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American popular culture has always had affection for the medical profession. Television images of Gunsmoke’s Doc Adams, Star Trek‘s testy “Bones” McCoy and the almost god-like Marcus Welby, have made these characters cultural icons. Media images often conflict with reality, doctors as miracle workers or good guys have an instinctive appeal. Fact often surpasses fiction […]

George Lee “Sparky” Anderson was one of the great baseball men of all time in terms of success, integrity, and personality. He led the Cincinnati Reds to back-to-back championships in 1975 and 1976, and the Detroit Tigers to a World Series title in 1984, becoming the first manager to win the World Series in both […]

Bill Cooney was part of an extended family of professional ballplayers. He was related to Jimmy Cooney, who played major-league baseball in the 1890s and was the father of major leaguers Jimmy and Johnny Cooney as well as having two other sons who played minor-league baseball.1 William Ambrose (or as he was known at various […]

Harry Wayne Comer was born February 3, 1944, to Harry and Pearl Comer in Shenandoah, Virginia, about 100 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. He grew up there and attended Page County High School, where he was a multi-sport star. He lettered in all four years in baseball, football, and basketball, eventually earning all-district honors in […]

Pat Kelly played just three games in the majors as a catcher with the 1980 Toronto Blue Jays — but he has survived in professional baseball for 45 years. How has he done it? “He’s just a leader; he’s a player’s coach, which means he relates to the players like he’s a player,” said Zach […]

A baseball lifer, Mel Stottlemyre burst on the scene as a midseason call-up for the New York Yankees in 1964, helping the club win its fifth consecutive pennant and starting three games in the World Series. One of the most underrated and overlooked pitchers of his generation, Stottlemyre won 149 games and averaged 272 innings […]

With his one major-league hit, Roger Hornsby McKee never came close to his namesake’s Hall of Fame total. He did, though, channel Rogers Hornsby with an Organized Baseball batting title.1 And while the namesake Hornsby was a player-manager for 12 seasons during an era when such skippers had a penchant for giving themselves a turn […]

Was it fate that placed infielder Mel Hoderlein with the 1948 Boston Red Sox rather than the Philadelphia Athletics? Writing in Sports Collectors Digest, Brent Kelley makes the point that Hoderlein probably would have had a much longer big-league career had he been signed to an Athletics contract (that team’s 1948 infield had an average […]

In 1900 Sporting Life called George Hogreiver “the very best base runner in the profession.”1 “Hoggie” stole 948 bases in the minors, more than anyone else in minor-league history, and he stole 48 more bases in two major-league seasons. Like Ty Cobb, he was a daring, hyperaggressive baserunner. “Daring, yet careful,” said the Des Moines […]

In 1976, Mark Fidrych made his major league debut at the age of 21 and took the city of Detroit by storm in a spectacular rookie season. He started the All-Star Game for the American League, won the Rookie of the Year Award, and finished second for the Cy Young Award. Of course, Mark Fidrych’s […]

Biddy Dolan played just one season of major-league baseball, that being part of 1914 with the Indianapolis club in the short-lived Federal League. The most notable feature about the rangy (he was listed as 6 feet tall) right-handed-hitting first baseman was his prematurely gray hair, which made him appear much older than he was. He […]

Jack Hayes was a doctor’s son and former pre-med student — an apt coincidence, since he needed medical attention often during his major league career. “He should be recognized as the holder of some sort of record for being injured every season,” the Chicago Tribune’s Irving Vaughan wrote.1 When Hayes was healthy, his White Sox […]

Homer Simpson may live forever in baseball history as the man who pinch hit for Darryl Strawberry—who had already hit nine home runs (four-base hits often dubbed “homers”)—in the 1992 City Championship game between Springfield and Shelbyville. It was Simpson who knocked in the winning run, being knocked out in the process, and gave victory […]

Mace Stanley Brown was on the leading edge of early relief pitching specialists that began to emerge in the game in the 1930s. The right-hander enjoyed a Major League career that spanned eleven years and three teams but, despite an All-Star game appearance in 1938 and service in the U.S. Navy in 1944-1945, he is […]

Charlie Chech was a Czech, or at least appears to have had Czech ancestry. He was born to parents Joseph and Anna Chech, both of whom had immigrated to the United States from Bohemia, on April 27 of either 1878 or 1879, arriving in Madison, Wisconsin. Charlie’s draft registration form, completed at the time of the First World […]

When has a criminal paid his or her debt to society? When has an apparent psychiatric disorder been cured, or at least managed? When does an offender who violated social mores deserve a second chance? These are some of society’s weightier, knottier questions, and in an ideal world, people come to baseball parks to escape […]

On April 5, 2019, the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies played the first of a three-game interleague series in Philadelphia. Both teams had experienced early success, winning four of their first five games. Minnesota shortstop Jorge Polanco collected five hits while hitting for the cycle, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Twins’ nine-walk, three-error […]

“Dressen first saw this boy in Boston in 1944 when a group of boys came to Braves Field for a tryout. Charlie liked him then and the club (Brooklyn) signed him.” – Brooklyn scout John “Red” Corriden, speaking about Clem Labine, October 2, 19511   He would ultimately become known as the man with the […]

Possibly the most intriguing thing about baseball is its unpredictability. Fans attending a game have no idea what they are about to see. On April 15, 1961, the 36,783 spectators at the Los Angeles Coliseum watched as the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers tied a major-league record by hitting into nine double plays, seven […]

As 32,977 patrons filed into PNC Park on Saturday, July 28, 2001, some knew that they were going to be part of a notable day for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but no one expected the real reason why the day would be unforgettable.1 Most knowledgeable fans thought it was because the Pirates were about to play […]

With the Cardinals trailing the Philadelphia A’s two games to one in the 1930 World Series, most St. Louis fans expected Cardinals manager Gabby Street to send Burleigh Grimes to the mound in Game Four at Sportsman’s Park, especially with ace Lefty Grove scheduled to pitch for the visitors. Grimes had 240 career wins to […]

On September 26, the Washington Nationals travelled to Miami to finish the 2011 season with a three-game series against the Florida Marlins. These were the final games to be played in Sun Life Stadium, described by Dan Le Batard as a “kind of a sad dump for baseball now, truth to be told, too empty […]

The Cardinals and Chicago Cubs staged a 10-inning pitchers’ duel on July 5, 1949, at Wrigley Field. Bob Rush threw all 10 innings for Chicago. Left-handers Harry “The Cat” Brecheen and Howard Pollet handled the pitching for St. Louis. In the Cardinals’ 2-1 victory, Stan Musial drove in both of the Cardinals’ runs and threw […]

In his 1984 collection of essays on baseball, Why Time Begins on Opening Day, longtime Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell described the sport’s Opening Day as a “symbol of rebirth”: an opportunity for every team and its fans to start fresh with a 0-0 record, ready to embrace new possibilities and put the previous season […]