The 1996 Rockies roster boasted the NL leader in home runs and RBI (Andrés Galarraga), the league’s top base stealer (Eric Young, Sr.) and the top guy in runs scored, total bases, extra-base hits and slugging percentage, Ellis Burks. Burks’ line also dazzled with 40 home runs and 32 steals, […]
On July 6, 2025, Tarik Skubal and his Tigers were in Cleveland to take on Gavin Williams and his Guardians. Detroit’s southpaw was in complete – cruising beautifully – control, logging seven scoreless innings in which he fanned 10 with no walks. Williams nearly matched the reigning AL Cy Young […]
Cast the script back to 1977 … The good: just 21 years old, Cardinals shortstop Garry Templeton bats .322 and amasses 200 hits (both top-three marks in the NL) and paces the Senior Circuit with 18 triples. The bad: somehow, despite coming to the plate 644 times, Templeton draws 15 […]
When 19-year-old Mickey Mantle stepped onto the diamond for his big league debut on April 17, 1951, the single-season high mark for home runs by a switch-hitter rested at 35, courtesy of Ripper Collins’ efforts representing the 1934 Cardinals. When the 1955 campaign came to a close, the mark was […]
On September 25, 1964, Angels right-hander Dean Chance claimed his 20th win of the year, but it wasn’t easy, as his Halos scored their only run in the bottom of the eighth. Given a lead, at last, Chance then retired Harmon Killebrew on a flyball to right, got Jimmie Hall […]
In 1972, the Padres pitching staff posted the third most team shutouts in the NL, with 17. Problem was, they were also blanked 17 times, which amounted to the second most in the league. However the computations and balances played out, the club finished the year with a dismal 58-95 […]
Albert Pujols’ first 10 seasons were as close to ideal as any player has ever experienced – a full-time player from day one, no significant time lost to injury or labor issues or global conflict or global pandemic, a start at a very young age, eye-popping numbers throughout. That […]
In the first game of a doubleheader on August 19, 1930, Cubs center fielder Hack Wilson delighted the home crowd with his 43rd home run of the year – an astounding total from a couple of perspectives. There was this: by day’s end, Wilson enjoyed a 14-homer leadership advantage over […]
The 1925 Athletics roster featured four future Hall of Famers, with three of them in their debut seasons – Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove and Mickey Cochrane. The fourth, Al Simmons, was experiencing his second go-round and did he ever make a splash: a league-leading 253 hits, a league-leading 392 total […]
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 […]