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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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

After becoming the first overall selection in the 1995 amateur draft, Darin Erstad accumulated many personal accolades during his 14-year major-league baseball career (1996-2009). He was selected to two All-Star Games; he also won three Gold Glove Awards – two as an outfielder and one as a first baseman – and a Silver Slugger Award. […]

Stan Pawloski spent his entire career in the minor leagues save for two games with the Cleveland Indians in 1955. His journey to the majors wound through half-a-dozen minor-league towns. Along the way, he earned the distinction of being called a “can’t-miss” prospect and voted to three All-Star teams. That made him among the last […]

He arrived on the big-league scene like a bolt of lightning through the evening sky. Fred Lynn played in his first game on September 5, 1974, and proceeded to smash major-league pitching to the tune of a .419 batting average and a .698 slugging percentage over his first 15 games. He followed that up with […]

“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 […]

Jody Reed was a smallish (5-feet-9, 170 pounds)1 and fiery middle infielder with a rocket for a throwing arm and a knack for hitting doubles. He was with the Red Sox from 1987 to 1992. He went on to shorter stints with the Dodgers, Brewers, Padres, and Tigers during an 11-year major-league career. Reed gave […]

Rick Reed was one of the replacement players during the players strike of 1994-95. Although he was ostracized by fellow players after crossing the picket line, Reed was eventually accepted by teammates after joining the New York Mets, with whom he spent most of his big-league career. When he finally earned his chance to pitch […]

If one wished to find the spiritual reincarnation of prototypical renaissance man Leonardo Da Vinci within the all-time register of major league baseball players, they would do well to consider one William Grover Slayback. Slayback, who walked with the gods of baseball during the summer of 1972 while pitching for the Detroit Tigers, would most […]

In the late 1930s, Monty Stratton of the Chicago White Sox was one of the best and most praised pitchers in major-league baseball and was about to enter the prime of his career. “Monty Stratton looks as if he is going to furnish many a page in baseball history before he gives up,” Philadelphia sportswriter […]

Although he became a star for the most famous team in baseball, for whom he helped win three pennants and a World Series, Jim Bouton’s most lasting contribution to the sport would come a few years later, after he lost his fastball and returned to the major leagues as a struggling knuckleballer for an expansion […]

Daniel Staub? Who the hell is Daniel Staub? Nobody has ever heard of a ballplayer named Daniel Staub. But everyone has heard of Rusty Staub, and for the French and English fans of a brand-new ball club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he was known — and loved — as Le Grand Orange. Daniel Joseph “Rusty” […]