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Joe DiMaggio put his name on a book titled Lucky to Be a Yankee. His teammate Arndt Jorgens seconded the emotion. In 10 years as a backup catcher behind Hall of Famer Bill Dickey, Jorgens cashed five World Series checks totaling around $30,000 without appearing in a single Series game. As the Yankees’ second- or […]

Jesse Orosco appeared in 1,252 regular-season games during his career, the most of any major-league pitcher. As of Opening Day 2015, the active hurler with the most appearances was LaTroy Hawkins with an even 1,000, so Orosco’s record endured for at least some time. The lefty spent most of his 24 seasons in the majors […]

Simon Rosenthal was one of only 16 Red Sox players who was actually born in the city of Boston and — joining Jack Slattery — one of only two to both live and die in Boston. He garnered more at-bats for the Red Sox than any other Boston native, 357 of them during the years […]

Frank Strong Lary, a talented, hard-throwing right hander for the Detroit Tigers, proved to be one of the American League’s best pitchers from 1955 through 1961. An All-Star hurler in 1960 and 1961, he was best known as the “Yankee Killer.” While fashioning a major league lifetime record of 128-116 with an ERA of 3.49, […]

In 1966, The Sporting News quipped that “Tom Satriano has more gloves than [his wife] . . . not many husbands can make that statement.”1 “[N]o threat to [Olympic sprinter] Bob Hayes, or even [actress] Helen Hayes,” the slow-footed Satriano constructed a 10-year major league career with his adaptability at catcher and every infield position. […]

Silvio García was a shortstop and pitcher who played in Mexico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Canada, and his native Cuba, as well as the American Negro League and organized minor leagues, from 1931 to 1954. Known for his powerful right-handed line-drive swing and rifle arm, he won two batting championships in the Cuban […]

Tall righty Nate Minchey pitched in parts of four major-league seasons (1993-1994, 1996-1997), though he never appeared in more than six games in a given year. He then built a successful career in Japanese baseball, earning 74 victories from 1998 to 2004. Following his playing days, he spent more than 15 years working as an […]

Growing up in the shadow of his father – a Los Angeles Dodgers star and the 1962 National League MVP – could be a challenge for Bump Wills. Often referred to as the “son of Maury Wills,” Bump did not let that sway his focus and competitiveness. He spent six seasons (1977-1982) of his own […]

Less than four months after his 19th birthday, Del Crandall became the youngest starting catcher in baseball history when he supplanted 32-year-old Bill Salkeld of the Boston Braves in 1949. Returning to the Milwaukee Braves in 1953 after a two-year tour in the military, Crandall was named to eight All-Star teams during the Braves’ first […]

An era closed for both the Cuban and North American versions of a shared national pastime on April 23, 2014, when the oldest surviving former big-leaguer, Conrado Marrero, passed away quietly in his beloved native homeland.11 The news of the Cuban legend’s passing came less than 48 hours before a planned national celebration of the […]

Harry Butts was a left-handed pitcher who played professional baseball from 1946 through 1953. His résumé included stints in the Negro American League, the ManDak League, the Piedmont League, winter-league play in Puerto Rico and Venezuela, and at least two starts in a Newark Eagles uniform in 1946. In the early 1950s he was one […]

The American League’s 1954 Rookie of the Year, Bob Grim was the first New York Yankee pitcher since 1910 to win 20 games in his rookie season.1 In 1955 he developed elbow problems which lingered for the rest of his eight-year major-league career. Although he never duplicated his first year’s success, from 1955 through 1959 […]

“The [Chicago] Cubs, who haven’t won a world championship since 1908, have had only one winning season since 1972,” wrote Sports Illustrated’s Steve Wulf in his assessment of the National League East prior to the start of the 1989 season. “You can be certain this will not be their second.”1 Wulf was not alone. Several […]

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, pondering his fate prior to his inevitable demise, proclaims, “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.”1 As the Houston Colt .45s hosted their 1962 expansion brethren, the New York Mets, at Colt […]

If there was ever a pitcher who was the face of bad luck, it had to be Dave Stieb. Three times, the ace right-hander of the Toronto Blue Jays was one out away from pitching the franchise’s first no-hitter. All three times, he came up empty. On September 24, 1988, at Cleveland Stadium, Julio Franco […]

Sports columnist Charles Johnson wrote of the 1961 Twins team: “Actually it’s strange that a team which hasn’t played .500 ball at home can keep the spectators excited, enthused and applauding.”1 It was more than just the fact that it was the first year of major-league baseball in Minnesota. It was the kind of competitive […]

The Atlanta Braves were the kings of major-league baseball heading into the 1996 season. Their 1995 season was capped off with the franchise’s first world championship since 1958. Led by a pitching staff that one day would boast three Hall of Famers (Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz) the Braves dismantled the powerful offensive […]

The Cleveland Indians boasted a big three who anchored their pitching staff in 1948. The triumvirate featured Bob Lemon (20-14, 2.82 ERA), Gene Bearden (20-7, 2.43), and Bob Feller (19-15, 3.56). They were followed by spot starters Sam Zoldak (9-3, 2.81) and Steve Gromek (9-6, 2.84). Since one of the big three had each pitched […]

In 1972 the Boston Red Sox finished a half-game behind the Detroit Tigers in the American League East. It was a strike-shortened season and Detroit played one more game than Boston, finishing 86-70 to Boston’s 85-70, the win in that one extra game making all the difference. The Red Sox had lost 16 one-run games […]

The 1949 World Series opened with Allie Reynolds facing Brooklyn’s best pitcher, Don Newcombe. Yankees manager Casey Stengel wanted the 1950 World Series to start that way as well. Reynolds against Philadelphia’s best pitcher. But it did not work out that way as Jim Konstanty rather than Robin Roberts started Game One. Eddie Sawyer’s gambit […]

Managers do not ordinarily vehemently protest an umpire’s decision during a spring training game, but when Cleveland Indians manager Mike Hargrove disagreed with a foul-ball call in the third inning on March 25, 1993, he strode toward umpire Durwood Merrill with purpose. Leading a roster of emotionally taxed players returning to action three days after […]

Griffith Stadium was death to home runs, yet inside-the-park home runs dictated the results in a game between the hometown Washington Senators and the Philadelphia Athletics. Ty Cobb, playing with the A’s at age 41 in what was his final year, batted second, going 0-for-4 and showing his liability in right field. Cobb hit 46 […]

On a sweltering summer afternoon on July 1, 1910, the ballpark that would one day be known as Comiskey Park hosted its first official game. At the time, the ballpark was known as White Sox Park. The Chicago White Sox would play 6,247 major-league games there before it closed on September 30, 1990. Charles Comiskey, […]

“I’m not a strikeout pitcher,” said rookie right-hander Bill Gullickson of the Montreal Expos after he whiffed 18 Chicago Cubs in a dominant complete-game victory, 4-2, to establish a new record for most strikeouts by a rookie (since broken by the Cubs’ Kerry Wood in 1998).1 “He was just awesome,” said his batterymate, Gary Carter, […]