger brother. Lloyd Albert Moore was […]

Millions of Californians were not born there but chose the Golden State as the epicenter of their career and family lives. Two of them, London’s Bob Hope and Tacoma’s Bing Crosby, won fame and glory in Hollywood with a series of “Road” movies. The subject of this article, however, is a baseball personality whose life […]

Whenever a major-league closer comes in for a save opportunity, the lights shine the brightest and the pressure increases immensely. Any closer will tell you that he has one of the most nerve-wracking positions in all of sports. Nobody knows about this feeling more than former pitcher and closer Brian Fuentes. Fuentes was born in […]

Mel Roach was more a spectator than a player for the 1957 world champion Milwaukee Braves. He played the first part of the season in the minor leagues before the Braves called him up in July. He spent the rest of the campaign as an occasional pinch-hitter and pinch-runner, batting only seven times and stroking […]

Rich Rollins’ 10-year career in the major leagues included two All-Star Game appearances and playing in the 1965 World Series with the Minnesota Twins. Richard John Rollins was born on April 16, 1938, in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. His father, a welder, was ambidextrous, and played baseball in coal mining leagues. The family later […]

“Sammy Byrd, the Yankee reserve outfielder, is a good golfer, but he has not had a real chance to show how good a ball player he is.” — Boston Globe, December 17, 1934   Sammy Byrd could have been a starting outfielder on any other team, but on the great New York Yankees teams from […]

The story of Vernon Randolph Harrison and the 1946 Newark Eagles is a case of “did he or didn’t he?” Did Lefty Harrison pitch for Newark during the 1946 season, or was the Harrison whose name appeared in at least one box score Vernon Harrison or someone else? Negro League baseball research on teams and […]

“Couldn’t seem to hit, but could field as sweet as you ever saw.” – Connie Johnson, remembering Archie Ware in 19971   Archie Virgil Ware was born on June 19, 1918, in Greenville, Florida. His father was Virgil Ware, and his mother was Sally Emma Simmons. He attended Elder Jordan Elementary School,2 and his formal […]

“I was mean on the mound,” said Bob Buhl, a tough competitor for the Milwaukee Braves during their heyday in the 1950s.[1] Forming part of the Big Three with Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette, Buhl notched 109 of his 166 career wins for the Braves. Self-confident, brash, and sometimes wild on the mound, Buhl was […]

A turn-of-the-20th-century left-hander with a singular first name, Welcome Gaston’s brief major league career included events out of the ordinary, as well. During his October 1898 audition with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, for example, Gaston started four National League games – but only two made the record books; his other two outings were called off before […]

The mere mention of Edgar “Blue” Washington evokes thought and a curious smile, as he is undoubtedly one of the rarest of all Negro League treasures. During the early part of the twentieth century, Edgar flaunted his athleticism as a gallant young prizefighter in open-air boxing arenas in Southern California and on weekend afternoons could […]