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Mike Higgins was a fine player, a successful minor-league manager, a Manager of the Year in his first major-league season, and the face of the Red Sox for several years. But the fortunes of the club deteriorated during his tenure, and for many people Higgins became the face of that failure. While his team continued […]

Is Rollie Naylor the unluckiest pitcher in baseball history? Pitching for the then-hapless Philadelphia Athletics from 1917 through 1924, he amassed a 42-83 career record and an ERA+ of 101. Through 2016, more than 800 pitchers with at least 100 decisions to their credit have earned an ERA+ of at least 100. (With this retrospectively-calculated […]

Blaine Durbin had a meteoric rise through the bush leagues in the first decade of the 20th century. It brought the lefty pitcher to the attention of several big-league teams, including Frank Chance’s legendary Chicago Cubs dynasty. Yet Durbin’s story mirrors countless others: a phenom whose career fizzled out, promise left unfulfilled. He pitched in […]

Bobby Grich was one of the best second basemen in baseball over a 17-year major-league career that began in 1970. During his first season, Grich played with the Orioles primarily as a utility infielder. Known for his sharp fielding and consistent hitting, Grich became a regular in 1972 and played in his first All-Star Game […]

If Joe Pepitone were a car, he’d be a Ferrari — powerful, Italian, and high-performance. Though his career .258 batting average may not evidence power, Pepitone placed in the American League’s top 10 in total bases twice, in RBI twice, and in home runs thrice in his 12-year major-league career (1962-1973). He also clouted seven […]

One can statistically evaluate with some degree of accuracy the worth of a baseball player to his team. However, sometimes a player stands out because of characteristics that inspire his teammates and draws the admiration and respect of fans. Eddie “The Brat” Stanky was one of those. Stanky was a gritty, scrappy player, not gifted […]

The first big stage that Grant Gillis appeared on was in Pasadena on the first day of January in 1926. He was the starting right halfback for the University of Alabama — the Crimson Tide – facing the University of Washington Huskies in the Rose Bowl. It was the first appearance of a Southern team […]

Joe Mulligan began to make headlines in the Boston area while pitching for Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts. Throwing a six-hit shutout against Providence College on June 10, 1933, while striking out 11 and not walking a batter earned some attention. So did being driven off the mound when Boston College scored seven times […]

In his only season in professional baseball, Frank Bowes manned seven different positions for the Brooklyn Gladiators of the 1890 American Association. The Gladiators, however, were a hapless club, and when the tail-end (26-73-1, .262) franchise disbanded in late August, Bowes reverted to his former obscurity. His name mostly vanished from newsprint until January 1895, […]

The first European-trained major leaguer was Wilhelmus Abraham Remmerswaal, known simply as “Win.” The pitcher from the Netherlands made his nickname come true three times in 22 appearances for the Boston Red Sox in 1979-80. He played just one more season in Triple-A after that, then spent five years pitching in Italy. Red Sox fans […]

In his last major-league at-bat, after 29 failed attempts spanning three months, Cleveland Naps rookie spitball pitcher Harry Fanwell finally got a base hit. Two innings later, the injured Fanwell limped off the field, never again to play in a major-league game. He ended up as a one-for-30 “one-hit wonder.” But Fanwell fans will always […]

Paul Richards was one of the most celebrated managers who never won a pennant. He took on seemingly hopeless building jobs in Chicago, Baltimore, and Houston and succeeded every time in laying a foundation for the club’s future success. He developed young stars, including Brooks Robinson, Joe Morgan, Rusty Staub, Billy Pierce, Nellie Fox, and […]

Versatile in the field and with some extra-base pop in his bat, Don Savage overcame a chronic knee injury and other health problems to become a wartime member of the New York Yankees. In many ways, the arc of Savage’s baseball career can be traced through his physical condition. The knee injury, as well as […]

When the curtain came down on the 1948 regular season, the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox were both atop the American League standings, sporting identical 96-58 records. For the first time in the history of the junior circuit, a one-time, chips-in-the-middle-of-the-table, winner-take-all playoff game was played – on October 4, 1948, at Fenway […]

Some baseball players have the luck of being in the right place at the right time. Many others never do. A few, however, momentarily have this kind of good fortune in their grasp, then see it taken away. Shortstop Rey Quiñones was a May call-up for the 1986 Boston Red Sox, a team destined to […]

“Oh, Puddin’ Head Jones was fat and funny Dumber than sticks and stones. Now that is just why the kids all called him, Wooden head, puddin’ head Jones.”   Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees sang these words in 1933. Legend has it that Willie Edward Jones’s nickname came from the song. Wherever it came […]

As of 2021, Baseball-Reference reports that there have been over 232,000 professional baseball games played since the establishment of the National League in 1876. Therefore, it is a significant accomplishment to be the sole holder of any single-game record. Shawn Green is one of the few players with that distinction. Playing for the Los Angeles […]

Joe Girardi had the big hit in the deciding game of the 1996 World Series, caught a perfect game, won a Manager of the Year Award with one team, and skippered another to a World Series win. An above-average major leaguer for 15 seasons, Girardi will be remembered most for his time helming the post-Joe […]

The defending world champion Pittsburgh Pirates were in first place on August 10, 1926, having routed the Brooklyn Robins in the first two games of a three-game series at Ebbets Field. To the outside world, the Pirates seemed harmonious, but the team was divided over whether Fred Clarke should be allowed to sit on the […]

In a ceremony at the White House in May 1925, President Calvin Coolidge bestowed a gold watch upon Stanley “Bucky” Harris, the wunderkind second baseman and manager of the Washington Senators.1 In Harris’s first year as manager of the team, the Senators dethroned the three-time defending American League champion New York Yankees and then triumphed […]

The name Jesse “Nip” Winters is unlikely to appear in a casual discussion of the greatest pitchers in the history of Negro League baseball. During his career, however, and even two decades after it ended in 1932, he was mentioned among the all-time greats. In a poll conducted by the influential Black newspaper the Pittsburgh […]

After his brain cramp in Game Two of the 1951 World Series, Eddie Stanky used guile to spark the New York Giants to a 6-2 triumph over the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds in Game Three and a 2-1 Series lead. Rarely does a stolen base matter more than a three-run homer, but […]

Twenty-four-year-old pitcher Dave “Boo” Ferriss completed one of the most spectacular seasons in Boston Red Sox history when he won 25 games against only six losses in 1946. He was the beneficiary of a potent Red Sox offense that lost only 50 games during the regular season. They captured their first American League pennant since […]

As one of the early small-market franchises in the National League, the Worcester ballclub had a short tenure in the league, but it has retained a solid place in National League history for how the club entered the league in 1880 and how it was forced to exit in 1882. The Worcester Base Ball Club […]