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The darkness descending on Cincinnati’s Palace of the Fans made it clear that the Cincinnati Reds would have to score in the bottom of the 14th to avoid a 3-3 tie with the Brooklyn Superbas on July 9, 1910.1 Catcher John “Larry” McLean, who had sparked the Reds’ two-run second inning and completely shut down […]
Before the May 6, 1947, game at Sportsman’s Park began, St. Louis Browns starting pitcher Jack Kramer talked about Red Sox left fielder (and reigning American League MVP) Ted Williams. He “casually remarked that the only way to pitch to Ted if a run meant the ball game is to walk him.”1 He might have […]
Before the 2020 baseball season got underway, the national pastime was rocked by scandal. An investigation by Major League Baseball revealed that both the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox, World Series winners in 2017 and 2018, respectively, were involved in using technology to steal opponents’ signs and gain an illegal advantage. As a result, […]
On May 4, 1871, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas1 opened the inaugural season of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players with a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Forest Citys. By the end of June the Kekiongas had compiled a 5-4 record, with two of the losses being shutouts. One of the shutouts came at […]
It was a beautiful day for baseball, with the temperature in the mid-60s. Sunshine would have made it perfect, but despite the clouds and overcast, a great crowd of 52,168 showed up at Tiger Stadium on the afternoon of Friday, October 5, 1984, for Game Three of the American League Championship Series. Fans in Detroit […]
In the final week of the initial Federal League campaign, the Pittsburgh Rebels met the Baltimore Terrapins on the latter’s home field for a six-game series squeezed into three consecutive doubleheaders. The Rebels had won six of their last eight games, including three out of four against the Indianapolis Hoosiers, who were neck-and-neck with Chicago […]
In the long, often inglorious history of the Chicago Cubs, they have frustrated their fans by not only going 108 years between World Series championships, but by participating in bizarre, high-scoring games that often ended with the North Siders on the losing end. Take Game Four of the 1929 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics […]
As the tying run was about to cross the plate on New York Giants veteran Bill Dahlen’s ninth-inning single on July 27, 1907, Dahlen tried to take an extra base on the throw home from the Cincinnati Reds left fielder. Reds catcher John “Larry” McLean,1 who had earlier tossed out three Giants attempting to steal, […]
When the 1969 baseball season got underway, the Cincinnati Reds’ fiery right-hander Jim Maloney felt that he had something to prove. For two seasons he had battled chronic shoulder pain that had taken a few notches off his heater. He was no longer the consistently overpowering hurler who had posted a 74-34 record over a […]
Brooklyn Dodgers skipper Walter “Smoky” Alston was on edge. Though his club (80-45) was in first place, leading the Milwaukee Braves by 10 games, they had been playing terribly and had lost 12 of their last 18 contests. To shake up his team, he tabbed 19-year-old Sandy Koufax to start the final contest of a […]
Through the first three games of the 1918 World Series, the Boston Red Sox had scored a total of just four runs – but won two of the three. After those games in Chicago, the Cubs and Red Sox took the same Sunday train back to Boston to resume play.1 Game One winner Babe Ruth, […]
After Ted Williams belted three home runs in a game for the first time, in the opening game of a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians on July 14, 1946, Tribe manager Lou Boudreau instituted his famous infield shift in the second game to defend against the left-handed hitter. The second and last time the Splendid […]
In the early going of the 1873 season, the White Stockings of Philadelphia enjoyed the kind of success the Boston Red Stockings had enjoyed the previous year. The Quaker City’s “second” team lost but three of its first 30 games, putting together two separate streaks of 10 consecutive victories, and spent much the better part […]
The New York Giants were at the end of a grueling Western road trip in the dog days of summer, likely anxious to return home after 15 days on the road.1 There were no off days for the Giants on their 18-game, four-city trip, marked by steamy train travel and beginning with a stop in […]
The Boston Red Stockings won the 1872 National Association championship with a record of 39-8 and finished 7½ games ahead of the second-place Baltimore Canaries and Philadelphia Athletics. Boston fans had reason to believe that Harry Wright would lead the Red Stockings to yet another title in 1873 as the addition of Deacon White bolstered […]
“The Cubs had 25 base runners, and (the public-address) announcer grew hoarse saying, ‘Next batter …’” 1 The league-leading Cincinnati Reds completed a four-game series at Wrigley Field with a doubleheader on June 28, 1961, and found that the seventh place Cubs were not without life. Despite their lowly station, the Cubs (25-41) had won […]
The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies were a formidable team. As the team developed during the early 1960s (climbing from eighth in the National League to seventh to fourth over the 1961, 1962, and 1963 seasons), the Phillies now presented a solid top-to-bottom lineup. Led by manager Gene Mauch, the team featured All-Star right fielder Johnny Callison […]
St. Louis Terriers pitcher Dave Davenport nearly single-handedly brought his team a pennant with several outstanding performances in the final month of the 1915 Federal League season. His best outing was a no-hitter on September 7 against the Chicago Whales, another title contender. It turned out to be the gem of five impressive contests in […]
Waving goodbye, the impeccably dressed young man with fiery red hair and ruddy complexion hurriedly boarded the Cleveland-bound train. In the span of nine short days, The Pride of Penacook had graduated from Dartmouth, signed a contract to play for the New York Yankees, and now was en route to join his new team. Place […]
The brief major-league career of Reading, Pennsylvania, native Franklin “Heck” Heifer consisted of 17 appearances (15 as a position player and 2 as a pitcher) with the 1875 Boston Red Stockings of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. After his time with Boston, Heifer’s professional career consisted of playing for a number of […]
Bob Quinn was a baseball man for more than 60 years. He started as a player in the 1880s, although he never made the majors, and then became a business manager/general manager. At various points from 1917 through 1945, he held this role at the big-league level with the St. Louis Browns, the Brooklyn Dodgers […]
Standing just 5’5″ and a stocky 169 pounds, Topsy Hartsel used his small size to become the most effective leadoff batter of the Deadball Era. During his 10 seasons with the Athletics, Hartsel led the American League in walks five times, on base percentage twice, and runs scored once. His 121 free passes in 1905 […]
John Alexander “Bid” McPhee, baseball’s greatest second baseman of the 19th century, was born on November 1, 1859, in Massena, New York, the fourth among five children of a saddle-maker. When he was seven, his family moved to the Mississippi River town of Keithsburg, Illinois, a small hamlet of 1200 inhabitants. Keithsburg was the birthplace […]
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the SABR Baseball Research Journal, Vol. 37, in 2008. When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 1918, it was their fifth triumph in the fifteen years of the modern classic. The club had the best player in baseball, outfielder-pitcher Babe Ruth, another top hitter […]