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From 1900 through 2003, 952 players appeared in only a single major league game. Of these, 86 were starting pitchers and Dick Bass, at age 33, was the oldest. His career is of special interest because he managed two minor league teams, coached a team to the World’s Amateur Championship, and was a manager in […]

In 1945, The Sporting News reckoned Eddie Mayo as “an excellent example of the Salvation Army adage, ‘A man may be down, but he is never out.’”1 Acquired by the Detroit Tigers a year earlier after he had failed in several attempts to stick in the big leagues, the 34-year-old infielder helped pace the club […]

The mere mention of Edgar “Blue” Washington evokes thought and a curious smile, as he is undoubtedly one of the rarest of all Negro League treasures. During the early part of the twentieth century, Edgar flaunted his athleticism as a gallant young prizefighter in open-air boxing arenas in Southern California and on weekend afternoons could […]

Lancelot “Yank” Terry played his entire MLB career as a member of the Boston Red Sox. A right-handed hurler, Terry pitched in the big leagues for five seasons (1940, 1942-1945). He’s listed as 6-feet-1 and weighing 180 pounds. Terry was born in Huron, Indiana, on February 11, 1911, to George and Edna (Kirk) Terry. George […]

Shortstop Craig Robinson retired with 755 fewer career homers than his Braves teammate Hank Aaron. But only six men can say they joined Aaron in the starting lineup on the nights Hammerin’ Hank tied and broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record. Robinson is one of those special six.1 Craig George Robinson was born on […]

A combination of accountant, impresario, and American success story, Russian-born Leonard Koppett wrote with verve and understanding about the personalities, games, and statistics of the national pastime and other major sports for over half a century. Today, he is honored from Israel to Cooperstown. Born Leonard Kopeliovitch in an apartment near Red Square in post-revolutionary […]

When Jeff Montgomery took the mound for the Cincinnati Reds on August 1, 1987, he was living out the storybook baseball tale. A three-sport athlete from small Wellston, Ohio, Montgomery grew up a couple of hours down the road from Riverfront Stadium in the era of the Big Red Machine. His idol, Reds manager Pete […]

“In my estimation, the greatest black pitcher ever to pitch for Detroit — that’s for the Stars or the Tigers.” — Negro Leagues historian Dick Clark1   Left-hander Andy Cooper, one of the Negro League greats with a Hall of Fame plaque to his credit, ticked nearly all the boxes in his illustrious baseball career. […]

Entering the last day of the 1939 season New York Yankees’ righty Steve Sundra owned an unblemished 11-0 record, but a September 30 home run from Boston Red Sox rookie Ted Williams spoiled that. From 1900-60 Sundra’s .917 winning percentage ranked fifth among pitchers with 10 or more decisions in a single season. Combined with […]

Son of a great baseball man, scout and executive Mel Didier, Bob Didier has been in the game for more than five decades, almost as long as his father. He was a professional catcher from 1967 through 1976, including one full season and parts of five others in the majors. He has since served as […]

The Cincinnati general manager had seen enough. Sitting at home on April 24, 1960, Gabe Paul watched on TV as his club’s reliever coughed up a lead in the first game of a doubleheader in Philadelphia. Worse was the manner in which it was done: an eighth-inning grand slam to light-hitting Phillies catcher Jimmie Coker. […]

“A big, hard thrower with a ton of guts, `Sut’ was never mistaken for a wallflower. He had one thing going for him right away too: He wasn’t afraid to challenge hitters and didn’t back away, even if he made a mistake with a pitch. He was a very quick learner.” — Rick Monday, Dodgers […]

Though known today as “Nixey” Callahan, the slim, 5-feet-10, 180-pound, right-handed jack of all trades rarely used that moniker during his big league days. Nixey was a childhood nickname that Jimmy largely left behind when his baseball skills took him from his native Fitchburg, Massachusetts to the pinnacle of the sport — although the local […]

Don Leshnock finished his big-league pitching career with the enviable statistics of a 0.00 earned run average and 18.0 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. Although his “cup of coffee” Major League Baseball career only lasted all of one game, Leshnock was a stellar college baseball player and also enjoyed several successful minor-league seasons. Donald Lee […]

“They used to say Brantford could put its left-fielder five feet from the foul line, the right-fielder five feet from the other line and Jimmy Wilkes would cover the rest.” — Bob McKillop1 “Riding the bus again!” Jimmy Wilkes said, his voice cracking with excitement. “I love it. Now, that brings back memories.”2 The 69-year-old […]

This article was published in “The Stars Shone on Philadelphia: The 1934 Negro National League Champions” (SABR, 2023), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin.   The 1934 Negro National League Championship Series between the Philadelphia Stars and the Chicago American Giants was a closely contested, contentious nailbiter of a series. Not only did […]

Jim Manning’s career as a big-league pitcher lasted only 17 days from first game to last. What makes it noteworthy was Manning’s age at the time. He was 18 years and 268 days old when he first took the mound for Minnesota on April 15, 1962. Sixty years later, he remained the youngest player in […]

Stan Williams, a veteran right-hander, stood atop the mound at Metropolitan Stadium in the top of the ninth inning of a 1-0 game with runners at first and second and two out. At the plate stood pinch-hitter Vada Pinson, a dangerous batter and a new arrival in his first month with the Cleveland Indians after […]

The Babe settled in the batter’s box on the port side of home plate, lifted a heavy bat over his left shoulder and waited for Red. The most popular baseball player in the world was standing on the grand stage of Opening Day in front of tens of thousands of fans. Yet, many eyes were […]

Gary White, a catcher recently battling cancer, collected the decisive RBI single for his only hit of the 1999 Intercontinental Cup tournament, as Australia won its first gold medal in international baseball competition in an 11-inning, 4-3 thriller against Cuba.1 It was November 14, 1999, at Homebush Stadium, the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympic […]

As pennant races go, the 1949 races in both the American and National Leagues were among the closest in history. In the American League, the New York Yankees trailed the Boston Red Sox by one game with two to play (in Yankee Stadium) and won them both to win the AL title. In the National […]

For a player who had excelled so consistently for the prior three seasons, Don Mattingly’s 1987 was unusually streaky. After leading the American League in hitting in 1984 and finishing first and second respectively in the 1985 and 1986 MVP voting, Mattingly got out of the gate slowly, batting .175 without a home run in […]

Part of the beauty of baseball is just how unpredictable the national pastime really is. No matter what the standings show, or what the prospects for a particular team are, on any given day at the ballpark, there is a chance that you might see something you’ve never seen before. That was certainly the case […]

Here is a list of all known players to have hit four or more home runs in a single professional game, first published by SABR founding member Bob McConnell in The Minor League Research Journal, Volume 2 (1997), updated in Going for the Fences: The Minor League Home Run Record Book (2009), and now maintained […]