Portal:Baseball
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The Baseball Portal
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter).
The opposing teams switch back and forth between batting and fielding; the batting team's turn to bat is over once the fielding team records three outs. One turn batting for each team constitutes an inning. A game is usually composed of nine innings, and the team with the greater number of runs at the end of the game wins. Most games end after the ninth inning, but if scores are tied at that point, extra innings are usually played. Baseball has no game clock, though some competitions feature pace-of-play regulations such as the pitch clock to shorten game time.
Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. Baseball's American origins, as well as its reputation as a source of escapism during troubled points in American history such as the American Civil War and the Great Depression, have led the sport to receive the moniker of "America's Pastime"; since the late 19th century, it has been unofficially recognized as the national sport of the United States, though in modern times is considered less popular than other sports, such as American football. In addition to North America, baseball spread throughout the rest of the Americas and the Asia–Pacific in the 19th and 20th centuries, and is now considered the most popular sport in parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. (Full article...)
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Robert William Meusel (July 19, 1896 – November 28, 1977) was an American baseball left and right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eleven seasons from 1920 through 1930, all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was best known as a member of the Yankees' championship teams of the 1920s, nicknamed "Murderers' Row", during which time the team won its first six American League (AL) pennants and first three World Series titles.
Meusel, noted for his strong outfield throwing arm, batted fifth behind Baseball Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. In 1925, he became the second Yankee, after Ruth, to lead the AL in home runs (33), runs batted in (138) and extra base hits (79). Nicknamed "Long Bob" because of his 6-foot, 3 inch (1.91 m) stature, Meusel batted .313 or better in seven of his first eight seasons, finishing with a .309 career average; his 1,009 RBI during the 1920s were the fourth most by any major leaguer, and trailed only Harry Heilmann's total of 1,131 among AL right-handed hitters. Meusel ended his career in 1930 with the Cincinnati Reds. He hit for the cycle three times, and was the second of six major leaguers to accomplish this feat as many as three times during a career. (Full article...) -
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Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989), commonly called "Billy", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the New York Yankees. First known as a scrappy infielder who made considerable contributions to the championship Yankee teams of the 1950s, he then built a reputation as a manager who would initially make bad teams good, before ultimately being fired amid dysfunction. In each of his stints with the Yankees he managed them to winning records before being fired by team owner George Steinbrenner or resigning under fire, usually amid a well-publicized scandal such as Martin's involvement in an alcohol-fueled fight.
Martin was born in a working-class section of Berkeley, California. His skill as a baseball player gave him a route out of his home town. Signed by the Pacific Coast League Oakland Oaks, Martin learned much from Casey Stengel, the man who would manage him both in Oakland and in New York, and enjoyed a close relationship with Stengel. Martin's spectacular catch of a wind-blown Jackie Robinson popup late in Game Seven of the 1952 World Series saved that series for the Yankees, and he was the hitting star of the 1953 World Series, earning the Most Valuable Player award in the Yankee victory. He missed most of two seasons, 1954 and 1955, after being drafted into the Army, and his abilities never fully returned; the Yankees traded him after a brawl at the Copacabana club in New York during the 1957 season. Martin bitterly resented being traded, and did not speak to Stengel for years, a time during which Martin completed his playing career with various teams. (Full article...) -
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Kenesaw Mountain Landis (/ˈkɛnɪsɔː ˈmaʊntɪn ˈlændɪs/; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his resolution of the Black Sox Scandal, in which he expelled eight members of the Chicago White Sox from organized baseball for conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series and repeatedly refused their reinstatement requests. His iron rule over baseball in the near quarter-century of his commissionership is generally credited with restoring public confidence in the game.
Landis was born in Millville, Ohio. Raised in Indiana, he became a lawyer, and then personal secretary to Walter Q. Gresham, the new United States Secretary of State, in 1893. He returned to private practice after Gresham died in office. (Full article...) -
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Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Sr. (July 14, 1898 – June 15, 1991) was an American politician from Kentucky. He represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. His grandson, Ben Chandler, later served as congressman for Kentucky's Sixth District.
A multi-sport athlete during his college days at Transylvania College, Chandler briefly considered a career in professional baseball before deciding to pursue a law degree. After graduation, he entered politics and was elected as a Democrat to the Kentucky Senate in 1927. Two years later, he was elected lieutenant governor, serving under Governor Ruby Laffoon. Chandler and Laffoon disagreed on the issue of instituting a state sales tax and when Chandler, the presiding officer in the state senate, worked to block the legislation, Laffoon's allies in the General Assembly stripped him of many of his statutory powers. The tax then passed by a narrow margin. Knowing that Laffoon would try to select his own successor at the Democratic nominating convention, Chandler waited until Laffoon left the state—leaving Chandler as acting governor—and called the legislature into session to enact a mandatory primary election bill. The bill passed, and in the ensuing primary, Chandler defeated Laffoon's choice, Thomas Rhea. He then went on to defeat Republican King Swope by the largest margin of victory for a Kentucky gubernatorial race at that time. As governor, Chandler oversaw the repeal of the sales tax, replacing the lost revenue with new excise taxes and the state's first income tax. He also enacted a major reorganization of state government, realizing significant savings for the state. He used these savings to pay off the state debt and improve the state's education and transportation systems. (Full article...) -
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Herschel Greer Stadium was a Minor League Baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two mi (3.2 km) south of the city's downtown district. The facility closed at the end of the 2014 baseball season and remained deserted for over four years until its demolition in 2019. Following an archaeological survey, the land is expected to be reincorporated into Fort Negley Park.
Greer was opened in 1978 for the Nashville Sounds, an expansion franchise of the Double-A Southern League who moved to the Triple-A American Association in 1985 and to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1998. The stadium played host to the team until 2014. The subject of numerous upgrades and repairs to maintain its functionality, Greer became one of the oldest stadiums used by a Triple-A team and had fallen well below professional baseball's standards for a stadium at that class level by the end of its use. For over a decade, the Sounds attempted to secure agreements with the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County for a new ballpark to replace Greer, eventually resulting in the construction of First Tennessee Park, which became the Sounds' new home in 2015. (Full article...) -
Image 6Disco Demolition Night was a Major League Baseball (MLB) promotion on Thursday, July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois, that ended in a riot. At the climax of the event, a crate filled with disco records was blown up on the field between games of the twi-night doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Many had come to see the explosion rather than the games and rushed onto the field after the detonation. The playing field was so damaged by the explosion and by the rioters that the White Sox were required to forfeit the second game to the Tigers.
