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The Pittsburgh Federal League club (known in many newspapers as the Rebels or Pittfeds) was mired in last place as the calendar neared the waning days of July 1914. The promise exhibited by 20,000 fans showing up for the season opener back in April1 led to very little but a subpar record and a 15-game […]

On July 13, 1872, the New York Clipper reported as follows: “The Boston on a Rest. On July 6th, the Boston Reds went into camp on the Island in Boston Harbor to fish, shoot, bathe and recuperate generally for the fall campaign.”  The island in question was Calf Island, one of the Brewsters, where, in […]

The 1949 World Series opened with Allie Reynolds facing Brooklyn’s best pitcher, Don Newcombe. Yankees manager Casey Stengel wanted the 1950 World Series to start that way as well. Reynolds against Philadelphia’s best pitcher. But it did not work out that way as Jim Konstanty rather than Robin Roberts started Game One. Eddie Sawyer’s gambit […]

Larry Walker’s hold on a major-league job was slowly slipping away. His first full season in the big leagues had gone reasonably well; in only 419 at-bats he nearly posted a 20-20 season.1 Walker was even named to the 1990 Topps’ All-Star Rookie team. But a 1991 spring-training slump had carried over into the regular […]

After an offseason replete with anxiety, change, and excitement, the San Francisco Giants ushered in a new era on Opening Day 1993. To recap: On November 10, 1992, his fellow National League owners rejected Bob Lurie’s deal to sell the Giants to a group of Florida investors who had intended to move the franchise to St. […]

Before the 1980 season, Detroit manager Sparky Anderson had a goal of 90 wins.1 The Tigers had won 85 games the year before but finished fifth in the tough American League East Division. Anderson, starting his first full season in Detroit after having had success with the Big Red Machine in Cincinnati, was looking for […]

The New York Giants were on an upswing when they headed to the Polo Grounds on Sunday morning, June 3, 1951, for a doubleheader with the St. Louis Cardinals, the sixth and seventh games of a 14-game homestand. They had won seven of the previous nine games to improve their record to 23-21, moving from […]

It was a “mastodonic thrust,” according to the New York Times.1 With his mighty stroke of the bat, the Yankees’ Babe Ruth smashed a towering shot that sailed over the right-center-field bleachers in Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. It was the Sultan of Swat’s 35th home run of the 1921 season and newspapers from around […]

After a one-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, MLB All-Star Week returned in July 2021. The site was Denver’s Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies.1 Alongside the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, one of the biggest attractions was the All-Star Futures Game, a seven-inning contest that showcases the most highly touted prospects […]

Sportswriter Charles Dryden’s famous quote “Washington—First in war, first in peace, last in the American League”1 certainly described the situation in July 1968 as the Washington Senators visited the Cleveland Indians for a two-game series at Cleveland Stadium. Even after their 4-2 win in the series opener on July 29, with the go-ahead run coming […]

The day Robin Roberts, the pride of Philadelphia, was elected to the Hall of Fame in January 1976, sportswriter Bob Gross penned an article detailing Roberts’ collegiate feats at Michigan State University and memories from his major-league career.1 Gross recounted Roberts’ bittersweet memory of a conversation he had with his father after a game in […]

“It would be hard to say I am not a typical minor leaguer.  I’ve spent 11 years in the minors, practically my whole career. It doesn’t feel good to say I am a typical minor leaguer. It doesn’t feel good to say it at all, but I suppose it’s the truth. I still keep hoping […]

From his debut in the majors to his fifth and final game spanned a mere 11 days in April 1947, despite his getting two hits in that last game. But Frank Strickland Shofner played nine years in the minor leagues. Though both were Texans, Strick Shofner was no known relation to pitcher Milt “Pinky” Shoffner, […]

A steady, left-handed pitcher can always find employment in baseball. Bob McClure was armed with a tremendous competitive spirit and a deceptive curveball. He turned his talent into 19 major-league seasons. “Bob Uecker told me that if I were right-handed I would have been digging ditches 10 years ago,” McClure said.1 After his playing days, […]

Matt Young’s place in baseball history is secure. On April 12, 1992, the 33-year-old left-hander became only the third pitcher to throw a complete-game no-hitter and lose the game. Pitching in the first game of a doubleheader for the visiting Boston Red Sox against the Indians in Cleveland, Young lost 2-1. Since his complete game […]

Illinois native Del Howard wasn’t as well-known as Hall of Famers Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance, but he was a valuable backup first baseman, outfielder, and pinch-hitter on the Chicago Cubs’ world championship teams of 1907 and 1908. “Del [Howard] has been carried two years with the Cubs and is as full of […]

Left-hander Herb Thormahlen won 29 games in the major leagues and 159 in the minors, pitching from 1916 through 1933. (Baseball databases list Thormahlen as Hank, but in the several thousand news stories scoured in the preparation of this biography, never once was he described as Hank.) He hailed from Jersey City, New Jersey, born […]

In his second big-league season, young Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Jimmy Viox hit .317, good for third place in the 1913 National League batting race. In the eyes of many observers, including Sporting Life, Viox had supplanted Johnny Evers as the senior circuit’s top second baseman, and great things were expected of Viox in coming seasons. […]

Don Werner played 18 seasons of professional baseball and appeared in 118 major-league games, backing up one Hall of Famer and catching the only no-hitter pitched by another. Though he batted just .176 during limited opportunities in the major leagues, Werner grasped enough of the finer points of the art of catching to stay employed […]

James Edward “Pete” Runnels occupies a place in Washington Senator and Boston Red Sox history as a stalwart, versatile infielder who learned how to hit from possibly the greatest hitter of all time. He parlayed his tutelage from none other than Ted Williams into two American League batting championships and lost a third title on […]

James Thomas “Moe” Mahoney was signed as a pitcher, but converted to a middle infielder. He played in an even 100 games at the big-league level, 89 at shortstop, 10 at second base, and one at third base. He was utilized as a pinch-runner in another 20 major-league games. Mahoney was a native of Englewood, […]

By any reasonable standard, Cardell Camper was a successful athlete. Although his major league career consisted of only three appearances for the 1977 Cleveland Indians, the right-handed pitcher posted a winning record over 10 seasons in professional baseball after lettering in four sports during high school. Later in life, Camper found what he called “true […]

Frank Carswell was a right-handed pitcher whose career began in 1944 with the local Dan Montgomerys of Buffalo, New York; included stints in the Negro Leagues with the Cleveland Buckeyes, Harlem Colored Giants, Harlem Globetrotters, Chicago American Giants, and Indianapolis Clowns; and ended with a postseason barnstorming gig with Jackie Robinson’s New York All-Stars in […]

The Boston Red Sox celebrated the 100th birthday of Fenway Park on April 20, 2012. Fenway had already become the oldest park in major-league baseball, and coming off a decade of offseason renovations was envisioned to last for at least another 30 or 40 years past 2012. Fenway has hosted more than 8,000 big-league baseball […]