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A weighmaster at the tobacco market in the offseasons, a veteran of the Army Reserve, a farmer, and honored by being named a Kentucky Colonel. And a right-handed pitcher who was a veteran of 17 seasons in minor-league baseball, with a 147-131 record and a 3.87 earned-run average. Eleven of Herb Moford’s seasons were spent […]
In an era when baseball players, collectively and individually, began to clash with management as never before, it is likely that no one clashed more than Alex Johnson. Though he was blessed with much-coveted talent, teams that employed him tired of him fairly quickly. The winner of a batting title, his emotional disability was at […]
On August 29, 1977, Gene Richards was nearing the end of what was one of the finest rookie seasons in baseball history. His 56 stolen bases during that season were an all-time rookie record. However, on this particular evening, he stood silent at first base at San Diego Stadium, next to a man who had […]
“I led the American League in ERA that year [1979]. That’s what I tell everybody.”1 That was Jeff Rineer talking to the Baltimore Sun in 2006, nearly 27 years after his lone appearance in the major leagues. Rineer was the pitcher of record on the winning side in the last game of the ’79 season, […]
Louis Frank Klein, Jr. was an international baseball lifer who had a travelogue of experiences. Perhaps best known as one of 22 major league players who jumped to the outlaw Mexican League and for his tenure as a rotating manager in the Chicago Cubs’ College of Coaches, Klein had a varied and colorful career. The […]
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Vander Meer was close to achieving baseball immortality, but he didn’t know it. It was June 15, 1938, and he was on the mound in Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field with the bases loaded, two outs, and a 1-and-1 count on the irrepressible Dodgers shortstop Leo Durocher. One more out and his name […]
Baseball history is filled with stories of Irish American players, particularly in the 19th century, whose promising careers were derailed by alcohol abuse. Few stories are more tragic than that of Dan Lally. Called “Handsome Dan,” Dapper Dan,” and “the Adonis of the diamond” during his playing days, Lally was a consistent .300 hitter during […]
One of the early relief specialists in the majors, George “Sarge” Connally started just 67 times in 304 games across a 12-year big-league career (1921; 1923-29; 1933-34). Connally never shied away from hard work. In 1933, at the age of 34, he exemplified his other nickname—“Rubber Arm”—by making eight relief appearances for Cleveland from June […]
“Baseball is our way of life in the Amaro family,” said Rubén Amaro Sr. Four generations of Amaros have played professionally. Amaro’s father, Santos, had a long and distinguished career in Cuba and Mexico. His son, Rubén Amaro Jr., became a player, executive, and coach in the major leagues. Rubén Sr. was in the majors […]
Jim Willis began his baseball career with the New Orleans Black Pelicans in 1926 and ended it in 1949 as player-manager of the Evansville (Indiana) Dodgers. Over the 23-year arc of his life in baseball, Willis spent at least 12 seasons in an Elite Giants uniform. He made his last appearance on the mound for […]
On June 12, 1996, the Birmingham Barons returned to historic Rickwood Field after an eight-year absence for the first Rickwood Classic. Before the game with the Memphis Chicks, the team honored former Baron Walt Dropo and Birmingham baseball legend Lorenzo “Piper” Davis. As the capacity crowd of over 10,000 cheered Davis, he must have reflected […]
For most of the first 30 years of the club’s existence, the New York Giants were commanded by men of stature in baseball’s executive ranks, team owner-presidents John B. Day (1883-1892), Andrew Freedman (1895-1902), and John T. Brush (1902-1912). Although possessed of dissimilar temperaments and character, the genial Day, the tempestuous Freedman, and the taciturn […]
Jim Kaat knew how to win ballgames. In 1971 Kaat would win at least 10 games for the 10th straight year. From 1964 to 1970, he won 35 more games than he lost. The Twins had taken the first two American League West titles in 1969 and 1970 but struggled in 1971, falling out of […]
The New York Mets arrived in Los Angeles during one of the worst slumps in their history. They had lost 11 of their previous 13 games. Two of their stars, Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman, were struggling. The team was looking for something to shake it out its doldrums. Meanwhile, the Dodgers had achieved an […]
Don Black reached the end of the line in Philadelphia. A’s manager Connie Mack was a patient man. But the Tall Tactician had his limits. For Don Black was an alcoholic. It was a disease that Black could not control, and like all diseases, there were residual effects that were equally damaging. Black showed promise […]
When Warren Spahn returned to the Braves midway through the 1946 season, he was 25, balding and weathered, a decorated World War II veteran of the Battle of the Bulge and the fight over the bridge at Remagen. “He was born old,” a teammate said. But he felt like a young man on the mound. […]
The Philadelphia Athletics continued a season-long trend in their final meeting of the season with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys. The Athletics, who had won 11 of the first 13 games between the two in 1883 while outscoring the Alleghenys 104-55, maintained their dominance of the Alleghenys with a 19-2 victory. Athletics first baseman Harry Stovey provided […]
From 2007 to 2011, the Philadelphia Phillies won five consecutive division titles and two National League championships, highlighted with a World Series victory in 2008. The core of the team — first baseman Ryan Howard, second baseman Chase Utley, shortstop Jimmy Rollins, center fielder Shane Victorino and starter Cole Hamels — remained intact during this […]
The game appeared to be merely the first in a meaningless, end-of-the-season doubleheader between two teams that many weeks earlier had been eliminated from the 1954 pennant race. The sixth-place Washington Senators trailed the league-leading Cleveland Indians by 39 games and the Philadelphia Athletics were even further out of contention: 51½ games back. However, as […]
On July 23, 1917, Eddie Plank and his St. Louis Browns teammates boarded a train bound from St. Louis to Boston. In the age of railroad travel, the Browns – the American League’s westernmost franchise – were accustomed to lengthy homestands, and long road trips; and this trip would be long. St. Louis was not […]
In Game Two of the 1951 World Series, Eddie Lopat of the New York Yankees bested Larry Jansen of the New York Giants in a 3-1 complete-game triumph at Yankee Stadium, knotting the series after the Giants’ Game One win. But Mickey Mantle’s knee injury, which sidelined the talented rookie for the rest of the […]
On September 27, 1963, the Houston Colt .45’s (64-95) were entering the first game of a final three-game home series versus the New York Mets (50-109). They were also on a four-game winning streak and a sweep of the Mets would give them their longest winning streak of the season, surpassing a six-game stretch from […]
Baseball card #186 in the 1967 Topps set seems in retrospect like a victory of hope over reality. The card shows New York Mets teammates Ed Kranepool and Ron Swoboda, hitters known more for their power potential than their actual production, kneeling with bats in a spring-training setting above the headline “METS MAULERS.” First baseman […]
When Pat Gosney shipped off for US Army duty in the summer of 1952, he left with a good story to tell his buddies: Just before entering military service, he’d pitched a three-hit shutout against a major-league team. The story came with a few caveats, which Gosney no doubt admitted by and by. The shutout […]