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In 1966 the New York Mets lost fewer than 100 games and finished out of the National League basement for the first time in franchise history. But the Mets still needed to strengthen their starting rotation if they wanted further improvement on their 66-95 record and ninth-place finish. No major-league team in 1966 had used […]

The expansion Montreal Expos had finally developed their first Canadian player. In an attempt to find a major gate attraction, the fledgling team had signed 18 Canucks − 14 of whom were pitchers − in their first six years.1 None of them panned out until 21-year-old Larry Landreth walked out to the mound on September […]

When Montreal Expos pitcher Dan Warthen wound and delivered the first pitch of the game to San Diego Padres rookie Gene Richards on the evening of May 21, 1977, it’s safe to assume few among the crowd of 16,892 expected to still be at Stade Olympique more than 5½ hours later. The two teams shared […]

The Pittsburgh Pirates bombed the St. Louis Cardinals before a meager gathering of 11,089 spectators at Busch Stadium. Three Pirates batters connected for long home runs and on top of that, Willie Stargell hit for the cycle, en route to a 13-2 Pittsburgh victory. At the 1964 All Star break, the fourth-place Pirates were 40-35, […]

As July 1990 neared its end, the New York Mets were closing in on the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates, entering this contest only 1½ games back in the senior circuit’s East Division. They were finishing a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies, who were stuck in fourth place, 10 games out of first. A crowd of […]

Jim Kaat knew how to win ballgames. In 1971 Kaat would win at least 10 games for the 10th straight year. From 1964 to 1970, he won 35 more games than he lost. The Twins had taken the first two American League West titles in 1969 and 1970 but struggled in 1971, falling out of […]

Stretched out across a seat near the rear of his minor-league team’s bus, Woody Crowson hoped to relax on the ride back home after he watched his Greensboro Patriots teammates drop a tough Class C Carolina League game to the last-place Martinsville Athletics on August 13, 1947. It had been over two years since Crowson […]

After finishing second in the National League East in 1984 and 1985, the New York Mets were looking to take the next step and win the division in 1986. The Mets were a formidable club with an offense anchored by Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, and Gary Carter, an excellent all-around defense, and the pitching of […]

As members of the Society for American Baseball Research descended on the Sheraton West Palm Beach Hotel for SABR’s 30th annual convention, the Chicago Cubs came to town in a “circus-like” atmosphere to face off against the Florida Marlins. The South Florida Chapter of SABR was busy preparing for the first-ever SABR convention in Florida, […]

Sometimes, you just can’t win for losing. Dwight Gooden’s eighth-inning balk gave the Philadelphia Phillies the go-ahead run and marred an exemplary performance on September 17, 1984. It was an awful way to lose a ballgame, especially when the rookie hurler had 16 strikeouts and allowed no walks. For the 20,483 attendees trekking through the […]

Desperately needing a win, the Orioles entered Memorial Stadium in downtown Baltimore for Game Two of the 1983 World Series. They had lost Game One the previous day and were aware that no team had recovered to win the Series after losing the first two games at home. The Orioles’ Mike Boddicker had fashioned a […]

Asked if he thought New York Mets rookie southpaw Jerry Koosman was as good as his record (2-0, with two shutouts) suggested, San Francisco Giants manager Herman Franks replied no. “Nobody’s that good!”1 Franks’ response was understandable; the second of Koosman’s two gems to start the 1968 season had come at his team’s expense. That […]

After the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees 4-3 in St. Louis to even the World Series at one game apiece, the teams traveled to New York for Game Three. Wartime exigencies forced both teams to travel on the same train. It was an awkward arrangement, but there was no intermingling between the […]

As the first season of play at Metropolitan Stadium neared its end in 1956, the Minneapolis Millers continued a tradition from Nicollet Park days by holding an “Appreciation Night” on August 27, when they played the Omaha Cardinals. In previous years the event showed appreciation for the team members by presenting them with gifts, but […]

The Philadelphia Phillies joined the National League in 1883, and nearly a century later they were still looking for their first championship. They had won pennants in 1915 and 1950 before losing the World Series to the American League champions. They had won NL East Division titles from 1976 through 1978 before losing the National […]

Three days before World War II ended, Philadelphia Phillies scout Fred Mathews convinced the mother of Stephen George Ridzik that she should let her 16-year-old son become a professional baseball player.1 Julia Ridzik agreed to sign the contract, provided that Steve finish his last two years of high school. Thus began a 22-year pitching career […]

Willy Miranda epitomized the “good field, no hit” shortstop. He was a lot more than good in the field, though—Tom Lasorda, to name just one, thought the flashy little Cuban was the best he ever saw at short.1 Wielding the same battered, patched, and secretly doctored glove for nearly his entire pro career, Miranda was […]

“Where is the furniture?” To Luis Rivera and his five Latino teammates, it must have seemed like a cruel prank. More than a decade before the dot.com boom made the San Francisco Bay Area an outlandishly expensive place to live, they expected their rented home to be furnished. Wasn’t that common? Their already-stretched $600 monthly […]

No less an authority than Ted Williams referred to him as “the greatest young hitter I’ve ever seen.”1 His immense power drew comparisons to Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Eddie Mathews, while his value was glimpsed in an unexecuted one-for-one swap with the California Angels’ future Cooperstown inductee Nolan Ryan. (The talks collapsed only […]

Kevin Collins was a hard-nosed infielder who stood up for his teammates and whose teammates stood up for him. He rose through the ranks with the Miracle Mets of 1969 only to be traded for the final piece of that championship puzzle. “When people say I wasn’t an important part of the 1969 Mets, I […]

“Pack a bag.” The speaker was Lloyd Larson, sports editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel. It was March 18, 1953. Larson was talking to Lou Chapman, one of the members of his staff. “What for?” came the obvious question.[1] The answer changed Chapman’s life. He was asked to catch a plane for Florida to begin a […]

Ken Crosby’s workday on a fine Southern California spring afternoon lasted only three innings. The Chicago Cubs right-hander, making the first major-league start of his career after eight seasons of professional baseball, gave up two singles, a double, and two triples; “three other drives were barely contained within the 410-foot confines” of Jack Murphy Stadium […]

On the evening of July 24, 1998, a buzz ran through the crowd of 30,622 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. During the first game of a doubleheader against Florida, the scoreboard flashed the news that the Phillies had agreed to terms with first-round draft pick Pat Burrell. It was a relief for the fans as […]

Hitting mammoth home runs and striking out ten hitters a game look great in highlights or on the back of a baseball card, but those who excel at these feats are few and far between. The soul of the game is the baseball lifer. Lifers count their number of spring trainings in decades, not just […]