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He never played a game of baseball until he was a freshman in high school, but his skills blossomed so quickly that he signed a professional contract after his junior year. Only 16, Wally Post started a baseball career that lasted 18 years and saw him transform from a pitcher-first baseman to a hard-hitting, superb […]
Mike Kahoe appeared on major league rosters mostly as a catcher for eleven seasons. In that time he played in an unremarkable 410 games and batted a mere .212. Yet his career is forever joined with some of baseball history’s most celebrated individuals, unique events, and folklore. Kahoe’s acquisition by the Chicago Nationals in 1901 […]
“When Mr. Reardon speaks you are under the impression that he has just spit out a hand grenade.” — Harry A. Williams, Los Angeles Times1 Beans Reardon learned a lot about umpiring at the age of 16 when he worked as a riveter’s assistant. “Riveting was good education for umpiring,” he recalled. “If I […]
A traveler traversing U.S. 50 across Southern Indiana might not notice anything special about the town of Bedford. But to one of its native sons, the town must have been very special indeed. His affinity for his home town earned Bill Rariden the nickname “Bedford Bill.” In his 12 years in the major leagues, Rariden […]
Many believe that spitballer Frank Shellenback had his major-league career stolen from him when his key pitch was outlawed. In 1920 the National Commission did away with trick deliveries, including the spitball — and Shellenback’s team, the Chicago White Sox, for whom he had pitched in 1918 and 1919, didn’t list his name among those […]
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 […]
“Hello, Foxy Grandpa, I’ve read about you!” With those words addressed to the legendary Honus Wagner, brash rookie Wally Rehg introduced himself to the major leagues. Wagner himself told the story of a time when Rehg was sent up as a pinch hitter by manager Fred Clarke. “Rehg grabbed a bat and stepped right into […]
“Berardino is one of those intense fellows who believe the greatest shame in the world is not doing your best every time. He hustles until the last out of every game, and he doesn’t sit around crying about his hard luck.” — Bill Veeck, 1948.1 Known to generations of television viewers as Dr. Steve Hardy […]
A hard-throwing right-hander and ball-crushing left-handed slugger, Erv Brame was a genuine double-threat who rode those skills from humble beginnings in rural Tennessee to the major leagues. In parts of five seasons, all with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he batted .306 and also won 52 games, leading the NL with 22 completes games in 1930. Here’s […]
The 6-foot tall, 210-pound catcher for the Jersey City Jerseys looked like a giant to the boy. It was Camera Day at Jersey City’s Roosevelt Stadium in 1960. The Jerseys were the Cincinnati Reds’ Triple-A club. The catcher was Dutch Dotterer, a charming and intellectual athlete. Years later, Santa Ana High School’s Athletic Director, Frank Alvarado, would […]
It almost strains credulity, given the number of home runs hit over the years by the Boston Red Sox, but no Red Sox player hit a grand slam at Fenway Park until more than a dozen years and a month from its opening. The ballpark opened on April 20, 1912. Six days later, Hugh Bradley […]
After 15 seasons of pitching for the New York Giants, many of them dominant, Christy Mathewson was clearly not himself as the 1915 season began. The revered “Matty” lost his first three starts, posting a 4.50 ERA over that span. He was reported to have taken up the spitball for the first time – though […]
The final day of the 1875 base ball season was one of those rare occasions when the weather matched the mood, not just of the game, but of the entire season. Conditions at the Boston Red Stockings’ grounds on the next to the last day of October were described by the Boston Evening Journal as […]
The Chicago White Sox right-hander Big Ed Walsh “slobber-balled along,” gushed Windy City sportswriter Henry David, “his flow of expectoration kept up round after round.”1 Beat reporter I.E. Sanborn of the Tribune was equally excited about the hurler’s wet ones, declaring that Walsh pitched “steadily, deliberately, and carefully with his spitball breaking wonderfully.”2 Big Ed […]
Through the 2021 season, there were 334 cycles hit in major-league baseball games.1 The first one was hit by Curry Foley of the Buffalo Bisons on May 25, 1882. The second was hit by Lon Knight, the right fielder and manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, on July 30, 1883. Knight, who was a native of […]
Joe Horlen “turned the White Sox’s darkest hour into a glittering personal triumph,” gushed Chicago Tribune sportswriter Robert Markus after the right-hander’s stunning no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers.1 “[I]t was the biggest game, the toughest spot, the White Sox were in all season,” opined sportswriter George Cantor in the Detroit Free Press.2 The 1967 American […]
Washington skipper Clark Griffith had reason to be confident. The former star pitcher, seven-time 20-game winner, and successful player-manager for three different franchises had transformed the Senators from laughing stock to baseball’s biggest surprise in his first season in the nation’s capital. A charter member of the AL, the Senators had never posted a winning […]
Under a broiling midsummer sun, five National League pitchers combined to throw the first shutout in All-Star Game history. With their 4-0 victory in the 1940 contest, the Nationals had now won three of the last five games, after having lost the first three. Although the American League Browns and National League Cardinals shared Sportsman’s […]
Eight games into the 1904 season, the Philadelphia Phillies found themselves in the National League cellar, where they remained for the remainder of the season. Philadelphia had yet to capture the pennant in its 21-year franchise history in the NL, although the team had placed as high as second (most recently in 1901).1 The Boston […]
New York Giants catcher Jack Meyers injured his finger during batting practice before a critical Labor Day doubleheader against the Boston Braves in 1914, forcing manager John McGraw to scratch him from the starting lineup.1 The Giants, in a first-place tie with the surging Braves, turned to veteran backup John “Larry” McLean to catch both […]
The 1915 World Series featured the upstart Philadelphia Phillies, who had swept to the National League pennant by seven games behind Grover Cleveland Alexander’s phenomenal 31 wins (including 12 shutouts, four one-hitters, and three two-hitters),1 against the heavily favored Boston Red Sox, winners of 101 games in a close pennant race against the Detroit Tigers.2 […]
Chicago Tribune sportswriter I.E. Sanborn confidently predicted that barring injuries to key players, the White Sox would capture the 1917 AL pennant.1 One of the team’s strengths, he opined, was its “great” and “well-balanced” pitching staff, led by Red Faber; however, Sanborn conceded that it lacked a star like Walter Johnson or Eddie Walsh. The […]
The 1970 Cincinnati Reds [102-60] ran away with the National League East by 14½ games before taking three straight from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the playoffs. Their opponents in the upcoming fall classic were the Baltimore Orioles who were attempting to rebound from a demoralizing World Series loss to the New York Mets the previous […]
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in SABR’s “The National Pastime,” Vol. 6, No. 1, Winter 1987. To read more from the TNP archives, click here. Cincinnati Reds GM Larry MacPhail and manager Chuck Dressen watch a spring training game in the mid-1930s. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION) Just over fifty years ago, on March 5, 1936, […]