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When would-be saboteurs tried to pull distractions on Bob Gibson, it never seemed to diminish his work. Rather, it merely poked the bear. Before pitching the seventh game of the 1967 World Series in Boston, Gibson was disturbed in his hotel room three times in the middle of the night by “mistaken” wake-up calls. And […]

On a chilly Saturday afternoon at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia,1 a crowd of 40,222 was on hand to see what would be the second of three consecutive season openers for each team in which future Hall of Famers Tom Seaver of the Mets and Steve Carlton of the Phillies (or “Tom Terrific” and “Super Steve,” as they were called in […]

On July 15, 1975, Milwaukee’s County Stadium hosted the All-Star Game for the second time, albeit for the first as an American League park. The midsummer classic had traveled to Milwaukee in 1955 as a guest of the then-Milwaukee Braves before returning to the Cream City in ’75 as a visitant of the Brewers. Fittingly […]

As a visitor, Willie Stargell made power-hitting memories in many National League ballparks: upper-     deck shots at Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium and Montreal’s Olympic Stadium,1 a swimming pool splashdown at Montreal’s Jarry Park,2 the first two home runs to completely clear Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium,3 and a potential four-homer day at Chicago’s Wrigley Field denied by […]

The Chicago Cubs’ center fielder played well on April 25, 1976. He collected three hits, scored two runs, and drove in another. His efforts helped the Cubs to rally from a three-run deficit and tie the game, even if they did not prevent a 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 10 innings. But […]

The Yankees were cruising to their fifth straight AL pennant in 1953 when they took on the Senators in New York for a three-game series beginning on August 18. The Nats1 had just split a doubleheader in Boston with the Red Sox, while the Yankees had won four straight after pummeling the sixth-place A’s in […]

The Wilson Álvarez no-hitter journey began in the Maracaibo Little Leagues. The boy from Parroquia Santa Lucía became known for constantly achieving seamless performances. As a kid, Álvarez threw 11 no-hitters.1 His 12th provided the foundation for a career in the major leagues.  The Texas Rangers called the 19-year-old Álvarez up in 1989 for an […]

America’s Memorial Day festivities in 1948 included parades honoring fallen veterans and doubleheaders graced by the heroics of World War II comrades-in-arms. At Shibe Park in Philadelphia, former Navy and Marine Corps pilot Ted Williams drove in three runs in a win over the hometown A’s. Cincinnati Reds portsider Ken Raffensberger, inducted into the Navy […]

After decades of waiting, Denver would finally have a major-league Opening Day of its own. The expansion Colorado Rockies, along with the Florida Marlins, joined the National League for the 1993 season. Expectations for on-field success were appropriately tempered, but the excitement for big-league baseball was palpable. Five thousand spectators showed up at Mile High […]

“He can pitch,” said Montreal Expos skipper Gene Mauch about rookie right-hander Steve Rogers, who tossed a brilliant one-hit shutout over the Philadelphia Phillies to earn his first big-league win in his second start. “Rarely does a man with such experience have the confidence in his control of so many pitches.”1 Described by Pat Jordan […]

Some days home-run power makes the difference in a baseball game. Other days speed wins games. Every so often, a team lucks into both at once, and the outcome is (usually) a dominant win. The Rochester Red Wings of the Triple-A International League benefited from bursts of both power and speed on July 1, 1982. […]

Jim Hutto may be best remembered among baseball trivia buffs for a game in which his biggest accomplishment was simply not getting hurt. On May 2, 1970, when the Phillies lost catchers Tim McCarver to a broken hand and Mike Ryan to a broken finger in the same half-inning, rookie utilityman Hutto was called on […]

In the top of the eighth inning of a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Brooklyn Dodgers at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City1 on April 22, 1957, with his team behind by two runs and runners at second and third with one out, Phillies manager Mayo Smith sent out John Irvin Kennedy to run for […]

The Minnesota Twins were scheduled to open their 1962 home season on Friday, April 13. The date proved unlucky for a ballgame as six inches of snow blanketed the Twin Cities, forcing a postponement to the next day. It took a flamethrower, sprinklers, and a helicopter hovering over the outfield to melt the snow and […]

The 2006 version of the Los Angeles Dodgers was one of the franchise’s greatest offensive teams. The Dodgers had the second most runs scored by a Los Angeles team, 820 (22 behind the 1962 squad, which played three more games). They weren’t known for hitting home runs, with only 153 for the season, second to […]

In the foreword to Chuck Hinton’s autobiography, My Time at Bat, Sam Lacy said of Hinton, “He is a family man – one who does his baseball thing as a sideline.”1 Hinton’s devotion to family grew from the large and close-knit one into which he was born, but his life and that of his brothers […]

Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter Jr. was born August 13, 1915 in Montchanin, a community in New Castle County, Delaware. A month later, in nearby Philadelphia, the Phillies captured the first National League pennant in the team’s 32-year history. There was no connection then between these two events, but in time the Carpenter name and the […]

Mike Koplove was undersized for a pitcher: six feet even. He was also underweight: 165 pounds. He entered pro ball in 1998 as a 29th-round draft pick, carrying what he called “short right-hander stigma.” Yet Koplove’s baseball career defied expectations. From the day he signed, he understood the path would not be easy. “I had […]

As one of six rookies on the Philadelphia Phillies’ 1964 Opening Day roster, John Herrnstein experienced his finest season in a major-league career that would end two years later. The left-handed native of Chillicothe, Ohio, seemed to be a favorite of Phillies manager Gene Mauch, who moved him about his baseball chessboard frequently during the […]

Should the National League permanently adopt the designated hitter, Puerto Rican infielder Mario Ramirez’s big league career from 1980 through 1985 will serve as a time capsule of forgotten strategy. A lifetime .192 hitter in just 184 games, known primarily for his glove, he was nevertheless used as a pinch hitter on 39 occasions and […]

Nearly a quarter-century before Thurman Munson perished in a midseason plane crash in 1979, another active major league catcher suffered a similar fate. While Munson was a former MVP with two World Series rings at the time of his tragic demise, Orioles backstop Tom Gastall was a second-year bonus baby whose career was just getting […]

Tommie Agee was one of the key components to the 1969 Miracle Mets, solidifying the defense and serving as the club’s chief power source, albeit from the leadoff spot. His on-field heroics during the ’69 season—including socking the only home run to ever reach Shea Stadium’s upper deck—helped propel the Mets to their first postseason […]

The first regular-season game at Jacobs Field was played on April 4, 1994. Through seven innings the Indians were down 2-0, and it looked as though the storyline would center on Randy Johnson’s dominant pitching performance. The Indians finally got to the lanky southpaw in the bottom of the eighth, when Manny Ramirez doubled to […]

On April 12, 1955, the former Philadelphia Athletics, having moved that winter to Kansas City, opened their first season at Municipal Stadium: A’s 6, Tigers 2, before a standing-room crowd of 32,147. Flanked by franchise progenitor Connie Mack, former President Harry Truman tossed the team’s first ball in Missouri’s first American League (AL) opener since […]