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“Three homers in a game. I’ve never done that before,” 26-year-old Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard said after adding to his club-record season total in an 8-7 win over the Atlanta Braves in the first game of a doubleheader on September 3, 2006.1 Braves pitcher Tim Hudson, who surrendered all three of Howard’s home […]

The annual Patriots Day game in Boston started just after 11:00 A.M. on Monday, April 19. The Red Sox had taken two of the previous three games from the visiting New York Yankees.1 Boston made it three of four with a comeback 5-4 win, aided by contributions from some of the less-celebrated Red Sox players. […]

A lot can happen in a year. Miguel Fuentes was proof of that. On September 8, 1968, he wore the Guerrilleros (Warriors) of Río Grande uniform and tamed the Polluelos (Chicks) of Aibonito 7-1 to secure the Puerto Rican Double-A championship. A few weeks later, the jersey read “Puerto Rico” as he represented the island […]

When would-be saboteurs tried to pull distractions on Bob Gibson, it never seemed to diminish his work. Rather, it merely poked the bear. Before pitching the seventh game of the 1967 World Series in Boston, Gibson was disturbed in his hotel room three times in the middle of the night by “mistaken” wake-up calls. And […]

The hopes of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of repeating as division champion in 2008 appeared to be derailed by injuries before the season began. As players reported to spring training in Tempe, Arizona, number-two starter Kelvim Escobar suffered a reaggravation of a shoulder injury and was certain to begin the season on the […]

It had been a rough opening month for the defending National League champions. Although they never dipped more than two games below .500, they had not risen more than two games above .500 either. After a 7-5 loss on May 25 to the visiting Washington Senators, the Boston Beaneaters were lingering in fifth place in […]

The Detroit Tigers headed to Cleveland for a three-game, two-day set with the Indians in August 1958. The Tigers were holding down fourth place in the American League. The Indians were right behind them in fifth. Both clubs, as well as the whole league, were double-digit games behind the first-place New York Yankees. Nobody was […]

Bob Friend established a reputation as one of the National League’s most consistent workhorses during his 16-year big-league career. An integral member of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 1960 World Series champion team, Friend won 197 games and authored 36 shutouts, including two one-hitters.1 Just months into his first and only season in the minor leagues in […]

“He is one batter who always knows what he is doing up at the plate and why.”1 — Tommy Henrich   Johnny Mize, Hall of Fame first baseman, could hit a baseball and he wrote about it in How to Hit.2 The 1953 book, co-authored with Murray Kaufman, is an easy read for those of […]

It’s often assumed that boys and men play baseball and girls and women play softball, but girls and women have played baseball – at both the amateur and professional levels – for as long as the game has existed. Students at all-female Vassar College formed two baseball teams in 1866 but didn’t get to play […]

To the extent that twenty-first-century baseball fans remember Willard Hershberger, they remember him for the unfortunate circumstances of his death. Hershberger, a 30-year-old backup catcher in his third season with the Cincinnati Reds, took his own life in a Boston hotel in August 1940 after a long struggle with depression. He was the first active […]

The New York Giants arrived in Indianapolis in August 1889 after winning five straight games – two against the Philadelphia Phillies, followed by a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Stockings. The Indianapolis Hoosiers had won two straight, and eight of their last 10 games, before facing the Giants.1 After the Hoosiers’ 14-4 win in […]

The Tampa Bay Rays, 6½ games behind the New York Yankees, were trying to stay in contention for the playoffs against the tough competition of the American League East. The Toronto Blue Jays meanwhile struggled after the opening month of the 2009 season and were looking to trade their pitching ace, Roy Halladay, after he […]

When the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Braves played a Sunday doubleheader in Milwaukee County Stadium on August 20, 1961, they were headed in opposite directions. The fourth-place Braves were riding a nine-game winning streak, including the first three games of the series with Philadelphia, which left them eight games behind the first-place Cincinnati Reds. The […]

On June 11, 1914, the Federal League’s Indianapolis Hoosiers swept a doubleheader from the Baltimore Terrapins and began a winning streak that propelled the team from seventh place to first. The string reached 15 wins on June 24 when star outfielder Benny Kauff and rookie pitcher George Kaiserling sparked Indianapolis past the Kansas City Packers, […]

Even professional athletes sometimes die suddenly and at quite young ages in ways that one might not expect. After his career in professional baseball ended, Ray Francis joined the Atlanta Police Department on July 14, 1932. He was on the beat on July 6, 1934 – his first day as a motorcycle policeman – and […]

John William “Ziggy” Sears was a minor-league outfielder from 1912 to 1928, a Texas League umpire from 1929 to 1934, a National League umpire from 1934 to 1945, a Pacific Coast League umpire in 1946, a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1947, a Texas League umpire from 1948 to 1951, and an actor in […]

A player whose major-league career lasts only one game is referred to as “having a cup of coffee.” Johnson E. (Jay) Fry is one of nearly 1,000 such men – and is certainly one of the least heralded members of that group. The native of Huntington, West Virginia left his city team around August 14, […]

In the early 1950s, the Boston Red Sox signed two left-handed pitchers named Bob Smith. They both batted right-handed and they both were about the same height and weight. Robert Gilchrist Smith was the first one signed, in 1948. He is the subject of a separate biography. In 1950 scout Chuck Koney of the Red […]

Playing his entire major-league career in the Federal League, Donald George Marion, known in baseball as Dan or Rube, was born on July 31, 1889, in Bowling Green, Ohio. He was a right-handed pitcher, tall for the time at 6-feet-1 and 187 pounds. Nothing is known about his early life other than his birthplace. When […]

“The Washington public went enthusiastically, almost insanely, baseball mad” on the day of Hack Eibel’s debut. So wrote the Washington Post.  This happened when “Clark Griffith’s ambitious climbers batted the ‘13’ hoodoo all to pieces.”[1]  It was the 13th of the month of June and the Nationals had 13 hits, adding another win to a 13-game winning […]

In his four National League and one American League seasons, Atlanta native Bob Barrett was primarily a third baseman (144 games), but played 31 games at second base, and 14 at first base. He made one putout in one chance in the one game he played in the outfield. He hit for a .260 batting […]

Andy Karl was one of those ballplayers who were able to benefit by the departure of many established ballplayers during the Second World War. He broke into Organized Baseball in 1937, playing for the Boston Red Sox affiliate in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Karl was a right-handed pitcher who stood 6-feet-1 and weighed 175 pounds. […]

It was not surprising that Detroit Tigers scout Billy Doyle wanted to talk with right-handed pitcher Bob Gillespie after the game he saw in 1939. Gillespie’s team had won, 15-1; Gillespie had struck out 21 batters and had hit a single, a triple, and two home runs. A handwritten note by Bob Gillespie in his […]