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For a while, it looked as though the Red Sox were simply going to win this in a breeze. It didn’t work out that way. The Red Sox had won the first two games in the best-of-five series, taking both games in Anaheim. They scored first in this one, with two runs in the bottom […]
From 1929 to 1932, the Boston Red Sox played their home games in two ballparks: Fenway Park and Braves Field. After a 23-game road trip from August 10-31, 1929, the Red Sox played the entire month of September in Boston, splitting games between the two parks. To celebrate Labor Day, Boston hosted the Washington Senators […]
St. Louis had won nine straight games from July 23 to July 29, 1944, and looked to win nine in a row again going into an August 20 doubleheader opener against the visitors from Boston. Although star outfielder Stan Musial “had gone hitless in his last ten times at bat[,]”1 the Cardinals had continued to […]
The 1934 All-Star Game is remembered for the performance of New York Giants southpaw Carl Hubbell, who struck out five players in a row who are now in the Hall of Fame. Less remembered is the outstanding outing of Cleveland’s Mel Harder, who entered a mess in the fifth inning and went the rest of […]
St. Louis had won nine straight games from July 23 to July 29, 1944, and looked to win nine in a row again going into an August 20 doubleheader opener against the visitors from Boston. Although star outfielder Stan Musial “had gone hitless in his last ten times at bat[,]”1 the Cardinals had continued to […]
David Ortiz addresses the crowd at Fenway Park on April 20, 2013. (MICHAEL IVINS / BOSTON RED SOX) Monday, April 15, 2013, was Patriots Day in Massachusetts, a state holiday commemorating the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Patriots Day is famous for two sporting events — the Boston Marathon, and the morning Boston Red […]
Starters for the next-to-last game of the 2004 season were Pedro Astacio for the Boston Red Sox and Sidney Ponson for the Baltimore Orioles. The outcome wasn’t going to affect either team’s place in the American League East standings. The Red Sox began the day 3½ games behind the first-place New York Yankees, with two […]
With the 1952 season drawing to a disappointing close and the St. Louis Cardinals mired in third place, the team’s front office, looking for a way to draw fans to an otherwise meaningless game, decided to have its star Stan Musial hark back to the earliest days of his career.1 That meant having the one-time […]
The Yankees were cruising to their fifth straight AL pennant in 1953 when they took on the Senators in New York for a three-game series beginning on August 18. The Nats1 had just split a doubleheader in Boston with the Red Sox, while the Yankees had won four straight after pummeling the sixth-place A’s in […]
It was the “longest home run in the history of baseball,” gushed sportswriter Joe Trimble of the New York Daily News, about Mickey Mantle’s titanic blast over the left-field bleachers and out of Griffith Stadium.1 Not ready to dismiss the icon who began the sport’s love affair with the long ball two generations earlier, New […]
An ordinary doubleheader on a lazy Tuesday afternoon turned extraordinary on one swing of the bat by Braves center fielder Bernie Neis. In his second at-bat of the first game, the 29-year-old Neis became only the second major-league player – and the first member of the Braves – to hit a home run over the […]
Baseballs were flying out of major-league ballparks in 1953. At the end of play on this Sabbath Day, the National League had smashed 1,008 home runs on the season. Batters needed to hit only 92 more to break the single-season mark, set in 1950.1 The Milwaukee Braves, who had moved from Boston in the offseason, […]
Roberto Clemente on Opening Day of the 1960 season. (Courtesy of Dennis Morgan/Pittsburgh Courier Archives.) An MVP, a Cy Young, two future Hall of Famers and a world championship, the Pittsburgh Pirates presaged all these honors by battering the Cincinnati Reds, 13-0, in their 1960 home opener. Pirates shortstop Dick Groat scored three runs […]
“I’ve loved baseball ever since I can remember.” – Kevin Walker1 A relief pitcher most of his career, Kevin Walker played for his only World Series championship team when he appeared in nine regular-season games with the Chicago White Sox in 2005. Standing 6-feet-4-inches tall and weighing 190 pounds, the fiery southpaw was an […]
At times his nerves compelled him to almost give up the game he loved, but Billy Myers always came back with grace and good humor. Nicknamed the Jaguar, he helped Cincinnati win two consecutive National League pennants. Myers never won the affection of the fans, but he was popular with his teammates and with knowledgeable […]
Carl Zamloch’s life was filled with magical moments. Some occurred during his brief stint in the major leagues with Detroit in 1913; others came in his years as a college coach, and as a minor-league player, manager, and owner. Many, however, stemmed from his childhood as the son of a famous magician and from his […]
The novelty had long since worn off. On Friday, May 17, 1963, a mere 8,223 fans came through the turnstiles at Colt Stadium, less than half the number that were in attendance exactly one year earlier when the sheer newness of the expansion Colt .45s was enough to attract larger crowds. Yet when Don Nottebart […]
It was remarkably kind for his hometown newspaper to place a headline on Patrick Francis Creeden’s obituary calling him a “baseball legend.” [1] The historical record shows a total of one week in organized baseball – and not one hit. Never one day in the minor leagues. Five games with the Boston Red Sox in […]
Right-hander Paul Stuffel had a reputation as one of the hardest-throwing pitchers of his generation. As a Philadelphia Phillies prospect in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Stuffel overpowered batters in several low- and mid-level minor leagues, but also struggled controlling his heater. While pitching for the Schenectady (New York) Blue Jays in the Class-A […]
Arnold Carl Earley wound up in the same field of work his father had pursued — a policeman. His father, Walter Earley, was a city policeman in Lincoln Park, Michigan, at the time of the 1940 United States census. Born in Lincoln Park on June 4, 1933, to Walter and Edna (Tiedeman) Earley, Arnold was […]
“A Tiller of the Soil”1 – Buck Etchison describing himself when joining his first professional team, March 21, 1939 They were called “replacement players,” that group of men who played during the Second World War while others were in the military. Often career minor leaguers, they got the call to the big leagues, and […]
Guerrant McCurdy Scarce — the ornate Southern name could have been a Confederate general’s. Instead, just over a century after the Civil War, it belonged to a tall lefty reliever known simply as “Mac.” The Virginian had a fine college career and a promising start in the minors. In the big leagues, however, he finished […]
The fourth man from the Bahamas to play in the major leagues, Ed Armbrister was a spare part in Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine. His career was modest (265 at-bats in 224 games), but he won World Series rings in 1975 and 1976. Yet for Boston Red Sox fans, Armbrister was in the wrong place at […]
For Cubs fans of the 1940s and 1950s, Bobby Sturgeon will always be linked with two other shortstops who broke into the majors during the spring of 1940 — 10-time All-Star Pee Wee Reese of the Dodgers and seven-time All-Star Marty Marion of the Cardinals. As the story goes, Cubs manager Gabby Hartnett was pushing […]