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In the spring of 1970, a rangy 23-year-old right-hander stood atop the Los Angeles Dodgers’ minor-league pitching hierarchy. Sandy Vance, with a perfect name for Dodger fans to savor harkening back to Hall of Famers Dazzy Vance and Sandy Koufax,1 burst into the majors by happenstance that April, had solid seasons with both Los Angeles […]

Not many players can claim to be a national hero, nor do many have as unique a place in World Series history as Edgar Renteria. As a 21-year-old, Renteria hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning in Game Seven of the World Series to win the World Series for the Marlins. […]

An adept base stealer known for taking unusually large leads from first base, Wid Conroy used his raw speed and acrobatic skills to earn a reputation as one of the most versatile defensive players of the Deadball Era. During his eleven-year major league career, Conroy played a significant number of games at third base, shortstop, […]

When the Philadelphia Phillies arrived for spring training in March 1911, future Hall of Famer Grover Alexander was not the only highly touted pitching prospect in camp. Held in equal regard was George Chalmers, like Alexander a recent graduate of the Class B New York State League. The previous season, Chalmers, a strapping [6-feet-1, 190 […]

Left-handed pitcher Joe Price worked 11 seasons in major league baseball, the first seven of them with the Cincinnati Reds. He appeared in 372 games, starting 84 and closing 84. He relieved in 288 games, winning 45 big league games overall and posting a 3.65 earned run average. Joseph Walter Price was born in Inglewood, […]

A glorious spring always seemed to be in store for Morrie Arnovich, as hits jumped from his bat in bunches. But base hits became scarce as July and August approached and the dog days took their toll on his batting average. The heavy woolen uniforms soaked with sweat added more misery and the once lifelike […]

“In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!” — Vin Scully, October 15, 19881 Alejandro Peña appeared in three World Series during his 15-season major-league career, but his first appearance was the kind of thing that you can only dream about. He was called in from the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen […]

Hal R. Smith’s seven-year major league career (1956-61; 1965) overlapped with that of fellow catcher1 Hal W. Smith (1955-64), who is remembered for his crucial home run in Game Seven of the 1960 World Series. The Hal Smith discussed here was a two-time All-Star, best known as a skilled defensive receiver. Smith impressed many knowledgeable […]

There may have been no one more surprised to find Chick Fullis playing for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game Seven of the 1934 World Series than Fullis himself. In his only start in the World Series (in Game Five), Fullis had misplayed two balls in center field that directly led to two runs in […]

Over the years, the Red Sox have had players on their roster who were perhaps better known for the uniqueness of their name than for anything they did on the playing field. You may recall Jennings Poindexter, Carmen Fanzone, Creighton Gubanich, Gar Finnvold, Izzy Alcantara, Win Remmerswaal, Osee Schrecongost, Hipolito Pichardo, and Arquimedez Pozo, to […]

Right-handed pitcher Bill Harris won 24 major-league games in a career that spanned 18 seasons, from his debut in April 1923 to his final game in October 1938. He won 257 games in the minor leagues, in the years 1921 to 1945. His parents were Ed Harris and Minnie (Ragsdale) Harris. William Milton Harris was […]

Baseball fans are notorious for their propensity to argue long hours about who was the “best” at a position or at bat or on the mound. Dozens of baseball books are published discussing the “best at” this or the “Top 10” of that. These discussions are hardly a modern phenomenon. As early as 1890, the […]

Charles Jamerson came to the Boston Red Sox at the age of 24, in 1924, having played semipro baseball and professional football for the Milwaukee Badgers. The left-hander was signed by team owner/president Bob Quinn and reported to Boston on August 15. He’d been coaching that summer at Johnson City, Tennessee, and had pitched some […]

Overcoming an early four-run deficit, the Mets rallied for a walk-off 7-6 win against the Yankees on May 19, 2006, after a classic confrontation between two of the biggest names in New York baseball during the early years of the twenty-first century. The fireworks began long before the two teams even took the field. “A […]

Despite the promise of the previous two seasons, by 2013 Pirates fans were more jaded than ever. There had always been the hope that the losing-season streak, now 20 years long, inevitably had to end at some point. Now, after back-to-back late-in-the-season collapses, there was a feeling that nothing would end the streak. But just […]

Most preseason prognosticators had predicted that Houston would finish in third place or lower in 1986, but as the Astros prepared to face the San Francisco Giants on September 25, they knew that a victory would clinch their first National League West title since 1980. The Astros featured a powerhouse pitching staff whose 3.15 team […]

Forty thousand fans turned out at Navin Field on a cloudy and chilly Tuesday afternoon to witness an extraordinary homecoming: Ty Cobb, the greatest Tiger of them all, was returning to Detroit – in the uniform of the visiting team. The Tigers had fallen from fourth to sixth place in 1926, and to many it […]

The decision had come down barely a week before: baseball was closing up shop and going to war. Suddenly, in the middle of summer, the 1918 baseball season was drawing to a close. On May 23 General Enoch Crowder, provost marshal and director of the draft, decreed that by July 1 all eligible men aged […]

Mention 1994 to a fan of the Montreal Expos, and chances are his or her heart will immediately sink. It was the best of times, but it was also the worst of times, and the worst of times came at the end, when labor troubles shut down the season with the Expos far ahead in […]

The Boston Bees and the Brooklyn Dodgers raced the sun for 23 innings, over 5 hours and 15 minutes, on June 27, 1939, at the Beehive in Allston, and the sun won. Despite 179 plate appearances and 33 base hits,1 the two second-division teams ended tied 2-2 when plate umpire Babe Pinelli called the game […]

Momentum seemed to be on the side of the Red Sox. They had been down three games to none in the 2004 ALCS, but were coming off two extra-inning wins. Both were hard-fought, close games, but Boston won them both and was flush with exhilaration. The two teams traveled from Boston back to New York […]

It began with a clap of thunder and a sudden deluge of rain, and ended with Babe Ruth cradling a dying teenager in his arms. In between were 4⅔ innings of baseball rendered meaningless by what is still the worst tragedy in the history of Yankee Stadium. It was May 19, 1929. The Yankees, after […]

Pitcher Don Newcombe (right) and catcher Roy Campanella were the battery for 183 starts as teammates with the Brooklyn Dodgers. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   Immediately after the All-Star Game in July 1954, the Brooklyn Dodgers traveled to Milwaukee’s County Stadium for a five-game series against the Braves. The defending National League champion Dodgers were struggling to […]

When an active player or manager dies during the regular season, surviving teammates face a difficult choice: Play the next scheduled game in their honor, or postpone it in their memory? In the twenty-first century the trend has been to stay off the field. Teams – or front offices – that have chosen to postpone […]