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A late summer baseball game can build confidence during a pennant race and boost momentum. Unfortunately for the crowd of 26,087 at the August 26, 2016, game between the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks, neither team was in contention. The Diamondbacks, the National League’s youngest franchise, entered the game with 53 wins and 75 defeats. […]

It was anybody’s game heading into the bottom of the fifth on the sunny Saturday afternoon of October 8, 1966 in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The Dodgers’ southpaw, Claude Osteen, had surrendered only two hits through the first four innings, and if Los Angeles could find a way to win this game, they might yet recover […]

Only 17 men born in North Dakota have appeared in a major-league baseball game.1 The first to do so was Truck Hannah, starting catcher for the New York Yankees on Opening Day, April 15, 1918. James Harrison Hannah was born near Larimore, Dakota Territory, on June 5, 1889, less than five months before President Grover […]

It had been over two decades since the Dodgers won the 1920 National League pennant. Most of those years were spent in the second division. By 1937 the Dodgers were in dire straits financially. They were $700,000 in debt to their bank, the Brooklyn Trust Company, “$470,000 on a refinanced mortgage for Ebbets Field. (The […]

The fans had reason to question the wisdom of manager Bucky Harris back in February when the team spent $5,000 for a 22-year-old 6-foot-4 right-handed minor leaguer. He won 24 while losing only 4 but that was for Sanford in the Class D Florida State League. That kid, Sid Hudson, was anything but a sure […]

The Pittsburgh Pirates came home from a six-game road trip to St. Louis and Cincinnati with excitement in the air on Tuesday, June 29, 1909. A new ballpark was about to be opened to much fanfare and the guests for the occasion were the 37-21 Chicago Cubs, led by manager Frank Chance. Over the past […]

On August 22, 1959, Cincinnati manager Fred Hutchinson finished writing out his lineup card for the Saturday afternoon tilt versus St. Louis. Hutch was familiar with the Cardinals’ personnel since he had piloted them for nearly all of the previous three seasons. Now, as the relatively new skipper of the Redlegs, he felt that his […]

“Pretty humbled right now, the ways things have gone. Time might not be on my side.”1 These were the words of 42-year-old John Smoltz on August 6, 2009, after what turned out to be the final start of his seven-week stint with the Boston Red Sox. He had given up eight earned runs to the […]

As if the 2020 season wasn’t strange enough, an unusual incident occurred at Fenway Park during a late-season Sunday afternoon game against the visiting New York Yankees. The announced attendance for the game was 0 – yes, zero – as it was for every game all season long at the Boston ballpark. The COVID-19 pandemic […]

To win their second consecutive World Series, the Philadelphia Athletics would have to beat a red-hot St. Louis Cardinals team in the 1930 Series. After being in fourth place, 12 games behind the league-leading Brooklyn Dodgers on the morning of August 9, the Cardinals won 39 of their final 49 games to storm their way […]

Baseball brawls are usually limited to some vigorous pushing and shoving. Punches may be thrown, but few connect. The donnybrook on June 6, 1993, between the Orioles and Mariners, however, was the exception to the rule, with the scene at Camden Yards more reminiscent of an NHL hockey brawl. The dust-up delayed the ballgame for […]

In the early part of 1927, the Midwest was bursting with anticipation as the baseball season segued from projections to facts delivered by daily sports accounts. By mid-April, pitching matchups, game summaries, and season standings would replace the “dreary box-scoreless winter” to provide “something in the newspapers.” Even an umpire might expect applause for one […]

“The East-West Game became the spirit and life of Negro League baseball, serving to entertain, educate, and ultimately provide a forum to integrate our national pastime many years later.” — Larry Lester1   The idea for a Negro League all-star game is attributed to sportswriters Roy Sparrow of the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph and Bill Nunn of […]

During their first four seasons, the Montreal Expos were never in first place after April.1 In 1973, however, Montreal got its first case of pennant fever amid a five-team dogfight for the National League East Division title. On the evening of Monday, September 17, the Expos climbed into a virtual tie for first place after […]

Few one-game major leaguers led a baseball life as rich as pitcher Ernie Lindemann’s. From 1903 through 1915, he was a dominant force in the New York City area’s thriving semipro scene. He routinely faced, and often succeeded against, major-league teams and elite African-American independents. Indeed, Lindemann’s sole major-league appearance, with the Boston Doves in […]

The Monster. It wasn’t a nickname Dick Radatz liked but the minute it was out there, it stuck. For three seasons (1962-1964), he was one of the most dominant relief pitchers in the game, a supernova.1 He may have been overused, perhaps burning out after facing more than 500 batters for each of four seasons […]

In their long and storied history, the New York Yankees have sent many fine pitchers to the mound in the World Series. Hall-of-Famers like Lefty Gomez, Whitey Ford, and Mariano Rivera have left their mark on the record books with their autumnal performances in pinstripes. Arguably, though, the Yankees’ top all-time Fall Classic hurler is […]

Few post-1960 sportscasters have enjoyed a broader national impact in the United States than Dick Enberg. During his 60-year career, Enberg was a fixture for NBC and CBS television networks, delivering his signature exclamation “Oh My!” while announcing NFL football (including eight Super Bowls), college basketball (including four Final Fours), Wimbledon tennis, and events in […]

Eldon John “Rip” Repulski was a major-league ballplayer from Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, who enjoyed storytelling. This was especially true after his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Boston Red Sox came to a close in 1961, and Rip eventually opened a cocktail lounge on St. Germain Street in St. Cloud, […]

After Bob Bowman’s rubber-armed 1939 rookie campaign, St. Louis Star-Times sportswriter Ray J. Gillespie asked the 28-year-old to explain his remarkable endurance. In his folksy West Virginia drawl, Bowman made plain that “Pitchin’ every day beats workin’ in the [coal] mines, accordin’ to my way of figgerin’.”1 Having nearly led the St. Louis Cardinals to […]

Bobby Jones certainly meets the qualities of a baseball lifer. He spent much of his time on the playing field and in dugouts for more than 40 years after playing in Little League, crossing the country frequently during that odyssey. Jones’s dedication to the game eventually led to his appointment to the front office of […]

James Thomas McGuire, who would be known as “Deacon Jim” based on his gentlemanly, fair-play approach to the game, was the most durable catcher of his era. It was widely reported that he was never put out of a game or fined. He was steady in performance and temperament with some of his greatest baseball […]

Richard Jackson,1 nicknamed “Workie,” began playing baseball in the black textile leagues in South Carolina, and had a ten-year career as an infielder in the Negro Leagues. During his professional career he played in Atlantic City; New York; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Baltimore; and Darby, Pennsylvania. Primarily known as a hitter, he was also known for his […]

If Marty O’Toole is remembered at all today, it is as one of baseball’s greatest flops–the “$22,500 Beauty” or “Lemon” the Pittsburgh Pirates paid a record price for in 1911. Truth to tell, O’Toole was well worth the price. Based on his minor league credentials, Marty could have been one of the game’s greatest pitching […]