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The Chicago White Stockings were the most powerful team in the early National League, winning six pennants in the circuit’s first 11 seasons (1876, 1880–82, 1885–86). They did it under the shrewd front-office guidance of Albert Spalding, and with a Stone Age version of Murderers’ Row that included Hall of Famers Adrian “Cap” Anson and […]

It said a lot about who Addie Joss was that the Cleveland Indians were willing to risk suspension — or worse, given American League President Ban Johnson’s capriciousness — to attend his funeral. And the event that was organized three months later as a benefit said even more about who Joss was as a pitcher, […]

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 […]

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 […]

It was a mild spring day, temperatures in the 60s with little chance of rain, as 21,0001 fans filed into Sportsman’s Park. The crowd filled the grandstand but left plenty of empty seats in the bleachers. After two lackluster seasons, the faithful were hoping to see a rejuvenated Browns team in the opening game of […]

Jackie Robinson once said that Emil John “Dutch” Leonard’s knuckleball “comes up, makes a face at you, then runs away.”1 On May 28, 1946, the New York Yankees had trouble with the Washington Senators knuckler’s elusive pitch in a 2-1 loss. Leonard may have had a little help that night, though, because the Bronx Bombers […]

The race for the 1874 National Association pennant tightened on September 21, with the Boston Red Stockings holding just a three-game lead over the second-place New York Mutuals heading into the Tuesday afternoon game on September 22. They’d been up by five games as recently as September 10, but had lost three of their last […]

Kazuo Matsui arrived in the United States looking like a superstar. The flamboyant orange-haired shortstop with an “iron man” reputation signed a three-year, $20 million contract with the New York Mets before the 2004 season. His contract terms, including a travel allowance, housing, and interpreters, were almost exactly the same as the deal signed by […]

When Ruthford Eduardo “Chico” Salmon stepped up as a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning of Game Two of the 1970 World Series, Baltimore was trailing Cincinnati, 4-1. Salmon was batting for Tom Phoebus, already the second pitcher used by Earl Weaver. “I got the greatest thrill of my life just walking up to the plate,” […]

John Sullivan probably caught 10,000 to 100,000 baseballs during his professional baseball career, but none more significant than the last one he caught in the Toronto Blue Jays’ bullpen on October 23, 1993. It was Game Six of the 1993 World Series; the ninth inning. Sullivan, the Blue Jays bullpen coach from 1982 through 1993, […]

Johnny Antonelli, somewhat unfairly, is remembered by the incidents he was part of, instead of as an individual who had an impressive pitching career. Labels abound and, of the memories attached to them, controversies. He was, in the minds of many, a “bonus baby” who never paid his dues in the minors. A player on […]

Art Fletcher was the leader of one of the Deadball Era’s finest infields—Merkle at first, Doyle at second, Fletcher at short, and Herzog at third. “If there be one among the gamesters of baseball who is gamer than the rest, that man be Fletcher,” wrote sportswriter Frank Graham. In the early teens the New York […]

Ben Douglas Junior of Middletown, Connecticut is a forgotten pioneer of early baseball. Of the six New England cities which have had major league baseball teams, Ben Douglas Junior started the original team in half of them. In 1848, Ben became the third of four sons born to wealthy industrialist Benjamin Douglas Sr. and his […]

Chicago White Stockings manager Clark Griffith was desperate for pitching help in September 1902. Griffith was sick, Nixey Callahan was in a slump and nursing his arm, and Wiley Piatt was ineffective. Only Roy Patterson was dependable.1 Griffith reached into the minors and bought Sam McMackin from Milwaukee. “He had been a fine pitcher in […]

In his memoir, former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Steve Blass extolled the virtues of the non-verbal communication between a catcher and pitcher. “The reality of a pitcher’s relationship with his catcher is that if he is on a roll, he is almost his own decision maker…But Manny knew me just as much psychologically as the nuts […]

A member of the three-time American League champions, Ed “Farmer” Willett was a fixture in the Detroit Tigers rotation from 1908 to 1913. During that six-year period, the 6-foot, 183-pound right-hander won at least 13 games in each season, topping out with a career-high 21 victories in 1909 when the Tigers captured their third consecutive […]

In his four National League and one American League seasons, Atlanta native Bob Barrett was primarily a third baseman (144 games), but played 31 games at second base, and 14 at first base. He made one putout in one chance in the one game he played in the outfield. He hit for a .260 batting […]

Earl Jesse Battey, Jr. was one of the top defensive catchers in the American League in the early 1960s. His Twins teams were in contention for the pennant in 1962 and 1967, and won the pennant in 1965, losing the World Series to Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games. Battey was […]

Larry Pratt of the 1914 Boston Red Sox may not have been asked to be part of the team that won the World Series in 1915 (and again in 1916), but he never found out. Instead, he jumped his contract and played for the Tip-Tops and the Pepper. That may sound a little comic but […]

In spring 1912, the assets that accompanied 20-year-old middle infielder Bill Stumpf onto the roster of the New York Highlanders included defensive versatility, a strong and accurate throwing arm, and the promise exhibited the previous year during his professional debut campaign with a mid-tier minor league club. One spring later, a powerless bat, an erratic […]

Given an opportunity to pitch in the major leagues for a team that was nearly desperate for pitching, Larry Boerner fell short. From 1922 through 1930, the Boston Red Sox had finished in eighth place – last place – every year except 1924, when they finished seventh. In 1931 they finished sixth and one could […]

Partway into his 19-year minor-league career, infielder Bud Connolly got the call to come to Boston. For most of three months in mid-1925, he played in 43 games for the Red Sox and acquitted himself well by the standards of the day for a shortstop (a .950 fielding percentage, a .262 batting average with 21 […]

Johnny Marcum was a farm boy from Eminence, Kentucky, the son of Kentucky natives Ben and Grace Marcum. The second oldest of five children, three boys and two girls, he was born on a farm at Campbellsburg, about a dozen miles north of Eminence, on September 9, 1909. When John was three years old, the […]

In over a century of existence, through 2016 the New York Yankees have been run by only five different ownership groups.1 To their great fortune and that of their fans, the three longest tenured were well-capitalized and committed to winning. They also had a terrific knack for finding great baseball men to work for them. […]