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The reigning World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers finally made a push to the National League pennant late in the 1956 season. After being 1½ games out of first place following a doubleheader split September 7, the Dodgers charged forward and held a one-game lead on September 30. Brooklyn had swept the Pirates in a doubleheader […]

The first cycle — single, double, triple, and home run — in the major leagues was accomplished by Charles Joseph Foley (also known as Curry Foley) of the Buffalo Bisons in a National League game against the Cleveland Blues on May 25, 1882. The contest was played at Riverside Grounds, the home ballpark of the […]

On the day in 1901 that a former Brooklyn Superbas pitcher, Dr. James McJames, passed away, the team trounced the Cincinnati Reds, 25-6. McJames had made his name with the splendid Baltimore Orioles of the late nineteenth century. Pitching for the Orioles in 1898, he posted his best record: 27 victories, 40 complete games, a […]

In adding to his legend, Babe Ruth drove a pitch into Yankee Stadium’s right-field bleachers to steal a victory away from the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox had scored three runs in the top of the 10th and believed they had the game in the bag, but Ruth’s walkoff grand slam in the bottom […]

Dave “Boo” Ferriss began his major-league career with an astonishing eight consecutive wins in 1945. The start of his career was unprecedented, because Ferriss had minimal time as a professional player before his major-league debut with the Boston Red Sox. His eight victories were all complete games, and four of them were shutouts. In that […]

Dave “Boo” Ferriss, an ex-GI discharged from the Army Air Corps in February 1945, began his major-league career with an astonishing eight consecutive wins in 1945. The start of his career was unprecedented, since Ferriss had minimal time as a professional player prior to his debut.1 In his first three starts for the Boston Red […]

The social calendars for many a Louisvillian in the mid-1880s were anchored by two annual marquee events: the Kentucky Derby and the Southern Exposition. The Derby, which grew to become the signature event in American horse racing, was held on the first Friday in May at Churchill Downs.1 The Southern Exposition was a regional fair […]

No manager in major-league history was more inclined to use left-handed shortstops than Billy Barnie of the American Association’s Baltimore Orioles. In his nine years at the helm there, from 1883 through 1891, he used seven of them,1 most notably Jimmy Macullar, who was his everyday shortstop for three seasons.2 When George Van Haltren, the […]

The Pittsburgh Pirates surged into the National League’s crowded pennant race in August 1965 but faced stiffer resistance once the calendar flipped to September: twin aces Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale in a doubleheader with the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers at Forbes Field. In the twin bill’s opener, Koufax broke his own post-1900 NL season […]

Ulysses S. Grant said, “I know of no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.”1 His sentiment rang true in major-league baseball after the American Association and National League repealed rules that limited pitching motions in the midst of the 1885 season. The change unleashed pitch […]

Three years after announcing his retirement, Bill Virdon returned to active service in July 1968, when injuries and military obligations left the Pittsburgh Pirates shorthanded. Though brief, Virdon’s reactivation produced one memorable moment: a game-tying two-run ninth-inning home run off star reliever Ted Abernathy in Pittsburgh’s 12-inning, 7-6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Forbes […]

The June 6, 1945, headline in The Dispatch (Moline, Illinois) read, “Cincinnati Clowns to Play at Davenport Friday Night.” The piece to follow reported, “Some of the greatest names in Negro baseball appear in the Clowns’ lineup, among them being Roosevelt ‘Duro’ Davis, second only to ‘Satchel’ Paige in Negro pitching circles.” Hyperbole or not, Davis, 41 […]

Bob Cobb (1899-1970) embodied the American Dream. Rising from humble beginnings, he revolutionized both the restaurant industry and baseball entertainment in Los Angeles, California. His journey from a Montana boarding house to ownership of both the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant and the Pacific Coast League’s Hollywood Stars exemplified how vision, determination, and an unwavering commitment […]

When Hub Hart, backup to regular catcher Billy Sullivan, sustained an ankle injury in mid-July 1906, the Chicago White Sox found themselves in need of another backstop. Team owner Charles Comiskey acquired an untested rookie named Babe Towne from Des Moines of the Western League to “hold the fort” until Hart recovered. Before Hart’s ankle […]

Shortstop Al Naples’ major-league career was limited to two back-to-back games at the end of June 1949. He doubled to right field his first time at bat. It turned out to be the only base hit of his brief time in the big leagues. Naples was born on August 29, 1926, in Staten Island, New […]

Hank Behrman was a minor contributor to the golden age of baseball in Brooklyn. His career was all promise and little delivery. Yet the five-feet-eleven, 174-pound right-hander did have one sterling season for the Dodgers. In 1946, his rookie campaign, he appeared in forty-seven games and posted an 11-5 record with a sparkling 2.93 ERA. […]

Right-hander Lou Knerr (pronounced Nerr) debuted in 1945 when big-league rosters were ravaged by World War II. He posted a modest 5-11 slate with the cellar-dwelling Philadelphia A’s, but took umbrage with the label of wartime player. “Sure there were a lot of players who shouldn’t have been in the major leagues, . . .” […]

A smallish spitballer, right-hander Jimmy Dygert joined the Philadelphia Athletics in September 1905. Two years later, his career season almost enabled Philadelphia to overtake Detroit in the heated 1907 American League pennant race. From there, Dygert’s wildness undercut his prospects. When the Athletics claimed their first world championship in 1910, Dygert was an afterthought, his […]

The year was 1897 and former world heavyweight boxing champion Gentleman Jim Corbett had just delivered his biggest punch of the match in Wheeling, West Virginia. The crowd buzzed with anticipation awaiting the response from Ernie Beam. This was merely an exhibition, but Beam was no rank amateur. He had been in these situations before. […]

There are many ways to gain attention as a professional baseball player, and over the course of his career, Iván Calderon got plenty of attention. At first, it was as a five-tool prospect for the Seattle Mariners; a can’t-miss kid with tremendous power and raw talent who tore through the minor leagues. A short-time after […]

Bullet Jack Thoney was once called “the unluckiest player in the history of baseball.”i Boston Red Sox owner John I. Taylor had paid what was thought to be the most money ever paid for a player at the time, but it seemed as though every time Thoney made a major-league team, he broke a limb. […]

Several years ago, I picked up a large package of records belonging to obscure minor-league ballplayers whose big league dreams had ended in the bushes. Previously rescued from a trash heap by a resourceful collector, these materials had been purged by the San Francisco Giants to make room for the tracking of newer generations of […]

John Ryn’s career was spent in the Midwest, South and West far from the eyes of the major East Coast newspapers and fans. All of it was spent in the minors or below. Considering this and the fact that his career ended more than a century ago, few have heard of him. Physically, he was […]

“George Crable Batting .400 in the Harmony League.” — Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 24, 19111   Nebraskan left-hander George Crable parlayed two games with the Brooklyn Superbas in August 1910 into a nearly two-decade baseball-themed vaudeville stage career. Sadly, he lost all of his sports and theater memorabilia in a 1931 fire at his cigar […]