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A versatile man who lived on both coasts, played multiple positions for different teams in different leagues, and even went by different names, Tommy Beals played reserve roles for three championship teams in the last three seasons of his six-year professional career. A subpar hitter, Beals on defense “was an exceedingly active player and covered […]

Bob Smith was a shortstop with a strong arm and a weak bat who made himself into a pitcher when he was 30 years old and lasted 15 seasons in the majors. He was stuck on losing teams for most of his career, so naturally the highlight was a defeat. In 1927 Smith pitched and […]

Dorian “Doe” Boyland was a good prospect who never got a proper chance to show what he could do in the major leagues. The first baseman received three trials with the Pittsburgh Pirates — in 1978, 1979, and 1981. He got into a total of 21 games, but started none of them and played in […]

Pitcher Mark Worrell, who was known for his funky sidewinder delivery, will forever be linked to two home runs – one he hit and the other he gave up. In his second major-league game, on June 5, 2008, Worrell blasted a three-run homer in his first career at-bat. Three years later, in his final game […]

Colorful Dick Cooley crossed paths in his lifetime with personalities as diverse as saloon-smasher Carrie Nation and Broadway star George M. Cohan. For 13 years in the big leagues (1893-1905), Cooley also held his own with the greatest baseball players of his day. In 1,317 games in the majors, he batted .294.  Duff Gordon Cooley […]

Sammy Vick was noted as the only player to ever pinch-hit for Babe Ruth. Vick had been the regular right fielder of the Yankees in 1919, but New York had purchased Ruth from the Boston Red Sox over the winter and Vick lost his starting job. But he said he had an opportunity to pinch-hit […]

Jon Matlack was one of the most underrated and unappreciated New York Mets pitchers in their first half-century of existence. Matlack’s baseball records are one of the best examples of why won-lost records may not be the best way to measure a pitcher’s efforts. Jonathan Trumpbour Matlack was born on January 19, 1950, in West […]

Although obscured by the exploits of his Hall of Fame brother Orator Jim, John O’Rourke had a respectable, if short, major-league playing career. As a 30-year-old rookie for the 1879 Boston Red Caps, John batted .341, with a National League-leading 62 RBIs. But age, injuries, and the security of employment by the railroad cut short […]

Joseph Rudolph Nossek spent 43 years in professional baseball as a player, manager, and coach. Seven of those years were as a player with a high point being his season with the 1965 American League champion Minnesota Twins. Nossek was born in Cleveland on November 8, 1940. He loved baseball and enjoyed listening to Jimmy […]

As one of the earliest ballpark groundskeepers, John Haggerty1 worked for the Boston ballclub in the National League for 24 years to maintain the South End Grounds. After he was fired in 1907 by the new owners of the ballclub, John worked another 15 years as a gatekeeper for the Boston club in the American […]

No compilation of baseball’s all-time top left-handed pitchers is complete without Whitey Ford. Indeed, he is near or at the top of any worthwhile list. His 236 wins made him the winningest pitcher in the storied history of the New York Yankees. He incurred only 106 defeats, giving him a lifetime winning percentage of .690, […]

The American League’s 1954 Rookie of the Year, Bob Grim was the first New York Yankee pitcher since 1910 to win 20 games in his rookie season.1 In 1955 he developed elbow problems which lingered for the rest of his eight-year major-league career. Although he never duplicated his first year’s success, from 1955 through 1959 […]

Patsy Tebeau was a pugnacious competitor from the mean streets of St. Louis who sought any advantage he thought he could gain. His tactics delivered a brand of baseball that clearly was much dirtier than you see in the modern game. Bill James has written about 19th century baseball: “The tactics of the eighties were […]

Gary Gaetti did it all over 20 seasons (1981-2000) for five major-league teams. He spent the first decade of his career with the Minnesota Twins, where he was a two-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner at third base. In 1987, when the Twins won the first championship in franchise history, he was the MVP […]

When in your vaunted pride you hear The roaring welcome of the stands, The unleashed hero-tinted cheer, The echo of applauding hands, Lift up your head above all men – Think how these thousand worship you – Go to it – eat it – pal – and then Remember Donahue When headlines on the Printed […]

The Atlanta National League team traces its history through two previous cities and several nicknames. The franchise was a charter member of the National League in 1876, as the Red Stockings (or Reds, since Cincinnati reclaimed their original name), which also had played five seasons in the National Association prior to that, winning the last […]

The summer of 1934 was one of the hottest on record in Chicago. Although the heat was nothing out of the ordinary for Negro League All-Stars like Alex Radcliff and Satchel Paige, who both grew up in Mobile, Alabama, it was still fortunate for them, and for the fans attending the matchup of the best […]

Coming off their National League championship season of 1968, the St. Louis Cardinals had started the 1969 season with only four wins in their first 12 contests. As Memorial Day weekend arrived, they had evened the keel under the direction of manager Red Schoendienst, winning 17 of their next 32 games, to find themselves in […]

Even with Dave Goltz, the Twins’ best pitcher, on the mound, on Wednesday, July 26, 1978, the Twins lost the first of a two-game midweek series with the Toronto Blue Jays, baseball’s most hapless team. The Twins were now 12½ games out of first place in the American League Western Division, and getting back in […]

As White Sox pitcher Dave DeBusschere headed to the mound at Comiskey Park for his 10th start of the 1963 season, the 6-foot-6-inch right-hander was anxious to prove what he could do. Unlike his counterpart, Indians starter, Jim “Mudcat” Grant, who was taking his regular turn, DeBusschere’s appearances were irregular at best. Indeed, on a […]

Two-time Gold Glove winner Mike Matheny began 2004 as the St. Louis Cardinals’ starting catcher,1 his role since the 2000 season. He started 42 of the Cardinals’ first 52 games in 2004 but strained a muscle in his right side on June 2 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.2 The Cardinals placed the 33-year-old Matheny on the […]

From 1980 to 1982, Greg Minton of the San Francisco Giants reigned as one of the premier relief pitchers in baseball. His 70 saves over that span ranked fifth behind Bruce Sutter (89), Dan Quisenberry (86), Rich “Goose” Gossage (83), and Rollie Fingers (80).1 Minton was at his best in 1982, going 10-4 with a […]

In the summer of 1915, momentum carried the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. Over the preceding five years, the number of Western states granting women full voting rights leapt from four to 11, while Illinois granted them the vote in presidential elections.1 The push for a constitutional amendment needed victories east of the […]

“I felt the pressure building on a no-hitter,” said Nolan Ryan. “I didn’t really feel it tonight until the ninth inning and then I was nervous.”1 Ever since the hard-throwing right-hander broke into the majors with the New York Mets in 1968 (after a cup of coffee two years earlier), sportswriters and fans thought it […]