In the late 1970s, dance-oriented disco was the most popular music genre in the United States, particularly after being featured in hit films such as Saturday Night Fever (1977). However, disco sparked a major backlash from rock music fans—an opposition prominent enough that the White Sox, seeking to fill seats at Comiskey Park during a lackluster season, engaged Chicago shock jock and anti-disco campaigner Steve Dahl for the promotion at the July 12 doubleheader. Dahl's sponsoring radio station was WLUP (97.9 FM, now WCKL), so admission was discounted to 98 cents for attendees who turned in a disco record; between games, Dahl was to destroy the collected vinyl in an explosion. (Full article...) -
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Lee Arthur Smith (born December 4, 1957) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 18 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight teams. Serving mostly as a relief pitcher during his career, he was a dominant closer, was the first pitcher to reach 400 saves, and held the major league record for career saves from 1993 until 2006, when Trevor Hoffman passed his total of 478. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2019 by the Today's Game Era Committee.
A native of Jamestown in Bienville Parish in north Louisiana, Smith was scouted by Buck O'Neil and was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 1975 MLB draft. Smith was an intimidating figure on the pitcher's mound at 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) and 265 pounds (120 kg) with a 95-mile-per-hour (150 km/h) fastball. In 1991, he set a National League (NL) record with 47 saves for the St. Louis Cardinals, and was runner-up for the league's Cy Young Award; it was the second of three times Smith led the NL in saves, and he later led the American League (AL) in saves once. When he retired, he held the major league record for career games finished (802) and was third in games pitched (1,022). He holds the Cubs' team record for career saves (180), and held the same record for the Cardinals (160) until 2006. (Full article...) -
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Morgan Gardner Bulkeley (December 26, 1837 – November 6, 1922) was an American politician of the Republican Party, businessman, and insurance executive. In 1876, he served as the first president of baseball's National League and, because of that, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, a choice that remains controversial, since his time as a baseball executive was short.
Bulkeley was born in East Haddam, Connecticut. His father was Judge Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley, a prominent local lawyer and businessman, who became the first president of the Aetna Life Insurance Company. The family moved to Hartford, where Morgan Bulkeley was educated, before he took a job in the city of Brooklyn, New York. He served briefly in the American Civil War, where he saw no combat. When his father died in 1872, he moved back to Hartford and became a bank president and a board member of Aetna, becoming its president in 1879, a post he held the rest of his life. (Full article...) -
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During the 1912 baseball season, center fielder Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers was suspended for ten days after entering the spectator stands at New York's Hilltop Park during a game and physically assaulting Claude Lucker, a heckler. At the time, Cobb was among the biggest stars in the major leagues. American League president Ban Johnson suspended Cobb and fined him $50 ($1,600 in 2023).
Cobb had been Lucker's verbal target throughout the four-game series between the Tigers and New York Yankees. Facing a continued stream of insults and questioning about his racial ancestry, Cobb lost his temper in the fourth inning of the fourth game, on May 15, 1912. He raced into the stands, punching and kicking Lucker; Lucker had lost eight fingers in an industrial accident and could not defend himself. Cobb was ejected from the game. Johnson witnessed these events and suspended Cobb indefinitely. Since there were few protections for ballplayers at the time from insults and objects hurled by fans, many took Cobb's side, including his teammates. After defeating the Philadelphia Athletics on May 17, the Detroit players telegraphed Johnson that they would not play again until Cobb was reinstated; Johnson refused to do so. (Full article...) -
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Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. He played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) between 1984 and 2003, winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. He was integral in popularizing basketball and the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s, becoming a global cultural icon. His profile on the NBA website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time."
Jordan played college basketball with the North Carolina Tar Heels. As a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982. Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984 as the third overall draft pick and quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring while gaining a reputation as one of the best defensive players. His leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free-throw line in Slam Dunk Contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". Jordan won his first NBA title with the Bulls in 1991 and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a three-peat. Following the murder of his father, Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the 1993–94 NBA season to play Minor League Baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization, but returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three more championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as a then-record 72 regular season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for the second time in January 1999, returning for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards. He was selected to play for the United States national team during his college and NBA careers, winning four gold medals—at the 1983 Pan American Games, 1984 Summer Olympics, 1992 Tournament of the Americas and 1992 Summer Olympics—while also being undefeated. (Full article...) -
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Marcus Elmore Baldwin (October 29, 1863 – November 10, 1929), nicknamed "Fido" and "Baldy", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played seven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). In 346 career games, he pitched to a 154–165 win–loss record with 295 complete games. Baldwin set the single-season MLB wild pitches record with 83 that still stands today.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Baldwin made his professional debut for a Cumberland, Maryland, team in 1883. Though signed by Chicago White Stockings president Albert Spalding to pitch against the St. Louis Browns in the 1886 World Series, Baldwin did not play after the Browns objected. He made his MLB debut for the White Stockings in 1887, when a writer for the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern called him the "swiftest pitcher in the National League" (NL). Released by Chicago player–manager Cap Anson, he signed with the Columbus Solons of the American Association (AA) in 1889, where he led the league in innings pitched (513+2⁄3), losses (34), strikeouts (368), and walks (274). (Full article...) -
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Stanley Frank Musial (/ˈmjuːziəl, -ʒəl/; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consistent hitters in baseball history, Musial spent 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, from 1941 to 1944 and from 1946 to 1963, before becoming a first-ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.
Musial was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, where he frequently played baseball informally or in organized settings, and eventually played on the baseball team at Donora High School. Signed to a professional contract by the St. Louis Cardinals as a pitcher in 1938, Musial was converted into an outfielder and made his major league debut in 1941. Noted for his unique batting stance, he quickly established himself as a consistent and productive hitter. In his first full season, 1942, the Cardinals won the World Series. The following year, he led the NL in six different offensive categories and earned his first MVP award. He was also named to the NL All-Star squad for the first time; he appeared in every All-Star game in every subsequent season he played. Musial won his second World Series championship in 1944, then missed the 1945 season while serving in the Navy. After completing his military service, Musial returned to baseball in 1946 and resumed his consistent hitting. That year he earned his second MVP award and third World Series title. His third MVP award came in 1948, when he finished one home run short of winning baseball's Triple Crown. After struggling offensively in 1959, Musial used a personal trainer to help maintain his productivity until he decided to retire in 1963. (Full article...) -
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First Horizon Park, formerly known as First Tennessee Park, is a baseball park in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The home of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds of the International League, it opened on April 17, 2015, and can seat up to 10,000 people. It replaced the Sounds' former home, Herschel Greer Stadium, where the team played from its founding in 1978 through 2014.
