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This outfielder was the first member of the Lumbee people of Robeson County, North Carolina, to play in the majors. Throughout his playing days, Gene Locklear’s skill as an artist also got attention. “They are both individual things, and you have to have talent. You can’t just have desire,” Locklear said in 2005.1 One of […]

Often overshadowed by those of two older brothers, Kerry Don McDaniel’s brief career in baseball is remembered by a nickname – Butch – appended to him by a neighbor’s father but never used professionally by the athlete. Instead he laughingly remembered being known solely as the younger brother of Lindy or, a few years later, […]

The only St. Louis Cardinal to play on the first five National League pennant winners in franchise history (1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934), Jesse “Pop” Haines was a 26-year-old “rookie” when he debuted for the Redbirds in 1920. He was a three-time 20-game winner and pitched for the Cardinals for 18 consecutive seasons before retiring […]

Just five short years after the Pittsburgh Pirates won the 1979 World Series championship, the team had fallen to last in the National League East. They were on their way there again in 1985 – but a rebuild was under way, as the trade for Bob Kipper that August showed. The deal in which the […]

Catcher Rick Cerone had an 18-year career in the major leagues (1975-92), but he used his athletic talent and fame well beyond the baseball field. An excellent multiple-sport athlete in his youth, his real love was baseball. Prior to his major-league career, he was a college baseball star, and after his time in the majors, […]

Numbers don’t define Tom Brookens, but one has to start somewhere. Third base was his primary home for 10 major-league seasons with the Detroit Tigers, starting on July 10, 1979, through the 1988 season, followed by one-year stints with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians. His last major-league game was on September 30, 1990. […]

Strong quick wrists, an open, positive demeanor, and unwavering confidence made young Ed Spiezio an outstanding baseball prospect. Cardinals Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst once told The Sporting News that Spiezio was the “the finest looking young hitter” he had ever seen.1 In five seasons with the Cardinals (1964-1968), Spiezio played on three National League […]

Near the end of his long major-league career, Rudy May said, “I learned that it’s better to throw an 85 mile an hour fastball on the outside corner than it is to throw a 95 mile an hour fastball down the middle.” Asked when he discovered that, he replied, “When I couldn’t throw a 95 […]

Harsh sunshine beat down on the Los Angeles Coliseum floor. Two men, drenched in sweat, practiced baseball drills while local temperatures soared past 100 degrees in the spring of 1960. Maury Wills, an eager Dodger infielder, and Pete Reiser, an enthusiastic LA coach, worked together for nearly two weeks. “You can’t quit,” Reiser said over […]

In August 1985, The Cosby Show was tops on television, Back to the Future was a box-office hit, and Mike Young was one of baseball’s hottest hitters. That month, Young went deep nine times in a 14-game stretch for the Baltimore Orioles. He finished the season with 28 homers – 20 of which came after […]

His nickname was “Smoke” – a good nickname for a pitcher. And the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Joe Kiefer had a good long minor-league career with 169 wins to his credit. His career earned-run average was an unimpressive 4.05 and he did lose 146 games, pitching for 15 different teams, but he was good enough to work […]

Manny Mota never seemed to age. “He’s scary,” said Steve Garvey, his teammate with the Los Angeles Dodgers. “I wish just one spring he would show up with one gray hair.”1 That was in June 1979, a couple of months before the Dominican set the career record for pinch hits. Mota wound up with 150 […]

A strong, quiet, and athletic 205-pounder who stood 6-feet-2, wore glasses, batted from the left side, and threw right-handed, Norm Siebern split time between first base and the outfield for six major-league teams. Originally a Yankee, he played in two World Series for New York, and was part of the package the Yankees sent to […]

Acknowledgment to the work of Raúl Porto Cabrales and John Jairo Capella. Cartagena, Colombia, is a city of many charms. A UNESCO World Heritage site, it is known for its historic walled district and Spanish colonial architecture. Cartagena also has a pleasant Caribbean climate and beautiful beaches nearby. Yet it has another less heralded distinction […]

When Bob Melvin was a 27-year-old big-leaguer, journalist Bill Glauber described him as “the strong, silent type, with gnarled hands and a no-nonsense manner that commands respect. He is part psychologist, and part intimidator. A good cop. And a bad cop. He is, of course, a catcher.”1 Following a playing career that spanned 10 seasons […]

In art, a painter may create masterpieces on canvas. In baseball the verb “paint” applies to a craft no less skillful. The Dickson Baseball Dictionary defines the verb as “… To throw pitches over the edges of the plate, which appear to be dark or black because of the contrast of the white rubber plate […]

St. Cloud, Minnesota, native Jim Eisenreich retired from baseball in 1998, capping a career that spanned 15 major-league seasons and included two World Series appearances. Still, with all of his success, Eisenreich’s baseball career may be most remembered for how it was almost ended before it ever really started.   Eisenreich was born on April 18, […]

In the 1930s and 1940s famed New York City restaurateur Toots Shor hosted many of the greats of sports and show business. But in the winter of 1947 Shor’s attention focused on a baseball prospect little known outside the environs of New York – Larry Miggins. Informed that the St. Louis Cardinals had snatched the […]

The unusual 1981 season, torn into halves by a players strike and lengthened by a specially added first round of playoffs, ended on a familiar note – a World Series featuring the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. The former New York City neighbors were facing off for the 11th time. The Yankees had […]

Change was in the air in the spring of 1969. As the turbulent Sixties came to a close, even staid major-league baseball went through a much-needed transformation. After a severe lack of offense in the “Year of the Pitcher,” baseball lowered the mound and shrank the size of the strike zone to give hitters a […]

A no-hitter without a strikeout. Since 1901, there have been only four recorded in either the American or National Leagues. Given the current trend of hard-throwing starting pitchers with fastball velocities averaging in the mid-90s and almost a quarter of plate appearances ending in strikeouts, there will likely never be another. Deadball Era hurlers Pete […]

Sixteen games into the 1939 season, Cubs player-manager Gabby Hartnett had seen enough. The defending National League champions had just lost 10-3 to the New York Giants on May 7 to fall into sixth place. Hartnett announced the benching of some lineup regulars, including team captain Billy Herman. Unsatisfactory play, not hustling, and low batting […]

Per Bobby Valentine, on the eve of what was to be the most important game of Bobby Jones’s baseball life, Jones’s wife, Kristi, spoke briefly with the Mets manager. Kristi said to Valentine, “Is Bobby pitching tomorrow?” After Valentine said, “Yes, he is,” Kristi said, “You won’t be sorry. He’ll pitch the game of his […]

The game between the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies was one of the most exciting games of the year at Coors Field. The Braves entered the game with a 76-48 record, 2½ games ahead of the second-place New York Mets in the National League East Division. The Rockies were 62-63, good enough for fourth place, […]