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Before the term “walk-off” homer became a cliché, a Huck Finn–like figure from Pennsylvania coal country, Tom Matchick, hit a dramatic two-run homer off Moe Drabowsky in the ninth inning with two out to beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5–4 on July 19, 1968. Many longtime Detroit Tigers fans have claimed they were at that game, […]

There are countless stories about how baseball players broke into the game. Some made spectacular first impressions while others left no impression at all. The year was 1918 and 20-year-old Rube Lutzke was badgering manager Mike Kelley of the St. Paul Saints of the American Association for a chance to show his talent. Finally, on […]

He stood only 5’8″ and weighed just 150 lbs., but Jesse Tannehill was one of the most versatile players during the Deadball Era. Not only did the black-haired left-hander compile a 197-117 lifetime record and 2.80 ERA, the switch-hitter also played in the outfield 87 times and pinch hit in 57 games. A former saloon […]

The man primarily responsible for bringing the Braves to Atlanta in 1966 was William Conrad “Bill” Bartholomay. He was born in the Chicago suburb of Evanston on August 11, 1928, to parents who were fond of baseball, especially his mother. One of his earliest memories is of his mother taking him out of school on […]

At one end of the Red Sox dressing room stood a pitching master, a winner of 306 games and a future Hall of Famer with “flecks of gray in his hair,” wrote Bill Parrillo of the Providence Journal.1 His reputation preceded him. At the age of 41, Tom Seaver was in a Red Sox uniform […]

An Irish cop from Boston – but that’s not really the full story. James Joseph Galvin was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on August 11, 1907, to James J. and Hannah Walsh Galvin and grew up in the area, attending Somerville public schools all the way through high school. His father was a conductor on the […]

A lineup regular for the 1909 world champion Pittsburgh Pirates, long-forgotten first baseman Bill Abstein retains one unhappy distinction. Of all the unfortunates branded a World Series goat, Abstein is likely the only one who played for the winning side. That our subject played poorly in that year’s seven-game Series against the Detroit Tigers is […]

In a major-league career spanning all or parts of 11 seasons (1985-1995), switch-hitting middle infielder Manuel Lee spent his first six years playing mostly second base for the Toronto Blue Jays while he backed up fellow Dominican Republic native Tony Fernández at shortstop. After Fernández was traded, the s trong-armed Lee started at shortstop for […]

“Let’s face it, I’m more a thrower than a pitcher,”1 said the frank left-handed Kentuckian whose sudden emergence on the major-league stage in 1966 was described as “one of the strangest make-good-in-a-hurry stories”2 to ever come along. Despite an early diagnosis of an arthritic left elbow, this 43-year-old “thrower” was still hurling a baseball better […]

Fittingly, pitcher Leroy Matlock was called “the Black Carl Hubbell” in press releases promoting a 1937 barnstorming tour.1 Hubbell, who entered the Hall of Fame in 1947, had completed a high-profile streak of 24 wins in a row earlier in 1937 for the pennant-winning New York Giants. Matlock, also a lefty, had 26 straight victories […]

By the time the 1920 baseball season wound down to the last couple of days on the schedule, enough had happened to make the season one for the history books. On August 16 at the Polo Grounds, Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman was hit in the base of his skull by a fastball thrown by New […]

The Atlanta Braves jumped out to a three-games-to-one lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1992 National League Championship Series, outscoring the Pirates by 13 runs in the first four games. Pittsburgh’s bats came alive in Game Five and the Pirates won the next two games, outscoring the Braves by 15 runs, to tie the […]

Late in the 1987 season, Sam Horn took Boston by storm. After hitting .321 with 30 home runs and 84 RBIs in 94 games for Triple-A Pawtucket, he was called up when the Red Sox released veteran Bill Buckner on July 23. In his major-league debut, on July 25 against Seattle, the 6-foot-5 left-handed slugger […]

St. Louis third baseman Tommy Glaviano was having a solid start to the 1950 baseball season. Slotted in as the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter, he was hitting .342 with an on-base percentage of .464. He’d made four errors in his 20 games at the hot corner, but no one could have foreseen the disastrous defensive inning […]

Does the higher altitude at Denver’s Coors Field translate to more home runs? In the 2018 regular season, the Colorado Rockies played 81 games there, and fans saw a total of 212 balls go over the walls (from both the visiting and home teams), second only to Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park (218).1 On September […]

The 1953 Dodgers enjoyed so much success against the St. Louis Cardinals that it has stood the test of time. It was impressive dominance by a great team against a pretty good team that struggled mightily at Ebbets Field. The Ladies Day game between the Dodgers and Cardinals on September 1 was the last of […]

On June 17, 1952, in front of 6,914 fans,1 the University of Missouri, coached by John “Hi” Simmons,2 and the College of the Holy Cross, coached by Jack Barry, a five-time World Series champion as a player with the Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox,3 faced off in the winner-take-all game of the College World […]

Baseball magic was happening in Chicago during the summer of 1977. It was late June and both of the city’s teams were atop their divisions. The White Sox – who had not won the World Series since 1917 – were tied for first in the American League West Division at the end of the day […]

The New York Mets were struggling to defend their World Series championship midway through the 1970 season. They fell into fourth place in the National League East before winning 22 of 31 games from June 9 through July 10 to move into first. But their inconsistent play kept them from holding the top spot for […]

While December 7, 1941 was proclaimed by Franklin D. Roosevelt as a day that would live in infamy, April 20, 1945 was also a monumental day in American history. While Adolf Hitler celebrated his 56th birthday, Allied forces commenced with a bombing mission in Italy known as Operation Corncob, and U.S. troops captured the German […]

Willie Mays hit a career-high 52 home runs in 1965. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)   Before a crowd of 8,922 at Candlestick Park, Willie Mays hit his 44th and 45th home runs of the season to lead the San Francisco Giants over the Houston Astros, giving San Francisco the outright lead in the […]

Ray Lankford made his major-league debut on August 21, 1990, as the center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, pushing 1985 National League MVP and four-time All-Star Willie McGee over to right field. Lankford went 2-for-4 with an RBI against the Atlanta Braves. The next day he went 2-for-2, adding two bases on balls. St. […]

Jackie Robinson debuted with the Dodgers at age 28 in 1947. Over the course of the next seven seasons, he was arguably the best player in baseball, batting .319 with a .414 on-base percentage. (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive)   Jackie Robinson was in the heart of the prime of his career. His 1947 rookie season had […]

If “What’s past is prologue,” as Shakespeare wrote,1 Ruppert Stadium’s in Newark began with Charles A. Davids, a Bayside, New York, promoter.2 To most of the public, though, it begins with the baseball original for whom the park was named, ultimately housing two teams so good that to some they seemed better than several teams in […]