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The Boston Red Stockings burst out of the gate in 1872, winning 22 of their first 23 games. After they lost their next two contests, including a 9-1 defeat at the hands of their arch-rival Athletics of Philadelphia, the declared champions of the National Association the previous season, the New England press was concerned. “The […]

In mid-September of 1931, the Philadelphia Athletics were running away with their third straight American League pennant. On the morning of Saturday, September 12, the Athletics had a 13-game lead over the second-place Washington Nationals with just 15 games to play. The Boston Red Sox were dead last of eight AL clubs, 44½ games behind […]

The Syracuse Stars and Toledo Maumees both spent exactly one season in the major leagues – 1890. Manager Charlie Morton steered the Maumees1 – named after the river flowing into Toledo – to a 68-64 record, fourth-best in the American Association, while the Stars, guided by George Frazier, finished the season in seventh place with […]

After beginning the 1875 National Association season with victories in their first 26 decisions, the inevitable first loss finally befell the three-time champion Boston Red Stockings in St. Louis on June 5. The 1875 Brown Stockings were the first professional baseball ever fielded in Missouri, and their hard-fought 5-4 comeback victory over Boston was an […]

Newspapers were full of superlatives following the Boston Red Stockings’ exciting ninth-inning comeback to defeat the New York Mutuals, 4-2, in their 1872 home opener. It was “one of the most exciting games ever played in this city,” gushed the Boston Daily Evening Transcript.1  “[T]he play of both nine was almost near perfection as possible,” […]

It was a crazy week for Orioles fans in mid-May of 2012. The Sunday series finale in Boston on May 6 had them trying to complete a three-game sweep in Fenway Park after a three-game series win at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles had not won consecutive series in New York and Boston in 20 years.1 […]

The champs of 1872 got off to a slow start in 1873. Matches were few and far between in the early going: Up to their hosting New York’s Mutuals in back-to-back meetings May 30 and 31, they had played only five games. By that point, the Baltimore Canaries had already seen 17 contests, the new […]

They didn’t know it at the time, but the Indianapolis Indians began the 1954 season with the right ingredients. The American Association club was affiliated with the major-league Cleveland Indians. What was the recipe for success? Start with a smart manager, Kerby Farrell, promoted to Indianapolis after leading the 1953 Reading (Pennsylvania) Indians to 101 […]

The Boston Red Sox clinched their 10th American League pennant by winning their third straight elimination game — overcoming a one-game-to-three deficit and advancing to the World Series for the first time in 11 years. Roger Clemens, working on short rest for the second time in the series, pitched seven innings, allowing only one run […]

By the time mid-September rolled around in the 1920 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates had held down fourth place in the National League standings for six weeks. They were near the end of a 12-game road trip, facing the New York Giants for the third game of a four-game series on Friday, September 17. After a […]

From 1901 through the end of the 2015 major-league season, one of the two teams has scored 20 or more runs in at least 236 games.1 Only twice has each team scored at least 20 runs. Both games involved the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs, and both games were played in Chicago. The first, […]

In 1940 baseball was truly America’s national game. But it was played at the major-league level by 16 teams in only 11 cities, none west of St. Louis or south of Cincinnati.1 Minor-league baseball proliferated over the rest of the country, with 39 leagues in six classifications, designated Class AA through Class D. For a […]

As the Cleveland faithful filed into Dunn Field on a pleasant July Saturday afternoon, they had no clue the day would be one of the most auspicious in the history of Cleveland professional baseball. Hopes were running high. The Indians were vying for second place behind the New York Yankees, at the moment 12½ games […]

Cincinnati arrived in Philadelphia on a five-game winning streak. After losing the first game of their four-game series with the Phillies, the Reds had won the next two and were hoping to continue their winning streak in the final game of the series. The Phillies were already 9½ games behind the Reds and were struggling […]

In the first half of the 1970s, the Boston Red Sox had a pipeline of talent coming to the big-league club from the minors. Carlton Fisk solidified the catcher’s position in 1972, winning the American League Rookie of the Year award. In 1973 Dwight Evans became the everyday right fielder, and while his bat was […]

Boston Red Sox first baseman Al Flair answered a want ad and got a job playing baseball. The Sporting News explained: “An advertisement placed in the classified section of a Memphis newspaper [by Little Rock Travelers manager Doc Prothro] led to Flair’s entry into O.B. [Organized Baseball] A woman friend of the Flair family in […]

“Remember Pete Hotaling? He was one of the old birds–good batsman, sturdy all-around player–fine type of the bygone generation.” Those words appeared in the August, 1918 issue of Baseball Magazine, and were part of a piece written by Fred Pfeffer, in a column entitled “Reminscences of the Old-Timers.” Pfeffer was a second baseman with the […]

Hal Deviney’s major-league debut came on July 30, 1920. Deviney’s last major-league game was on July 30, 1920. He’d been with the Boston Red Sox for more than the one day and the one hour and 50 minutes the game took to play, but that was the only action he saw – the last three […]

There was baseball in Marlan Coughtry’s family. “My dad began throwing baseballs at me as soon as I could walk,” he said. “My uncle, Ray Coughtry, had played in the Cardinal chain; my dad wants me to rise even higher.”1 Perry Coughtry was Marlan’s father. A native Californian, Perry worked as a checker for a […]

From 1872 to 1884, Tim Murnane was a first baseman and outfielder who compiled a .261 lifetime batting average in 383 major-league baseball games. An average ballplayer during the formative years of professional baseball, better known for his fielding and baserunning than his hitting, Murnane made a more lasting contribution to the sport of baseball […]

“There are ballplayers who can’t remember the last town they were in, much less the first fellow to ever help them, but Woody Woodward remembers both and also has a habit of remembering to be right there any time someone needs his help. He sees nothing strange about that. ‘That’s the only way to do […]

“Nature formed but one such batsman as [Dan] Brouthers and then destroyed the die.”1 — Boston Globe, June 3, 1889 Brouthers “is the best batter that ever faced a pitcher—bar nobody. He is the daddy of all hitters.”2 — Cincinnati Enquirer, October 15, 1893   One of the greatest hitters in baseball history, first baseman […]

Gene “Stick” Michael is the only person to serve, at one time or another, as player, scout, manager, and general manager for the New York Yankees. His exceptional work as their general manager from 1990-1995 led to four world championships. However, throughout his life he lamented not pursuing professional basketball. He was loved by his […]

In one sense, Julius Solters began his life in darkness and ended it in darkness as well. He was born of Hungarian immigrant parents and at a very early age worked leading mules in a coal mine near his native Pittsburgh. He ended it without ever seeing his youngest son, Stevie, who had been born […]