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Herb Welch played in almost 1,000 games in the minor leagues, but his time in the majors was limited to 13 games in 1925 for the Boston Red Sox. Welch was a shortstop and committed eight errors in the 13 games, which likely doomed his chances for further work at the big-league level despite a […]

Charlie Small’s time in the major leagues consisted of 22 times he was asked to pinch-hit, twice he was asked to pinch-run, and once he was asked to play center field. He wasn’t particularly successful hitting–he sacrificed twice, walked twice, and hit safely three times in 18 at-bats. One of the hits was for extra […]

Thomas Williams’s pitching career spanned only eight years, but in that time he proved to be an important member of Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants teams in the early years of the Negro National League. Although not much is documented about Williams’s early life, he was born on September 28, 1896, in Charleston, South Carolina, […]

In the early days of the 20th century, Danny Moeller was one of the few major-league players to strike out 100 times in a season. But Moeller was much better known for other things. He was a prolific base-stealer, an effective leadoff man, and a deft defensive outfielder during a seven-year major-league career, most of […]

Weldy Walker was an African-American whose professional baseball career is little more than a footnote in baseball’s record book. Of note, however, is his professional and major-league debut with Toledo on July 15, 1884, in an American Association game. When he stepped onto the field that day he became the second black man to play […]

There had been a Negro Leagues all-star game since September 10, 1933, when the first one was played at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Often called the East-West Classic, or the Dream Game,1 by the early 1940s it attracted as many as 51,000 fans. Yet no matter how high the attendance figures were, the White-owned newspapers, including […]

The Boston Americans ran away with the American League pennant in 1903, finishing the season by winning the first World Series between AL and National League champions. The Cleveland Naps spent much of the season in the middle of the AL standings, but a stretch of 13 wins in 14 games in August enabled them […]

The St. Louis Cardinals were surging. On June 30 St. Louis had trailed the first-place and defending World Series champion New York Giants by 5½ games, but the Cardinals had won three of four games against the Giants at Sportsman’s Park from July 15 to July 18 to cut the lead to a half-game. St. […]

After his brain cramp in Game Two of the 1951 World Series, Eddie Stanky used guile to spark the New York Giants to a 6-2 triumph over the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds in Game Three and a 2-1 Series lead. Rarely does a stolen base matter more than a three-run homer, but […]

It was “one of the most spectacular closing chapters in all World Series history,” gushed sportswriter Grantland Rice about Mel Ott’s home run in the top of the 10th inning against the Washington Senators in Game Five of the World Series to give the New York Giants a surprising title.1 It was a stunning turnaround […]

The first 60 games of the Colorado Rockies’ 1998 season were against familiar National League opponents. The next six, however, consisted of two three-game interleague series against the American League’s Anaheim Angels and Texas Rangers. Interleague play was in its second season,1 and the schedule resulted in the Rockies playing back-to-back series against two unfamiliar […]

On July 6, 1931, the Brooklyn Robins1 began an extended road trip, playing 32 of their next 36 games away from Ebbets Field.2 After stops in Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis, and Chicago, the second-place Robins traveled to Pittsburgh. The Pirates, in sixth place in the National League, had been home since July 4, and except […]

After enduring an 86-year drought (1919-2003), the Boston Red Sox were going for their fourth world championship in 15 years, while the Los Angeles Dodgers were suffering a 30-year drought of their own, since they’d beat Oakland in 1988. They’d made it to the postseason 11 times in those 30 years but come up short […]

The World Series had come down to the winner-take-all game for the 33rd time.1 The two teams had alternated wins throughout the series. Now 67,204 fans filled Pro Player Stadium to see who would take home the championship trophy. Cleveland had not won a World Series title since 1948, falling short against the New York […]

The mighty New York Mets held a 19-game lead over their closest National League East competition, the Philadelphia Phillies, at the start of September 1986. But the Mets, trying to stay in top shape for the playoffs, didn’t slack off the rest of the way. From September 1 to the end of the season, they […]

A sunny, breezy afternoon in Tiger Stadium before a crowd of 41,774 was the setting for the NBC Saturday Game of the Week on June 22, 1985. Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola were on hand to broadcast the contest between the defending World Series champion Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees.1 Detroit manager Sparky […]

He was such a green recruit that a hometown newspaper did not even know his name. Misidentified as “Nichols” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Browns’ George Nicol made his major-league debut by holding the visiting Philadelphia Athletics hitless in a wild 21-2 victory called after seven innings because of darkness, though the real reason […]

George Brett entered the 1992 season as an accomplished veteran leading a rebuilding team. The 1991 Royals finished with an 82-80 record, 13 games behind the AL-West-leading Minnesota Twins and only one game removed from the basement. Kansas City hadn’t reached the postseason since winning the 1985 World Series, although the Royals won 92 games […]

“National Disgrace! Worst. Loss. Ever!” — Headlines on the back pages of the New York Daily News and New York Post on September 4, 2019.1   Who won the ballgame last night? In the 1950s, that question was often answered by New Yorkers after a quick stop at one of the 1,500 newsstands that dotted […]

Every good recipe starts with the right ingredients. In baseball, start with some speed and power, solid swings on the right pitches, and good bounces or caroms off the wall, and add some good fortune. In other words, possess the offensive skills of a “five-tool player”1 and it might lead to one of the rarest […]

As the July 31, 2015, nonwaiver trade deadline1 got closer, it became apparent that the race for the National League East Division title was going to be a two-team affair, the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals. Speculation began months before as to who would contend for a postseason position and be buyers as […]

“The pressure is on him, man. It’s not on me. I’m supposed to get out.”  — Ryan Zimmerman1   Baseball games are filled with moments of great theater. Before the curtain rises, Washington Nationals third-base coach Bob Henley emerges from the dugout and trots to his position, but not before presenting a baseball to an […]

“Most of the crowd at the series seemed to be eager for the underdog Browns to upset the Cardinals,” wrote the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Game Six of the Trolley Car World Series in the Gateway City.1 Described by sportswriter Sid C. Keener as the “people’s choice,” the Brownies hoped to even the Series and extend the fairy-tale […]

An incorrect headline is a publisher’s nightmare. The most famous such blunder occurred the day after the presidential election in 1948 when the Chicago Tribune proclaimed “Dewey Defeats Truman” in the first edition of the morning paper on November 3.1 Thomas E. Dewey had been leading in the polls and the Tribune’s managing editor, J. […]