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The story of J.W. Porter is one of paradox. A talent of renown, he was praised by scouts as perhaps the greatest prospect they had ever seen. Before he was 18 years old, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown hung a plaque bearing his name. He received a record signing bonus; but his rise […]

Del Pratt was arguably the second-best second baseman of the second decade of the 20th century. And his argumentative nature led The New York Times’ John Kieran to call him “the greatest clubhouse lawyer baseball ever knew.” Pratt was born into a well-off family on January 10, 1888, in Walhalla, South Carolina, near the Georgia-North […]

“How good was Stan Musial? He was good enough to take your breath away.” – Vin Scully1   Twenty-eight miles south of Pittsburgh, roughly along the Monongahela River (Western Pennsylvanians call it the Mon and the Mon Valley) lies the town of Donora. Donora and the surrounding communities were once a fairly thriving multi-ethnic area […]

“I’m going to have a good year because I’m Al Oliver. I always have a good year. The question is how good.”1 That confident self-assessment came in 1978, a little over halfway through this slashing line-drive hitter’s long and successful career. In 18 seasons, the lefty-swinging first baseman-outfielder amassed 2,743 hits and posted a .303 […]

Guy Curtright didn’t reach the major leagues until he was 30 years old, but when he finally got a chance with the Chicago White Sox in 1943, he broke in with a bang. In his debut season Curtright hit safely in 26 straight games – an American League rookie record that wasn’t broken until 1997 […]

The angle of a bouncing baseball can often shape the course of one’s career. That such an occurrence came at a high school track meet and put Jeff Yurak on a path to the major leagues makes his success nothing short of remarkable. Jeff Yurak was born in Pasadena, California, along with a twin brother, […]

Jimmy McAleer was not much of a hitter, but this brilliant defensive outfielder was a smart, clever, and ambitious man who helped create two of the original eight franchises of the American League. In 1900 he became the first manager of the Cleveland franchise now known as the Indians, and two years later league president […]

The story of Tony Horton, the young and talented slugger for the Red Sox and the Indians, is ultimately a tragic one from a baseball perspective. Just entering his prime seasons at the age of 25, he was forced to leave the game because of an emotional disorder, and ultimately he never returned. Piecing together […]

Outfielder Don Mueller was a hard man to strike out – in five of the eight years in which he played in at least 120 games for the New York Giants in the 1950s, he led the league in fewest strikeouts per at-bats. He was a two-time All-Star who participated in some of the most […]

On July 15, 2003, Ray Boone was taking in the scene at the All-Star Game at Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field. “Anybody that’s not proud in this situation,” he said, “there’s something wrong with them.”1 As the patriarch of the first three-generation family in the major leagues, Boone had reason to beam with pride. His son Bob […]

On July 7, 1910, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the hometown New Bedford Whalers squared off against the Lowell Tigers in a Class B New England League game. On the mound for the Whalers was 20-year-old Tommy Griffith who, in his second professional season, was on his way to winning 19 games for the pennant-winning New […]

Emilio “Millito” Navarro was one of the patriarchs of baseball in Puerto Rico. The diminutive infielder stood only 5-feet-5 inches tall and weighed only 160 pounds, but he was renowned for his hitting ability, blazing speed, and soft hands (mainly at second base, but also at shortstop and third). After starting in semipro ball at […]

The man of a zillion words, summer after summer, just … “Rolling Along.” The air at Crosley Field in Cincinnati was thick with tension for the final game of the 1964 season, for the opponents, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds, still had a shot at winning the pennant. “[If] we beat Cincy, the […]

In 1883 the Worcester Ruby Legs became the Philadelphia Quakers and shortly the Phillies. From then until 1980, there were no World Series titles for the Phillies. They won just two National League pennants, in 1915 and in 1950, when a quiet, scholarly but rugged man named Eddie Sawyer led the club called the Whiz […]

Raised in “the tenements of Hartford,”1 Walter “Monk” Dubiel rose from hardscrabble roots to  seven-year career in the major leagues that began during World War II after he was declared 4-F because of an eye ailment. It ended eight years later after a series of injuries. His memorable nickname, “Monk,” had a colorful but perhaps […]

If Rich Reese had as much success in baseball as he later did in business, perhaps his major-league résumé would have been filled with All-Star appearances, batting titles, MVP awards, and World Series triumphs. As it was, his path to such acclaim was hindered by a succession of higher-profile players who kept him from a […]

You come to Colorado, the first guy you talk about is Todd Helton. We try to stay down in the zone and not give him anything to hit.”1 — Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood   In the so-near-yet-so-far-away category, Todd Helton has a place of honor. In 2003, the batting race in the National League came […]

Team pictures of the New York Mets in the 1960s and ’70s showed a shorter, older gentleman wearing glasses and business attire. His face could also be spotted deep within the Mets’ yearbooks. Near the Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink ads featuring Yogi Berra were head shots of club officials and other employees. Devoted Mets fans who […]

Brothers Bob and Ken Aspromonte were both graduates of Brooklyn’s Lafayette High School and both became major-league ballplayers. Ken was the eldest of the two, by nearly seven years, but Bob made the majors first, breaking in with the Brooklyn Dodgers (for all of one at-bat) in 1956. He didn’t return to the big leagues […]

Russell J. “Russ” Cowans was known in Detroit as the “Dean of Black Sportswriters.”1 In fact, during the 1920s and 1930s, he was that city’s only full-time Black sports reporter. The Detroit Tribune, the newspaper for which he wrote during that era, was located on St. Antoine Street, and because he was so knowledgeable about […]

Given future Hall of Famer Ray Schalk’s mastery of the catcher’s position with the Chicago White Sox for nearly two decades, Byrd Lynn had little chance to land the starting job during his short major-league career. His prospects likely became even slimmer once the 1919 Black Sox Scandal episode went public. Although no evidence has […]

The tale is familiar to followers of baseball legend: Young boy growing up in rough-and-tumble circumstances, running roughshod over parents and teachers, unrepentantly scoffing at law and decency, finally ends up in front of the local magistrate who has him declared incorrigible and packed off to the nearest reformatory. There, the lad discovers an outlet […]

“I take a great deal of pride in my background and my heritage.”1 That was Ruben Amaro Jr. in 2011, on being a third-generation Latino baseball man. Yet he has often spoken the same way about his maternal side. Altogether, his background is unique in major-league history: Cuban-Mexican/Jewish-American. From this start, a unique career path […]

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Business of Baseball Committee’s Fall 2010 newsletter, “Outside the Lines”. Beirne, a retired Rhode Island priest and active member of the Boston Braves Historical Society, presented this paper at SABR 40 in Atlanta. “Shocking! I am shocked that there is gambling in this place!” One of the […]