by David Krell | Jan 23, 2017 | David Krell
In 1888, Timothy Keefe won 19 consecutive games for the New York Giants. Or did he? On July 16th, Keefe left the mound in the second inning of a game against the Chicago White Stockings—he played the rest of the game in the outfield. Buck Ewing, the Giants catcher...
by David Krell | Jan 22, 2017 | David Krell
In the 1976 movie The Bad News Bears, Walter Matthau plays Morris Buttermaker, a former minor league ballplayer with the unenviable task of managing a team consisting of loudmouth Little Leaguers. Matthau’s rumpled persona matches the Buttermaker character like...
by David Krell | Jan 21, 2017 | David Krell
When Bill White hit a home run in his first major league at-bat, he began a journey of solidity that garnered career statistics of 1,706 hits, 202 home runs, and a .286 batting average. Beginning his career in 1956 with the Giants, White also played for the Cardinals...
by David Krell | Jan 20, 2017 | David Krell
Dick Groat does not have the fame of Bill Mazeroski, the immortality of Roberto Clemente, or the legend of Willie Stargell. Nevertheless, he was a mainstay of the Pittsburgh Pirates for a majority of his major league career, which spanned 1952 to 1967. In the October...
by David Krell | Jan 19, 2017 | David Krell
Joe DiMaggio once declared, “I’d like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.” When the Yankee Clipper stepped into the batter’s box, denizens of the Bronx felt the same way. In May 1941, Americans watched the premiere of Orson...
by David Krell | Jan 18, 2017 | David Krell
On September 29, 2004, Montreal bid adieu to its beloved Expos ball club. And so, a baseball legacy faded into finality as the Expos transitioned to become the Washington Nationals. Montreal never celebrated a World Series championship, but moments of greatness...
by David Krell | Jan 17, 2017 | David Krell
On May 25, 1951, Willie Mays played in his first major league game. 19 years and 50 weeks later, Mays returned to the city that embraced his early career. Entering the major leagues with the New York Giants under the managerial reign of Leo Durocher, Mays became a...
by David Krell | Jan 16, 2017 | David Krell
Three decades before Houston became a major league city it was a minor league icon—the Houston Buffaloes won the Texas League championship in 1931. Managed by Joe Schultz, a former National League journeyman with a career batting average of .285, the Buffs—a minor...
by David Krell | Jan 15, 2017 | David Krell
When a lanky native of San Diego hit a home run on September 28, 1960, it was not, perhaps, the most significant happening in his career—and certainly not the most significant happening in world affairs during the ninth month of the 60th year of the 20th century. Ted...
by David Krell | Jan 14, 2017 | David Krell
Los Angeles suffered a divorce worthy of soap opera status when the controversy of Dodgers ownership became public—Frank and Jamie McCourt engaged in a matrimonial battle that brought disgrace upon the vaunted Dodgers brand and disgust among the team’s loyal fan...
