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Cleveland fans had high expectations for a banner year for their Indians in 1987. Cleveland ended 1986 in fifth place in the American League East Division with an 86-78-1 record. It was their loftiest record since 1968, when they finished in third place at 86-75-1. The current edition of the Tribe had some good young […]

Larry Walker’s hold on a major-league job was slowly slipping away. His first full season in the big leagues had gone reasonably well; in only 419 at-bats he nearly posted a 20-20 season.1 Walker was even named to the 1990 Topps’ All-Star Rookie team. But a 1991 spring-training slump had carried over into the regular […]

In the opening contest of the most pivotal series of their baseball lives to that point, the Houston Astros lost on a Joe Ferguson walk-off blast in the 10th inning that breathed new life into the Los Angeles Dodgers’ fading 1980 playoff hopes. Yet, despite those heroics, momentum was still the greatest ally of the […]

The Detroit Tigers found themselves on a nice little four-game winning streak in early June of 1937. They had taken the final two games of a three-game series against the New York Yankees on June 5-6, and then swept the Philadelphia A’s in a two-game series heading into Friday’s contest against the Boston Red Sox […]

When Harmon Killebrew signed with the Kansas City Royals in January 1975, he brought two decades of baseball wisdom honed by major-league experience dating back to the early days of rock and roll. To borrow from a popular song title in 1954, Killebrew’s first year in the big leagues, one might say that he shook, […]

From the time he arrived in Milwaukee with the rest of his Braves teammates from Boston in the spring of 1953, Joe Adcock quickly became a fan favorite in the nation’s newest major-league city. The impressive power numbers of the mighty 6-foot-4, 220-pounder were often overshadowed by the likes of Eddie Mathews and Henry Aaron. […]

A crowd of 44,645 came to Dodger Stadium on a picture-perfect Southern California Saturday evening. The game-time temperature was 75 degrees under clear skies, and there was a gentle breeze of 7 MPH blowing out to left field. The typically large LA crowd was treated to a record-setting offensive performance by the Dodgers as the […]

It had already been an interesting weekend of baseball in Cleveland for the visiting Boston Red Sox. After opening the 1992 season with two weekday losses in Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox came to Cleveland to play the Indians’ home opener on Saturday afternoon, April 11, and a doubleheader on Sunday, before returning to Boston […]

On June 29, 1990, Toronto baseball fans got to witness a bit of history when Dave Stewart of the Oakland A’s threw a no-hitter at SkyDome, beating the Blue Jays 5-0. It was the first major-league no-hitter thrown in Toronto. However, it wasn’t the first professional no-hitter thrown in the city, which has a rich […]

The New York Mets entered the 1969 National League playoffs with their hopes riding on the arms of their young and talented pitching staff. But they won the first game of the series with their bats. After the Braves tagged Mets ace Tom Seaver for eight hits, including two home runs, Seaver’s teammates saved his […]

For the first three weeks of the 1980 season, the St. Louis Cardinals’ bullpen provided anything but relief. To wit: an 0-5 record, one save and a ghastly 7.46 ERA with 51 hits allowed in 35⅓ innings through April 29.1 “If we had the relief pitching, we’d probably be in first place,” general manager John […]

After a three-season Negro National League liftoff, Minnie Miñoso’s career as integrated baseball’s first Afro-Latino star blazed almost entirely in the American League, from 1949 debut with the Cleveland Indians through late-season appearances with the Chicago White Sox more than a quarter-century later. Miñoso crossed over to the National League only once, in 1962, when […]

Jim Thome had been in the major leagues with the Cleveland Indians for only a month, but he already understood the power of a baseball superstition. That was evidenced by his actions before he stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth inning with the chance to be the hero in an otherwise […]

Labor Day Weekend in the Bronx was greeted with little fanfare by fans of the Yankees. The 63-73 Yankees had lost the second game of a three-game series with the Texas Rangers on Saturday, returning them to fifth place in the American League East Division. As the pennant races materialized, Don Mattingly, the Yankees’ star […]

During the heyday of the left-handed relief specialist – sometimes called LOOGYs, for “Lefty One-Out Guys” – Tony Fossas thrived. Armed with a slow side-arm curve he called “the frisbee,” the Cuban-born pitcher appeared in 567 games over 12 major-league seasons between 1988 and 1999.1 He worked only 415⅔ innings in that span, and never […]

The 53rd major-league All-Star Game was the first midsummer classic played outside of the United States, and this landmark game paid tribute to both the global nature of the sport and the proud history of professional baseball in Montreal.1 The two-day celebration had a distinctly international flair that went well beyond the public-address announcements in […]

Several themes were evident for All-Star games played in the 1960s. First was the National League’s crushing superiority during the midsummer classics. Of the 13 games played (two games were played from 1960 through 1962) the National League took 11; the American League won only once (the second game in 1962 was a tie). Toward […]

After his playing days, Cecil Cole watched a lot of baseball games in his hometown of Connellsville, Pennsylvania, with local sportswriter Jim Kriek. “A brief chat with him could make the day brighter,” Kriek recalled. “We had a lot of good conversations and laughs, not only about baseball, but everything in general.” Kriek was well […]

 “LaMarque was probably the most unassuming of all the Monarch players. … He didn’t stand out. And he liked it like that. Lefty quietly went about his business.”  – Ray Doswell, curator, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum1   Jim LaMarque, who like so many southpaws was nicknamed Lefty, said he almost quit in 1942, his first year […]

A Wisconsin hero on the football gridiron and the baseball diamond, Robert James ‘Red’ Wilson was a bright, talented, and dedicated student-athlete who later enjoyed a good major league career as a catcher for the Chicago White Sox, the Detroit Tigers, and, briefly, the Cleveland Indians from 1951 to 1960. One of the greatest athletes […]

Here is one of the most moving, human-interest stories in the entire history of the game—a story that exemplifies the spirit of baseball and America . . . It is the . . . dramatic story of the skinny, under-nourished, weak-visioned kid, the son of a poor immigrant family, a product of New York’s tough […]

Sergio Robles was a fine defensive catcher from Mexico. He had much in common with another receiver from the state of Sonora, Francisco Estrada. They both played very briefly in the major leagues – Estrada for one game in 1971; Robles for 16 games in 1972, 1973, and 1976. Yet both had extensive careers as […]

Growing up in downstate Illinois, between Chicago and St. Louis, a midcentury youth was blessed by time and place. By radio, born in 1920, and television’s relatively new wonderwork, baseball could be followed through the art of play-by-play. If you grasped the pastime’s rhythm, the Voices often became as arresting as being at the park. […]

For many African American males growing up in poverty-stricken households throughout Los Angeles, sports offered a chance to break away from the cultural and economic restraints imposed on them by their surroundings. This was no different for a young Darryl Eugene Strawberry (born March 12, 1962, in Los Angeles). Darryl was the third boy born […]