The park was built on the site of the former Sulphur Dell, a minor league ballpark in use from 1885 to 1963. It is located between Third and Fifth Avenues on the east and west (home plate, the pitcher's mound, and second base are directly in line with Fourth Avenue to the stadium's north and south) and between Junior Gilliam Way and Harrison Street on the north and south. The Nashville skyline can be seen from the stadium to the south. (Full article...) -
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Lawrence Winchester Wetherby (January 2, 1908 – March 27, 1994) was an American politician who served as Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Kentucky. He was the first of only two governors in state history born in Jefferson County, despite the fact that Louisville (the county seat) is the state's most populous city. The second governor born in Jefferson County is the incumbent governor, Andy Beshear.
After graduating from the University of Louisville, Wetherby held several minor offices in the Jefferson County judicial system before being elected lieutenant governor in 1947. He was called Kentucky's first "working" lieutenant governor because Governor Earle C. Clements asked him to carry out duties beyond his constitutional responsibility to preside over the state Senate, such as preparing the state budget and attending the Southern Governors Conference. In 1950, Clements resigned to assume a seat in the U.S. Senate, elevating Wetherby to governor. Wetherby won immediate acclaim by calling a special legislative session to increase funding for education and government benefits from the state's budget surplus. In 1951, he won a four-year full term as governor, during which he continued and expanded many of Clements' programs, including increased road construction and industrial diversification. He endorsed the Supreme Court's 1954 desegregation order in the case of Brown v. Board of Education and appointed a biracial commission to oversee the successful integration of the state's schools. As chairman of the Southern Governors Conference in 1954 and 1955, he encouraged other southern governors to accept and implement desegregation. (Full article...) -
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Wii Sports is a 2006 sports simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The game was released in North America along with the Wii on November 19, 2006, and in Japan, Australia, and Europe the following month. It was included as a pack-in game with the console in all territories except Japan, making it the first sports game included with the launch of a Nintendo system since Mario's Tennis for the Virtual Boy in 1995. The game was later released on its own as part of the Nintendo Selects collection of games.
Wii Sports is a collection of five sports simulations designed to demonstrate the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote. The five sports included are tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, and boxing. Players use the Wii Remote to mimic actions performed in real-life sports, such as swinging a tennis racket or rolling a bowling ball. The rules for each game are simplified to make them more accessible to new players. The game also features training and fitness modes that monitor players' progress in the sports. (Full article...)
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Image 1A batter follows through after swinging at a pitched ball. (from Baseball rules)
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Image 2Alexander Cartwright, father of modern baseball (from History of baseball)
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Image 4Defensive positions on a baseball field, with abbreviations and scorekeeper's position numbers (not uniform numbers) (from Baseball)
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Image 5Baserunners generally stand a short distance away from their base between pitches, preparing themselves to either go back or steal the next base. (from Baseball rules)
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Image 6A game from the Cantigas de Santa Maria, c. 1280, involving tossing a ball, hitting it with a stick and competing with others to catch it (from History of baseball)
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Image 7Jackie Robinson in 1945, with the era's Kansas City Royals, a barnstorming squad associated with the Negro American League's Kansas City Monarchs (from History of baseball)
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Image 8The NL champion New York Giants baseball team, 1913. Fred Merkle, sixth in line, had committed a baserunning gaffe in a crucial 1908 game that became famous as Merkle's Boner. (from History of baseball)
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Image 9Diagram of a baseball field Diamond may refer to the square area defined by the four bases or to the entire playing field. The dimensions given are for professional and professional-style games. Children often play on smaller fields. (from Baseball)
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Image 11The strike zone determines the result of most pitches, and varies in vertical length for each batter. (from Baseball)
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Image 13Two players on the baseball team of Tokyo, Japan's Waseda University in 1921 (from Baseball)
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Image 15Jackie Robinson in 1945, with the era's Kansas City Royals, a barnstorming squad associated with the Negro American League's Kansas City Monarchs (from Baseball)
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Image 16Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. The Green Monster is visible beyond the playing field on the left. (from Baseball)
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Image 17Pitchers are generally substituted during mound visits (team gatherings at the pitcher's mound). (from Baseball rules)
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Image 18Japanese-Americans spectating a World War II-era game while in an internment camp. America's ties to immigrants and to Japan have been deeply shaped by a shared baseball heritage. (from History of baseball)
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Image 19Sadaharu Oh managing the Japan national team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Playing for the Central League's Yomiuri Giants (1959–80), Oh set the professional world record for home runs. (from Baseball)
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Image 20Cy Young—the holder of many major league career marks, including wins and innings pitched, as well as losses—in 1908. MLB's annual awards for the best pitcher in each league are named for Young. (from Baseball)
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Image 21Rickey Henderson—the major leagues' all-time leader in runs and stolen bases—stealing third base in a 1988 game (from Baseball)
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Image 22Pesäpallo, a Finnish variation of baseball, was invented by Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala in the 1920s, and after that, it has changed with the times and grown in popularity. Picture of Pesäpallo match in 1958 in Jyväskylä, Finland. (from Baseball)
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Image 23A New York Yankees batter (Andruw Jones) and a Boston Red Sox catcher at Fenway Park (from Baseball)
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Image 25Cover of Official Base Ball Rules, 1921 edition, used by the American League and National League (from Baseball rules)
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Image 26Baseball games sometimes end in a walk-off home run, with the batting team usually gathering at home plate to celebrate the scoring of the winning run(s). (from Baseball rules)
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Image 27Sadaharu Oh managing the Japan national team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Playing for the Central League's Yomiuri Giants (1959–80), Oh set the professional world record for home runs with 868. (from History of baseball)
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Image 28A first baseman receives a pickoff throw, as the runner dives back to first base. (from Baseball)
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Image 29In May 2010, the Philadelphia Phillies' Roy Halladay pitched the 20th major league perfect game. That October, he pitched only the second no-hitter in MLB postseason history. (from History of baseball)
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Image 30The typical motion of a right-handed pitcher (from Baseball rules)
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Image 31A well-worn baseball (from Baseball)
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Image 34The standard fielding positions (from Baseball rules)
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Image 35By the 1860s Civil War, baseball (bottom) had overtaken its fellow bat-and-ball sport cricket (top) in popularity within the United States. (from History of baseball)
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Image 36The strike zone, which determines the outcome of most pitches, varies in vertical length depending on the batter's typical height while swinging. (from Baseball rules)
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Image 37Pick-off attempt on runner (in red) at first base (from Baseball rules)
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Image 381906 World Series, infielders playing "in" for the expected bunt and the possible play at the plate with the bases loaded (from Baseball rules)
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Image 402013 World Baseball Classic championship match between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, March 20, 2013 (from Baseball)
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Image 41An Afghan girl playing baseball in August 2002 (from Baseball)
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Image 42The American Tobacco Company's line of baseball cards featured shortstop Honus Wagner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1909 to 1911. In 2007, the card shown here sold for $2.8 million. (from Baseball)
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Image 44A runner sliding into home plate and scoring. (from Baseball)
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Image 45A pitcher handing off the ball after being taken out of the game during a mound meeting. (from Baseball)
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James Patrick Seerey (March 17, 1923 – April 28, 1986) was an American professional baseball player. An outfielder, Seerey played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for seven seasons in the American League with the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox. In 561 career games, Seerey recorded a batting average of .224 and accumulated 86 home runs and 261 runs batted in (RBI).
