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Ralph Kiner’s 301 home runs, the product of an unparalleled slugging spree in the late 1940s and early 1950s, ranked first in Pittsburgh Pirates franchise history when Willie Stargell made his big-league debut in 1962. Blossoming into a prodigious, consistent power threat over the next decade, Stargell overtook Kiner in 1973 with his 302nd career […]

The Braves had last hosted a World Series game in 1948, and that game was played in Boston. In 1957 the Braves, in their fifth season in Milwaukee, won the National League pennant. The first two games of the World Series were played in New York. The Yankees, behind Whitey Ford, had won the opener, […]

The World Series had come down to the winner-take-all game for the 33rd time.1 The two teams had alternated wins throughout the series. Now 67,204 fans filled Pro Player Stadium to see who would take home the championship trophy. Cleveland had not won a World Series title since 1948, falling short against the New York […]

The Dodgers last played in Ebbets Field on September 24, 1957, when they beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of 6,702 fans. Gil Hodges was the final batter for Brooklyn, striking out in the eighth inning. Within weeks of that game, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the Giants to San Francisco, leaving the […]

As the 1980 MLB season was winding down, the Houston Astros paid a visit to Dodger Stadium in hopes of accomplishing the one feat that eluded the franchise since its inception in 1962: clinching a playoff berth. By winning six of their last seven games, the Astros extended their lead in the NL West by […]

Hartford, Connecticut, is among the baseball markets that has found new life in the flashy, merchandise- and promotion-driven minor-league climate of the twenty-first century. Since 2016 the city has hosted the Hartford Yard Goats, a Colorado Rockies affiliate in the Double-A Eastern League.1 The Yard Goats touch all the bases of modern minor-league ball — […]

With two shortstops sidelined and their improbable run for the National League Central Division title in jeopardy, the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had spent 1997’s run-up trading off experienced players and shedding salary obligations, played against type by acquiring veteran Shawon Dunston from the Chicago Cubs at the August 31 postseason roster deadline. Dunston made an […]

The Atlanta Braves fortified their bench in 1986 with a spring-training trade for Ted Simmons. As the Braves remained in contention in May and June, Simmons boosted morale among his fellow reserves, dubbed the “Bomb Squad.” He also wielded a still-vital bat in the 19th season of his Hall of Fame career, capping a bench-driven […]

During their first decade, the Mets were known more for their losing than winning. When Gil Hodges was hired as their manager in 1968, things began to turn around. Hodges turned the perennial losers into a lovable bunch of underdogs who would eventually win the 1969 World Series. In the minds of many fans, the […]

Cecil Fielder may have appeared to come from nowhere in 1990, but it had been a long road to major-league success. Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in June 1982,1 Fielder was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays before the 1983 season.2 At age 21, Fielder made his major-league debut on July 20, 1985, and […]

After foundering with fastballs and curveballs for the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates in the first half of the 1960s, Wilbur Wood transformed himself into a quality knuckleballing reliever for the Chicago White Sox from 1967 to 1970. He then improbably metamorphosed into one of the top pitchers in baseball as an innings-eating workhorse […]

Dodgers center fielder Willie Davis won three Gold Gloves and hit in a franchise-record 31 straight games in 1969. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   Throughout the month of August 1969, the Los Angeles Dodgers were battling for the National League West Division crown. All season the NL West had been a close race between five teams, everybody […]

It was relatively early in the 1986 season, but when the Boston Red Sox (29-14) faced the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Stadium on the night of May 27, 1986, they led the American League East Division and held a seven-game lead over the sixth-place Indians – who nonetheless owned a winning record (22-21).1 The Indians […]

When two last-place teams face each other in mid-September, the stage might not seem set for great achievements, but that’s exactly what happened when the Anaheim Angels and Kansas City Royals played the second game of a doubleheader on September 14, 1999. The Angels were wrapping up a disappointing season that had already seen their […]

The Baltimore Orioles were beginning their 11th season since relocating from St. Louis before the 1954 season. Because the Orioles inherited the Browns players, maturing into a competitive club after so many down years in St. Louis had been a slow process. This was not going to be an overnight success story. Not by any […]

During the sophomore season of the Houston Colt .45s in 1963, there were a few bright spots for the Colt Stadium community suffering humidity, mosquitoes, and a ninth-place baseball team. Left fielder Al Spangler hit .281; right-hander Don Nottebart threw a no-hitter; rookie outfielder Rusty Staub showed flashes of promise; and Johnny Temple offered solace, […]

Perhaps the St. Louis Cardinals were taking out their frustration … or sending a message. On Opening Day 1982, the Cardinals blasted the Houston Astros, 14-3, at the Astrodome. It came on the heels of the 1981 split season in which the Cardinals finished second in the National League East in both halves and did […]

When Tom Seaver pitched his last game in a major-league uniform, Top Gun dominated the box office. Two other Toms starred in this 1986 blockbuster. Tom Cruise played a Navy fighter pilot striving to be “the best of the best” and Tom Skerritt played his mentor, a veteran pilot who flew with the young pilot’s […]

On August 5, 1977, the Kansas City Royals gave the Chicago White Sox a taste of their own medicine. The host Royals smacked four home runs en route to a 12-2 victory in the Friday night opener of a three-game weekend series. Making the defeat worse for the visiting White Sox was watching the Royals […]

Before the term “walk-off” homer became a cliché, a Huck Finn–like figure from Pennsylvania coal country, Tom Matchick, hit a dramatic two-run homer off Moe Drabowsky in the ninth inning with two out to beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5–4 on July 19, 1968. Many longtime Detroit Tigers fans have claimed they were at that game, […]

“Considered by many to be the nonpareil umpire of the Post-War Era. A model of consistency with invariable accuracy both behind the plate and on the bases.” Those words on Nestor Chylak’s Baseball Hall of Fame plaque describe him well. An American League umpire from 1954 through 1978, Chylak was highly respected by managers, players, […]

In 1949 left-handed hurler Alexander Raymond Kellner joined his namesake, Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander, among others with a 20-win campaign in his freshman season. The next year Kellner joined a smaller community, losing 20 games in his sophomore year. Through 2015, only 15 pitchers (11 from the 19th century) have won 20 games […]

May 11, 1964, was a good day for pitchers to be born to the majors. On that day, Red Sox hurler Jeff Sellers, 16-year veteran Bobby Witt and Expos staffer Floyd Youmans were all delivered into the world. It was the world at the height of the Cold War. Nuclear tests being performed in Nevada […]

While he made one hit in his only major-league at-bat in 1963, Roy Gleason is better known for the unfortunate one hit of shrapnel he incurred in 1968 from an enemy bomb explosion while serving in the US Army during the Vietnam War. Gleason, who had played five years in the minor leagues before he […]