If you are not happy with the results below please do another search
In 1889 at the age of 15, diminutive southpaw Willie McGill graduated from the Chicago sandlots to the Evansville (Indiana) Hoosiers in the Central Interstate League. He defeated the Davenport Hawkeyes in his first outing. The following year he joined the Cleveland Infants in the Players’ League and had 11 wins under his belt before […]
When Sammy Stewart was asked by the National Baseball Hall of Fame what he considered to be his most outstanding achievement in baseball, he quite justly answered that it was the rookie record he set in 1978 when he threw seven consecutive strikeouts in his major-league debut. No rookie has matched Stewart’s totals. It was […]
Right-hander Truman Eugene Clevenger was born and raised in Visalia, California, went to California State University at Fresno, and signed with the Boston Red Sox to play professional baseball. At no point in his minor-league career did he work for a team that played in Texas. But he still picked up the nickname “Tex” and […]
It was a career that included playing minor-league baseball, owning a minor-league club, scouting for the New York Giants, doing political work, running a business, and taking part in a legendary fistfight at the side of John McGraw. He was also said to be an amateur violinist. He built the first ballpark in Springfield, Illinois. […]
Patrick W. Purtell died in his longtime hometown of Columbus, Ohio, on June 1, 1920, and his obituary in the Columbus Dispatch mentioned a notable distinction: all three of Purtell’s sons were professional baseball players, including William, a major leaguer. But not a word was said about the fact that the younger Purtells were following […]
Prominent in the baseball circles of his time but now forgotten, Bill Watkins spent more than thirty years as a player, manager, front office executive, and team owner of various major and high minor league franchises. His playing career short-circuited by a near fatal beaning in 1884, Watkins thereafter assumed the manager’s post for the […]
Bob Bescher amassed 428 career stolen bases even though he played regularly for only eight seasons in the major leagues. The switch-hitting leadoff hitter and left fielder pilfered 81 bases in 1911, still the Cincinnati Reds single-season record. In 1912 F.C. Lane of Baseball Magazine declared him the “King of Basestealers,” not only for his […]
“Timber Like Mapel What Browns Need” — The Sporting News, September 4, 1919 In his major league debut on August 31, 1919, St. Louis Browns left-hander Rolla Mapel held Ty Cobb hitless in five plate appearances. That turned out to be the highlight of his 12-day, four-game MLB career. But “Rollie” Mapel will forever be […]
“That McKinnis is one of the best pitchers I have ever seen,” said future Hall of Famer Alex Pompez, owner of the New York Cubans, in mid-1943. Pompez had experience dating back to 1916, and the Hall of Fame describes him as an “adroit talent evaluator.”1 Therefore, his was high praise indeed for 29-year-old lefty […]
Even for serious fans of early baseball, it can be difficult to know what to make of Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame member Arthur “Foxy” Irwin. On one hand, Irwin popularized the baseball glove, inspired a character in a Zane Grey novel, and served as a team captain, player-manager, manager, scout and minor-league owner during […]
Baseball has always loved an underdog. Rugged southpaw Wally Hebert gave fans across the nation during the Great Depression what they craved, at least for a short while: a story about David defeating Goliath. Hebert went from the sandlots of Louisiana in 1929 to the St. Louis Browns and the big leagues in 1931. In […]
It all started to unravel when they returned from Honolulu. A team of baseball all-stars from the Pacific Coast League had sailed across the blue Pacific for a post-season barnstorming escapade to Hawaii. It was 1914, and the ballplayers were surely enjoying what young men do in the tropics. It’s a wonder they ever came […]
Tetelo Vargas was a player with exceptional skills in nearly all aspects of the game. He hit for average, had good power for his physique, and was a superb defender. He possessed a strong throwing arm and superior speed – which won him the nickname El Gamo Dominicano, or “The Dominican Deer.” He was an […]
The Pittsburgh Pirates were leading the National League East Division in June 1975 when they promoted 21-year-old John Candelaria to patch up their injury-eroded rotation. In Candelaria’s third big-league start, against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, the Brooklyn native dazzled his hometown and outdueled superstar Tom Seaver by taking a no-hitter into the […]
On April 27, 2000, the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox were completing a four-game series in front of “a sun-splashed crowd of 13,225”1 at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Both teams had experienced success in the early part of the season. Baltimore (12-8) had already put together winning streaks of five and six games, while Chicago […]
When the New York Giants visited Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl to begin a three-game series with the Phillies on May 31, 1923, the two teams were polar opposites. Since 1917 the Giants had posted winning records, having finished first three times and no worse than second place and winning the World Series in 1921 and 1922. […]
“With the dedication ceremonies of the World’s Columbian Exposition … young Chicago made her debut in the society of the world.” — Hobart C. Chatfield-Taylor, 18931 Celebrating 400 years since Christopher Columbus discovered America, the Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago on May 1, 1893. By hosting this World’s Fair, “the Metropolis of the West” declared […]
The first Negro Leagues East-West All-Star Game of 1946 took place before 16,268 fans at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. This was the first time the East game would be played in the nation’s capital, inspiring sportswriter Sam Lacy to hope it also would be “the first time to put on an Eastern version of […]
On August 26, 1887, the Baltimore Orioles started a three-game American Association series with the Cincinnati Red Stockings at Cincinnati Park.1 The second-place Red Stockings came into the contest sporting a record of 58-45, three games ahead of their visiting Baltimore opponents, who were in fourth place at 52-45, but 17 games behind the first-place […]
From August 2002 through July 2004, Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Éric Gagné was a model of consistency. Summoned from the bullpen to hold Dodgers leads 84 times during that two year stretch, he was successful each time. Gagné became so automatic during the all-time record streak that when he entered games at Dodger Stadium, […]
On a pheasant-hunting trip during the offseason, Fergie Jenkins said he would try to win 20 games again. His teammate, Billy Williams, stated that he would try to hit 40 home runs for the first time in his career.1 The 26-year-old Jenkins had won at least 20 games for three consecutive seasons coming into 1970. […]
After the San Francisco Giants lost the first two games of the 1989 World Series to their Bay Area rivals Oakland Athletics, baseball fans tuned in to see if they could turn things around in front of their home crowd starting with Game Three on October 17. As television viewers watched, the broadcast unexpectedly faded […]
On the Saturday before graduating from high school in June 1961, 18-year-old Lew Krausse Jr. watched from a box seat at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC, as hurler Norm Bass tossed the Kansas City A’s first shutout of the season.1 Sitting with Krausse was his father, former major-league pitcher Lew Krausse Sr., and their host, […]
Sports fans of a certain age will remember Reggie Rucker as a sure-handed wide receiver in the National Football League of the 1970s, hauling in touchdown passes in the orange, brown, and white uniform of the Cleveland Browns. Before he turned pro, football was just one of several sports in which Rucker excelled. In the […]