Born in Oklahoma and raised in Arkansas, Seerey played football and baseball in high school. After graduating, he joined the Cleveland Indians' farm system in 1941, and made his major league debut two-and-a-half years later. He was primarily a starting outfielder the next five seasons for the Indians, but led the league in strikeouts four times. He was traded partway through the 1948 season to the Chicago White Sox, and a month after being traded became the fifth player in major league history to hit four home runs in one game. The following season, he was sent to the minor leagues, and played a few seasons in the farm system for the White Sox before retiring. (Full article...) -
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Vernon Edgell Bickford (August 17, 1920 – May 6, 1960) was an American professional baseball player. A right-handed starting pitcher, he played six seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston/Milwaukee Braves from 1948 to 1953 in the National League, and one game for the Baltimore Orioles of the American League in 1954.
Bickford was born in Kentucky but raised in West Virginia. He began his professional career in 1939 and, after serving in World War II, made the majors in 1949. Acquired by the Braves organization due to a flip of a coin, Bickford became one of the most promising National League pitchers during his playing career, earning All-Star honors in 1949 and leading the National League in complete games in 1950. However his career was soon shorted by multiple arm injuries, and he was out of baseball by 1955. After working an assortment of jobs, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1960 and died after a three-month illness. (Full article...) -
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Allen Thomas Craig (born July 18, 1984) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals drafted Craig from the University of California, Berkeley in 2006, and he made his Major League debut with them in 2010.
Each season in the minor leagues from 2007 to 2009, Craig finished with a batting average of over .300 with at least 20 home runs. A .306 career hitter in MLB through 2013, he increased his production with runners in scoring position (RISP). In 2012, he posted a .400 batting average with RISP. The next season, he raised that figure to .454, the third-highest average of all time. (Full article...) -
Image 4WMYD (channel 20) is an independent television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV (channel 7). The two stations share studios at Broadcast House on 10 Mile Road in Southfield; WMYD's transmitter is located on Eight Mile Road in Oak Park.
Founded in 1968 as WXON on channel 62 and relocated to channel 20 in 1972, the station was an independent focusing primarily on syndicated programs and classic reruns. It made an ill-fated foray into subscription television (STV) from 1979 to 1983, broadcasting a pay service under the ON TV brand that was dogged by a poor relationship with the station and signal piracy issues exacerbated by Detroit's proximity to Canada. After it folded, WXON continued as an independent station and emerged as the second-rated independent in its market, affiliating with The WB in 1995. (Full article...) -
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Peter Willits Burnside (July 2, 1930 – August 26, 2022) was an American professional baseball player and left-handed pitcher who appeared in 196 Major League Baseball games in 1955 and from 1957 to 1963 for the New York / San Francisco Giants, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators and Baltimore Orioles. He was listed as 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and 180 pounds (82 kg).
Burnside grew up in Evanston, Illinois, rooting for the Chicago Cubs. He signed with the New York Giants out of high school, under the agreement that he could earn his degree at Dartmouth College while pitching in their minor league system. After a stint in the United States Army, Burnside made his major league debut in 1955, picking up his first win the same year and impressing Carl Hubbell, Giants' Hall of Fame pitcher and farm director. Injuries prevented Burnside's return to the big leagues until 1957, and he only won one of the 16 games he pitched for the Giants in 1957 and 1958. Acquired by the Detroit Tigers for 1959, Burnside spent the whole season in their bullpen that year. Getting a chance to start with the team in 1960, he had a career-high seven wins before being selected by the Washington Senators in the expansion draft. (Full article...) -
Image 6Charles William "Butch" Wensloff (December 3, 1915 – February 18, 2001) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three seasons in the American League with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians. In 41 career games, Wensloff pitched 276+2⁄3 innings and posted a win–loss record of 16–13 and a 2.60 earned run average (ERA).
Wensloff began his career in the Arizona–Texas League before joining the New York Yankees farm system. He played on various minor league teams for the next six seasons and made his debut during the 1943 New York Yankees season. He pitched in 29 games, and after the season ended, he served in the United States Army during World War II. Wensloff rejoined the Yankees in 1947, pitching in 11 regular-season games and in the 1947 World Series. After the season ended, he was sent to the Cleveland Indians and pitched in one game for the team before retiring at the end of the season. (Full article...) -
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The Philadelphia Phillies' 2009 season was the 127th season in the history of the franchise. The team, managed by Charlie Manuel, began their sixth season at Citizens Bank Park and defense of their 2008 World Series championship on April 5. After collecting a third straight National League East championship, the Phillies won their second consecutive National League pennant for the first time in franchise history; however they were defeated by the New York Yankees in the World Series.
