In 1938, a teenage shortstop straight out of a city church league emerged as the best shortstop in the minors, a prospect so highly regarded that the Boston Red Sox bought the entire Louisville Colonels franchise just so they could have him. […]
Category: Brooklyn Dodgers
Ralph Branca: Because he was strong enough.
No other moment in sports history comes close to that single game in October, 1951. Countless non-fiction books have been written about the ’51 pennant race, the game, what happened to the home run ball, and the players after the cheering died down. Thomson’s home run has been employed as a plot device for shelves of fiction novels and TV shows, and hardly an autobiography of a person alive in 1951 could escape mentioning where they were on that day. […]
Sid Gautreaux: Guest Author Gary Bedingfield
I’m very pleased to have Gary Bedingfield, World War II baseball expert and author of the new book “Baseball in World War II Hawaii,” as a Guest Author to introduce one of the ballplayers who made service baseball in 1940s Hawaii possible… […]
Luis Olmo: Kidnapping, safe houses, and other minor league hijinx
As one of the first Puerto Ricans to play in the minors, Luis Olmo knew he’d face many obstacles – but he had no idea they would include kidnapping, a Harlem safe house and contract hijinx by the most powerful men in the game. […]
Tommy Lasorda: The Fight of ’56 and the Birth of a Hall of Fame Manager
This is a piece I wrote about ten years ago. I included an abbreviated version in my book, The League of Outsider Baseball, and always liked by illustration of the young Tommy. So, without further yapping, here’s my story of Tommy Lasorda’s early career as a southpaw who dreamed of playing for his beloved Dodgers. […]
Nelson Greene: A Brooklyn Robin
In the first “Guest Author” post since I redesigned my website two years ago, “Chip” Greene writes about his grandfather, Nelson Greene, and his two year stint with Brooklyn Robins in 1924-25. […]
1921 Orioles: Merwin Jacobson
Between two stints in the big leagues, center fielder Merwin “Jake” Jacobson batted third the Birds’ lineup, his big bat being used to advance speedsters Fritz Maisel and Rabbit Lawry who batted before him. […]
Roy Campanella: Race, opportunity and the 1942 pennant
THREE DECADES AGO, when I was an art student in Baltimore, I had become interested in the city’s Negro League team, the Elite Giants. I had the good fortune to meet many former Elite Giants players as well as the fans who rooted for them. The Elites (pronounced EE-lights) became my favorite Negro League […]
Fran Boniar: The greatest hitter you never heard of
Of the 15 players who recorded the highest single-season batting averages in the minors, more than half made it to the majors, and only one name appears twice – yet, he is not one of the players who got the call to The Show…
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Len Koenecke: Trains, Planes and Fire Extinguishers
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. […]