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In a 16-year career marked by steady production, Todd Zeile was literally all over the place. He was traded five times, released once, and signed five separate free-agent contracts, toiling for 11 different organizations: Cardinals, Cubs, Phillies, Orioles, Dodgers, Marlins, Rangers, Mets, Rockies, Yankees, Expos, and Mets again. Ironically it was Zeile’s very dependability — […]

A fill-in catcher in a rookie-loaded lineup for Connie Mack and the World Series-bound Philadelphia Athletics on September 30, 1913, Navy man and “one-hit wonder” Joe Giebel’s only major league appearance would fortuitously occur right in his hometown of Washington, DC. Joseph Henry Giebel was born in Washington, District of Columbia, on November 30, 1891, […]

In 1916 Tony Faeth, then a pitcher with Milwaukee of the American Association, faced Dave “Beauty” Bancroft, a shortstop with the Philadelphia Phillies. No, the confrontation wasn’t on a baseball field – it was in a pool hall at the Palace Theater in Superior, Wisconsin. Faeth, the Minnesota state champion, was to play Bancroft, the […]

In the spring of 1992, at the age of 84, Vernon Kennedy was still competing athletically. At the Missouri Senior Olympics, Kennedy took part in the discus, long jump and shot put. He won a gold medal in the discus, captured a bronze in the long jump, and finished fourth in the shot put. Kennedy’s […]

Left-hander Bill Foxen was the most talented of a trio of Deadball Era pitching brothers, and the only one to have a major league career. That career, however, never quite lived up to expectations and lasted only three-plus seasons. In retrospect, there may have been a reason: Foxen was actually five years older than he […]

Fred Goldsmith, one of baseball’s earliest curveball pitchers, was a burly right-hander whose mastery of the tricky delivery made him an important contributor to three pennant-winning teams during his six seasons in the National League (1879-1884). Later in life, long after most of his contemporaries had passed on, the elderly Goldsmith mounted a campaign to prove […]

The game at Griffith Stadium was pretty much a lost cause, after Walter Johnson’s Washington Senators had scored eight times in three innings off starter Danny MacFayden and relievers Jim Brillheart and Big Ed Morris. Walter Murphy was the fourth pitcher in the game, and he threw a scoreless bottom of the eighth, facing four […]

“Wish we had him. He is not colored.”1 Those were the words that Frank Bancroft, the Cincinnati Reds’ business manager, wrote to team president and National Commission Chairman Garry Herrmann in 1911 about Rafael Almeida. The Reds were in the midst of acquiring Almeida and fellow Cuban player Armando Marsans, and, as the first two […]

When the Pirates promoted a player from Class A to the majors during the 1991 pennant race, Pittsburgh GM Larry Doughty acknowledged, “There will be players in our farm system who wonder why Scott Bullett came up and not them. Well, nobody else can run like Scott Bullett.”1 But while Bullett’s speed helped him reach […]

During Welcome Back, Kotter’s run as a popular television sitcom, one of the “Sweathogs” – Robert Hegyes’ fictional Epstein character – routinely identified himself as a “Puerto Rican Jew” to comedic effect. Less than a decade after the show aired its final episode in 1979, a real-life Dominican Jew commenced his nine-season (1988-1991, 1993-1997) big-league […]

As the leadoff or number-two batter for some of the highest-scoring teams in baseball history, Woody English scored 400 runs from 1929 through 1931 while playing shortstop or third base for the Chicago Cubs. As noted by Bill James, “English in 1930 had 214 hits and 100 walks, which enabled him to score 152 runs, […]

He was a “little chap with dynamite in powerful wrists”, a ballplayer who suffered through great personal tragedy but played on for 14 major-league seasons before dying at age 39 of a heart attack. Donald Eric McNair was his name; he called himself Eric, though others called him by different nicknames — “Boob” and “Rabbit” […]

Looking at Ralph Comstock’s career record today, it doesn’t seem that remarkable, but the Milwaukee Journal was very impressed in April 1917, and called him the “little spitball heaver” and “baseball’s original rover.” The newspaper said, “During his early days in the game, Ralph was a sort of freebooter. Few players of his age can […]

From the trade of Max “Camera Eye” Bishop before the 1934 season to the arrival of Benny McCoy in 1940, second base was in a state of flux for the Philadelphia Athletics. An infielder from Wisconsin, Stan Sperry, was once said to be a possible answer to manager Connie Mack’s “prayer for a second baseman.” […]

Like his father before him, John Michaelson may have been destined for a life working in the copper mines had it not been for his ability to throw a baseball. After the right-handed pitcher was discovered by scouts, he had a spring training invitation from the Detroit Tigers and a two-game trial with the Chicago […]

A graduate of Colgate University, Walter Hammond excelled as a multi-sport athlete while earning his Bachelor of Sciences degree. His first professional sports action came when he joined the touring Oswego Indians basketball team as a forward. In addition to playing basketball, Hammond served as an instructor of athletics and head basketball coach at his […]

Baseball has yet to take firm hold in the island of Jamaica, even though it is surrounded by other nations with a strong tradition in the sport. As the 2018 season ended, four men of Jamaican birth have made it to the majors, all of whom learned the game in the United States. The first […]

After they were thumped 10-2 by the New York Giants on June 1, 1903, it seemed unlikely that the Pittsburgh Pirates would go on to win their third consecutive National League pennant. Since May 1, Pittsburgh hurlers had surrendered an uncharacteristic 5.2 runs per game, dropping the Pirates into third place, 4½ games behind the […]

Before the Minneapolis Millers’ inaugural game in Metropolitan Stadium in 1956, New York Giants President Horace Stoneham was asked if he agreed that the ballpark was a good facility for minor-league baseball. “Minor league nothing,” Stoneham replied. “This is a real major league park, and you’ll have major league ball here in the near future.”1 […]

When Duane Pillette took the mound for the woeful St. Louis Browns against the Chicago White Sox for the final game of the 1953 season there was little to cheer about for the home team’s fans. The Browns already had 99 losses and were reported to be leaving St. Louis for a new home in […]

Returning home for the third game of the 2015 World Series after suffering two disappointing losses in Kansas City, the New York Mets hoped to turn things around on their home turf. The Royals were feeling confident after taking a 2-0 lead in the Series. They had shown they were not intimidated by the young […]

Rube Waddell approached home plate as Patsy Donovan came to bat in the fourth inning. Donovan, Washington’s right fielder and manager, stepped backward; he had reason to be wary. The Philadelphia pitcher was pulling a bundle out from under his sweater. The 2,000 fans in Washington’s American League Park stirred, then, as Waddell spoke, went […]

Wait ’til Next Year? The cry became a euphemism for a baseball season gone awry and nowhere did it receive greater play than in the 1940s and 1950s with the Brooklyn Dodgers and their long-suffering fans.1 The 1955 World Series title meant that next year was finally here. All the suffering was relegated to the […]

The Brooklyn Dodgers and Milwaukee Braves were battling down to the wire for the National League crown in 1956 and both teams were having trouble winning on a consistent basis at the end of September. The St. Louis Cardinals gave Brooklyn an opening to move into the pennant lead when they defeated Milwaukee, 5-4, on […]