The Phillies posted a second consecutive winning April to open the season with an 11–9 record, but the month was marred by the death of legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas. After opening the month of May against the rival New York Mets, the Phillies met President Barack Obama to celebrate their World Series victory the previous season, and had two rookie pitchers win consecutive starts for the first time since 2007. Starting pitcher Jamie Moyer earned his 250th career win during the month, while first baseman Ryan Howard and outfielder Raúl Ibañez became the first Phillies teammates to hit 10 home runs in the same month. Echoing their strong run in the middle of the 2008 season, the Phillies compiled a 16–4 record in late May and early June, which was countered by weakness during interleague play in late June. (Full article...) -
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John Frederick Hiller (born April 8, 1943) is a Canadian former baseball relief pitcher who played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers between 1965 and 1980. A native of Toronto, he joined the Tigers in 1965 and was a member of the 1968 Detroit Tigers team that won the World Series. He set a major league record by starting a game with six consecutive strikeouts in 1968.
In January 1971, Hiller suffered a heart attack and underwent intestinal surgery to control his body's absorption of cholesterol. After missing the 1971 season, Hiller returned in 1972, helping the Tigers win the American League (AL) East title and winning Game 4 of the 1972 AL Championship Series. In 1973, he compiled a 1.44 earned run average (ERA) and broke the major league single-season saves record with 38. The Sporting News awarded Hiller its 1973 Comeback Player of the Year and Fireman of the Year awards. (Full article...) -
Image 9The 2014 National League Wild Card Game was a play-in game during Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2014 postseason played between the National League's (NL) two wild card teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was held at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 1, 2014, starting at 8:07 p.m. EDT. After both teams finished the regular season with identical records of 88–74, the Pirates were awarded home field for the game, as they won the season series against the Giants, 4–2. Despite this advantage, the Giants won by a score of 8–0 and advanced to play the Washington Nationals in the NL Division Series. In addition to being the third NL Wild Card Game played, it is notable for the first postseason grand slam hit by a shortstop. The game was televised on ESPN, and was also broadcast on ESPN Radio. (Full article...)
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Hazen Shirley Cuyler (/ˈkaɪˈkaɪ ˈkaɪlər/; August 30, 1898 – February 11, 1950), nicknamed "Kiki", was an American professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Brooklyn Dodgers from 1921 until 1938.
Cuyler led the National League (NL) in stolen bases four times, runs scored two times and had a batting average of over .350 on four occasions. His 26 triples in 1925 were the second most triples in any season after 1900. He compiled over 200 hits in three separate seasons and won the World Series in 1925 with the Pirates. A career .321 hitter, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968 by the Veterans Committee. (Full article...) -
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Francis Michael "Whitey" Wistert (February 20, 1912 – April 23, 1985) was an American football and baseball player. He played college football and college baseball at the University of Michigan. Wistert was the first of the three Wistert brothers—he was succeeded by Albert and Alvin—who were named All-American tackles at Michigan and later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967.
During his time at Michigan, Wistert played on three consecutive Big Ten Conference football championships teams, including two that won back-to-back national championships. He was also Big Ten Conference MVP in baseball in college and later played for the Cincinnati Reds of the Major League Baseball. The Wistert brothers all wore jersey No. 11 at Michigan and are among the seven players who have had their numbers retired by the Michigan Wolverines football program. Their number will be put back into circulation starting on November 10, 2012, before a Michigan home game against the Northwestern Wildcats as part of the Michigan Football Legend program. The Legends program was discontinued in July 2015, and the numbers again permanently retired. (Full article...) -
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Van Cortlandt Park is a 1,146-acre (464 ha) park located in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is managed with assistance from the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance. The park, the city's third-largest, was named for the Van Cortlandt family, which was prominent in the area during the Dutch and English colonial periods.
Van Cortlandt Park's sports facilities include golf courses and several miles of paths for running, as well as facilities for baseball, basketball, cricket, cross-country running, football, horseback riding, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis and track and field. The park also contains five major hiking trails and other walking trails. Its natural features include Tibbetts Brook; Van Cortlandt Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the Bronx; old-growth forests; and outcrops of Fordham gneiss and Inwood marble. Contained within the park is the Van Cortlandt House, the oldest known surviving house in the Bronx, and the Van Cortlandt Golf Course, the oldest public golf course in the country. (Full article...) -
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WSTR-TV (channel 64), branded Star 64 (stylized as STAR64), is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Deerfield Media, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of dual CBS/CW affiliate WKRC-TV (channel 12), for the provision of advertising sales and other services. The two stations share studios on Highland Avenue in the Mount Auburn section of Cincinnati; WSTR's transmitter, Star Tower, is located in the city's College Hill neighborhood.
WSTR-TV began broadcasting in 1980 as WBTI, which broadcast a mix of commercial advertising-supported and subscription television (STV) programs. The STV programming was relegated into overnight hours (before being dropped altogether) at the start of 1985, making way for the station to become an independent station under the callsign WIII. After financial trouble, channel 64 stabilized under ABRY Communications before being purchased by Sinclair in 1996. It was briefly an affiliate of UPN before switching to The WB in 1998 and becoming part of MyNetworkTV in 2006. WKRC-TV produces dedicated morning and late evening newscasts for air on WSTR-TV. The station is one of Cincinnati's two ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) transmitters, serving the market's major commercial stations, which each broadcast some of WSTR-TV's subchannels on its behalf. (Full article...) -
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The 1948 American League tie-breaker game was a one-game extension to Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1948 regular season, played between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox to determine the winner of the American League (AL) pennant. The game was played on October 4, 1948, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. It was necessary after both teams finished the season with identical win–loss records of 96–58. This was the first-ever one-game playoff in the AL, and the only one before 1969, when the leagues were split into divisions.
The Indians defeated the Red Sox, 8–3, as the Indians scored four runs in the fourth inning and limited the Red Sox to five hits. The Indians advanced to the 1948 World Series, where they defeated the Boston Braves, four games to two, giving them their second and most recent World Series championship. In baseball statistics, the tie-breaker counted as the 155th regular season game by both teams, with all events in the game added to regular season statistics. (Full article...) -
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Ramón A. Ramírez (born September 16, 1982) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds. He threw three pitches: a fastball, a slider, and a changeup.
