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As the July 31, 2015, nonwaiver trade deadline1 got closer, it became apparent that the race for the National League East Division title was going to be a two-team affair, the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals. Speculation began months before as to who would contend for a postseason position and be buyers as […]
The Cleveland Indians hosted the Cincinnati Reds on the afternoon of July 10, 1999, before a packed house of 43,127 fans at Jacobs Field for the second of three mid-July games in the annual Battle of Ohio. The Indians were the best team in baseball at 55-30. Even though they had won only half of […]
The old-timers still talk about the melee that broke out at the 1932 Canadian Tiddlywinks Championships between the Toronto Twinkers and the Montreal Squidgers.1 Fists, tiddlys, and winks were flying everywhere — even fans got involved. The cops had quite the time breaking things up. That story is, of course, fictional. There is no known […]
Eric Davis is described in his SABR biography as having “all the tools, and when his body was right, he was one heck of a ballplayer.”1 Unfortunately, he dealt with injuries for a good part of his amazing career, limiting his playing time. In 17 years in the major leagues, Davis never played more than […]
When the 2011 season began, the Philadelphia Phillies were riding a four-year streak of postseason appearances, including a World Series championship in 2008. In 2011 they achieved their best season ever with 102 wins and a .630 winning percentage. They sat in first place in the National League East Division nearly every day of the […]
Willie Mays had three hits, Ray Dandridge had four, and Hoyt Wilhelm threw seven shutout innings as the Minneapolis Millers defeated the Columbus Red Birds, 11-0, in the Millers’ home opener of the 1951 American Association season. Dubbed the “Black Mush Bowl,” the game was played in rain-soaked conditions in front of 6,477 fans.1 Included […]
“Opening Day at Fenway arrives like a secular rite of spring. Never mind that a February chill lingers in the air. When the players doff their caps for the national anthem a few minutes after 2 this afternoon, patient souls in Red Sox Nation will be thankful that a long penitential off-season is finally over, […]
A week after the 2015 midsummer classic, Texas Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo exploded for a single, double, triple, and home run against the Colorado Rockies. In doing so, he became the first Korean to hit for the cycle in the major leagues. The Rangers (43-49) were sitting in third place in the American League’s West […]
Cecil Cooper was counting on the next pitch being a good one. “I had the advantage,” he told reporters after the game. “Now he has got to give me something to hit.”1 The struggling Brewers, mired in fifth place in the American League Eastern Division with a 33-35 record under second-year manager Alex Grammas, were […]
It was a case of worst to first. The 2012 Boston Red Sox had finished last in the American League East Division, 26 games behind the New York Yankees. They’d won 69 games and lost 93. Under new manager John Farrell in 2013, they stayed in first place from July 31 onward and dispatched their […]
Baseball fans, more than fans of any other sport, are lovers of nostalgia, and the end of a star player’s long career evokes fond memories, even more so when that player has spent his entire career with one team. Craig Biggio made it to the major leagues as a catcher with the Houston Astros in […]
The two contenders in the 2007 American League Championship Series had identical 96-66 records during the regular season, but in their seven head-to-head meetings, the Boston Red Sox had won five, giving them home-field advantage over the Cleveland Indians.1 Boston had decisively swept the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the AL Division Series, while […]
Rookie knuckleballer Tim Wakefield boosted the Pittsburgh Pirates to their third consecutive National League East Division crown in 1992 after getting called up in July to fortify a shorthanded starting rotation. With the Pirates trailing the Atlanta Braves two games to none in the NL Championship Series, Wakefield continued his late-season infusion, tossing a five-hit […]
When Tom Seaver pitched his last game in a major-league uniform, Top Gun dominated the box office. Two other Toms starred in this 1986 blockbuster. Tom Cruise played a Navy fighter pilot striving to be “the best of the best” and Tom Skerritt played his mentor, a veteran pilot who flew with the young pilot’s […]
Pitcher James “Doc” McJames was a refined renaissance man during a rough-hewn era of our national pastime. The colorful and well-spoken Southern gentleman was considered to be one of the most intelligent men in baseball. McJames’ rapid if brief ascent into stardom and eventual decline took place during the late 19th and early 20th century. […]
Chicago fans were outraged when the White Sox traded their most popular player, Minnie Miñoso, to Cleveland in December 1957 with Fred Hatfield for Early Wynn and Al Smith. Wynn was a 37-year-old right-handed pitcher who had posted a losing record for the Indians that season, and his best days appeared to be behind him. […]
The first year the Red Sox wore uniform numbers was 1931. The first man to wear #1 was Bill Sweeney. It was his last year in the majors. Sweeney lived out the rest of his life in baseball, twice managing the Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels to pennants, in two stints eight years apart […]
Starting pitcher Mark Lemongello spent parts of four seasons (1976-1979) with the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays. An intense right-hander, he had good command of his sinker-slider repertoire, but a lack of control over his infamous temper contributed to his demise in professional baseball. Mark Limongello was born on July 21, 1955, in Jersey […]
There was a possibility that first baseman Paul Campbell’s major-league career might last only one game and, at that, might have been without an at-bat. He was a pinch-runner for the Boston Red Sox in the first game of the 1941 season, on April 15. In the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox were […]
The name John Lickert flickered momentarily at baseball’s top level. On September 19, 1981, the catcher appeared in half an inning for the Boston Red Sox. The game ended before he stepped into the batter’s box, and though he played on in the minors through 1985, he was never seen again in a big-league box […]
Bob Davids, a career Federal government employee, never played professional baseball. However, he had a deep and lasting impact on the game by founding the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) in 1971. This organization has had a large effect on how baseball is quantified and discussed, and its existence is a logical extension of […]
When Mike Sandlock signed his first professional baseball contract, in 1938, he could not have envisioned that he would become a major-league teammate of no fewer than six Hall of Famers – Warren Spahn, Paul Waner, Ernie Lombardi, Pee Wee Reese, Billy Herman, and Ralph Kiner. Nor could he have imagined that during his five […]
In August 1953, as St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Ray Jablonski was putting the final touches on a brilliant rookie campaign, Gus Mancuso, the club’s broadcaster and a former longtime National League catcher, said, “The thing about Jabbo is that he’s got terrific potential as a hitter. Give him a year or so and he […]
Right-hander Al Yeargin’s first game in the big leagues was at the Polo Grounds on Sunday afternoon, October 1, 1922. Working for the Boston Braves, he started the second game of a doubleheader against the reigning World Series champion New York Giants. The Giants had already clinched the 1922 National League pennant and held a […]