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“This is the greatest day of my life,” said the champagne-drenched Chuck Tanner, manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the clubhouse after his team defeated the Chicago Cubs, 5-3, to capture a hard-fought NL East title on the last day of the 1979 season.1 The victory concluded a fairy-tale, emotional journey for the Bucs, who […]

Mike Piazza had come a long way since 1988 when the Dodgers drafted him in the 62nd round of the June draft. He was only drafted when Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda urged the team to take a chance on him at the request of Piazza’s father, who was a friend of Lasorda’s. At the time, […]

Don Black reached the end of the line in Philadelphia. A’s manager Connie Mack was a patient man. But the Tall Tactician had his limits. For Don Black was an alcoholic. It was a disease that Black could not control, and like all diseases, there were residual effects that were equally damaging. Black showed promise […]

The Dodgers last played in Ebbets Field on September 24, 1957, when they beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of 6,702 fans. Gil Hodges was the final batter for Brooklyn, striking out in the eighth inning. Within weeks of that game, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the Giants to San Francisco, leaving the […]

“The Giants became tired of losing games one at a time.”1 So started the story in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, describing the events of a Boston Braves-New York Giants doubleheader. The article continued, “They did it twice as good yesterday [May 16]. They lost two to the Boston Braves.”2 The New York Times echoed the […]

A month into the 2008 season, the top two teams in the American League’s Central Division battled in the second game of a three-game series. The 16-15 Minnesota Twins held a one-game lead over the 15-16 Chicago White Sox. The Wednesday-night contest before a crowd of 21,092 fans at U.S. Cellular Field was delayed by […]

When the fans at Tiger Stadium settled into their seats for a game between the Yankees and Tigers on June 24, 1962, little did they know that history was about to take place at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull Avenues. The two teams, having played a doubleheader the day before, were looking to finish […]

Michigan and Trumbull was one of the more popular destinations in the major leagues in the mid-1940s. The Tigers led all of baseball in attendance in 1944. In 1945 they did even better as they attracted over 30 percent more home rooters than the next team while drawing a Detroit record 1,280,341 spectators. The 1946 […]

It all came down to this one game. The Dodgers and the Mets had battled through the first six games of the 1988 National League Championship Series. A crowd of 55,693 packed Dodger Stadium to see who would go to the World Series and face the Oakland A’s, who had swept the Boston Red Sox […]

A crowd of 35,093 showed up at Citi Field on September 25, 2016, for the Mets’ final regular-season home game, against the Philadelphia Phillies. The crowd brought the Mets’ home attendance to 2,789,602, their second highest since their inaugural season at Citi Field in 2009.1 The Mets and the Phillies had scored 50 runs between […]

There was almost a poetic irony when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington in 2005 to become the Nats, because in the years prior to their departure, they were like gnats to the rest of the National League. They had this intangible way of irritating other teams, often being competitive when they shouldn’t be and […]

Getting a rare start for the New York Mets, left fielder Eric Valent joined the club of those who accomplished the rare feat of hitting for the cycle. Even more rare was the fact that Valent smashed a ground-rule home run in addition to his single, double, and triple. In his fourth major-league season, reserve […]

On June 11, 1995, the 22,392 fans on hand to watch the Montreal Expos battle the San Francisco Giants for 13 innings at Candlestick Park saw it all: lots of runs by both sides, the home side making a seemingly impossible comeback only to blow it in extra innings, and a player hitting for the […]

The Cleveland Indians certainly started off the 1940 season in grand fashion. Bob Feller threw the only Opening Day no-hitter in baseball history on April 16 at Comiskey Park. Feller was far from sharp as he struck out eight, but walked five on a cold, raw day in the aptly named Windy City. But his […]

It all boiled down to one game. The Boston unbelievables had once again come back from adversity, and in the process had defied all odds and logic. The preseason 100-1 long-shot Red Sox had swept the Minnesota Twins in the final weekend showdown and won the American League pennant. They came back from a three […]

Ecstatic and anxious Red Sox fans participated in round-the-clock vigils hoping to get World Series tickets while fans lacking tickets developed different strategies to follow the afternoon weekday games. Mill workers, cab drivers, and business people called in sick to work. And kids schemed to listen to pocket transistors at school. Fenway Park appeared ready […]

Here’s a history lesson. On April 14, 1969, an American laid claim to Canadian territory for the first time since the War of 1812. The American was Montreal Expos left fielder Mack Jones. The territory was the left-field bleachers at Jarry Park, which was renamed Jonesville after his three-run homer and two-run triple helped the […]

The New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals had scheduled a doubleheader to close out the 1904 season at the Polo Grounds.1 Unfortunately, a series of events made this a day to forget. The Giants lost both games. Despite an historic performance by Sam Mertes, New York dropped the first game due to “poor fielding […]

When Warren Spahn returned to the Braves midway through the 1946 season, he was 25, balding and weathered, a decorated World War II veteran of the Battle of the Bulge and the fight over the bridge at Remagen. “He was born old,” a teammate said. But he felt like a young man on the mound. […]

October had arrived. The New York Mets and the Cincinnati Reds were ready to determine who would be the National League champion. The Mets made the playoffs with an 82-79 record. On July 31, they were in last place in the East Division. After the Mets chairman, M. Donald Grant, gave the players a bland […]

Returning home for the third game of the 2015 World Series after suffering two disappointing losses in Kansas City, the New York Mets hoped to turn things around on their home turf. The Royals were feeling confident after taking a 2-0 lead in the Series. They had shown they were not intimidated by the young […]

It all came down to this one game to decide who would face the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series. The top-seeded Mets were 97-65 during the regular season and had swept the Dodgers in the first round of the National League playoffs. They managed to do this even though Pedro Martinez and Orlando […]

Baseball history is filled with accounts of memorable home runs. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Kirk Gibson, for one, knocked a one-legged homer in Game One of the 1988 World Series against the Oakland A’s. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski hit a dramatic round-tripper in Game Seven of the 1960 fall classic to beat the New […]

Troy Tulowitzki collects rare event achievements. On August 10, 2009, he smashed his way into the rare-feat record books, hitting for the cycle in Colorado’s 11-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs. He also became just the second major leaguer to have both hit for the cycle and turned an unassisted triple play which he accomplished […]