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Like most forces of nature, Paul Lo Duca’s twin eruptions in June 2007 were remarkable for both their spontaneity and the havoc they left behind. Frustrated with his team’s recent struggles and what he considered undue expectations from the press, on June 23 the New York Mets catcher littered the diamond with his equipment after […]

Montreal Expos fans were stunned by the news.1 On April 5, 1972, the Expos traded the face of the franchise, 28-year-old superstar Rusty Staub, to the New York Mets for three promising young players: 24-year-old outfielder Ken Singleton, 23-year-old first baseman Mike Jorgensen, and 21-year-old shortstop Tim Foli. Although the ever-popular Staub helped the Mets […]

When it comes to hard-luck losses, the textbook example is Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates dropping a 1-0 decision after his perfect game was snapped in the 13th inning of a 1959 contest. Cincinnati Reds fans of a certain vintage could never forget Jim Maloney getting saddled with the loss after his no-hitter was […]

With two shortstops sidelined and their improbable run for the National League Central Division title in jeopardy, the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had spent 1997’s run-up trading off experienced players and shedding salary obligations, played against type by acquiring veteran Shawon Dunston from the Chicago Cubs at the August 31 postseason roster deadline. Dunston made an […]

It was an unseasonably cool summer evening in Spokane – in the mid-60s at gametime. But the cool breeze didn’t mean cooler heads would prevail during the final game of a four-game series between two cross-state rivals, the Bellingham Mariners and Spokane Indians. “We kinda had a little bit of bad blood with [Bellingham],” Spokane […]

Hoyt Wilhelm is credited with pitching in 1,304 regular-season professional baseball games across 28 seasons, spanning 31 calendar years.1 This remarkable journey began on the night of May 9, 1942, when Wilhelm took the mound for the Mooresville (North Carolina) Moors of the Class D North Carolina State League. At the time, Wilhelm was a […]

First-year manager Jim Leyland’s Pittsburgh Pirates sought their sixth consecutive win and a series sweep of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on April 20, 1986. The Pirates eventually emerged with a victory, but it took 17 innings, 17 pitchers from both sides, and nearly four months. Chicago right fielder Keith Moreland tied the game […]

Billy Arnold Muffett — Billy was his given name — was a right-handed pitcher who worked for the Cardinals, Giants, and Red Sox in the years 1957-1962. In only one of those years — 1961 with the Red Sox — did he spend a full season in the majors. “I was named Billy Arnold for […]

Ken Holcombe was a Jehovah’s Witness who first caught the attention of big-league scouts at a tryout camp. A right-handed pitcher of modest stature, he was 5-foot-11 and listed at 169 pounds. Kenneth Edward Holcombe was born in Burnsville, North Carolina, on August 23, 1918, to Lee Polk Holcombe and Eula Pansy (Wilson) Holcombe. Lee […]

Speedy Everett Booe was one of a multitude of major-leaguers who played only a year or two in the big leagues, and then spent the majority of their careers in the minors. Booe was a rookie flash in the pan for the Pirates in 1913, and then jumped to Indianapolis and Buffalo of the upstart Federal […]

Fred Glade was a wealthy man before playing major league baseball. His family owned milling businesses which eventually became a piece of the modern conglomerate ConAgra. He had pressing family and business responsibilities and didn’t need a salary from baseball. He appeared at spring training on his own schedule, if at all. He jumped clubs […]

Selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the second round of the 1983 MLB amateur draft, Bob Milacki garnered little attention with a pedestrian record of 16-21, 3.79 in his first 290 innings in the minor leagues. “I’d been in the organization [three] years and never impressed anybody,” the right-hander later acknowledged.1 In 1988, as the […]

How many big-leaguers since World War II have been born in England? How many have appeared on Topps “Rookie Stars” cards in three separate years? The answers (as of 2020): seven in each category.[1] Keith Lampard, who played 62 games for the Houston Astros in 1969-70, claimed both odd distinctions. Christopher Keith Lampard was born […]

Right-handed pitcher Wesley Cheek Ferrell was born on February 2, 1908 in Greensboro, North Carolina, to Lonnie and Clora Alice Ferrell. He was the fifth of seven children, all brothers. His father Lonnie was employed by the Southern Railroad, first as a fireman and then as an engineer. Two years after Wes’s birth, however, he […]

Poet Alexander Pope gave us the phrase “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” Nowhere is this optimism more prevalent than among fans at baseball spring training. In 1921 the Chicago Cubs, under former star and new1 manager Johnny Evers, went to Catalina Island for spring training for the first time. They stayed only a […]

Ray Webster played in 47 major-league games in 1959 and 1960, and 732 games over eight seasons in the minor leagues, playing for teams ranging from Quebec to Hawaii. He was primarily a middle infielder but also played 75 games at third base and 35 in the outfield. During his time in the big leagues, […]

Major leaguers have been blessed (or cursed) with colorful nicknames, such as “Pudge,” “Prince Hal,” “Pops,” “Pie,” “Pee Wee,” “Putt Putt,” and those are just some of the ones starting with the letter “P.” To that list, add Tomás “Planchardón” Quiñones, a Puerto Rican right-handed pitcher whose four games in 1947 with the Cincinnati-Indianapolis Clowns […]

Gene Krapp, a diminutive right-handed spitballer, holds an iconic spot in the legendary halls of baseball journalism. Celebrated baseball writer Fred Lieb wrote in his memoir about the influence that writer Charley Dryden had upon Lieb’s career. Lieb was especially impressed with Dryden’s ability to occasionally slip a double entendre past an editor. Lieb wrote, […]

The first year the Red Sox wore uniform numbers was 1931. The first man to wear #1 was Bill Sweeney. It was his last year in the majors. Sweeney lived out the rest of his life in baseball, twice managing the Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels to pennants, in two stints eight years apart […]

Noted for his versatility, John Melvin “Bubba” Phillips started games at third base and all three outfield positions for the 1959 American League champion White Sox. That year, he played 117 games and had 379 at-bats with five home runs, 40 RBIs, and a .264 average while batting anywhere from the second to the eighth […]

Hannah and Ernie Wright (Courtesy of Hagen History Center)   In an era when many African Americans lived in poverty and were treated as second-class citizens, Ernest Pearle Wright managed to rise and persevere as a successful businessman.   Born on October 7, 1901, in Zanesville, Ohio, Ernest was the only child to mother Jessie (Forney) […]

For those who saw Tim McCarver break in with the St. Louis Cardinals, it was probably a surprise that he became better known for his broadcasting career than for his days as a catcher. Not that he wasn’t always articulate and glib, and that his finding a home in the broadcast booth was a shock; […]

Andrés Mora was one of Mexico’s greatest sluggers. He could easily have been the all-time home run king south of the border, had he not spent time in the United States. By his own choice, he went back home – still aged just 24 – after four unfulfilling partial seasons in the majors. When he […]

Drafted out of high school, Don Aase began his professional baseball career with what might have seemed like something of a nightmare season for a pitcher — he was 0-10. When he made it to the major leagues five years later, he was hailed as almost the Second Coming for his debut year with the […]