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Hank Aaron was batting just .242 when he enjoyed his breakout 5-for-6 game as a Braves rookie. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   It was less than two weeks into the 1954 season and 20-year-old Milwaukee Braves rookie Henry Aaron was in danger of being relegated to the bench. Aaron wasn’t even supposed to be on the Braves […]

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ magic number was one heading into the final day of the International League’s 1957 regular season. To clinch the pennant, they needed to beat the Rochester Red Wings or have the Buffalo Bisons lose to the Montreal Royals. Toronto manager Dixie Walker handed the ball to his top starting pitcher, 27-year-old […]

It is hard to find a more important date in Braves Field history than October 11, 1948. Not only was it Game Six of the World Series, a do-or-die contest for the hometown team, but it was also a chance for that club to take its biggest step yet toward reconquering the city it had […]

Cal Ripken Jr. homers on September 6, 1995, during his record-breaking 2,131st consecutive game. (Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles)   The outcome of this game was of little importance to the fans of two cities separated by less than 200 miles. The New York Yankees’ record was mediocre, a pedestrian 60-61, only slightly better than […]

“The opening night against the Yankees was one of the most electrifying nights I’ve spent in baseball. The excitement was everywhere. It was incredible to see that place filled. It was hard not to look up and be just as awed as any fan.”1 That was Rusty Staub in 1985, 20 years after professional baseball’s […]

Exciting, well-played baseball action was in limited supply for fans of the expansion Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres in 1969. The two newcomers to the National League posted identical 52-110 records in their first seasons, finishing a combined 89 games out of first place. Late in the season, though, teams of Expos and Padres […]

It was a brilliant day for a ballgame. The skies were clear and azure blue, the temperature in the low 80s. Wednesday, June 30, 1909, was the culmination of a glorious week of parties and galas in Pittsburgh celebrating the opening of owner Barney Dreyfuss’s million-dollar brainchild, Forbes Field, the new home of the Pittsburgh […]

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 […]

When the 1960 season ended, Washington Senators fans had good reason to be optimistic about the team for the following season. The Senators narrowly missed out on a fourth-place finish, which would have been their highest since 1946. Losing 11 of their last 12 games of the season scotched hopes for the higher finish. The […]

“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 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 […]

Joe Hietpas caught the last half-inning of the season’s finale for the New York Mets in 2004. That was his entire major-league experience. He never came to the plate in The Show, an oddity for a position player. “At the time, you don’t look at it as your one missed opportunity for an at-bat. It’s […]

Dwight Lowry spent the bulk of his four-year major-league career as a backup catcher for the Detroit Tigers between 1984 and 1987, including an extended stay with the 1984 Tigers during their championship run. Aside from his early tragic death after a heart attack, he is best known as one of the relatively few American […]

Correlation is not causation, as statisticians never fail to state, but it’s hard to tell which one was at play as Gene Michael and the Yankees brass enjoyed freedom from George Steinbrenner during the Boss’s suspension. Although originally issued as a lifetime ban by Fay Vincent in 1990, it was lifted after less than three […]

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 […]

Disco music peaked in the United States with the top six songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the week ending July 21, 1979. At the time, “Disco Dan” Ford was starring for the California Angels club that was headed for that franchise’s first postseason appearance.1 Although the musical genre quickly fell out of […]

Mookie Wilson stood at the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning, arcing his bat, focusing intently on Red Sox pitcher Bob Stanley. He realized that he represented the potential winning run in the most important game of his life and he was determined not to make the final out. Wilson had come a […]

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 […]

For over four decades, Stan Kasten has been a highly respected sports figure who developed a reputation for creating winning franchises by relying on three pillars – scouting and player development, enhancing the fan experience, and community outreach – to establish franchises built for long-term success on and off the field.1   This strategy has apparently […]

Earl Jesse Battey, Jr. was one of the top defensive catchers in the American League in the early 1960s. His Twins teams were in contention for the pennant in 1962 and 1967, and won the pennant in 1965, losing the World Series to Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games. Battey was […]

Chris Hartje’s fleeting big-league career consisted of nine games with the 1939 Brooklyn Dodgers. In 16 at-bats, the right-handed hitting catcher recorded five hits and just as many runs batted in. Hartje, who served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II, was attempting to resurrect his professional baseball career with the Spokane […]

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.) […]

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 […]

Seattle Pilots spring training program from 1970. The franchise began spring training as the Pilots but officially became the Milwaukee Brewers on April 1 (Courtesy of David S. Eskenazi)   Like most major Western US cities, Seattle had a long baseball history when the major leagues first came calling. Starting in the Pacific Northwest League […]