It’s October 10, 1948. A reported 86,288 fans are on needles and pins at Cleveland Municipal Stadium to see if the Indians can clinch the franchise’s first World Series title since 1920. The incomparable Bob Feller gets the start for Cleveland, a shot at redemption after losing Game 1 to […]
Over a five-year stretch from 1948-1952, the average Ralph Kiner season looked like this: 109 runs scored, 44 home runs, 112 RBI, 119 walks. Only 10 different players – apart from Kiner – have assembled that line in a season, and that’s what Kiner averaged. And if that perspective is […]
Over his past 25 games, Phillies shortstop Trea Turner is batting .330, with 36 knocks over 109 at-bats. This stretch won’t be regarded as scintillating or historic or any other word, expression or phrase generally reserved for the upper tier levels of “wow” on a big league diamond. But, Turner’s […]
Justin Verlander made his Major League debut in the second game of a doubleheader on July 4, 2005 – the records claim more than 33,000 chose to spend their holiday evening at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, witnessing the very start of, whaddayaknow, a Hall of Fame career. Things didn’t begin […]
In 1923, while helping guide a Reds pitching staff to the best ERA In the Major Leagues, backstop Bubbles Hargrave also made an immense etching on the offensive side, posting a .333/.419/.521 line. The effort not only gave the 31-year-old a place among the top-10 in the NL in all […]
Even with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx in its corner, the AL has played second fiddle to its older sibling when it comes to producing players to reach 400 total bases in a season, with the Junior Circuit having 12 to the NL’s 18. From 1921 (when […]
Let’s take a trip back to 1962. It’s July 17, we’re in Chicago to see the White Sox take on the Senators. In the first game of a doubleheader, Washington’s Dave Stenhouse and the home team’s Juan Pizarro are trading zeroes early on, Stenhouse with a little more efficiency (five […]
There are a lot of Major League games every season. There have been a lot of Major League seasons. The spring->summer->fall carnival ride of rises and dips, the sheer volume of numbers and storylines, the numerous ways to organize and contextualize: all of this makes it easy and natural to […]
From 1973 through 1981, Richie Hebner participated in eight Opening Days. “Participated,” while accurate, fails to match the power of the corner infielder’s impact in those contests. He went 18-for-33 (.545), scored 13 runs and whammed his way to making a baker’s dozen of those safeties go for extra bases […]
The very first Opening Day home run in the modern era came from an unlikely source: the bat of pitcher Jack Powell. On April 19, 1901, in front of the home crowd in St. Louis, the hurler helped his cause in what was ultimately an 8-7 loss to Chicago (on […]