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Billy Purtell set a record that would not encourage bragging rights. In 1910, while playing for the White Sox and the Red Sox, he appeared in 151 games and hit only six doubles. At the time of his death – more than half a century later – this “record” was noted in his 1962 obituary […]

Baseball fans from the 1970s may have faint memories of a lanky backup catcher for the San Diego Padres. Bob Davis, a native of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, became a familiar face for the Padres faithful during the organization’s early years. Standing six feet and weighing 180 pounds, Davis caught 166 games for the Friars before […]

Chet Nourse was a native of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and a pitcher for Brown University who shut out Harvard on a two-hitter in 1909 and began to attract attention. In the spring of 1909 it was announced that he would join the Chicago Cubs after he graduated from college – but it wasn’t Nourse who made […]

The neighborhood surrounding 11th and Wharton Streets in South Philadelphia is known for producing entertainers Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Fabian Forte, and Chubby Checker. John Marzano wasn’t a teen idol. He didn’t star in Beach Blanket Bingo and he didn’t invent “The Twist.” However, at one point in his baseball career, Marzano was considered the […]

The legend of Slim Jones has loomed large over the history of the Negro Leagues due to his death at the youthful age of 25 in 1938. In truth, by the time of his passing, Jones already had entered the pantheon of baseball’s “could have beens” as injury and alcoholism had depleted his pitching ability. […]

Full-blooded Mohawk Louis Bruce was one of the earlier Native Americans to reach the majors. He got into 30 games with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1904, during a pro career that ran from 1900 to 1907. He was small (5’5” and 145 pounds) but hit for good averages in the minors while playing numerous positions. […]

Although he had his moments as a 19th-century major-league ballplayer, the singular event of Mox McQuery’s life was the one that ended it. Several years into his post-baseball tenure as a Covington, Kentucky, police officer, McQuery died in the line of duty, shot by a murder suspect whom he had attempted to take into custody. […]

Whitlow Wyatt already had strong ties to Atlanta baseball when he arrived with the Braves for the 1966 season as the team’s pitching coach. The native Georgian was a short-stint collegian at Georgia Tech before starting his professional baseball career in 1927 and later serving as pitching coach for the city’s standout Class AA Southern […]

As a 20-year-old rookie, Chet Nichols Jr. led the National League with a 2.88 earned-run average while pitching for the 1951 Boston Braves. He came in second in the Rookie of the Year voting to Willie Mays. Nichols spent the next two years in the United States Army, working as a quartermaster during the Korean […]

During the 1970s and early ’80s, every announcer or writer had to dish the dirt on his story. He played major league baseball in summer, but Richie Hebner dug graves in winter. Beginning in the ninth grade, he continued digging throughout his 18-year major league career, even when free agency expanded his paychecks beyond 1976, […]

The shortest pitcher in major-league history, Frank “Deacon” Morrissey threw right-handed for the 1901 Boston Americans (later the Red Sox) and the 1902 Chicago Orphans (also the Cubs). Aside from the one game with Boston and seven with Chicago, he spent 12 seasons in the minor leagues playing a wide variety of positions (every position […]

Cleveland pitcher Walter “Duster” Mails was feeling his oats, and why wouldn’t he be? He was living a dream after he was acquired by the Indians on August 31, 1920, in an effort to shore up the pitching staff. But manager Tris Speaker got much more than he bargained for when in eight starts in […]

His adoring fans called him “Little Nic.” At 5-feet-4 and 145 pounds, Hugh Nicol was small in stature but large in accomplishments. His showmanship and acrobatic antics on the baseball field reminded observers of circus performers. He was a 19th-century forerunner of Ozzie Smith. His greatest claim to fame was his speed on the basepaths. […]

The heir to Moe Drabowsky, Tug McGraw, and Roger McDowell, Turk Wendell kept the tradition of lovable zany relievers alive. Wendell had a unique litany of on-field antics, plus a trademark necklace of animal teeth and claws – from beasts he’d hunted himself. “Turkey spurs too,” said the avid outdoorsman, “but no shark teeth.” Yet […]

“Mr. D’Acquisto, Mr. D’Acquisto, you just broke the radar gun, the last pitch was 100 miles an hour and the gun just broke!” Pitching for the Chicago White Sox’ AAA Denver Bears affiliate in 1983; 31-year-old John D’Acquisto had other things on his mind as he as he crossed the foul line on his way […]

Born May 25, 1845, Lipman Emanuel Pike was the first great Jewish baseball player, playing professionally from 1866 to 1881. While no comparable statistical records exist for his career through 1870, from 1871 through 1881 Pike appeared in 425 National Association and National League games, hitting .322 with a slugging average of .468. Despite being […]

“We play the game the right way” is a phrase commonly bandied about in baseball. But baseball players are judged and rewarded based on their personal performances. What happens when these two sometimes disparate philosophies collide? Such was the case on September 26, 2019, at Globe Life Park, where the Texas Rangers beat the Boston […]

Going into 2005, the Florida Marlins began with high expectations, both internally and in the national media. Team President David Samson boldly predicted a franchise-record 93 wins, and one national magazine pegged the Marlins to win the World Series.1 Optimism was not unwarranted, as the core of the 2003 World Series champion Marlins team remained […]

This was the next-to-last home run Ted Williams ever hit. It was also the fourth game-winner in a row he had hit off Washington Senators right-hander Pedro Ramos, who was only 25 years old but had given up six home runs to Williams, with the four game-winners tying him (with Virgil Trucks) for first place […]

San Diego Padres hurler Steve Arlin could hardly be classified as a headhunter. Coming into his August 17, 1971, start against the Montreal Expos, he had hit only four batters in 197 big-league innings. That didn’t stop the pugnacious Ron Hunt, who was usually fine with reaching base on a hit-by-pitch, from grumbling when Arlin […]

The rivalry between Boston College and Boston University is a deep-rooted part of the city’s sports landscape. In the twenty-first century, this rivalry is probably most visible on the hockey rink, where nationally ranked teams of both male and female Eagles and Terriers face off in fervent competition. Before BU dropped varsity football (in 1997) […]

The New York Giants and Chicago Cubs were “red-hot rivals for National League supremacy.”1 The Giants won the NL pennant in 1904 and 1905, but in 1906 they finished in second place behind the pennant-winning Cubs. Now, through games of June 4, 1907, the teams were neck-and-neck in the standings, the Cubs in first place […]

Even though they were making their first postseason appearance in more than a decade, the New York Mets were ready for the pressure of Game One of their National League Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Four must-win games over the previous four days had prepared them for the postseason. “Since we’ve been through it […]

This multi-purpose facility has been called “The Madison Square Garden of Puerto Rico.”1 Its use in boxing and basketball is a big reason, but the parallel extends to track and field, as well as political conventions. Baseball, however, forms an especially rich chapter in the history of Estadio Sixto Escobar (as it is known to […]