Ramírez was signed by the San Diego Padres in 2000 as an outfielder, but he was released in 2001. The Reds signed him in 2003 as a pitcher, and he reached the major leagues in 2008, when he made four starts for the Reds. The next year, he appeared in 11 games in relief for the Reds. After the season, the Tampa Bay Rays claimed him off waivers, but they released him. The Boston Red Sox claimed him off waivers, and he spent 2010 in the minor leagues for them. He signed with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization in 2011, but he was released before appearing in a game with them. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch
- ... that Margaret Donahue was the first female executive in Major League Baseball?
- ... that Larry Kennedy played professional baseball while serving as his town's mayor?
- ... that while waiting for an interview, journalist Rod Beaton was involved in a shoving incident with baseball player Barry Bonds?
- ... that one Baltimore Orioles player compared the 2024 Major League Baseball jerseys to knockoffs from TJ Maxx?
- ... that after getting drunk and verbally abusing Cap Anson at a baseball game during his off day, Charlie Bartson was released from the Chicago Pirates?
- ... that Benny Lefebvre had three sons who signed professional baseball contracts and four brothers who played football?
- ... that Harry Booth played for, captained, and coached the Saint Joseph's Hawks baseball and men's basketball teams?
- ... that four years after Harry Frazee opened his Longacre Theatre, he sold his ownership stake in the theater to focus on baseball?
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The Silver Slugger Award is awarded annually to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League (AL) and the National League (NL), as determined by the coaches and managers of Major League Baseball (MLB). These voters consider several offensive categories in selecting the winners, including batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage, in addition to "coaches' and managers' general impressions of a player's overall offensive value." Managers and coaches are not permitted to vote for players on their own team. The Silver Slugger was first awarded in 1980 and is given by Hillerich & Bradsby, the manufacturer of Louisville Slugger bats. The award is a bat-shaped trophy, 3 feet (91 cm) tall, engraved with the names of each of the winners from the league and plated with sterling silver.
Among shortstops, Barry Larkin is the leader in Silver Slugger Awards, with nine wins between 1988 and 1999, including five consecutive awards (1988–1992). Larkin is fourth all-time in Silver Slugger wins among all positions, behind outfielder Barry Bonds, catcher Mike Piazza and third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who won his first seven awards at shortstop before a position change. Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. won eight Silver Sluggers as a shortstop from 1983 to 1993. Derek Jeter (2006–2009; 2012) and Xander Bogaerts (2015–2016; 2019; 2021–2022) each won five Silver Sluggers as a shortstop, while Ian Desmond (2012–2014), Alan Trammell (1987–1988, 1990), and Édgar Rentería (2000; 2002–2003) won three. Francisco Lindor (2017–2018; 2023) and Corey Seager (2016–2017; 2023) each won three Silver Slugger Awards at shortstop across two different leagues. (Full article...) -
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The Boston Red Sox are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1912 to the present, the Red Sox have played in Fenway Park. The "Red Sox" name originates from the iconic uniform feature. They are sometimes nicknamed the "BoSox", a combination of "Boston" and "Sox" (as opposed to the "ChiSox"), the "Crimson Hose", and "the Olde Towne Team". Most fans simply refer to them as the Sox.
One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Boston in 1901. They were a dominant team in the early 20th century, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903. They won four more championships by 1918, and then went into one of the longest championship droughts in baseball history. Many attributed the phenomenon to the "Curse of the Bambino" said to have been caused by the trade of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920. The drought was ended and the "curse" reversed in 2004, when the team won their sixth World Series championship. Championships in 2007 and 2013 followed. Every home game from May 15, 2003, through April 10, 2013, was sold out—a span of 820 games over nearly ten years. The team most recently won the World Series in 2018, the ninth championship in franchise history. (Full article...) -
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The Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team has played in Nashville, Tennessee, since being established in 1978 as an expansion team of the Double-A Southern League. They moved up to Triple-A in 1985 as members of the American Association before joining the Pacific Coast League in 1998. With the restructuring of the minor leagues in 2021, they were placed in the Triple-A East, which became the International League in 2022. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starting pitcher is an honor which is given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season, though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day. The Sounds have used 43 different Opening Day starters in their 46 seasons.
Nashville's first Opening Day game was played against the Memphis Chicks at Tim McCarver Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 15, 1978. Bill Dawley was their starting pitcher that day; he took the decision in a game the Sounds lost, 4–2. Their first Opening Day game held at home was an 8–7 win against the Birmingham Barons at Herschel Greer Stadium on April 9, 1981. Starter Jamie Werly, who went on to win the Southern League Most Outstanding Pitcher Award that season, did not figure in the decision. On April 4, 2013, starter Tyler Thornburg took a no decision in the final Opening Day game at Greer Stadium, a 5–4 Sounds win. The team left Greer after the 2014 season, but did not play their first Opening Day game at First Horizon Park, their new facility then known as First Tennessee Park, until two years later. In that game, held on April 7, 2016, Sounds starting pitcher Chris Smith was charged with the loss in a 5–0 shutout by the Oklahoma City Dodgers. (Full article...) -
Image 4The Roberto Clemente Award is given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team", as voted on by baseball fans and members of the media. It is named for Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente. Originally known as the Commissioner's Award, it has been presented by MLB since 1971. In 1973, the award was renamed after Clemente following his death in a plane crash while he was delivering supplies to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake.
Each year, a panel of baseball dignitaries selects one player from among 30 nominees, one from each club. Teams choose their nominee during the regular season, and the winner is announced at the World Series. The player who receives the most votes online via MLB's official website, MLB.com, gets one vote in addition to the votes cast by the panel. Since 2007, the Roberto Clemente Award has been presented by Chevy. Chevy donates money and a Chevy vehicle to the recipient's charity of choice and additional money is donated by Chevy to the Roberto Clemente Sports City, a non-profit organization in Carolina, Puerto Rico, that provides national sports activities for children. Chevy donates additional funds to the charity of choice of each of the 30 club nominees. (Full article...) -
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The Cleveland Blues were a professional baseball franchise that operated in the National League (NL), a "major" league, from 1879 until 1884. They were organized by businessmen William Hollinger, and J. Ford Evans in 1878 as the Forest Citys, and played a season as an independent team. The NL expanded from six teams to eight before the 1879 season, and the Forest Citys accepted an invitation to join the league. Evans became their president and stayed in that capacity until C. H. Bulkeley assumed the role in 1882. In their six seasons in the NL, the team never finished higher than third place in the standings. They played their home games in League Park.
