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When the Washington Senators suited up for the final game of the season on October 2, 1960, they didn’t know it would be the last one for the storied franchise in the nation’s capital. In what appeared to be a hasty action by the American League only a few weeks after the season ended, Senators […]

A new day was dawning for New York baseball fans. After the Dodgers and Giants had left town, 4 years had passed without a National League team in New York. Now National League fans had one. The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club had been formed in March of 1961 and quickly became known as the […]

The lean, lithe Roberto Clemente and the squat Smoky Burgess (“barely fit enough to play for the Moose Lodge softball team,”1 according to one critic) made for an odd, but certainly hard-hitting, duo. They batted fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Pittsburgh Pirates lineup for much of the 1962 season. On June 30, the two […]

As June 1948 neared its conclusion, the 1948 American League pennant race was as close as could be. Cleveland (38-23) held a one-game lead over New York (38-25) and Philadelphia (40-27). Boston (31-29) was in fourth place, 6½ games behind the Indians. Perhaps the biggest surprise was Philadelphia. The Athletics won three straight pennants from […]

There had been a Negro Leagues all-star game since September 10, 1933, when the first one was played at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Often called the East-West Classic, or the Dream Game,1 by the early 1940s it attracted as many as 51,000 fans. Yet no matter how high the attendance figures were, the White-owned newspapers, including […]

On April 7, 1970, one historic first and one historic last occurred at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field. In their ninth try, the New York Mets finally captured their first Opening Day victory, while Forbes Field hosted its final Opening Day after 61 years. The Mets, basking in the glow of their Miracle championship from last year, […]

The buzz from the wildly successful start to their inaugural season had worn off.1 The fledgling Expos had just lost their 18th consecutive game, and they were about to head out on a grueling 18-game road trip. Instead of going directly to Los Angeles to prepare to face the Dodgers, they made a side trip […]

There on the ball diamond in Arlington, Texas, was Teddy Ballgame himself — Ted Williams, dramatically symbolic of dreams having come true for thousands of North Texans. It was a Friday evening, April 21, 1972, when Frank Howard, “the Washington Monument,” as he was known in Washington before the franchise migration, and his Texas Rangers […]

“As a diehard Yankee hater and former Yankee killer, I even helped to germinate the seeds of the feud by spreading some fertilizer of my own.” — Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Boston Red Sox pitcher, 1969-1978.1 Books have been written, blogs have been posted and newspaper accounts have captured the intensity of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, […]

It took the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets nine innings, 37 players, 366 pitches, eight pinch-hitters, 13 walks, six stolen bases, two blown saves, and exactly four hours of a Thursday afternoon to play one of the most exciting games of the 2007 season. The Phillies prevailed, 11-10, on August 30 to complete a […]

The Detroit Tigers were baseball’s biggest surprise of 2006. On a streak of 12 consecutive losing seasons, and three years removed from the most losses in American League history, Detroit surged to the head of the AL Central behind a new manager and an emerging rookie ace. Jim Leyland, in a major-league dugout for the […]

The 1927 New York Yankees are considered among the best teams ever. Two of their pitchers – Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt – are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.1 Another star pitcher on that legendary team who is not in the Hall of Fame is Urban Shocker. Shocker, who started 27 games […]

“Prince Hal” Newhouser had the unique distinction of being baseball’s best pitcher during the 1940s — as well as its most unpopular player. An uncompromising perfectionist who was as hard on himself as his teammates, he was famous for his hot left arm and mercurial temperament. Whether Newhouser was mowing down enemy hitters or smashing […]

“With a fine disregard of flying regulations here came this big flying machine roaring from behind the center field fence and only a few hundred feet in the air and there were a few panicky seconds. And then George Case [who was waiting to bat] removed his cap and began to wave it violently as […]

Charles Richard “Charlie” Maxwell, the popular outfielder of the Tigers from 1955 to 1962, often called “Paw Paw” by fans, writers, and broadcasters, was one of Detroit’s best power hitters. A lefthanded batter who averaged .264 lifetime, Charlie hit 148 home runs and batted in 532 runs in a major league career lasting from 1950 […]

In March 1993 Rafael Ramirez was trying to secure a bench spot on the rebuilding Oakland Athletics. He was among the first cuts, nursing a sore arm and having been outplayed by another veteran, Dale Sveum.1 The 35-year-old shortstop’s career was effectively over. He spent 13 big-league seasons fielding grounders on two of the most […]

Hard-throwing southpaw Dave Koslo was touted as Carl Hubbell’s successor when he debuted for the New York Giants in 1941.Though he never developed into the dominant ace many predicted, he won ten or more games in six of seven seasons (1946-1952) and finished with 92 wins in 12 big-league seasons. His career, however, is defined […]

John Kyle Mitchell’s big-league pitching debut took place exactly where he had hoped it would, in Fenway Park. It was an exhibition game played there between the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets on September 4, 1986, to support Boston’s Jimmy Fund and New York amateur baseball.1 But he was not with the Red […]

Fritz Ostermueller was 41 years old when he took the mound on September 30, 1948, to make the final start of his 15-year major-league career. The Pittsburgh left-hander had played with four big-league teams; his lifetime ledger was even at 114 wins and 114 losses. In early September the Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers, and the surprising Pirates had […]

Joe Astroth was a model of consistency for 10 years with an Athletics franchise that moved from Philadelphia to Kansas City, an area of the Midwest that had not enjoyed major league baseball since the nineteenth century. As a catcher, he was a solid defensive player who regularly threw out opposing baserunners and was an […]

The Cleveland Indians boasted one of the strongest corps of starting pitchers in history in the early 1950s: Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Mike Garcia. For a few years Garcia was at least the equal of his Hall of Fame stablemates, but the righthander known as “The Big Bear” burned out early. Edward […]

A generation after Johnny Bench’s last game, he remains the gold standard for baseball catchers of any era. By the age of 20 he had redefined how to play the position, and by 22 he was the biggest star, at any position, in all of baseball. Catching eventually took its toll, moving him to the […]

From 1995 through 1997, Jay Buhner was as prolific a home run hitter as any player in baseball. During those three years his 124 home runs exceeded those of his celebrated teammate Ken Griffey Jr. (122), 1995 MVP Mo Vaughn (118), 1996 MVP Juan Gonzalez (116), and 1993-94 MVP Frank Thomas (115). In addition to […]