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“My dad was dashing,” said Pat Riley, the NBA Hall of Fame coach. “One thing he always did, was he had those wonderful Clark Gable-type suits on, and bright red ties and starched shirts.” He had a lot of style to him.”1 Lee Riley was a slugging outfielder, a “hard guy”2 who toughed out 22 […]

Every successful team should have a player like Glenn Hubbard. Though undersized, he played with a tremendous amount of heart and always left all his energy on the field. Teammates recognized his value. Hubbard hit just .244 over his 12 seasons in the majors, but he had some pop in his bat, connecting for 70 […]

In September 1927, the Cincinnati Reds brought up a 23-year old right-handed pitching prospect named Pete Jablonowski for a late-season look-see. Although he made a good first impression, going 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA and a shutout victory, Jablonowski struggled the following year in 31 games. In 1930-1931, however, he saw considerable service with the […]

Few players in the years before World War II started their professional baseball careers in the major leagues, but “Bennie” Huffman broke into the Big Show in 1937 with the St. Louis Browns. If it had not been for a serious shoulder injury that summer as well as the later onset of World War II, […]

Bob Feller was a 35-year-old veteran of 15 major-league seasons in 1954 when the Cleveland Indians won 111 games and swept to the American League pennant by eight games over the New York Yankees. His fastball had lost a good deal of its luster and manager Al Lopez had reportedly wanted to release him during […]

A severe sinus condition kept Tommy Holmes out of the service during World War II, but the chances are that if he had been drafted and sent into harm’s way, several hundred fans from one particular portion of Braves Field would have been willing to follow him into action. Holmes was among the most popular […]

During the 1970s and early ’80s, every announcer or writer had to dish the dirt on his story. He played major league baseball in summer, but Richie Hebner dug graves in winter. Beginning in the ninth grade, he continued digging throughout his 18-year major league career, even when free agency expanded his paychecks beyond 1976, […]

Though his major league career consisted of only five hitless at-bats for the 1980 Baltimore Orioles, Drungo Hazewood remains a legendary baseball cult figure, chiefly because of his unique moniker. Eyewitnesses to Hazewood’s feats of power and speed, however, wondered what might have been had the muscular outfielder learned to hit a curveball before leaving […]

Thirty men registered plate appearances for the 2004 Boston Red Sox, but one of the biggest contributors to the offensive juggernaut did not face a single pitch. Had it not been for the December 27, 2002, announcement of Ron “Papa Jack” Jackson as the team’s new hitting coach, Boston’s stunning rise to the zenith of […]

“He’s a heck of a guy. He’s enthusiastic and great for the (University of Hartford) program. He’s the reason why a lot of us are here. He is a man with big dreams. His dreams became our dreams. We believed in him.” — University of Hartford player Brian Crowley in the aftermath of Bill Denehy’s […]

Over his 22-year career, fleet-footed center fielder Bernard “Frenchy” Uhalt knocked out more than 3,000 hits and was elected to the Hall of Fame. His name might not be familiar to many baseball aficionados, though, since 21 of those seasons and all but 40 of his hits came in the minor leagues, and because he […]

Tony Oliva stands at the forefront of an exceedingly select group – one that also includes Tany (Atanasio) Pérez, Rafael Palmeiro, and Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso. These are the few unrivaled candidates for recognition as the greatest major-league hitter ever to emigrate to the professional big time from the baseball-rich island nation of Cuba. Palmeiro (with […]

Bill Killefer began his 48-year career in Organized Baseball in 1907 as an unlikely professional, weighing only 125 pounds when he played with Jackson of the Southern Michigan League. According to his brother Wade, “the bats he used were almost as big as he was.” It would be years before he grew to be 5’10 […]

Stefan Wever’s “ticket to ride” was a fastball clocked at 95 miles per hour. The 6-foot-8, 245-pound right-hander dominated the minor leagues and became the tallest player in New York Yankees history1 when he took the mound against the eventual American League champions, the Milwaukee Brewers, on September 17, 1982. His dream-come-true quickly turned into […]

Phil Gagliano grew up in a baseball-oriented family. Though his grandparents on his father’s side of the family hailed from southern Italy (Sicily and Calabria), and on his mother’s side from the Tuscany region, the second-generation Americans took to baseball whole-heartedly. Phil’s father, Ralph, who was a director of purchasing at a wholesale food business […]

“There is virtually nothing he can’t do,” said Willie Stargell.1 “He’s the best player for his age I have ever seen or know,” said Reggie Jackson.2 “He’s going to be one hell of a player,” said Gene Tenace.3 These were sentiments shared by many of the teammates, coaches, and scouts who saw such promise in […]

“What if?” It is a perennial question and in baseball, the “what if?” usually pertains to injury. What would have a team accomplished had not half of its players been on the DL at one point or another during a season? What if a pitcher’s promising career had not been torpedoed by a line drive […]

From 1960 to 1971, outfielder Tony González enjoyed a fine major-league career, He was never an All-Star – no insult, considering that Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Roberto Clemente were his peers – but he might have accomplished even more had he not suffered from back and eye problems. (The latter could have stemmed from […]

John Buzhardt pitched in both major leagues from 1958 through 1968, primarily as a starter for the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox. He compiled a 71-96 won-lost record, and dominated the New York Yankees while with the White Sox, where he was in a rotation that ranked with the best in the American League. […]

The neighborhood surrounding 11th and Wharton Streets in South Philadelphia is known for producing entertainers Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Fabian Forte, and Chubby Checker. John Marzano wasn’t a teen idol. He didn’t star in Beach Blanket Bingo and he didn’t invent “The Twist.” However, at one point in his baseball career, Marzano was considered the […]

He wasn’t flamboyant like his contemporary Dizzy Dean and didn’t have a signature pitch like Carl Hubbell’s screwball, but stout right-hander Bill Lee of the Chicago Cubs had a five-year run in the 1930s when he could lay a legitimate claim to be the best pitcher, or at least one of them, in baseball. From […]

The 1970 All-Star Game, at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, was tied at 4-4 with two out in the bottom of the 12th inning. For the National League, Pete Rose was on second base and Billy Grabarkewitz on first. When Jim Hickman lined pitcher Clyde Wright’s offering to center field, hometown hero Rose broke from second […]

Longtime fans of the Indians know that the team did not appear in postseason play from 1954 to 1995. The 40 years in between were difficult for baseball in Cleveland. During that time, there were three waves of major-league baseball expansion into new cities with new teams finding success before the Indians returned to the […]

On October 10, 1924, Virgil “Zeke” Barnes stood on the mound in Griffith Stadium, poised within tantalizing reach of a rare and coveted prize, just four outs shy of a Game 7 World Series win. Palpably close, but it was not to be. His moment of reckoning came with an improbable, aberrant bounce of the […]