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As the 1998 NLCS began, two statements seemed certain. Given the way they dominated the National League, the Atlanta Braves were nearly a consensus choice to capture their fifth pennant of the 1990s. If they did not, and the San Diego Padres did, Kevin Brown would be the main reason why. Contrary to expert opinion, […]
An unheralded addition to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 1921 Opening Day roster, rookie Whitey Glazner quickly earned a spot in the starting rotation through outstanding relief work. He seized the limelight in the Pirates’ 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on May 7, limiting St. Louis to four hits in his second major-league start and […]
Through September 22, the Boston Red Sox had narrowed the New York Yankees’ lead in the 2004 American League East race from 10½ games on August 15 to 3½ games. Two days later, however, the Red Sox were 5½ games out with nine to play, after losses to the Baltimore Orioles and Yankees.1 The Red […]
On the morning of August 11, 1921, the New York Giants were in second place, 2½ games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. If the National League pennant race remained close, any one of a number of factors could be the difference between success and failure. Doubtless with some satisfaction, the Standard Union (Brooklyn) claimed, “[s]hould the […]
“Although Father Time has tried to mock the dean of pitchers in either major leagues,” opined a sportswriter poetically about 36-year-old Walter Johnson in 1924, “the old man with the scythe could not have the cunning and strength from that great arm today.”1 The Washington Senators hurler continued his season-long resurgence by holding the St. […]
Beginning with a base hit on May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio just kept hitting, game after game. Nobody noticed it much at first, but like a boulder that starts out slowly and picks up speed rolling down a hill, the story eventually took hold and the streak captivated a country during the summer of 1941. […]
The roof was open for the 25,661 baseball fans in attendance at Safeco Field on August 12, 2015.1 It had been rainy in the morning, but only clouds remained when the getaway day game began in the early afternoon. Both the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles were in the middle of the American League pack, […]
In one of the greatest comebacks in major-league history, the Chicago White Sox “staged an eleven-run rally” in the eighth inning of a game against the New York Yankees, in front of the home crowd in the Bronx. The New York Times estimated that “twelve thousand fans, most of them Boys’ Club guests of the […]
In some sense, it’s always significant news to Boston Red Sox fans when their team beats the New York Yankees. Since the 1918 Red Sox won the World Series, the Yankees had won 26 World Series as of 2004 and the Red Sox had won none. As the 2004 season began, there had been three […]
It was “a baseball burlesque … a wild slugfest with a flock of pitchers being rushed in and out of the box.” — James M. Gould, St. Louis Star, May 11, 1923 The Philadelphia Phillies hosted the St. Louis Cardinals at Baker Bowl on Friday, May 11, 1923. It was the final game of […]
Los Angeles native Archie Wilson was a 1942 graduate of the city’s Franklin High School (where he also starred in football and was a first-team halfback in the city’s All-Northern League) and spent three years at the University of Southern California. In 1951 and 1952, he played outfield for three different teams in the major […]
A nimble catcher before becoming one of the finest defensive third basemen of his era, Lave Cross spent most of his long career with four Philadelphia franchises.1 First came stints with the American Association’s Athletics and Players’ League’s Quakers, before a half-dozen seasons with the talented but underachieving mid-1890s National League Phillies. His fortunes then […]
Pack your bags. Frank Lane’s in town. The compulsive trader known as Frantic Frank shuffled at least 690 players in 414 transactions with five teams.1 Wherever Lane went, turmoil followed. He traded one manager for another. He traded a home run champion for a batting champ. He traded local heroes and future Hall of Famers. […]
Generations ago it would have been difficult to determine which was the more unlikely — a fringe major-league ballplayer ascending to the governorship of his home state and later becoming one of its United States senators, or a Democrat being elected to such lofty posts in then rock-solid Republican New Hampshire. Whichever the case, Fred […]
“What do [you] think of Tommy Henrich?”“I don’t know, he’s dependable, I guess.” This bit of repartee, from Philip Roth’s novella Goodbye Columbus, just about sums up Henrich’s career with the New York Yankees during the late 1930s and 1940s. If Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Joe Gordon, Bill Dickey, Phil Rizzuto, and Yogi Berra were […]
“We still don’t really know how Epy Guerrero signed this boy. It was a secret mission. All we know is that Epy Guerrero was here, and then he was gone.” (Juan Navarro, sports editor of La Prensa, in reference to the signing of Bryan Alyea out of Nicaragua). Many could tell similar stories of Epy […]
In his time, Enzo Hernández was a special player for fans of Venezuelan baseball. Both Hernández and David Concepción were thought of as successors to Alfonso “Chico” Carrasquel and Luis Aparicio, and Venezuela began to be seen as the cradle of the shortstop. Enzo Octavio Hernández Martínez was born on February 12, 1949, in the […]
With almost a century having passed since the end of his fitful professional career, right-handed pitcher Hi Jasper is an elusive subject, a hard man to pin down. But two Jasper characteristics are unmistakable. He had ability — such astute talent evaluators as Jimmy Callahan, Frank Chance, and Pants Rowland recognized his merits. Yet Jasper’s […]
Cliff Melton stormed through the 1937 National League as a rookie pitching sensation for the New York Giants and even received consideration as a possible Game One World Series starter over future Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell. But Melton’s insistence that Hubbell teach him to throw a screwball, the rarely used pitch featuring an outward […]
Doc Crandall is generally regarded as the premier relief specialist of the Deadball Era. Though he never led the National League in saves, he did lead the league in relief appearances each year from 1909 to 1913, and from 1910 to 1912 he led the NL each year in relief victories, compiling an overall record […]
Remembered mostly for his more famous older brother Ed, Jim Delahanty was a fine player in his own right, and one of the most well-traveled hitters of the Deadball Era. During a professional career that lasted nearly two decades, the free-swinging right-hander played for fifteen different clubs, including eight in the major leagues. Despite his […]
American League Park / Oriole Park (IV), July 18, 1907. (Courtesy of David B. Stinson and Bernard McKenna.) American League Park was the home of the first American League Baltimore Orioles in 1901 and 1902.1 From 1903 to 1914, the ballpark was known as Oriole Park (IV) and was home to the Eastern League […]
The Minnesota Twins have called Target Field home since 2010. (COURTESY OF STEW THORNLEY) The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have long been a baseball mecca. The Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints were Triple-A mainstays, and each had a long and distinguished history, being the two teams with the most wins […]