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The 2001 Baseball America Prospect Handbook listed Jacob Peavy as the number two prospect in the San Diego Padres organization.1 The report, prepared by scouts, considered him “frail and wild.” That is why he slipped to the 15th round of the 1999 free-agent draft. The Padres selected the 6-foot-1 right-handed pitcher out of St. Paul’s […]

Willie Mays ripped Dick Egan’s “best spitter”1 out of blustery Candlestick Park on August 29, 1967. That solo home run in the seventh inning gave the San Francisco Giants a 7-1 advantage over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers. (The Giants went on to win 11-1.) Baseball’s legendary “Say Hey Kid” knew all about Egan’s habit […]

John Stearns was a stalwart on some of the worst New York Mets teams of the late 1970s and early 1980s. He earned the nickname Bad Dude, which he picked up while talking to a reporter in 1970.1 It stuck with him throughout his playing days. The nickname was indicative of Stearns’s toughness and confidence. […]

He wasn’t “Snake” and he wasn’t “Hooks” – Hal Wiltse went by the more pedestrian nickname of “Hal.” Of course, that wasn’t uncommon for a man named Harold. Harold James Wiltse was born in Clay City, Illinois, on August 6, 1903. The other two Wiltses were brothers from New York State. All three were left-handed […]

In 1951 The Sporting News encapsulated the career of Frank Hiller stating, “This is the human story of the man who stands outside looking in … with desperation, pathos, perseverance as its theme … [Once] one of the ‘anointed,’ a hand-picked [New York] Yankee prospect from the start … And then, as the Fates snipped […]

Over four seasons with a Chicago Cubs club that finished no better than fourth and was once dead last, Tony Kaufmann was a reliable starter and occasional reliever. During that stretch, 1923-1926, the righthander had a 52-41 record with a 3.68 ERA. But it was a turbulent 1927 season that shaped the rest of his […]

Colombia has been sending more men than ever to the majors in the 21st century. But when shortstop Jackie Gutierrez made his debut with the Boston Red Sox in 1983, he was just the second man who learned the game in that nation to make it to the top level. Way back in 1902, Colombian-born […]

Playing in the majors for one’s hometown team is the dream of many American boys, and Lou Sleater achieved it two times over. Born in St. Louis, but a Baltimore resident by his high school years, Sleater started his big-league career with the Browns and finished it with the Orioles. Primarily a reliever, the left-hander […]

Tony Muser turned down his first shot at professional baseball, but about a year later signed with the Boston Red Sox and embarked on a career that included nine years in the big leagues as a first baseman and outfielder, 14 years as a major-league coach, and six years as a major-league manager. Of Austrian/German […]

The Washington Senators were losing badly Tuesday afternoon, September 13, 1921, against the St. Louis Browns. The spitball delivery of Urban Shocker had restricted the Senators to one run on six hits through eight innings. With the score a lopsided 14-1 as the top of the ninth rolled around, the Washington fans had become aggravated, […]

“He’s a superhero without a cape. That’s the way we see him.” — Alex Cora1 Several of the biggest base hits in Boston baseball history came off the bat of “Big Papi,” David Ortiz. He sports three world championship rings and then wrapped up his career with one of the best final seasons any player […]

Catcher Jack Lapp came to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1908 as a late-season gamble recruited from outlaw baseball. He stuck with the team and become part of the “pennant trust” that captured four American League flags from 1910 through 1914.1 Lapp never quite eclipsed Ira Thomas, then Wally Schang, to emerge as the team’s first-string […]

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” During his 18-year career in the Major Leagues, John Phalen “Stuffy” McInnis’ teams finished in first place six times, winning five World Series, and in last place four times. He started his career by becoming the youngest member of Connie Mack’s famed “$100,000 […]

As the resurgence of the Brooklyn Dodgers as a pennant-contending team in the 1940s moved into the next decade, there is one thing that scorekeeping fans could count on since 1949. Campy, Gil, Jackie, Pee Wee, Billy, Duke, and Skoonj. For the radio broadcast, you could pencil in their names into the lineup on your […]

The score of this game is not a misprint. It was a 29-0 game played between two major-league championship teams. The two biggest reasons for the lopsided score were that the Atlantics made 30 errors and that they were facing one of the best pitchers of the time, Albert Spalding. In a bit of understatement, […]

As the skies darkened over the nation’s capital, the spirit of the brave sportsmen from Boston brightened. The scoreboard-watching Beaneaters breathed easier when the young man serving as scoreboard operator removed the 12-by-16-inch placard noting the innings. The temporary gap caused players to pause. Beaneaters players elbowed each other and stared. Then an “F” appeared. […]

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs began 1949 with an unprecedented matchup: the National or American League’s first-ever Opening Day clash of starting pitchers who had reached their 40th birthdays.1 In a game scoreless until a ninth-inning unearned run, with both Pittsburgh’s Rip Sewell and Chicago’s Dutch Leonard going the distance on fewer than 100 […]

Sandwiched between home doubleheaders on July 2 and Independence Day for the Boston Red Sox in 1940 was a Wednesday afternoon game against the Philadelphia Athletics. The 37-28 Red Sox were in third place in the American League but only three games behind the league-leading Detroit Tigers. Philadelphia (26-39) was in seventh place, already far […]

When Dave LaPoint of the St. Louis Cardinals walked to the pitcher’s mound at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati on May 24, 1983, to make the 35th start of his major-league career, the left-hander had yet to walk off any mound with a complete game. Against the Reds, LaPoint finally finished something he started, going the […]

If one were to rate the excitement of various baseball plays, inside-the-park home runs (IPHR) would most likely rank very near the top. One of the game’s longest-fused events, thanks to the batter’s 360-foot trip around the diamond, IPHRs have an evergreen presence in highlight and blooper reels alike with dramatic elements like misplays or […]

Jim Bouton led the nomadic life of a baseball maverick, with stops including New York City; Seattle; Houston; Portland, Oregon; Durango, Mexico; Atlanta; and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to name a few. Along the way, he pitched in major, minor, independent, Mexican, and amateur leagues, wrote the groundbreaking best-seller Ball Four, starred in a short-lived TV adaptation […]

The National League’s ill-advised crackdown on balks had reached its zenith. On May 4, 1963, Milwaukee Braves starter Bob Shaw was charged with five balks in an abbreviated outing against the Chicago Cubs. The infractions were stunning considering Shaw had begun the season with just one balk in 970⅓ career innings in the big leagues. […]

Not all important baseball wins are the product of exciting, well-played games. Such was the case on October 20, 1874, when the Boston Red Stockings beat the Athletics of Philadelphia 14-7 to clinch their third consecutive National Association championship. The day started well for the Athletics. Playing on their home field, the Jefferson Street Grounds, […]

Both the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers were out of contention when they played the final game of the 1952 season on September 28, but there were still some individual titles to be decided, including the American League home-run crown. It had been only five years since Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947; […]