When Jim Thome took Derek Lowe deep in the bottom of the third inning in Game 5 of the 1999 ALDS, the Indians took an 8-7 lead over the Red Sox and Thome already had his second two-run home run of the contest. Again, this was the third inning. Then […]
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 […]
For Yankees fans of a certain age, the name Edgar Martínez probably produces a host of emotions – none very good. The name might conjure teeth gnashing, it might inspire cold sweats, it very well could induce jagged breathing and even a few tears. To a baseball fan without any […]
The 1929 Cubs featured a quartet of fearsome right-handed hitters, a foursome of .500 or better sluggers named Rogers Hornsby (slugged .679 that year), Hack Wilson (.618), Riggs Stephenson (.562) and Kiki Cuyler (.532). They all posted on-base percentages above .400 that year, Wilson’s .345 batting average was the lowest […]
Entering 2025, the postseason account books showed 67 players who drove in at least 14 runs through their first 18 games, with Lou Gehrig and Adolis García tied for the most, 22. A second focus revealed a much smaller collection to have scored at least 17 runs through their first […]
In the very first postseason contest in Major League Baseball’s Modern Era – Game 1 of the 1903 World Series – Pittsburgh’s Deacon Phillippe baffled Boston’s batters and silenced the partisans at the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds with a 10-strikeout, no-walk display. This established introduction – reach double-digits in K’s […]
Across 16 seasons, representing seven franchises, while manning first (a lot) and third (a little) and adding about equal time behind the dish and as a DH, Carlos Santana has drawn 1,315 walks in 9,094 plate appearances. “So what?” you might ask. Here’s what. There are 23 players in baseball […]
Yes, pace can be a dangerous navigator, a “The sign is pointing askew” proposition – blindly follow the arrow’s point toward the extrapolated destination and all sorts of problematic surprises might await, perhaps camouflaged by regressions to the mean or hiding behind rocky slumps or lying among Injured List stints. […]
In every campaign from 1995 through 2002, Mike Piazza withstood the rigors of catching to emerge, by the end of the regular season, with at least 30 homers as part of his show and tell demonstration of what he did for the spring, summer and early part of fall. That’s […]
Scooping up all the seasons from 1893 through 2024 and then sifting through to keep only the most productive offensive campaigns from catchers, one would be left with just 68 lines that were styled in the form of at least 100 games behind the plate and an OPS of at […]