For their first season in the NL, the franchise (now named the Blues due to their dark blue uniforms) employed Jim McCormick as the manager as well as the ace of their pitching staff. Cleveland did not fare well, winning just 27 games against 55 losses, with a league-low .223 batting average. The 1880 season was better, however, as the team increased its win total to 47 against 37 losses and a tie, McCormick winning a league-leading 45 of those victories. Over the next two seasons, the team changed the on-field leadership often; employing Mike McGeary and John Clapp as player-managers in 1881, and Fred Dunlap in 1882. The changes did not prove effective as the team was unable to finish higher than fifth place during that span. The team had their best record and highest win total in 1883 under manager Frank Bancroft. On September 13, 1883, Hugh Daily threw the franchise's lone no-hitter. (Full article...) -
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A tie-breaker was required in Major League Baseball (MLB) when two or more teams were tied at the end of the regular season for a postseason position such as a league pennant (prior to the introduction of the League Championship Series in 1969), a division title, or a wild card spot. Until 2022, both the American League (AL) and the National League (NL) used a one-game playoff format for tie-breakers, although the NL used a best-of-three series prior to 1969, when the leagues were split into divisions. As these tie-breaker games counted as part of the regular season and MLB teams (American League beginning in 1961, and National League beginning in 1962) have 162-game regular season schedules, the tie-breaker games were sometimes referred to as "Game 163". In 2022, as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement to end the 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout, tiebreaker games were replaced with statistical tiebreaker procedures.
Sixteen tie-breakers – 12 single-game and four series – have been played in MLB history. In baseball statistics, tie-breaker games counted as regular season games with all events in them counted towards regular season statistics. This had implications on statistical races, such as when Matt Holliday won the batting average and runs batted in titles thanks in part to his performance in the 2007 tie-breaker. Home-field advantage for tie-breakers was determined by a coin flip through the 2008 season, after which performance-based criteria, starting with head-to-head record of the tied teams, were put in place. (Full article...) -
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the National League West division. Since the institution of MLB's Rule 4 Draft, the Dodgers have selected 67 players in the first round. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the Rule 4 Draft is MLB's primary mechanism for assigning players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur clubs to its franchises. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. In addition, teams which lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks.
Of the 67 players picked in the first round by Los Angeles, 37 have been pitchers, the most of any position; 24 of these were right-handed, while 12 were left-handed. Nine players at shortstop and nine in the outfield were selected, while five catchers, three first basemen, and three third basemen were taken as well. The team also selected two players at second base. Seven of the players came from high schools or universities in the state of Texas, while California follows with six players. (Full article...) -
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The Gold Glove Award is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in both the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), as voted by the managers and coaches in each league. Managers are not permitted to vote for their own players. Eighteen Gold Gloves are awarded each year (with the exception of 1957, 1985, 2007 and 2018), one at each of the nine positions in each league. In 1957, the baseball glove manufacturer Rawlings created the Gold Glove Award to commemorate the best fielding performance at each position. The award was created from a glove made from gold lamé-tanned leather and affixed to a walnut base. Initially, only one Gold Glove per position was awarded to the top fielder at each position in the entire league; however, separate awards were given for the National and American Leagues beginning in 1958.
Brooks Robinson won 16 Gold Gloves with the Baltimore Orioles, leading both the American League and all third basemen in awards won. Mike Schmidt is tied with Nolan Arenado for second in wins at third base; Schmidt won 10 with the Philadelphia Phillies and is tied for National League third basemen in Gold Gloves. Arenado also has 10, 8 with the Rockies and 2 with the Cardinals. Scott Rolen owns the fourth-highest total, winning eight awards. Rolen won with the Phillies, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Cincinnati Reds. Six-time winners at third base are Buddy Bell, Eric Chavez, and Robin Ventura. Adrián Beltré, Ken Boyer, Doug Rader, and Ron Santo have each won five Gold Gloves at third base, and four-time winners include Matt Chapman, Gary Gaetti, and Matt Williams. Hall of Famers who have won a Gold Glove at the position include Robinson, Rolen, Schmidt, Santo, Wade Boggs, and George Brett. (Full article...) -
Image 9The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team that plays in the National League Western Division. Since their inception as the New York Gothams in 1883, the Giants have employed 37 managers. The duties of the team manager include team strategy and leadership on and off the field.
The franchise's first manager was John Clapp, who managed the team for one year before being replaced in 1884 by Jim Price. The New York Giants won two World Series championships during the 19th century, in 1888 and 1889, with Jim Mutrie as their manager both years.[a] John McGraw became the Giants' manager during the 1902 season, beginning a streak of 54 consecutive years in which the Giants were managed by a Baseball Hall of Famer. McGraw managed for the better course of 30 years (he missed parts of the 1924, 1925, and 1927 seasons due to illness; Hughie Jennings took over for the former two while Rogers Hornsby served as player-manager for the latter), doing so until the middle of the 1932 season, the longest managerial tenure in Giants history. McGraw won 2,583 games as the Giants manager, the most in Giants history. While managing the Giants, the team won the National League championship 10 times—in 1904, 1905, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1923 and 1924. They played in the World Series nine times (no World Series was played in 1904) and won three, in 1905, 1921 and 1922. (Full article...) -
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Each Major League Baseball (MLB) season, one American League (AL) team wins the pennant, signifying that they are the league's champion and have the right to play in the World Series against the champion of the National League (NL). The pennant was presented to the team with the best win–loss record each year through the 1968 season, after which the AL Championship Series (ALCS) was introduced to decide the pennant winner. The first modern World Series was played in 1903 and, after a hiatus in 1904, has taken place every season except 1994, when a players' strike forced the cancellation of the postseason. The current AL pennant holders are the Texas Rangers who won the pennant on October 23, 2023.
In 1969, the AL split into two divisions, and the teams with the best records in each division played one another in the five-game ALCS to determine the pennant winner, who received (and continues to receive) the William Harridge Trophy. The trophy featured a golden eagle, the league's emblem, sitting atop a silver baseball and clutching the AL banner. Since 2017, the trophy is all silver with a pennant on top. The trophy is named for Will Harridge, who was league president from 1931 to 1958. The format of the ALCS was changed from a best-of-five to a best-of-seven format in the 1985 postseason. In 1995, an additional playoff series was added when MLB restructured into three divisions in each league. As of 2010[update], the winners of the Eastern, Central, and Western Divisions, as well as the AL Wild Card winner, play in the AL Division Series, a best-of-five playoff to determine the opponents who will play in the ALCS. AL pennant winners have gone on to win the World Series 66 times, most recently in 2023. (Full article...) -
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The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox are members of the American League (AL) East Division in Major League Baseball (MLB). They have competed since 1901, initially as the Boston Americans (1901–1907), and under their current name since 1908. Since 1912, the Red Sox have played their home games at Fenway Park. In baseball, the head coach of a team is called the manager, or more formally, the field manager. There have been 48 different managers in franchise history; the current manager is Alex Cora, who previously managed the team during the 2018 and 2019 seasons and was re-hired by the team on November 6, 2020.
