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Clayton Kershaw has won 210 games for the Dodgers through 2023 and has struck out nearly 3,000 batters. (Copyright Scott Anderson /dreamstime.com.)   The game ended with one more strikeout and a roar from the crowd. The celebration began with a starting pitcher who raised his arms in triumph and hugged his catcher, who had […]

Picking sixth overall in the June 2012 amateur draft, the Chicago Cubs passed over left-handed pitcher Max Fried in favor of outfielder Albert Almora. With the next pick, the San Diego Padres selected Fried out of Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles. As a rookie in 2016, Almora made his mark in Cubs’ lore by […]

Outfielder Benny Ayala came to the plate 951 times in his big-league career; 86 percent of the righty batter’s appearances were against lefties. It’s no surprise that 35 of his 38 regular-season home runs came off southpaws – as did his crowning blow as a pro, his two-run shot off John Candelaria in Game Three […]

The first two months of the 1991 season had been a roller coaster ride for the Texas Rangers. After dropping the first four games of a season-opening homestand, they ripped off wins in six of the next seven. Following another four-game skid in early May, the Rangers responded with a team-record 14-game winning streak to […]

Two-time Gold Glove winner Mike Matheny began 2004 as the St. Louis Cardinals’ starting catcher,1 his role since the 2000 season. He started 42 of the Cardinals’ first 52 games in 2004 but strained a muscle in his right side on June 2 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.2 The Cardinals placed the 33-year-old Matheny on the […]

In an outstanding final season at Auburn University,1 which resulted in a 50-17 record and a trip to the 1997 College World Series, Tim Hudson compiled a record of 15-2 with a 2.97 ERA and 165 strikeouts in 118⅓ innings2 and batted .396 with 18 homers, 21 doubles, and 95 RBIs3 – breaking the school […]

The New York Mets arrived in St. Louis for a weekend series in September 1991. They were on a three-game winning streak after sweeping the Chicago Cubs in a two-game series at Wrigley Field. In the series opener against the Cardinals on September 13, Kevin McReynolds’ two-run homer in the 10th inning gave the Mets […]

The Texas Rangers won 89 games in 2004 – their first winning season since 1999 – but finished third, three games back of the Anaheim Angels, in the four-team American League West.1 They looked to continue the improvement the following season and perhaps capture the AL West crown, a feat the franchise had achieved three […]

When the Arizona Diamondbacks visited the Tampa Bay Rays for a three-game series in June 2010, they were in fifth place in National League West Division, the same place where they had finished a season earlier. A.J. Hinch had been appointed manager in May 2009, but the Diamondbacks’ fortunes had not improved under the 36-year-old […]

For the first time in six World Series appearances, the Dodgers reached Game Six with a chance to capture their first title in franchise history. Coming off a dramatic 6-5 victory in 11 innings over the New York Yankees in the Bronx to take the Series lead, “Dem Bums” returned to Brooklyn and Ebbets Field, […]

On July 14, 1966, two days after the All-Star Game, the San Francisco Giants started a six-game road trip in Philadelphia. The Giants were in first place in the National League and had been for most of the season, but they had been inconsistent since a 12-game winning streak in May. When they arrived in […]

All the fans knew that Jamie Moyer was trying for the record books as the oldest pitcher to win a game in the National, American, or Federal League.1 Jack Quinn of the Brooklyn Dodgers had set the record on September 13, 1932, at 49 years 74 days old.2 The newspapers had highlighted Moyer’s previous attempts […]

The Chicago Cubs had a 32-19 record when they arrived in Boston on June 13, 1952. They beat the Braves, 5-0, in Friday evening’s series opener, with Bob Rush going the distance and giving up just three Boston hits. The Cubs were tied for second place with the New York Giants, 3½ games behind the […]

In 2008 Adrian Beltré was in the fourth season of a five-year contract he had signed with the Seattle Mariners after his breakthrough 48-homer, Silver Slugger, National League MVP-runner-up 2004 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.1 The 29-year-old Beltré was headed to his second consecutive Gold Glove at third base in 2008, but his offensive […]

In his second at-bat of the second All-Star Game in 1960, Willie Mays made history by completing the All-Star Game cycle. In the span of just two days, Mays had collected the four necessary hits to hit for the cycle: a single, double, triple, and home run. No major leaguer has ever hit for the cycle […]

Willie Mays batted .309 lifetime against the Dodgers and hit 98 home runs. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)   What was wrong with Willie Mays? Sure, the Say Hey Kid was batting .372 through May 7, but he had just one home run in his first 22 games as a San Francisco Giant. According to […]

After finishing July 1991 in second place in the National League East Division, the New York Mets went 8-21 in August and fell to fourth. Things didn’t improve in September, as they lost five in a row from September 4 to 9, including the opener of a two-game home series with the last-place Montreal Expos. […]

Bob Friend’s place in baseball history is firmly linked to his 15 seasons as a Pittsburgh Pirate. Pitching in the Smoky City from 1951 through 1965, the right-hander won 191 games, made four All-Star Game appearances, won the 1955 National League ERA title, and was a workhorse starter for the Pirates team that won the […]

A midweek crowd of 15,992 came to Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on May 15, 1991, to watch the Minnesota Twins play the Milwaukee Brewers. They saw Twin Cities native Paul Molitor – a high-school star in nearby St. Paul and a college All-American at the University of Minnesota – almost single-handedly spark the Brewers to […]

James Barton “Mickey” Vernon’s SABR biography notes that he was widely regarded as “the premier first baseman in the American League” in the 1940s and 1950s.1 His breakthrough season was 1946, when the 28-year-old Washington National won his first of two batting titles and was named to his first of seven AL All-Star teams.2 Vernon’s […]

A two-time All-Star, Silver Slugger Award winner, and the 1988 American League MVP runner-up, Mike Greenwell spent his entire 12-season major-league career with the Boston Red Sox. He was the Red Sox’ starting left fielder for 10 years, from 1987 through 1996. Injuries limited Greenwell considerably in 1996, his final big-league season, but he did […]

On June 17, 1952, in front of 6,914 fans,1 the University of Missouri, coached by John “Hi” Simmons,2 and the College of the Holy Cross, coached by Jack Barry, a five-time World Series champion as a player with the Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox,3 faced off in the winner-take-all game of the College World […]

The 2001 major-league season saw the debut of Pittsburgh’s new ballpark, PNC Park. On May 15 rookie Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals traveled to PNC Park for the first time and won 8-3 over a struggling Pittsburgh Pirates ballclub. When Kevin McClatchy purchased the Pirates in 1996, one of the goals in the […]

The Pawtucket Red Sox were supposed to have one final season in 2020 – one last go-round to honor the deep-rooted connection between the Boston Red Sox and the city in northern Rhode Island before their half-century of affiliation ended. Pawtucket had hosted Boston’s Triple-A affiliate since 1973 and was home to its Double-A team […]