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Steve Rogers spent his entire major-league career with the Montreal Expos, and for nearly all of it, the Expos were undisputedly Canada’s team.1 During his 13 seasons with Montreal, only four National League pitchers compiled more Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement (bWAR) than he did: Phil Niekro, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, and Rick Reuschel.2 When a […]

The shivering crowd got the message from the public address announcer at the end of the seventh inning: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the only game in the major leagues that is being played tonight. All the other games have been called off because of cold weather.”1 It was cold that night, in the low […]

Sandy Koufax won at least 20 games three times in his career. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   A 20-win season is the goal of any major-league pitcher. On a hot August night in Houston, Texas, Sandy Koufax improved his season record to 18-4 when the Dodgers beat the fledgling Colt .45s 2-0 on Saturday, August 3, 1963, […]

On September 15, 1985, the Houston Astros exchanged pitchers with the New York Yankees: Houston sent veteran Joe Niekro to New York in exchange for minor-league left-handed pitcher Jim Deshaies. The 25-year-old Deshaies pitched well for the Astros in 1986. Through August 24 he had a 9-3 record for Houston with 111 strikeouts in 125 […]

Terry Francona raised the art of self-deprecation to a new level. Decades after his playing career ended, the man who had become one of the most successful managers in big-league history loved to downplay his talents as a ballplayer. He claimed that the last thing he wanted was his players to hit like he did. […]

Before the Yankees-Athletics doubleheader on September 27, 1919, New York pitcher Bob Shawkey had won 20 games in a season once. In 1916, his first full season with the Yankees, the man known as Sailor won a league-leading 24 games. Shawkey was 24-14 and retrospectively had a league-leading eight saves. Entering the doubleheader, the third-place […]

The 1959 White Sox were noteworthy for getting maximum results out of minimal offensive production. That was never truer than on April 22 against the Kansas City Athletics. With the season in its infancy, the White Sox entered the game at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium tied for third place in the American League standings with […]

In the summer of 1985, all eyes were on an historic chase that thrust three men into the national consciousness. Two were ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, vicious competitors who weren’t above injuring an opponent if it meant taking an extra base. The other was one whose former coach said of him, “I have never worked with a […]

He was a lanky, crew-cut 21-year-old newcomer called up from the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons for a brief four-game trial with the 1960 Philadelphia Phillies. For the ensuing 50-plus years Bobby Wine played important full-time major-league roles. He was a classic shortstop with a great glove who struggled at the plate. After his playing career ended, […]

One of the most dependable relief pitchers for the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros during a 13-year major-league career that spanned 1961-1973, Fred Gladding was a 6-foot 1-inch, 220-pound, glasses-wearing right-hander. Given a variety of nicknames by teammates that characterized his demeanor on the field and physical appearance, Gladding was a strong-willed competitor with a […]

Vince DiMaggio, Joe DiMaggio, and Dominic DiMaggio were his sidekicks. He and Joe wore their first uniforms while playing with the San Francisco Boys Club team. He played with Joe at Francisco Junior High. Joe played shortstop and Dario was his double-play partner at second base. When he moved on to Galileo High School, Dario […]

Rather little is known about the background of Fred Bratschi. He reported himself of Swiss nationality in the player questionnaire he mailed to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1961. He let the Hall know that he’d been born in Alliance, Ohio, on January 16, 1892, but he doesn’t turn up in any United […]

“Everyone dreams about playing in the majors, but I never thought I’d get the chance. Almost no one else from there had ever done it, so I didn’t think about it. Baseball was just for fun.” — Kevin Tapani1   When he was growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Kevin Tapani didn’t expect […]

Steve Garvey was the epitome of the Southern California cultural icon in baseball spikes. Photogenic, fan-friendly, and media accessible, he projected the image of an All-American success story and devoted family man. As a Los Angeles Dodger in 1974, he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award after starting the All-Star Game at first […]

From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, a visitor to Detroit’s Tiger Stadium would hear many crowd noises. One noise in particular could confuse spectators unless they were attuned to the Tigers stars of this period. Often, after the visiting team had been retired in the top of the first inning, a distinctive “ooooooooo” sound […]

Tom Veryzer got into 996 big-league games from 1973 through 1984, mainly as a shortstop. He didn’t provide much offense, hitting just .241 with 14 homers, but in those days, one could still hold down a starting job at short at the top level on the strength of sound fielding. Veryzer was solid enough to […]

Catcher Johnny Riddle had one of the more unusual careers in major-league history. His big-league career spanned 19 years, from his debut with the Chicago White Sox in 1930 until his final game with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1948. He played for five major-league teams, but he also spent long stretches of time in the minors, the […]

The word “grinder” is used to define a player who may not have great natural ability but succeeds through hard work and perseverance. “He grinded out a career” or “he was a real grinder.” Jeff Torborg was that type of player. Noted as a defensive catcher who could handle a pitching staff, Torborg’s offensive capability […]

The flake – “an odd or eccentric player; a kidder or comic”1 – is an all-but-vanished species in major-league baseball these days. In 2003, writer Dave Joseph lamented, “Sadly, there are fewer creative thinkers these days in baseball. There are fewer flakes, if you will, who break up the monotony of an endless season played, […]

When looking back at the career of Rick “The Rooster” Burleson, the fiery, intense shortstop of the Boston Red Sox, California Angels and Baltimore Orioles from 1974 to 1987, a quotation from former teammate Bill Lee perhaps sums it up best: “Some guys didn’t like to lose, but Rick got angry if the score was […]

The routine remains one of the enduring spectacles in modern baseball history: In a heavy downpour, with the infield covered by a tarpaulin and the fans huddled beneath umbrellas or hunched over in ponchos in an attempt to ward off the rain, the second coming of Babe Ruth approaches home plate with the same small, […]

Selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the second round of the 1983 MLB amateur draft, Bob Milacki garnered little attention with a pedestrian record of 16-21, 3.79 in his first 290 innings in the minor leagues. “I’d been in the organization [three] years and never impressed anybody,” the right-hander later acknowledged.1 In 1988, as the […]

For those who saw Tim McCarver break in with the St. Louis Cardinals, it was probably a surprise that he became better known for his broadcasting career than for his days as a catcher. Not that he wasn’t always articulate and glib, and that his finding a home in the broadcast booth was a shock; […]

Over its first five decades, the Kansas City Royals have had only three ownership regimes. Pharmaceutical entrepreneur Ewing Kauffman landed the Royals expansion franchise for the 1969 season and believed that the team could and should be competitive in a previously unprecedented time frame. He was willing to innovate and spend to boost the Royals […]