Detroit’s Bill Donovan issues his first pitch to Pittsburgh’s leadoff hitter, Bobby Byrne … Christy Mathewson and Smoky Joe Wood duel it out for the final three innings … Walter Johnson receives a chance at redemption … Pete Alexander comes on in relief to fan Tony Lazzeri with the bases […]
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 […]
During the Yankees’ three-game sweep of the Rangers in the 1999 ALDS, Derek Jeter came to the plate 13 times and in that baker’s dozen opportunities to provoke a bit of chaos for the opposition, managed quite nicely, going 5-for-11 with a double, a triple and two walks. All smashed […]
Ken Griffey, Jr. may have been gone. Álex Rodríguez may have left town. Randy Johnson may have been but a memory. But Ichiro Suzuki was the new king of Seattle. Jamie Moyer and Edgar Martínez and Dan Wilson were still around. Facing the Indians at Safeco Field on October 15, […]
There are 185 instances of a postseason batter – perhaps surrounded by bunting, perhaps hearing extra jeers or cheers from a crowd feeling the intensity, perhaps extra-energized by the heightened tension that seems to come with every delivery from mound to dish – generating at least two home runs in […]
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 […]
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 […]
When the 1984 Tigers closed up shop for the night on May 22, the club was an astounding 33-5 (.868 winning percentage) with an equally double-look, spit-take worthy run differential of 110. That immense difference between runs scored and allowed through 38 contests hadn’t been reached since 1939, when the […]
On April 24, 1964, the Giants pummeled the Reds, 15-5. This being the mid-1960s, it’s not a shock to see that Willie Mays was greatly involved in letting Cincinnati have it. It was a bit of an everything game for the inner circle great – five runs scored, a pair […]
Two innings after Willie Mays saved the day with The Catch, there was still no guarantee that Mays’ brilliance – likened to an optical illusion – would be remembered as an instrumental pivot in a Giants’ victory or a footnote in a loss. After all, this was Game 1 of […]