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The Philadelphia Athletics had a veritable lock on first place. A win today, Tuesday, September 15, would produce their 99th victory of the season, a goal reached only five times before in franchise history. The second-place Washington Senators were mathematically still in the hunt. An A’s win coupled with a Senators loss would seal the […]

Philadelphia is not known the to be coolest place to summer in, and the summer of 1926 was no exception. Temperatures had been rising steadily after a rainy fourth of July and reached 94 degrees on July 9 with a forecast for even warmer weather on July 10.1 The weather was having a tragic effect […]

In 1915, a baseball team with female players was a novelty that could attract a paying audience. One such team calling itself the All-American Girls toured western Canada that year. In Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on Saturday, July 3, 1915, this team of six women and three men were defeated by an all-male team of local semipros. […]

On the heels of clinching the National League pennant the day before, the Boston Beaneaters defeated the Philadelphia Phillies on October 2, recording a team-record 18th  consecutive win on the back of star hurler Kid Nichols.1 However, their league title came under a cloud of suspicion with Boston being the benefactor of alleged thrown games […]

The Tuesday afternoon game at Bank Street Grounds was the middle game of a three-game set between the Philadelphia Athletics and Cincinnati Red Stockings. The two teams and the St. Louis Browns had been locked in a season-long pennant race. As the season wound down, the Athletics, with a record of 62-27, held a 3½-game […]

The two teams that met at the recently renovated Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia on August 18, 1883, were traveling in very different directions. The Philadelphia Athletics carried the best record in American Association. Meanwhile, the Columbus Buckeyes, in their first season in the Association, had most recently suffered a four-game sweep by the St. […]

Roy Smalley was off to a solid start to the 1981 season for the struggling Minnesota Twins. John Bierig of the Minneapolis Star wrote that he’d been “the only bright spot in a dismal season” for the ballclub.1 Smalley, fresh off signing a four-year contract extension in the offseason, was hitting .294 with 6 home […]

When Jerry Koosman took the mound at Metropolitan Stadium for the final game of 1979, a sense of déjà vu must have been felt. Three years before, he made good on his chance to achieve a milestone every starting pitcher aims for when the schedule begins: 20 wins. He’d finish that 1976 season with 21, […]

Despite a balmy 81-degree game-time temperature and a promotion in which the Twins gave away a car at the game, the Tuesday evening game between the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins drew a sparse turnout of 3,630. Those who decided not to come to the ballpark not only missed out on an opportunity to […]

It took two Ted Williams home runs for The Kid to win this game. They were widely separated, the first one coming in the top of the third inning and the second one not until the 11th. Williams had started the season pinch-hitting in six of his first seven games. In spring training, on March […]

When Mike Schmidt retired on May 29, 1989, during his 18th season with the Philadelphia Phillies, he was widely regarded as the greatest third baseman of all time. Selected in the second round of the June 1971 amateur draft, Schmidt, an Ohio University product, reached the majors in 1972. A breakthrough season followed in 1974, […]

  The first game played in a new ballpark is always noteworthy. Minneapolis Millers manager Eddie Stanky helped ensure that the Millers’ debut in their new home in suburban Bloomington was memorable. After playing the first six games of the 1956 American Association season on the road, the Millers returned home to christen the yet-to-be-named […]

The 1961 American League baseball season ushered in change. The Washington Senators moved to Minnesota, becoming the Twins. It was the inaugural season for two new expansion teams, the Los Angeles Angels and the new Washington Senators. Julio Becquer also experienced change as the season got under way. Beginning in 1955, Becquer had played for […]

As the 1917 season reached its next-to-last day on October 3, the Boston Red Sox, winners of the American League pennant and World Series in the two previous seasons, were in second place, eight games behind the Chicago White Sox, who had dethroned the Red Sox and wrapped up the pennant a week earlier. The […]

Nolan Ryan debuted in the major leagues with the New York Mets as a teenager in September 1966, joining the team full-time in 1968. It was the start of a 27-year Hall of Fame career in which he set numerous records for pitching excellence. In 1990 Ryan was the ace of the Texas Rangers pitching […]

The visiting Baltimore Orioles had taken three of the first four games of the unusual five-game series from the host Milwaukee Brewers. The 26,705 fans attending this Sunday doubleheader had already witnessed their home team lose 7-4, although they did see a piece of baseball history: Oriole Tommy Davis whacked his 2,000th hit.1 Milwaukee had […]

The New York Yankees, arriving in Cleveland for a two-game series against the Indians, had just lost two of three games in Baltimore but remained three games ahead of the Orioles. Only 3,895 fans showed up on a chilly night at Cleveland Stadium hoping to see their team gain ground on the division leader. The […]

A glorious spring always seemed to be in store for Morrie Arnovich, as hits jumped from his bat in bunches. But base hits became scarce as July and August approached and the dog days took their toll on his batting average. The heavy woolen uniforms soaked with sweat added more misery and the once lifelike […]

The annals of baseball are filled with stories of players with talent who were sidetracked by the injury bug and never reached prominence. To this list we add the name of Chester Arthur Crist. When he played for the independent Cincinnati Shamrocks, a newspaper writer raved: “Chester Crist, recognized as one of the cleverest of […]

Before Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson were hurling October masterpieces, Bill Dinneen set the standard for World Series excellence. In the 1903 World Series, the hard-throwing right-hander won three games for the Boston Americans against the Pittsburgh Pirates, including the first two shutouts in World Series history. For the Series, “Big Bill” struck out 28 […]

Chet Nourse was a native of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and a pitcher for Brown University who shut out Harvard on a two-hitter in 1909 and began to attract attention. In the spring of 1909 it was announced that he would join the Chicago Cubs after he graduated from college – but it wasn’t Nourse who made […]

As a 19-year-old debuting with the Cleveland Spiders, Will Smalley had all the makings for a long career. He was described as “quick as lightening,”1 with a quick bat and strong throwing arm. More importantly “he was a gentlemanly young fellow and had many endearing traits of character.”2 Sadly he succumbed to stomach cancer only […]

At 5-foot-11, Thomas J. “Long Tom” Doran was not all that long. Nor was his career in the major leagues. He was a slim (152 pounds) catcher who batted from the left side and threw right-handed. He was born in Westchester County, New York, on December 2, 1880.i And he died quite young, at the […]

While he may not have had major-league success as a player himself, Greg Pavlick has certainly had a long baseball career. Pavlick has been involved in professional baseball since 1971 and helped nurture the careers of countless young players within the Mets and Yankees organizations. Gregory Michael Pavlick was born on March 10, 1950, in […]