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Going in, the game had the makings of one of the all-time-great pitching duels in big-league history, pitting two fireballing Texans against each other. One was a veteran seeking his 300th career win to further burnish his Hall of Fame credentials; the other, an upstart off to the kind of career launch that might have […]
It had been 41 years since the Cleveland Indians were in the postseason. Of course, back in 1954, there was just the World Series. There was no Division Series or Championship Series, just two eight-team leagues, with the respective winners facing off in the fall classic. Expansion over the years, from those eight clubs to […]
The Cincinnati Reds started the 1912 season in a new venue, one that didn’t yet have a name, when they defeated the Chicago Cubs on Opening Day, April 11, before the largest crowd to witness a baseball game to date in the Queen City. The new ballpark was designed for 23,000 spectators, but 26,336 occupied […]
The Detroit Tigers, who didn’t arrive home from Texas until 4 AM., were off to a red-hot 16-1 start. The Bengals’ start had Detroiters wondering if the team was really that good or if its early-season opponents were that bad. The Cleveland Indians were off to a somewhat surprising start themselves. The second-place Tribe came […]
The play is known as “The Slide” and it served two functions. The first was immediate; it allowed the Atlanta Braves to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 in Game Seven of the 1992 National League Championship Series and advance to the World Series. The second ushered in an era of futility for the Pirates that […]
An impressive number of intrepid Baltimore Orioles fans were in Veterans Stadium among the Philly faithful for Game Five of the 1983 World Series on October 16, one of them holding a sign reading, “The fat lady sings tonight.” After losing Game One at home, the Orioles took the next three and were looking to […]
Four months into another season of mashing American League pitching, Jimmie Foxx led the Philadelphia Athletics against the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Stadium. The two clubs were close together in the league standings, with Philadelphia (53-53) 16 games behind the league-leading Washington Senators, one game ahead of Cleveland (55-57). In this Monday afternoon contest on […]
The first time Boston’s American League team was involved in a forfeit was June 28, 1902, when the visiting Americans won by forfeit over the Baltimore Orioles. When Baltimore manager John McGraw refused to leave the field after a dispute, umpire Tommy Connolly forfeited the game to Boston. It was more than 37 years before […]
On June 4, 1967, a Sunday afternoon at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, the Washington Senators and the Baltimore Orioles battled for 5 hours and 18 minutes before the Orioles scored two runs in the bottom of the 19th for a 7-5 victory. “Not only was it the longest game the Orioles ever played,” penned Bob Maisel […]
Philadelphia Athletics rookie Bobby Shantz hurled nine innings of no-hit ball in a relief appearance on May 6, 1949, a feat not seen since 1917, when the Boston Red Sox’ Ernie Shore took the ball from an ejected Babe Ruth to complete baseball’s “imperfect perfect game.” Shantz had made his major-league debut for Connie Mack’s […]
Of the nine game-winning homers Ted Williams hit in his rookie year, three were hit in Cleveland, all in a 45-day span. The Cleveland Indians had two home fields in the late 1930s — the smaller League Park and (for larger games, such as weekend affairs) the larger-capacity Cleveland Stadium. Williams had homered at Cleveland […]
The San Diego Padres (7-18) and the defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies (10-14) were both in last place in their divisions less than a month into the 1994 season when San Diego arrived in Philadelphia to open a three-game series on the first Monday in May. There may have been some lingering bad blood […]
John Candelaria, pitching in his second major-league season in 1976, recorded the Pirates’ first no-hitter in Pittsburgh in nearly seven decades, frustrating the Los Angeles Dodgers with fastballs and curves and retiring the final 19 batters he faced in a 2-0 victory on “Candy Night” at Three Rivers Stadium on August 9. In September 1907, […]
Interleague play brought National League clubs to American League ballparks – and vice versa – during the 1997 regular season, an occurrence previously limited to the World Series and exhibitions. The first interleague game at Minneapolis’s Metrodome was played on June 16, when the Minnesota Twins hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mark Smith, the first-ever designated […]
It might be difficult to imagine in the modern era, with big-money cable TV contracts and team-owned TV stations – but imagine entering the season not knowing where you would be able to watch your favorite team play. In 1972 Boston Red Sox fans found themselves in such a position. The Red Sox had a […]
“Every kid dreams of pitching in the major leagues and I will never forget my debut.” — Kenny Greer, 20221 That statement is true of any rookie pitcher, but Kenny Greer’s first big-league game was especially memorable. Greer, a 26-year-old New York Mets righty in his sixth pro season, entered in the 17th inning of […]
The largest crowd to ever watch a baseball game was 115,300 at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday, March 29, 2008, for an exhibition between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the reigning World Series champion Boston Red Sox.1 It outdrew the crowd of “about 114,000”2 who had seen a game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground […]
In 1976, Dennis Martínez became the first Nicaraguan to play in the big leagues – and he remains by far the most successful. Indeed, his 245 major-league wins stood for more than 20 years as the most by any Latino pitcher, two ahead of Juan Marichal. (Bartolo Colón finally broke that record in August 2018.) […]
Years after Ken Szotkiewicz played in his final major-league game, his name still surfaces in baseball trivia. It is not often due to his on-field exploits; rather, it tends to appear on lists of big leaguers born in Delaware (of whom there are relatively few), or on lists of big leaguers with the most peculiar […]
There is documented evidence that baseball in Cleveland goes back to the Civil War era. An 1867 article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer mentions 22 teams practicing on the ball ground. Two of the teams were composed of African American players.1 By 1918, the first professional Black team, the Tate Stars, formed. The Tate Stars […]
Like the Cheesecake Factory menu, the 1979 baseball amateur draft had something for everyone. A total of 870 players were selected, including five future managers (Ron Gardenhire, Don Mattingly, Bob Geren, Bud Black, Bob Melvin); one World Series MVP (Orel Hershiser), the record-holder for most consecutive hits in one World Series (Billy Hatcher); one broadcaster […]
Guerrant McCurdy Scarce — the ornate Southern name could have been a Confederate general’s. Instead, just over a century after the Civil War, it belonged to a tall lefty reliever known simply as “Mac.” The Virginian had a fine college career and a promising start in the minors. In the big leagues, however, he finished […]
He wasn’t “Snake” and he wasn’t “Hooks” – Hal Wiltse went by the more pedestrian nickname of “Hal.” Of course, that wasn’t uncommon for a man named Harold. Harold James Wiltse was born in Clay City, Illinois, on August 6, 1903. The other two Wiltses were brothers from New York State. All three were left-handed […]
SABR Larry Dierker Chapter meeting recapSeptember 10, 2018Spaghetti Western restaurant, 7:00 pm There were 18 members present for this month’s Larry Dierker Chapter meeting on a rainy night in Houston. Please take note of the next three months’ meeting dates as they are different: Monday, October 15, 7:00 p.m. at the Spaghetti Western on Shepard […]