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Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2021 as part of the SABR Century 1921 Project. Eddie Collins, left, and manager Kid Gleason were left to pick up the pieces after the Chicago White Sox lost most of their championship core following the Black Sox Scandal. (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS) The 1921 Chicago White […]
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. Conceived and nurtured by Information Concepts Incorporated (ICI), a systems company, and published by The Macmillan Company, The Baseball Encyclopedia: The Complete and Official Record of Major League […]
Cuban infielder Giraldo Sablón – known in the U.S. as Chico Ruiz – ignited two tinderboxes. On September 21, 1964, his steal of home scored the game’s only run, starting the collapse of ten straight losses that cost the Philadelphia Phillies the National League pennant. On June 13, 1971, he waved a handgun in the […]
Friday evening, October 2, 1908: Billy Murray walks the streets of Philadelphia. Cigar in mouth, immersed in thought, he continues mile after mile, hour after hour.1 The fourth-place Phillies team he manages is well out of contention. But as one of the most famed pennant races in baseball history draws to a close, one of […]
The high mark of Frank Allen’s six-year major-league career surely took place on April 24, 1915, when, in his fifth appearance for the Pittsburgh Rebels of the Federal League, he pitched a no-hitter in defeating the St. Louis Terriers 2-0 at Handlan’s Park in St. Louis. The masterpiece brought the 26-year-old southpaw’s record to 4-0 […]
In early 1925, the New York Yankees offered to trade Lou Gehrig to the Boston Red Sox for first baseman Phil Todt to repay Boston for the blockbuster Babe Ruth trade a few years earlier. The Red Sox turned the Yankees down. So says the official Gehrig site (www.lougehrig.com). But was it true? Both debuted […]
Mild temperatures and the consistent sunshine of Southern California have helped young baseball players gain an advantage over prospects from other areas of the country. Yet, the accommodating weather comes with a cost as baseball competes with many other outdoor activities that attract young prospects. For 18-year-old Tom Thobe of Huntington Beach, surfing and skateboarding […]
Big, powerful, and deceptively fast, Garland “Jake” Stahl parlayed the skills he first demonstrated as a college football and baseball star at the turn of the century into a successful major-league baseball career, primarily with the Boston Red Sox. At 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds, the right-handed Stahl was one of the most intimidating sluggers of […]
With a lineup featuring Nap Lajoie and Shoeless Joe Jackson, the Cleveland Naps were expected to contend for the 1912 American League pennant. The club, however, proved a disappointment. By early September, a 54-71-2 (.432) record placed the Naps closer to the AL bottom than the top, and cost first-year manager Harry Davis his job. […]
Until the Negro Leagues were officially recognized as major leagues in December 2020, Dan Bankhead was on record as the first African American to pitch in the majors. He remains best known for that fact, as well as another: he and four brothers all played in the Negro Leagues. However, Bankhead’s big-league career was brief […]
Hitting mammoth home runs and striking out ten hitters a game look great in highlights or on the back of a baseball card, but those who excel at these feats are few and far between. The soul of the game is the baseball lifer. Lifers count their number of spring trainings in decades, not just […]
One of the most charismatic players of his era, Bill Monroe starred for several leading African-American professional teams from 1899 until his untimely death in 1915. In the field, he excelled at third, short, and second. At the plate, his speed and power enabled him to shine either as a lead-off man or in the […]
Tommy Barrett hit for some very good averages and stole a lot of bases in the minor leagues. Originally a New York Yankees farmhand, he broke into major league baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1988, making 36 of his 54 big league appearances. He got into 14 more games for the Phillies in 1989 […]
Right-handed pitcher Bob Kline was a very large ballplayer, with a self-reported playing weight of 235 pounds and standing 6’4”. [1] When Red Sox trainer Bits Bierhalter put him on a diet regime, he lost effectiveness. Red Sox scout Jack McCallister discovered him at Central High School in Columbus, Ohio, where he played baseball, football, […]
“Just take the ball and throw it where you want to. Throw strikes. Home plate don’t move.” — Satchel Paige Three decades before Don Larsen threw his perfect game in the ’56 World Series, a 22-year-old Negro League pitcher “down the Shore” beat his big-city counterpart to the postseason punch. Claude “Red” Grier joined […]
When the San Francisco Giants took the field at Candlestick Park on Friday, October 1, 1965, their season was hanging in the balance, and precariously so. The Giants trailed the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers by two games with only three games left in the season. Just a week and a half before, on September 20, the Giants had enjoyed […]
The 1950 season still stands out in Red Sox history as the season in which they scored more runs than any other – in the 154-game season, they scored 1,027 runs. Another Boston team – the 1894 National League Boston Beaneaters – still holds the major-league record, with 1,220 runs scored. The 1931 New York […]
The Pittsburgh Pirates visited Crosley Field for a weekend series at a time of turmoil for the Cincinnati Redlegs. Two seasons removed from being named the National League Manager of the Year, skipper Birdie Tebbetts resigned his post on Thursday, August 14. With the Redlegs lingering at or near the bottom of the league, Tebbetts’ […]
Kicking off a string of unfortunate events for the 1942 Cincinnati Reds, an injury during May 24 pregame warmups shelved first baseman Frank McCormick with an ailing back. Hank Sauer, moving in from his usual outfield position, was “doing very well” as the perennial All-Star’s temporary fill-in before being sidelined himself with a sprained ankle […]
On the eve of the 1926 season, the venerated New York Giants were the consensus pick to win the National League pennant, while the Cincinnati Reds were expected to finish in fourth place.1 But when the two teams met on September 17, the underachieving Giants were mired in fifth place − 15½ games out − […]
Hall of Famer Jim Bottomley was nicknamed Sunny Jim for his happy disposition, and he had a lot to smile about on September 16, 1924. Bottomley went 6-for-6 and drove in 12 runs that day for the St. Louis Cardinals in their 17-3 win over the Brooklyn Robins, setting the major-league record for RBIs in […]
On June 19, 1977, theatrical rock singer Alice Cooper played his first live concert in almost two years, headlining a five-performer bill at California’s Anaheim Stadium before 40,000 fans. Cooper focused on songs from his recently released Lace and Whiskey album, on which he portrayed a hard-drinking private detective named Maurice Escargot.1 It was Cooper’s […]
Sandy Koufax won eight games for the Dodgers in September-October of 1965. (SABR-Rucker Archive. By October, exhaustion was a standard part of every game for Sandy Koufax. But one out from clinching a World Series berth, the Los Angeles Dodgers ace reached new depths of fatigue. “I don’t remember ever being so tired in […]
“Doesn’t matter if he throws a no-hitter, he’s going back down.” That’s what Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona said when right-hander Clay Buchholz was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket for his major-league debut, a spot start on August 17, 2007, three days after turning 23.1 Buchholz pitched well in that game, allowing three runs […]