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Many of the 25,884 fans in San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium on August 23, 1986, were looking forward to a postgame concert featuring The Monkees, an iconic rock group of the 1960s on their 20-year reunion tour.1 But the afternoon’s main attraction was a baseball game between the hometown Padres and the visiting Philadelphia Phillies. […]

In 1932 the MVP winners in both the American and National Leagues plied their trade in Philadelphia. A’s first baseman Jimmie Foxx won the AL award by blasting 58 home runs, more than any other hitter in the city’s professional baseball history. A mile away, Phillies outfielder Chuck Klein gained the NL’s accolade by slugging […]

“This was the best I’ve put all my pitches together this season,” said Jim Bunning of his overpowering victory over the Cincinnati Reds.1 In what Philadelphia Phillies beat writer Allen Lewis described as a “dandy display of power pitching,” Bunning matched his personal high with 14 strikeouts to win his eighth straight decision, equaling his […]

It was still early in the 2004 season, but the teams playing this Saturday afternoon game at Fenway Park were off to very different starts. The visiting Kansas City Royals were 8-19 under manager Tony Peña and in last place in the American League Central Division. The host Boston Red Sox were 18-11 under Terry […]

By the time Johnny Vander Meer came to the Cleveland Indians a few weeks before the 1951 season kicked off, he was far from the dominating starter who threw back-to-back no-hitters in 1938. After he was released by the Chicago Cubs on March 30 for loafing,1 Vander Meer made a call to an old friend […]

Roberto “Bobby” Ramos was born in Cuba in 1955. Emigrating to Miami, Florida, as a child, he caught for the Jackson High School baseball team. At the end of his senior year, he was named to the All-City team and selected in the seventh round of the June 1974 amateur draft by the Montreal Expos.1 […]

In a time when baseball players from the Dominican Republic were just beginning to populate major-league rosters, the Dominican-born Alou brothers—Felipe, Matty, and Jesús—made history in 1963 by becoming the first instance of three brothers appearing as teammates in a major-league game. Their place in baseball history is also defined by their becoming part of […]

When manager Lou Piniella’s Mariners opened a weekend series in Baltimore on Friday night, May 17, 1996, it presented a matchup of two ballclubs on the rise. Seattle came in with a record of 21-18, after reaching the postseason for the first time in franchise history the year before. Led by the sweet swings of […]

On an otherwise ordinary Tuesday evening in mid-August of 2016, the Tampa Bay Rays clobbered the Padres. This mattered little with regard to either team’s standing or playoff aspirations. The Rays hardly amounted to an offensive juggernaut that year and yet they nevertheless came within one run of a couple of franchise home records that […]

The 1979 St. Louis Cardinals were flying high when they arrived in Los Angeles for the start of a three-game series with the Dodgers on June 11. They had won nine of their previous 11 games — all at home, including a three-game sweep of the Dodgers — ascending into first place in the National […]

The end was coming. Such is the reality any time a 46-year-old pitcher climbs atop a major-league mound. Charlie Hough hobbled and limped his way on and off of the field throughout the 1994 season for the Florida Marlins. But as spring turned into summer — and despite the longevity that had afforded the knuckleballer […]

Going into a night game on Friday, August 17, 2001, the Cincinnati Reds were 48-72, in fifth place, 20½ games behind the Houston Astros in the National League Central Division. Their opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers, were 50-68, in fourth place, 17½ games behind the Astros. Baseball often provides great examples of life lessons; this game […]

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, […]

The contrast between the two teams could not have been starker. The mighty Pirates, one of the oldest franchises in baseball, were perched atop the NL East standings, while the last-place Expos were struggling to compete in what was only their second year of existence. A few weeks earlier, Pittsburgh had christened monolithic Three Rivers […]

The game on Thursday, May 1, 1958, pitting the Pirates against the née Brooklynites, came in the midst of the Bucs’ first visit to Los Angeles after the Dodgers’ relocation. In the first two games of the five-game series, the Pirates prevailed, and would do so again in the third contest. Indeed, the game itself […]

Philadelphia Phillies manager Eddie Sawyer faced a dilemma. Who would pitch the first game of the World Series? His ace, Robin Roberts, had started three games in five days, including a 10-inning pennant-clinching effort on the last day of the season. He needed rest. Curt Simmons, whose 17 wins in the league were second only […]

“I knew I had a no-hitter after the first inning,” said Larry Dierker with an air of seriousness before breaking into a chuckle. “Walking back to the dugout, I wondered, ‘When was the last time I got through the first inning without giving up a hit?’”1 Dierker had come close to a no-hitter before. As […]

After winning the 1968 World Series, the Detroit Tigers seemed poised to be successful for years to come. They were a group of young players who had developed together since the early ‘’60s, led by veteran Al Kaline.They had overcome daunting adversity:From the 1967 Detroit Riots and the loss of the pennant on the final […]

When Dodgers player-manager Leo Durocher had Frenchy Bordagaray pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the fifth, the 5,010 paying fans at Ebbets Field witnessed the Lip’s final game as a player. During the offseason, Durocher signed a player-manager contract under which he not only managed Dem Bums for the 1945 season, but promised to […]

Every player goes through it. The speed slows just a bit, the reflexes do not fire as quickly as they once did, and there is someone waiting to take the player’s job. The impending task of finding a career after their baseball career becomes paramount. It is hard on the fans too, especially if the […]

Before Minnie Miñoso’s cup of coffee with the Indians in 1949, another Black Cuban was the toast of Cleveland. Although Avelino Cañizares’s story is not as well-known as the Cuban Comet’s, Cañizares led the city to a coveted championship. But then, in a flash, the “Cuban Wonder” was gone. Avelino Cañizares Martínez was born on […]