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Playing in the major leagues was an on-again/off-again proposition for the man listed in all baseball record books and databases as Yip Owens. Frank Walter Owens’s first game in professional baseball was in 1905 for the Boston Americans, on September 11. It was his only game that year; he then went to the Southern Association […]

A Tennessee native who played baseball and basketball at Georgia Tech,1 Bob Tillman caught the eye of Red Sox scout George Digby, who signed him out of Middle Tennessee State on January 18, 1958. Tillman, a 6-foot-4 right-hander, earned a place in baseball history with his first official major-league at-bat, which left the yard in […]

For a few years as a young man he was the most noted second baseman in all of baseball. But a combination of factors prevented Charlie Sweasy from fulfilling the promise of his youth. He played his final major-league game at the age of 30 and is all but forgotten today. Charles James Sweasy1 was […]

Wilbur Wehde was born on November 23, 1906, in the hamlet of Holstein, Iowa. The town, roughly 45 miles east of Sioux City, was at the time home to fewer than 1,000 residents, mostly first- or second-generation German immigrants. Wehde’s father, Gustave, managed a creamery and brokered other farmers’ produce, while his mother, Frieda, managed […]

Before the time of extensive scouting, there are numerous stories of teams offering a tryout to a local phenom and, if he made good in his audition, signing him to a contract. Some of these “finds” went on to stellar major league careers. However, roster limits necessitated that when a new youngster was added to […]

When he made his debut with the hometown St. Louis Browns in August 1904, Art Bader was the major leagues’ youngest player at 17 years, 10 months, 315 days. At the conclusion of his big-league career, Bader was a day older. After his quick release by the Browns, Bader continued to play ball, toiling in […]

Like many marginal ballplayers from the Deadball Era, Grover Land has been largely forgotten with the passage of time. His career as a player and coach spanned 27 seasons (1904-1930). He logged seven years as a major leaguer, the first five as backup catcher for the Cleveland Naps in the American League and the last […]

If William Ellsworth Hoy were playing today, he would not be called “Dummy”–not by players nor by fans nor by the media. He’d be “Bill” or “Billy,” perhaps “Will” or “Willie,” maybe even “Ellie.” He wouldn’t be a deaf mute, either. He’d be “aurally and vocally challenged.” But back when Hoy was playing, nicknames were […]

Henry Chadwick, the esteemed “Father of Baseball,” observed William Selden in 1889 and called him “an excellent strategic pitcher.”1 Selden was an ace of the Cuban Giants, a pioneering African-American team. Two years later, he pitched a shutout with President Benjamin Harrison looking on.2 Selden had come a long way since his days as the […]

“The inevitable has become reality.” With those words, on WOR Channel 9’s telecast, Steve Zabriskie announced that the Mets had clinched the 1986 National League Eastern Division title. Nearly 40 years later, those words still echoed as part of a video and audio montage of Mets highlights included in television ads for 2016 Mets season […]

On game days at Wrigley Field, the first thing many players—particularly pitchers—do is check the flags flying above the iconic center-field scoreboard. When the wind blows in off Lake Michigan, as it often does early in the season, the ballpark is a pitcher’s paradise. But as the weather warms, the prevailing winds are mostly from […]

“I’m glad it’s all over with. Now I can go back to my regular swing,” a mentally exhausted Willie Mays groaned.1 “Every day, I’ve been trying to get it over with so I could go back to playing baseball.”2 The 10 days that passed in the spring of 1966 between Mays tying Mel Ott’s National […]

“One of the most sensational ballgames ever played on any ballpark,” raved sportswriter Jim Nasium about the Philadelphia Phillies-Brooklyn Robins 20-inning, 9-9 tie on the last day of April 1919. The matchup featured clutch hitting and fantastic fielding, as well as soul-crushing errors and strikeouts in pivotal situations.1 In what Phillies beat reporter Robert W. […]

Championship baseball generates excitement. Championship series ultimately decided by a single final game skyrocket interest surrounding the game. Compelling backstories raise the intrigue even higher. All of this was involved when the International League’s 1998 Governor’s Cup Series between two popular Triple-A franchises, the Buffalo Bisons and Durham Bulls, came down to a deciding Game […]

How hard did Jerry Vezendy throw? Hard enough to strike out 102 batters in 71 innings in the Class A New York-Penn League in 1964. Hard enough for the Boston Red Sox to sign him to a major-league contract that October to prevent him from being drafted by another team.1 Hard enough, too, to land […]

It sounds like the kind of far-fetched scenario you might hear in a barroom bet: “True or false? Two baseball teams once played a game where the pitchers threw seven shutout innings, but the score was 21-17.” If anyone ever offers you that brainteaser, pick “true,” because it really happened to two teams in the […]

“No one grows up playing baseball pretending that they’re pitching or hitting in Triple-A.” – Chris Schwinden1 Minor-league baseball players dream of the chance to play in the major leagues. Some toil for years and never get the opportunity. Others are there for only a glimpse – a “cup of coffee.”2 Some are destined to […]

In the midst of a career year with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2008, 29-year-old Xavier Nady was hitting .330 with 13 home runs and 57 RBIs in 89 games when he was dealt to the New York Yankees, along with Damaso Marte, for four players1 on July 26. Nady’s arrival at his new home field […]

The Sporting News’s headline for the April 29, 1955, game between the Fort Worth Cats and Dallas Eagles was “Cats, Eagles in Long Thriller,”1 but the significance of this game extends beyond the back-and-forth drama in this marathon between longtime minor-league adversaries. It was the last series between the Cats and Eagles before the death […]

Late in the 1987 season, Sam Horn took Boston by storm. After hitting .321 with 30 home runs and 84 RBIs in 94 games for Triple-A Pawtucket, he was called up when the Red Sox released veteran Bill Buckner on July 23. In his major-league debut, on July 25 against Seattle, the 6-foot-5 left-handed slugger […]

“Figure to repeat on youth and depth of pitching and long ball power. Gaps may appear in line-up. Robinson is about through. Reese can’t go much longer. But if Campanella holds up and staff stays reasonable sound, should breeze. Morale received boost in first World Series triumph and Alston established leadership.” — 1956 Dell Baseball […]

The New York Mets won the franchise’s fifth pennant in 2015 but lost that year’s fall classic to the Kansas City Royals. A season later, they fell in the National League wild-card game to the San Francisco Giants. After this came consecutive losing seasons. By 2019, the Mets had almost completely overhauled their depth chart. […]

Remember that Yankee game in June When the Yanks were playing a merry tune And it looked as if the Birds would swoon? Oh, my, goodbye! – Robert Goodman, “That Yankee Game”1   When the New York Yankees came to Baltimore on June 23, 1964, to open a three-game series against the Orioles, the Yankees, […]

With a score of 2-2 after two innings, the August 13, 1950, game between the Rochester Red Wings and Jersey City Giants of the Triple-A International League wasn’t shaping up as much of a pitchers’ duel. Then the game’s starters took control. Rochester’s Tom Poholsky, a 20-year-old prospect, and Jersey City’s Andy Tomasic, a 32-year-old […]