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Ryan Klesko caught the attention of scouts early in his high-school baseball career. Scouts clamored for the prime spots behind home plate to watch Klesko, a freshman on the Westminster (California) High School varsity. Klesko hit 278 home runs and batted .279 in a 16-year major-league career. But the scouts weren’t there to watch him […]

The 1945 Washington Senators1 intrigued war-weary baseball fans with an improbable pennant run. The team’s success stemmed largely from a unique pitching staff, dominated by four knuckleballers. The top performer was Roger Wolff, a journeyman right-hander who led the team with a career-high 20 wins. The second of ten children born to Leo and Eleanor […]

Don Lock was a strong defensive center fielder who twice placed in the top 10 in homers in the American League. He played in 921 major-league games from 1962 to 1969. Lock was originally signed in March 1958 by New York Yankees scout Tom Greenwade, the same scout who signed Mickey Mantle. Greenwade signed Lock […]

Right-hander Milo Candini debuted for the Washington Senators in 1943, after toiling in the New York Yankees farm system for six years. Once hailed as the “sensation of the American League,” Candini won his first seven decisions, including five consecutive starts.1 But he was plagued by arm miseries throughout his 20-year professional career, and his quick […]

In his debut as manager of the Atlanta Braves on August 9, 1966, Billy Hitchcock sent 27-year-old left-hander Denny Lemaster to the mound against one of the greatest pitchers of all time, future Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax. Before what then the largest crowd at Atlanta Stadium (52,270), Lemaster was every bit the equal of […]

Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, speaking to Negro League historian James Riley, had this to say about his teammate Johnny Davis’s talent: “Perhaps too many gifts. Had Davis not divided his time between pitching, catching and playing the outfield, Johnny might have starred in the Majors.”1 John Howard Davis was probably born on February 6, […]

First we’ll use Spahn, then we’ll use Sain, Then an off day, followed by rain. Back will come Spahn, followed by Sain And followed, we hope, by two days of rain. —Gerry Hern, Boston Post, September 14, 1948   Nobody would mistake Post sportswriter Hern’s famous lines for “Casey at the Bat” or even poetry […]

While his father spent his life laboring below the ground in Pennsylvania’s coal mines, Bill Hart skied on Bear Mountain with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Because of wartime travel restrictions, the “spring” training home of the Dodgers in 1944 was only about an hour north of New York City.[fn]“S’no Time for Ball Players- But Good Time […]

In January 1983, NBC television debuted a new action series titled The A-Team. The show followed the exploits of a fictional group of former U.S. Army members with such colorful names as Face, Hannibal, and the brawling, straight-talking, ludicrously bejeweled B.A. Baracus, the fictional embodiment of the character’s actor, Mr. T. Within months of the […]

“We wouldn’t have won the World Series without him.” – Kevin Millar1 Mark Bellhorn is quite possibly the most underrated player on the 2004 Red Sox team. While other players like David Ortiz, Curt Schilling, or Dave Roberts rightfully garner much praise for the success of the Red Sox’ 2004 championship run, Bellhorn and his […]

Pitcher Vicente Romo won well over 400 games as a professional player from 1961 through 1986.1 Just 32 of those wins came in the majors, where he played during eight seasons (1968-74; 1982) for five teams. Yet many experts in his homeland consider this man the finest right-handed pitcher that Mexico has ever produced — […]

With his low sidearm/semi-submarine delivery, Jeff Innis provided an effective contrast in the New York Mets bullpen from 1987 through 1993. The righty was typical of his breed of pitcher. He had a good sinker and so kept the ball in the park, giving up just 22 home runs in 360 career innings pitched. He […]

He grew up in a small Nebraska town with a high school that did not field a baseball team. He signed professionally with an organization that notoriously signed hundreds of prospects with the expectation that such quantity would yield quality. Yet Johnny Hopp diligently overcame these obstacles to carve out a successful 14-year career in […]

Marc Sullivan started 35 games in 1986 as backup to All-Star catcher Rich Gedman. He made the squad in spring training because of his defensive skills, but many critical Red Sox fans and beat writers would not overlook his offensive shortcomings. He hit only .193, with 23 hits in 119 at-bats, and seemed to be […]

Vic Correll made his major-league debut for the Boston Red Sox in the last game of the 1972 season. It was October 4 in Detroit. The season was a very unusual one; the Red Sox finished just a half-game out of first place. Detroit won the pennant. On October 1, the Red Sox held a […]

At the turn of the century, professional baseball players had a general reputation for fast living and coarse behavior. While there were some notable exceptions, like Christy Mathewson, most players had little formal education, and many were poorly equipped for the transition after their playing careers ended. One exception to this portrayal is Simon Burdette […]

A stonemason from Scotland, Alexander Congalton moved to Canada in the latter half of the 19th century and had seven children with his wife, Janet, also a native of Scotland. Their son William was the middle child, the fourth-born. He was born on January 24, 1875, in Guelph, Ontario, about 60 miles west of Toronto.1 […]

When 25-year-old Humberto Robinson appeared on the mound for the Milwaukee Braves on April 20, 1955, he became the first Panamanian ever to play in the major leagues.1 A quick glance through the statistics he compiled in the majors would indicate the oft-told story of the journeyman just hanging on in the majors for parts […]

Si Burick’s byline adorned the sports pages of the Dayton Daily News in seven decades, from the 1920s to the 1980s. Over that impressive span, he demonstrated that it’s possible to have a big-league career without ever working in a big-league city. In 1983 he received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award “for meritorious contributions to […]

There is no better way to spend a midsummer afternoon than at the ballpark. The anticipation might have you thinking about the fortunes of your favorite team, or perhaps it’s the pitching matchup that has intriguing possibilities. The beauty of the occasion is that what will happen in the field of play has infinite possibilities. […]

The 1994 major-league season is remembered primarily as the first since 1904 to be cut short by a strike and not have a postseason. Interim Commissioner Bud Selig officially called an end to the season on September 14,1 just over a month after the last games were played. The season did have several bright spots, […]

In 1948 Florida’s insular capital city of Tallahassee had a population of less than 30,000.1 Far from the urban centers with major-league baseball,2 Tallahassee fans instead doted on their Pirates, an affiliate of the parent Pittsburgh organization competing in the Class D Georgia-Florida League.3 The Tallahassee Capitals were an unaffiliated member of the Georgia-Florida League […]

Rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, US Senator Sam Nunn, Hockey Hall of Famer Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, soul-funk pioneer James Brown, baseball Hall of Famers Johnny Mize and Luke Appling,1 and two members of US President Jimmy Carter’s Cabinet were among the famous names who attended the Atlanta Braves’ 1977 home opener.2 Shining brightest among the […]

This article appears in SABR’s Baltimore Baseball (2021), edited by Bill Nowlin.   Baseball came to Baltimore in 1858 and grew in popularity over the next few years to become a genuine sensation. By the end of the Civil War, Baltimore had over 25,000 free African American residents, and therefore logical to believe that there […]