Jimmy Collins was the first manager of the franchise, managing from 1901 to 1906. Among all Red Sox managers, Joe Cronin managed the most regular season games (2,007) and registered the most regular season wins (1,071), while Terry Francona managed the most playoff games (45) and registered the most playoff wins (28). The most World Series championships won by a Red Sox manager is two, accomplished by Bill Carrigan (1915 and 1916) and Francona (2004 and 2007). John McNamara and Jimy Williams are the only two Red Sox managers to win the AL Manager of the Year Award, in 1986 and 1999, respectively. (Full article...) -
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The 3,000-hit club is the group of 33 batters who have collected 3,000 or more regular-season hits in their careers in Major League Baseball (MLB). Reaching 3,000 hits has been "long considered the greatest measure of superior bat handling" and is often described as a guarantee of eventual entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Cap Anson was the first MLB player to reach 3,000 hits, although his precise career hit total is unclear. Two players—Nap Lajoie and Honus Wagner—reached 3,000 hits during the 1914 season. Ty Cobb did so in 1921 and became the first player in MLB history to reach 4,000 hits in 1927, ultimately finishing his career with 4,189. Pete Rose, the current hit leader, became the second player to reach 4,000 hits on April 13, 1984, and surpassed Cobb in September 1985, finishing his career with 4,256. Roberto Clemente's career ended with precisely 3,000 hits, which he reached in the last at bat of his career on September 30, 1972. (Full article...) -
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The National League pennant winner of a given Major League Baseball season is the team that wins the championship—the pennant—of MLB's National League (NL). This team receives the Warren C. Giles Trophy and the right to play in the World Series against the champion of the American League (AL). The current NL pennant winners are the Arizona Diamondbacks, who beat out the Philadelphia Phillies to win the NL pennant in October 2023.
The trophy is named for Warren Giles, the league president from 1951 to 1969, and is presented immediately after each NL Championship Series (NLCS) by Warren's son Bill Giles, the honorary league president and former owner of the Philadelphia Phillies. (Full article...) -
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The New York Yankees are a Major League Baseball franchise based in the New York City borough of The Bronx. Also known in their early years as the "Baltimore Orioles" (1901–02) and the "New York Highlanders" (1903–1912), the Yankees have had twelve pitchers throw thirteen no-hitters in franchise history. A no-hitter is officially recognized by Major League Baseball only "...when a pitcher (or pitchers) allows no hits during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings. In a no-hit game, a batter may reach base via a walk, an error, a hit by pitch, a passed ball or wild pitch on strike three, or catcher's interference". No-hitters of fewer than nine complete innings were previously recognized by the league as official; however, several rule alterations in 1991 changed the rule to its current form. Four perfect games, a special subcategory of no-hitter, have been pitched in Yankees history. As defined by Major League Baseball, "in a perfect game, no batter reaches any base during the course of the game." This feat was achieved by Don Larsen in 1956, David Wells in 1998, David Cone in 1999, and Domingo German in 2023. Wells later claimed he was a "little hung-over" while throwing his perfect game.
George Mogridge threw the first no-hitter in Yankees history, beating their rival Boston Red Sox 2–1, their only no-hitter in which the opposition scored. Their most recent no-hitter was Domingo Germán's perfect game against the Oakland Athletics during the 2023 season on June 28. The Yankees' first perfect game was also thrown by a right-handed pitcher, Don Larsen, and came in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. Larsen's perfect game was the only no-hitter in MLB postseason play until Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a no-hitter in Game 1 of the 2010 National League Division Series. Coincidentally, David Cone's perfect game came on "Yogi Berra Day" at Yankee Stadium. Berra had caught Larsen's perfect game and both he and Larsen were in the stands for the game. Of the twelve no-hitters pitched by Yankees players, three each have been won by the scores 4–0 and 2–0, more common than any other result. The largest margin of victory in a Yankees no-hitter was 13 runs in a 13–0 win by Monte Pearson. German's perfect game represented the second largest margin of victory in a Yankees no-hitter, as the Yankees defeated the Athletics 11–0 in the 24th perfect game in MLB history. (Full article...) -
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The Cleveland Guardians are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Cleveland, Ohio; until 2021, they were known as the Cleveland Indians. They play in the American League Central division. The first game of the new baseball season is played on Opening Day, and being named the starter that day is an honor, which is often given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season, though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day. Since joining the league in 1901, the Indians have used 58 different Opening Day starting pitchers which includes the Opening Day starting pitchers from the Bluebirds and the Naps. They have a record of 58 wins and 54 losses in their Opening Day games.
The Indians have played in three different home ball parks, League Park from 1901 through 1946, Cleveland Stadium from 1932 to 1993, and Progressive Field since 1994. From 1934 through 1946 some games were played at League Park and some at Cleveland Stadium. They had a record of 11 wins and 4 losses in Opening Day games at League Park, 9 wins and 13 losses at Cleveland Stadium and 2 wins and 4 losses at Progressive Field, for a total home record in Opening Day games of 22 wins and 21 losses. Their record in Opening Day away games is 35 wins and 35 losses. (Full article...)
More did you know
- ... that Elmer Stricklett is considered to have been the first baseball pitcher to master the spitball?
- ... that the Curse of Billy Penn is an alleged curse that may explain the failures of Philadelphia professional sports teams?
- ... that Chick Gandil was the ringleader of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal in American baseball?
- ... that Buzzie Bavasi was the general manager of the Brooklyn & Los Angeles Dodgers for eighteen years, helping the team win their first four World Series championships?
- ... that Hall of Fame manager Miller Huggins executed the first delayed steal in recorded baseball history?
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The pitching motion of Major League pitcher Brandon Claussen, playing for the Cincinnati Reds in 2004.
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