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By August 1971, the American and National Leagues had combined to play a little more than 90,000 games in the twentieth century, and roughly 8,300 of those games had ended in a walk-off,1 a single play that scored the winning run for the home team in the ninth inning or later. Even with those staggering […]

“The baseball writers, on the eve of going South to watch the athletes in action, are beginning to write pieces for their assorted papers regarding the coming campaign and, strange as it may appear to the followers of the fighting Griffs, few are picking the World champions to repeat,” Washington Times sportswriter Louis Dougher told […]

On May 30, 2013, Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury seemingly ran wild, stealing a franchise-record five bases against the Philadelphia Phillies – yet not one of them featured in the game’s scoring.1 Still, the Red Sox racked up nine runs and held on to first place in the American League East Division with […]

There was concern in Red Sox Nation as to whether Clay Buchholz would be up to the task of starting Game Four. The Cardinals now held a two-games-to-one lead, with Games Four and Five slated for St. Louis, where they had proved exceptionally strong during both the 2013 regular season (54-27) and the postseason (6-1). […]

“Cupcake,” a euphemism for a should-be-easy-to-beat opponent, entered the sports lexicon in the 1970s.1 Forty-some years earlier, the New York Yankees would’ve agreed it applied to their September 23, 1932, opponent: the cellar-dwelling, 63 games back2 Boston Red Sox. The hapless 1899 Cleveland Spiders were the last major-league team to face an opponent 60 or […]

Wheeling, West Virginia’s Peninsula Cemetery isn’t the easiest place to find. Situated between industrial complexes and a dead-end road, the cemetery looks neglected and forlorn. With stones toppled over and minimal maintenance, looking for the final resting place of anyone there can be challenging. This forgotten burial ground is the final resting place of two […]

A pitcher for one game in the major leagues, appearing under the name Chief Chouneau, William “Nitchie” Cadreau was a member of the Fond du Lac Band, Lake Superior Ojibwe in northeastern Minnesota. Cadreau grew up on the Fond du Lac Reservation, to the west of Cloquet, Minnesota, approximately 20 miles west-southwest of Duluth. The […]

Texan outfielder C. L. Taylor was the first star of the new West Texas League in the summer of 1920. The “sphinx-like speed merchant”1 also led the Texas-Oklahoma League in hitting in 1922. At age 27, in the spring of 1925, he reached the majors but went hitless in six at-bats with the Chicago Cubs. […]

Catcher Jack Lapp came to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1908 as a late-season gamble recruited from outlaw baseball. He stuck with the team and become part of the “pennant trust” that captured four American League flags from 1910 through 1914.1 Lapp never quite eclipsed Ira Thomas, then Wally Schang, to emerge as the team’s first-string […]

Catcher Charlie Hoover debuted with the Kansas City Cowboys in the American Association on October 9, 1888, one month after he turned 23. “Hoover made his debut behind [Henry] Porter and did well in the field,” wrote the Kansas City Times, despite two errors against one assist.1 Described as 170 pounds and 5 feet 9 […]

Charles Krehmeyer joined his first professional team in June 1883, signing with the Terre Haute (Indiana) Blues. When he made his major-league debut the following season, he joined a select club that even today numbers fewer than two dozen – catchers who threw left-handed and played more than one game in the majors. With only […]

New York Yankees scout Joe Devine approached a young, struggling outfielder toiling in the lower minors with the following advice: “Frank, the closest you’ll ever come to center field in Yankee Stadium is in a postcard. But I think you could make the major leagues as a manager.”1 The right-handed-hitting youngster, who’d unsuccessfully tried switch-hitting […]

A teenaged soda vendor at the new Birmingham minor-league ballpark, a low minors “doubleheader” workhorse, a victor over Walter Johnson, and a tragic victim of tuberculosis at 31, Pop-Boy Smith is an enigmatic figure in the Southeast baseball scene from the 1910s and early 1920s. Clarence Ossie Smith was born on May 23, 1892 in […]

“It’s going to be a tough act for the kid to follow,” said Cleveland pitcher Bob Feller.1 Indeed, it would be. Feller had just thrown the 12th one-hitter of his fabulous career, blanking Boston, 2-0, in the first game of a doubleheader at Cleveland on May 1, 1955. Boston catcher Sammy White singled to center field in the seventh inning for […]

After his retirement, Fritz Peterson recalled, “When I signed with the Yankees, the scout told me, ‘Heck, you’re a lefthander working in Yankee Stadium, you can count on a World Series check at least every other year.’”1 The Yankees hadn’t finished in last place since 1912, when they were still the New York Highlanders. However, […]

Before he ever threw a pitch in the major leagues, Marino Pieretti had already experienced more challenges than most big-leaguers face in their entire career. A high school team reject, minor-league afterthought, serious injury survivor, and a risky contract holdout—his journey was anything but ordinary. How did a 5-foot-7, Italian-born pitcher, overlooked at every turn […]

The Los Angeles Dodgers had a pair of antique dueling pistols in the late ’70s. Yet despite their age, Vic Davalillo and Manny Mota were in great condition – and the fire of these small arms was often deadly. Davalillo’s big-league career had seemingly ended in 1974, but after more than three years in the […]

Two-sport standouts were not as common in the Deadball Era as in later decades, but several men excelled in two or more sports (one being baseball). The best known of these players is Jim Thorpe, but Bill Powell (basketball) and Homer Davidson (football) also played two sports. Another two-sport athlete was R.B. Kelly of the […]

For 34 years TV broadcaster Jerry Remy was a familiar presence in the living rooms of Red Sox Nation. Genial and relaxed, Remy (rhymes with “hemi”) conveyed his professional expertise without arrogance – the ideal companion for watching baseball. As team chairman Tom Werner described him, “He’s the guy you’d like to have a beer […]

A celebrated base ball character” was A. G. Spalding’s succinct description of Bob Addy, who was his teammate on three separate clubs.1 Others who knew Addy well referred to him as a philosopher or as a wag or as the “Honorable Bob.” The reasons behind that last tag remain unknown, but it certainly sounds like the sort […]

Floyd “Jelly” Gardner was a prototypical leadoff hitter who played 13 seasons in the Negro Leagues, from 1919 to 1931, most notably for Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants. The speedy Gardner stood just 5-feet-6½ and weighed 160 pounds, and his base stealing prowess created constant pressure on opposing defenses. He was a left-handed hitter, threw […]

“You were a good man to have on a team. You kept the spirits up. You were the life of the party.” — Ted Page, to Jake Stephens 1   Jake Stephens may have been the greatest defensive shortstop of all time. He was on par with Modern Era defensive shortstops like Mark Belanger and […]

“Willie Foster was the greatest left hander that I ever played with and he was a gentleman on and off the field.” — Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe   If there was a signature moment for a baseball player, Willie Foster’s complete-game victories in both ends of the doubleheader for the Chicago American Giants to decide […]

Pete Rose started there. Bernice Gera, professional baseball’s first female umpire, started and finished there. Television dramatist Rod Serling relaxed there. Kenny Shepard, general manager of the local baseball team, slept there. And a young player with a chance to make the majors could be taking the field there today. “There” is McDonough Park, a […]