Search Results

“I was surprised (manager Herman Franks) called on me, but I would do it again, if needed. My best pitch was the home run ball.” – Cubs first baseman-outfielder Larry Biittner after yielding three homers in his major-league pitching debut.1   In the first game of a Fourth of July doubleheader at Wrigley Field that […]

When the Boston Red Sox hosted the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 25, 2008, the pitching matchup featured two starters who had been getting out major-league hitters for a combined 37 seasons … in vastly different ways. Standing 6-feet-10 and throwing from the left-hand side, Randy Johnson was an intimidating presence, and he often overpowered batters […]

American Independence Day, July 4, roughly marking the middle of the baseball season, is also significant in the venerable history of the Boston-Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves franchise. On July 4, 1914, the Boston Braves lost both ends of a home doubleheader to the Brooklyn Robins to further embed themselves in the National League cellar with a 26-40 […]

The saying goes, “Once is a chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a trend.”1 The 1934 Philadelphia Athletics’ ability to win appeared to be by chance. On June 8 the seventh-place A’s started a three-game weekend series against the second-place New York Yankees. With a record of 18-26, a month had elapsed since […]

On the day of Whitey Herzog’s first game as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, he found himself, somewhat baffled, in Marietta, Georgia, trying to get to the team hotel in nearby Atlanta. His misadventure began when he was given the wrong departure time for his flight. Then, after catching a later plane to Atlanta, […]

While pulling on his gray Pittsburgh road uniform in the visitors’ locker room at Wrigley Field on the morning on September 16, 1975, Pirates second baseman Rennie Stennett grimaced in pain. Unsure if he would be able to play, Stennett gazed down at a heavily-taped sprained ankle “which he said has been hurting him for […]

The 1943 World Series was a rematch of 1942’s fall classic, with the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees topping their respective leagues. However, in 1942, the first two games were played in St. Louis and the next three were played in New York. In 1943 the first three games were played in […]

You know you’ve been to a great ballgame when you leave the stadium with a raspy voice after your team wins. It’s easy, then, to imagine that 2,303 St. Louis Cardinals fans were just this side of laryngitis when they left Sportsman’s Park on August 4, 1937, after watching their team roar back from a […]

With due respect to Ted Williams, for Montreal fans there was only one Kid. And if any player ever bled the colors of a franchise, it was The Kid, Gary Carter, who became the face of the Expos and led it through sometimes faltering steps from being an expansion novelty to a contender in the […]

On June 6, 1945, Tommy Holmes of the Boston Braves began a hitting streak that ended as a modern National League record of 37 games; the record lasted until 1978 when Cincinnati’s Pete Rose established the current (as of 2014) mark of 44 games. The Braves connection remained: Atlanta’s Gene Garber stopped Rose in Atlanta […]

The Blue Jays finished the 1991 season by losing in the American League Championship Series to the Minnesota Twins four games to one. Falling just shy of the World Series was becoming an all-too-familiar feeling for the team and its fans. The Blue Jays had winning records in nine consecutive seasons, but it was the […]

The anticipation might have been as great as any Mariners opener since baseball returned to Seattle 20 years previously. The 1995 team had staged a remarkable race to the AL West title and its first playoff appearance. The season was climaxed with a thrilling AL Division Series win against the Yankees, highlighted by a 12th-inning […]

During their first three seasons, 1962-1964, the New York Mets were thoroughly dominated by some very talented starting pitchers. Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers racked up 13 wins against them with 1 loss, and Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants was 9-0 with a microscopic 1.21 ERA. Yet arguably the hurler who […]

It seems simple, but every player who has stepped onto the diamond at a major-league ballpark had a debut game in the big leagues. But it would be hard to find one as auspicious as the game Jason Jennings had on August 23, 2001, at Shea Stadium. The 1999 number-one draft pick of the Colorado Rockies was […]

Although Greg Vaughn hit 17 home runs in 1990, his first full season, the 25-year-old outfielder batted only .220 and then played poorly in training camp the following spring. When the Brewers signed veteran free agent Candy Maldonado and swapped Dave Parker to the California Angels for promising young slugger Dante Bichette, Vaughn appeared to […]

Baltimore left-hander Mike Cuellar pitched a shaky first inning in Game Five of the 1970 World Series. The Cincinnati Reds touched him for three runs on four hits — a single and three doubles. The Orioles bullpen was active as the inning ended. Cuellar came into the dugout, grabbed a towel, wiped his face. His […]

Joe McEwing might be the most beloved .251 hitter in baseball history. Never a standout player, he nonetheless impressed teammates, coaches, and fans alike with his ability to play almost any position on the field and for his endless energy and positive attitude. “He’s a guy who doesn’t have great ability,” St. Louis Cardinals manager […]

As aptly put by a baseball card blogger, “If your name alone could get you into the Hall of Fame, then Coot Veal would surely have been inducted years ago.”1 Decades after his last professional game, Inman “Coot” Veal’ is most often remembered for this nickname rather than for his accomplishments as a player. His […]

Hall of Fame pitcher Red Ruffing surrendered 254 home runs in his 22-year career, but one stood out in his mind more than the rest – a ferocious clout at Yankee Stadium on May 8, 1936, by a big right-handed hitter, George “Pooch” Puccinelli of the Philadelphia Athletics. “There was a detonation when the bat […]

One of the main attractions of the Louisville Slugger Museum is its Signature Wall showing the names and signatures that have been branded on bats for hundreds of baseball players dating back to the beginning of the practice. Among the names of plaques featured from the 1920s is Baldonaro Acosto. The incorrectly spelled name on […]

“Couldn’t seem to hit, but could field as sweet as you ever saw.” – Connie Johnson, remembering Archie Ware in 19971   Archie Virgil Ware was born on June 19, 1918, in Greenville, Florida. His father was Virgil Ware, and his mother was Sally Emma Simmons. He attended Elder Jordan Elementary School,2 and his formal […]

Right-hander Bill Castro pitched all or part of 10 big-league seasons (1974-1983) for the Brewers, Yankees, and Royals. A reliever with excellent control, he frequently induced double-play grounders with his sinker-slider repertoire. As a player, scout, and coach, Castro spent 44 years in professional baseball. In 2009 with Milwaukee, he became the majors’ first full-time […]

His fastball has long since died. He still has a few curveballs which he throws at us routinely. — Nicholas Burns, United States State Department Spokesman   Most baseball fans tend to take their idle ballpark pastimes far too seriously. On momentary reflection, even a diehard rooter would have to admit that big–league baseball’s most […]

As a kid growing up in Pasco across the river, being able to stand on the mound at Sanders Field was as big for me as going to Yankee Stadium. — Bruce Kison1 Sanders Field, circa 1953 (Photos courtesy of the Eastern Benton County Historical Society)   Sanders-Jacobs Memorial Field, originally known as Sanders Field, […]