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There was an air of excitement on Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium in 2004. More than 41,000 fans packed the ballpark armed with Royals magnetic 2004 season schedules.1 It was a comfortable 66 degrees, with clear skies, although winds were from the south at a potentially impactful 10 mph.2 The Royals’ 2004 slogan was “We […]

Hurling baseballs back after opponents’ home runs, flinging caps onto the rink after a hat trick in hockey, and tossing flowers onto the ice in honor of a figure skater’s performance are three traditions where throwing things onto the field of play is acceptable behavior at sporting events. However, take an unlikely baseball power hitter, […]

Thousands of players have had short major-league careers. Comparatively few have enjoyed long major-league careers. Vernon Monroe “Monty” Swartz had one of the longest short careers on record. Swartz made his only major-league appearance on October 3, 1920, pitching for the Cincinnati Reds in a 6-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The game went […]

The sickening sound—a sharp crack—could be heard above the din of the 31,027 fans who filled Fenway Park that Friday night. On August 18, 1967, in the midst of what would become to be known as the Boston Red Sox’ “Impossible Dream” year, a brilliant career was derailed and a life nearly taken when favorite […]

In 1922, the defending American League champion New York Yankees and the St. Louis Browns battled for first place all season long. The pennant was at stake when the Yankees came to Sportsman’s Park on a mid-September weekend for a three-game “Little World Series” with only a half-game lead over the Browns. After the teams […]

The Montreal Expos achieved all kinds of distinctions in their eventful first season. They beat the New York Mets 11-10 in the first game in franchise history, on April 8, 1969. On April 14 they beat St. Louis 8-7 in the first major-league game in Canada. Mack Jones hit the first big-league homer on Canadian […]

The 1945 St. Louis Cardinals, winners of three consecutive wartime National League pennants and World Series champions in 1942 and 1944, were counting on strong pitching to overcome the loss of key members of their offense to the military draft. Twenty-three-year-old All-Star outfielder Stan Musial, who had led the NL in hits in 1944, spent […]

From calling baserunners safe to keeping schoolchildren safe, Luther Derr Sahm had a long and eventful life – much of it spent under a professional alias. He called himself Doll Derr,1 and it is under that distinctive name that he appears in major-league records as an umpire in the National League for 28 games in […]

In 1935 Cy Blanton broke in with the Pittsburgh Pirates in a blaze of glory. The hard-throwing right-hander with an array of screwballs, curves, and sinkers led the National League in ERA and tied for the lead in shutouts, and was the hardest-to-hit pitcher in the big leagues. In his first four seasons he averaged […]

Playing on a squad that featured such top-rank stars as Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Tony Perez made it challenging for other players to gain notoriety in their own right. During the 1970s it was easy to overlook the contributions of “other” Reds who made up the roster of the Cincinnati’s Big Red […]

He was a baseball man in the purest and most complimentary sense of the term, at various times in his professional career playing as a pitcher and an outfielder, along with a few occasions at second base, and finally working as a manager over a 26-year professional span. “He was a good contact hitter, had […]

Signed to a Triple-A contract at the age of 19, Illinois-born Glen Hobbie quickly discovered that he was overmatched at that level. He fared little better in Class C, then was sidelined by a muscle spasm in his back, which he cured by swimming in the Mississippi River. Two seasons later, he was in the […]

His prep school coach almost kicked the youngster off the team, saying he was too hardheaded to ever make it as a ballplayer. The coach was wrong. Dutch Ruether had a long and successful career in professional baseball. He had a number of things in common with his future roommate, Babe Ruth, and outperformed the […]

George Earnshaw was the right-handed pitching ace of Connie Mack’s last dynasty, but his major-league career started late and ended early. George Livingston Earnshaw was born on February 15, 1900, in New York City, the first of four children of John J. and Maude Earnshaw. One writer described him as “a social register Johnnie” who […]

When Bowie Kuhn was named the fifth Commissioner of Baseball in early 1969, he was touted by owners as the man needed to modernize and strengthen the game of baseball, which was declining in popularity as pro football’s increased. It was a time, Daniel Okrent noted, when professional baseball was fighting for survival.1 Kuhn, a […]

He was the Bill Buckner of his era. Mickey Owen only committed four errors during his best year as a major league catcher, the 1941 campaign with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Three came in the regular season and one in the postseason. That last error, a dropped third strike with two out in the ninth inning, […]

Maybe even three years in professional baseball seemed just a little too long. Signed by the Boston Red Sox, right-handed pitcher Frank Quinn started his career with the Birmingham Barons in 1948, spent parts of two years in the majors, and finished active service with Chattanooga in 1950. An arm injury caused him to leave […]

Gambling posed a serious threat to baseball in 1919. Rumors of a “fixed” World Series were widespread. Owners of major- and minor-league teams were anxious to get control of the situation and restore the public’s confidence in the sport. “The very life of baseball depends upon keeping it above suspicion of any sort,” said Dr. […]

It was one week into the 1977 season. Jim Kaplan of Sports Illustrated alluded to 34-year-old Bill Robinson’s frustrations in his 10th major-league season: “No matter where he is playing — be it Cincinnati or New York or Los Angeles — he is sure to hear it. ‘Weaser,’ someone will call to him from the […]

Charles O. Finley indulged in many whims as owner of the A’s—and hiring world-class sprinter Herb Washington was one of his most fanciful experiments. Washington’s stint with Oakland (1974 and early 1975) was just part of Finley’s longstanding infatuation with “designated runners.” The track star was the second of six specialists whom the A’s employed […]

Christian H. Meisel was born in Newark, New Jersey, around 1857, one of at least six children of German immigrants Michael and Louisa Meisel. Newark was a longtime baseball hotbed and young Chris must have played the game, but the details are lost to history. By 1880, he had begun to settle down. He found […]

He was known as “The Tall Tactician” and was baseball’s grand old gentleman for more than a generation. Statuesque, stately, and slim, he clutched a rolled-up scorecard as he sat or stood ramrod straight in the dugout, attired in a business suit rather than a uniform, a derby or bowler in place of a baseball […]

This article was originally published in SABR’s The National Pastime, Vol. 19, in 1999.   The whole history leading up to Jackie Robinson has usually been that an electric light went on in the head of the noble Branch Rickey one morning and he ended baseball discrimination.” As the lean, white-haired Lester Rodney speaks in […]

Twenty-two members and guests of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter gathered at the Sports Cafe, 3579 Pennridge Drive in Bridgeton, Missouri, on Monday, March 18, 2019. Chapter president Rick Zucker called the meeting to order. First on the agenda for the evening was guest Mike Womble. Mike shared his recent research on St. Louis Cardinals […]