He never played an inning in the majors, but, as a sportswriter once poetically prosed, “Cazen always gave what he had and a little something extra, and it was that little extra something that sometimes won a game.” […]
It seemed like some crazed pulp magazine story, but it was really happening. The co-pilot was no match for the crazed passenger who now hammered on his body with ham-sized fists until he slumped to the cabin floor. Now nothing stood between him and the pilot. […]
Just as he had every summer since 1931, Lucky Jack Riley made sure his Wednesdays and Sundays were cleared for playing baseball. However, world events would make 1940 the last season for both the Shanghai City League and Lucky Jack’s baseball career… […]
The term “outlaw league” described a league that wasn’t recognized by Organized Baseball, the entity that controlled the major and minor leagues. But for Roy Counts, “outlaw league” had a slightly different meaning… […]
Along with the weight of being Joe DiMaggio’s successor, Mickey Mantle also had to endure being labeled a draft dodger, steering clear of shyster businessmen, avoiding exploding fireworks, and most of all, keeping from being sent back to the minors. […]
It seemed like some crazed pulp magazine story, but it was really happening. The co-pilot was no match for the crazed passenger who now hammered on his body with ham-sized fists until he slumped to the cabin floor. Now nothing stood between him and the pilot. […]
I figured of all the players in my Minor League Home Run Champions Series, Bunny Brief would be the easiest to research. Since the guy is co-owner of the record for most minor league home run crowns in a career (8), I had assumed that someone would have written a book, or a chapter in a book, or for God’s sake at least an extensive article on the guy – but sadly, no one has – until now. […]
Like so many of the players I write about, I found Jack Kloza while searching for something else. And, like so many of the outsiders I write about, what at first just seemed like a marginal career highlighted by a brief cup of coffee in the majors, turned out to be a very interesting tale on so many levels. I was drawn to this fella because the grainy 1936 newspaper article I found showed a guy who looked remarkably like a young Charles Bronson. […]
Today there would never be a “Babe Ruth of the Minor Leagues.” Once a player starts making headlines in AA or AAA he’s called up before the ink dries on the sports page. However, back in the 1920’s and 30’s, it was a different game and many guys like Buzz Arlett were doomed to spend their career just shy of the big time, remembered only as another “The Babe Ruth of the Minor Leagues.” […]
In the five and a half decades after he retired in 1942, Joe Hauser was the go-to man for “what if”, “hard-luck” and “where is he now” baseball stories. Hauser’s career stretched from the Deadball Era of Ty Cobb through the Roarin’ Twenties of Babe Ruth and on into the hardscrabble Depression Era 1930’s. That he lived to be 98 years old made him one of the most interviewed ballplayers and a direct and priceless link back to the game’s Golden Age. […]