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Gabe Kapler understood that one of his first priorities in taking over as manager of the Phillies in 2018 was to improve the team’s offense. The 2016 Phillies finished last in the National League in runs scored, and progressed only to 12th-most in 2017. The Phillies started the 2018 season 1-4, but despite the team’s […]

Two NL West rivals heading in opposite directions were facing off at Coors Field. The visiting San Diego Padres were in fourth place, having lost four games in a row and seven out of their last 10. The Colorado Rockies, on the other hand, were winners of seven out of their last 10 games and […]

The California Angels’ best player of 1979, Don Baylor, came to Toronto in a bad mood. In an interview for the Orange County Register, Baylor criticized the Angels front office for not acquiring enough pitching help for the team.1 By the end of this game at Exhibition Stadium, Baylor had a 3-for-7 day with 8 […]

The Detroit Tigers hosted the visiting Red Sox at Briggs Stadium for a Friday afternoon game. The Red Sox had split a doubleheader in Cleveland the day before and were 6½ games out of first place. The Tigers had lost at home to the first-place Yankees, whom they trailed by 15 games. Boston was in […]

Owing to four rescheduled rainouts, the Terrapins and the Buf-Feds were playing their fifth doubleheader and 12th and 13th games against each other in nine days. Baltimore had taken seven of the first 11 with one tie, and the Buf-Feds were banged up and bruised. Buffalo manager Larry Schlafly might have done well to concede […]

It was the Deadball Era, where home runs were few and far between until the coming of George Herman “Babe” Ruth. Arthur Earl Wilson hit just seven home runs in 12 major-league seasons, mostly with the New York Giants and Chicago Cubs. When Wilson joined the Federal League’s Chicago Chi-Feds in 1914, he became a […]

As the first week of September drew to a close, neither the Red Sox nor the Phillies were doing much more than playing out the string.  The Red Sox had again failed to regain the magic that had fueled their surprising 2013 World Series championship, a victory followed by a return to the cellar in […]

The 1911 Boston Red Sox were nothing to write home about. They finished tied for fourth place with the Chicago White Sox, both 24 games behind the pennant-winning Philadelphia Athletics. Any Red Sox fan who happened to be in Detroit’s Bennett Park, though, on this Saturday afternoon might have written back to Boston about this […]

When the San Diego Padres defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-1, on the afternoon of September 30, 2006, the victory clinched a playoff berth for the team. But on October 1, the final day of the season, they remained tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League Western Division. The Padres […]

When Dave LaPoint of the St. Louis Cardinals walked to the pitcher’s mound at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati on May 24, 1983, to make the 35th start of his major-league career, the left-hander had yet to walk off any mound with a complete game. Against the Reds, LaPoint finally finished something he started, going the […]

Two major-league teams based in New York City debuted in 1883. One, known simply as the New Yorks,1 joined the National League, and the other, the Metropolitans, entered the American Association. Both were owned by John B. Day, a tobacco merchant. Day’s teams shared a home venue, a huge park in Manhattan that used to […]

Bobblehead giveaways are exceedingly popular fan attractions. Let’s face it, who doesn’t love a collectible of a player from their hometown team? Drawing 32,014 fans to a summer Wednesday night game in Cincinnati, the Reds hosted their second giveaway of the season, a Wily Mo Peña bobblehead. It was the youngster’s first-ever bobblehead night, adding […]

Futility is defined as a “lack of effectiveness or success.” Baseball has had many examples in its history. For one, the Chicago Cubs, who went over 100 years without winning a World Series. The Boston Red Sox endured 86 years without a title. It can also be evidenced in individual performance. A prime example occurred […]

The Mayor’s Trophy games began in 1946 as a way for the three New York teams to meet on the playing field. It was an in-season exhibition game originally for the Yankees and Giants, with the Brooklyn Dodgers being added to the mix as well. The series ended in 1955 and was played one more […]

The Philadelphia Athletics were in the cellar of the eight-team American League on September 27, 1943. The team began the season with a 27-26 record but fell to last place by winning only 20 of its next 94 games. Connie Mack, the Athletics’ 80-year-old owner-manager, acquired some new talent for his faltering club, and on […]

In the last of the eighth inning of the Minnesota Twins’ season-ending game versus the Chicago White Sox, a Twins official walked past the official scorer and whispered, “Next inning, look for the most famous substitution ever.” The official scorer didn’t know exactly what to expect, but he knew whom the substitution would involve: Joe Mauer. […]

The New York Mets were at the end of a brief but miserable road trip. They had lost four of the previous six games and were ready to return home to Shea Stadium. Their time on the road was marred by Vince Coleman’s misdeed on July 24 when he threw a powerful M-100 firecracker out […]

The Detroit Tigers played in Bennett Field in 1911. Immediately after the last game of the 1911 season, the small wooden structure was demolished and replaced with a $300,000 steel and concrete ballpark named Navin Field after the club’s owner, Frank Navin. Navin Field officially opened its doors to Tigers fans on April 20, 1912.1 […]

It had been a long wait. The last time County Stadium hosted a major-league game for a hometown team was September 22, 1965, when the Milwaukee Braves lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-6, but on Tuesday, April 7, 1970, the Milwaukee Brewers inaugurated a new era by hosting the California Angels. Milwaukee once again […]

It was meant to happen. At least, it seemed that way. Triggering a standing ovation from a Fenway Park crowd slightly exceeding 10,000, Theodore Samuel Williams, as he had done 519 times before, smacked a ball into the outfield seats (he also hit an inside-the-park home run in 1946.) It was the Red Sox slugger’s […]

Baseball is a funny game; you never know what might happen, even when two teams are playing for nothing coming down to the end of the season. On the afternoon of September 14, 2003, the Montreal Expos hosted the last-place New York Mets at Olympic Stadium. The Mets were just playing out the string at […]

Harvey Haddix did the improbable back in 1959 when he pitched 12 perfect innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Milwaukee Braves. But in the 13th, a throwing error, a sacrifice, and a double not only cost him the perfect game, but the victory as well. Pedro Martinez was in almost the same boat as […]

Spittin’ Bill Doak still ranks second in career shutouts for the St. Louis Cardinals, behind only Bob Gibson. In 1914, his first full season in the majors, Doak came out of nowhere to lead the National League in ERA as the Cardinals achieved third place, their best NL finish ever. He followed with solid but […]

In 1898, the town of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, lost one of its most respected residents when forty-four-year-old harness maker Dan B. Loderick died of Bright’s disease, leaving behind his wife Annie and five children. Loderick had served terms as police chief and burgess of Plymouth and, even though he was a Democrat in a Republican town, […]