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On a warm September evening in 1995 at Baltimore’s Camden Yards, Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. helped restore America’s faith in baseball. The contentious nature of the previous year’s strike had left many of the sport’s dedicated fans wondering what the future held for their beloved national pastime. Following the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, the […]

A five-year veteran of the Negro Leagues, Ernesto Vibert Clarke was a one-hit wonder who followed the adage If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. The phrase may be a cliché, but in Clarke’s case it’s an accurate one.  The native of Panama recorded his first and only hit in the major leagues […]

In a period of volatility, heartbreak, and disaster for the New York Mets — including the death of owner Joan Payson, the trading of Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds and Dave Kingman to the San Diego Padres on the same day, and last-place finishes from 1977-79 and 1982-83 — backup catcher Ron Hodges provided […]

On April 26, 1969, pitcher Al Raffo of the Triple-A Eugene Emeralds received the good news from his manager, Frank Lucchesi, that he was moving up to the parent Philadelphia Phillies. In his eighth season and eighth team in the Phillies organization, Raffo was asked shortly before he was called up if he thought he […]

He was equally as adept at coordinating pitchers and throwing out baserunners as he was as a leader and strategist in the dugout. However, Alfonso Ramon Lopez chose to credit his supporting cast of players for his successes rather than himself. Much like his mentor Casey Stengel, Lopez knew that he could not have won […]

From manager Don Heffner’s perspective, hurler John Tsitouris drew favorable comparisons to Hall of Famer Red Ruffing because “when you sent him out to the mound, you knew he was going to give you a good job.”1 Splendid likeness for a pitcher with a lifetime 34-38 record. Tsitouris’s tantalizing ability caused teams to continually try […]

Baseball card collectors were treated to a unique surprise in 1985, as Topps’ flagship card set included a special subset devoted to the members of the 1984 US Olympic baseball team. This subset gave card buyers their first look at some names that would become familiar in years to come, like Mark McGwire, Bill Swift, […]

Baltimore Elite Giants pitchers at Oriole/Terrapin Park, 1940. Left to right: Emery Adams, Satchel Davis, Eddie Dixon, Woody Williams, Willie Hubert, and Bill Barnes. (Courtesy of David Stinson and Bernard McKenna)   The 1939 Negro National League Championship Series featured a matchup between the Homestead Grays, in pursuit of their third consecutive league championship, and […]

American League greats debate the designated hitter, 1973: “It’s legalized manslaughter. The only thing preventing pitchers from throwing at hitters now is that they must come to bat themselves.” – Carl Yastrzemski1 “I’m not sure the rule will do what it’s intended to do, and that is produce more hits and runs. It gives the […]

It was July 14, 1970, in Cincinnati, where the 41st Major League All-Star Game was played at the brand-new Riverfront Stadium in front of 51,838 fans. It was an era of turmoil. Just 2½ months earlier, President Richard Nixon had announced that the United States had invaded Cambodia to hunt out the Viet Cong in […]

Coming into the 2004 season the Padres had played 2,775 regular-season games in 35 seasons at San Diego/Jack Murphy/Qualcomm Stadium (1969-2003), a multipurpose stadium typical of other major-league baseball venues of that period. The opening of San Diego’s Petco Park represented another period in baseball venues, one in which stadiums were designed for baseball purposes […]

The World Series is baseball’s Big Stage. Of necessity, a Big Stage requires stars, and the history of the World Series abounds with them – Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and so many more. The New York Yankees’ Mickey Mantle was one such star.1 Considered by many the game’s greatest player during the 1950s, […]

Perhaps more than 3,242 people would have shown up at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington on September 28, 1971, if they’d known that what was going to happen there wouldn’t occur again for more than 33 years. The Washington Senators, playing out the string before moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area the next season, […]

The Cleveland Indians were still reeling from a wretched nine-game losing streak from August 15 to 24 when they traveled to New York City for a three-game series with the Yankees starting on August 31, 2004. On August 14 Cleveland defeated the Minnesota Twins 7-1 for their sixth consecutive victory, and pulled within a single […]

One of the more exciting days on the baseball calendar is the trade deadline on July 31.1 Networks and sports talk shows fuel the speculation and rumor mill about who could be on the move. Team officials must determine if their club is a pretender or a contender, a buyer or a seller. With the […]

The 1934 season began with minimal fanfare for the Detroit Tigers outside of Corktown. The Washington Senators were projected to repeat as American League champions with the Bengals expected to come in behind the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in fourth place. Despite this, new player-manager Mickey Cochrane was entirely optimistic. “We have […]

When the Florida Marlins and Chicago Cubs met for the second game of a late June three-game series, both teams were far off the pace in their respective divisions. Each had come into the season projected to finish fifth, the Marlins in the five-team NL East, the Cubs in the six-team NL Central. Approaching the […]

Mike Piazza’s first look at Shea Stadium as a New York Met may have come from a thousand feet up as his flight from Florida made its approach to LaGuardia Airport. Ever since the ballpark’s opening in 1964, pilots had used it as a landmark when visibility was clear enough,1 and if Piazza had a […]

Yankees President Gabe Paul told reporters on November 18, 1976, that the Bronx Bombers considered newly signed southpaw ace Don Gullett “a modern Whitey Ford.”1 At the time of his free-agent signing, Gullett’s .684 winning percentage led all active major-league pitchers who had 100 or more decisions. Ford, like Gullett a left-handed hurler, owned a […]

Griffith Stadium hosted Game One of the 1943 Negro League World Series between the heavily favored Homestead Grays and the underdog Birmingham Black Barons. Game Two was played in Baltimore, followed by a return to Griffith for Game Three. Games Four through Eight would be held in Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; Birmingham; and Montgomery, Alabama. […]

Of the more than 200 Negro League games played at Yankee Stadium in the 1930s and ’40s, one of the most memorable was a pitching duel between Satchel Paige and Stewart “Slim” Jones in September 1934 that ended not with a victory, but in a 1-1 tie. Black baseball’s fans could have been excused for […]

“I remember these summer days when it was hot and that cool air coming out of the mountains just felt so good.”1 — Danny Godby For the better part of the 20th century, baseballs disappeared against the lush foliage of the mountainside, and the crack of the bat competed with the drone of passing trains. […]

Fans cheer on their favorite team on June 29, 2021, at Dodger Stadium. (Copyright: Steven Cukrov / dreamstime.com)   On October 8, 1957, the stockholders and directors of the Brooklyn Baseball Club announced that the franchise would move to Los Angeles for the 1958 season.1 A welcoming parade jammed downtown LA streets.2 On the steps […]

The Toronto Blue Jays have played at the Rogers Centre, previously known as SkyDome, since 1989. (Creative Commons 2.0 image by Oliver Mallich)   Quest for a Franchise Canadian sports conjure up images of ice hockey, curling and three-down football. However, baseball has a long and somewhat overlooked place in the Canadian sports scene. Prior […]