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Shortstop Johnny Lipon played in American League games from 1942 through 1953; the one game he played in the National League in 1954 was his last in the big leagues. He started his career with a game that earned him a headline in the Boston Globe: “Lipon, Tiger Rookie, Called Star After Only One Game.”1 […]

Fate can sometimes be cruel. After working his way through the Philadelphia Phillies farm system for three years, hard-throwing right-hander Dwight Siebler injured his elbow pitching to the first batter in his first major-league spring-training game, in 1962.  Robbed of his heater, Siebler relied on ball movement, a hard curve, and command when he made […]

Through the 2021 season, 29 of the 30 major-league teams have started a shortstop from the Dominican Republic on Opening Day at least once.1 Fifty-two different Dominican-born shortstops have achieved the feat, including 15 who became All-Stars the same year, four Gold Glove winners, and one MVP.2 Only Rafael Robles of the 1969 San Diego […]

Given the offensive firepower of the Big Red Machine, it is quite easy to overlook the contributions of the pitching staff to the franchise’s success and its two World Series banners. Clearly, a run-scoring powerhouse that featured talents like Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Tony Perez often simply pummeled divisional, National League, and […]

Mike Maroth may be best known for being the last pitcher to lose 20 games in a season (as of this writing in 2017), but there was much more to his career than what happened in 2003. He toiled for one of the worst teams in history, the 2003 Detroit Tigers that went 43-119, but […]

Buddy Hunter described himself as an S.O.B. – a South Omaha Boy. Harold James Hunter was born in Omaha on August 9, 1947, and went to South High in the Nebraska city. As of 2014 he still lived about 20 miles south of downtown Omaha. Hunter’s parents were both involved with cattle. His father, Harold […]

San Francisco Giants general manager Brian Sabean speaks during the World Series parade on October 31, 2014. (SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS)   With their World Series triumphs in 2010, 2012, and 2014, the San Francisco Giants accomplished what no other National League team since the St. Louis Cardinals in 1946 had been able to do: win […]

“Gruber plays baseball the way paying customers expect to see a guy play baseball – at full speed. He runs hard. He crashes into things. He never met a takeout slide he didn’t like. He dives for balls, spending a measurable portion of each game at third base down on the ground. If he isn’t […]

The fifth-winningest pitcher of all time, Warren Spahn went 363-245 over parts of 21 years from 1942 to 1965. Only by remaining in the game two seasons too long did he fail to finish with an ERA under 3.00 (3.09) and a winning percentage over .600 (.597), and his totals are all the more impressive […]

The adage “You can’t win for losing” fits the 1962 New York Mets. That team lost 120 games, the most in one season in major league history — many close and winnable. Yet the performance of one pitcher on that team, Ken MacKenzie, deserves recognition. The Canadian-born, Yale-educated, control-oriented, bespectacled lefty reliever emerged as the […]

Ron Fairly was born to be a major leaguer on July 12, 1938. His father Carl had a 10-year minor league career and reached the International League with Toronto and the American Association with Indianapolis. The year Ron was born was one of Carl’s best seasons as he hit .302 and slugged .406 for the […]

He was an everyman, a solid but not spectacular New Englander who went out and did his job every time. Never a dominant pitcher, he was once called the “master of the 11-hitter.”1 He never liked attention; all he wanted to do was take his place in the rotation. Even when his arm gave out, […]

The hot days of summer strolled lazily by Cleveland in 1954. The Indians were looking to sweep the visiting Chicago White Sox on the July Fourth holiday and make it four straight victories over the Pale Hose and seven straight overall. Cleveland was flexing its muscles, in first place with a 4½-game lead over the […]

In Homer’s Iliad, Diomedes was one of the strongest Greek warriors. He was also the youngest — unlike his namesake, Dominican pitcher Diómedes Olivo. Olivo made his big-league debut with the 1960 Pirates at the age of 41. As of 2018, he was still the second-oldest “rookie” in major-league history, behind only Satchel Paige. Like […]

Wilson was meant to be. The no-hitter he pitched for the White Sox on August 11, 1991, changed not only his life, but also the way a country’s new generation embraced baseball. Asked about the game over the years, he would repeat, “It was a gift from God.”1 Indeed, it seems it was. Wilson Álvarez […]

On December 12, 2018, at the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, Museum President Bob Kendrick, with historian Jay Caldwell, announced the Negro League Centennial Team. The team was a key part of the Museum’s celebration in 2020 of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro Leagues. The team of 30 […]

He was blessed with cat-like reflexes, an accurate arm, and the ability to get his throws off quickly. His range at third base was as sweeping as a ten-foot leaf rake. He broke into the big leagues in Minnesota, honed his craft in Cleveland, and finally burst into stardom under the bright lights of New […]

“Billy Williams,” said his manager Leo Durocher, “never gets excited. Never gets mad. Never throws a bat. You write his name down, in the same spot every day, and you forget it. He will play left, he will bat third. Billy Williams is a machine.”i This was not wholly hyperbole—at the time Durocher made this […]

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has produced 257 major-league baseball players, including Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Alomar, and Ivan Rodriguez. Although the list of Puerto Rican-born players is long and impressive, no other player from the islands has hit more home runs than Carlos Delgado. During a 17-year career with the […]

“He did his job. He got 27 outs. … Not to put Joe Cowley down, but it wasn’t impressive.” – Wally Joyner, 0-for-2, 2 BB1   It had been nearly two years since the major leagues had seen a no-hitter.2 Just 11 days shy of the anniversary of Mike Witt tossing the 11th perfect game […]

Fergie Jenkins was eager to join his new team after finding out that he had been traded from the Phillies to the Cubs. Jenkins and his wife, Kathy, drove through the night to get from Philadelphia to Chicago. The couple set out at 9 o’clock on the evening of April 21, 1966, and pulled into […]

Earl Weaver did not go gently. Nearing the end of his disappointing final season in 1986, the Baltimore Orioles’ fiery manager continued to dispute umpires’ calls. On September 21, Weaver received an 11th-inning ejection from home-plate umpire Al Clark while arguing a catcher’s-interference call. It was the 97th and final ejection of the manager’s volatile […]

High and Inside The Newsletter of the SABR BioProject Committee April 2016 (Special Sidd Finch Edition), Volume 1, Number 4 Past newsletters Editor: Stew Thornley From the Editor From the Director Advice from the Experts Project Profile: Jacob Pomrenke Project Poobahs From the Editor Welcome to the latest High and Inside, all the news you […]

This article appears in SABR’s “Puerto Rico and Baseball: 60 Biographies” (2017), edited by Bill Nowlin and Edwin Fernández.   Major-League Spring Training in Puerto Rico The 1936 Cincinnati Reds “The Cincinnati Reds put on the first major league baseball game in Puerto Rican history yesterday” was lead of an AP wire story on February […]