Since the 1990s, Cal Ripken Jr. has been called baseball’s “Iron Man.” But, decades before Cal, another ballplayer earned that moniker for several feats of endurance that will never be equaled as long as the game is played. […]
Category: Chicago Cubs
Bill Niemeyer: Memorial Day
The boys of G Company probably didn’t care much about the reason why the Germans still fought them tooth and nail, but each man had had his life interrupted and shipped halfway around the globe to stop an evil that was threatening to swallow the whole world. […]
Hack Wilson: When 1938 was 1930 for a day
Hack Wilson’s fall following the 1930 season in which he hit 56 homers and a record 191 RBI, was tremendous and tragic. However, for one day in 1938, the former star was able to make all the years between 1930 and 1938 disappear… […]
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. […]
Hi Bithorn: The life and odd death of Hurricane Hi
ON DECEMBER 28, 1951 an El Mante, Mexico police officer was escorting a suspected car thief. The officer had apprehended the man when the paperwork he produced for the 1947 Buick he was driving wasn’t adequate enough to prove ownership. The officers suspicions were further aroused when the man offered to sell him his […]
Bill Niemeyer: A Place Called Hill 378
The area they were clearing of enemy troops looked a lot like familiar places in the northeast and Midwest United States, and many of the boys of G Company thought back to the little places they left behind called Sussex County, Washington Courthouse, Mechanicsburg or Crescent Springs.
To the officers of G Company, this place was just called Hill 378. […]