The best way to begin my series on the 1921 Orioles is with their owner-manager, Jack Dunn. A true “baseball lifer,” Dunn had been a big league pitcher at the turn of the century before becoming a manager and finally owner of the minor league Baltimore Orioles. Dunn’s insistence on staying independent from any major league teams enabled him to assemble a ball club that would win seven consecutive International League pennants. […]
Today I’m unveiling the historical minor league team that I will begin to cover in its entirety. 20 players, from the manager and starting lineup to the pitching staff and utility players. There’s a Hall of Famer and well-known All-Stars, scrubs and never-weres. This team is part of a seven pennant-winning dynasty. I’m talking about the 1921 Baltimore Orioles. […]
For the entirety of his life, society did everything possible to marginalize Sol White and his accomplishments. But while a lesser man would have accepted his fate and faded from memory, Sol White made sure he preserved it. […]
I love those “what if?” questions in history. You know, those major events in history that hinged on one minor and insignificant event or individual: what if Hitler had gotten into art school or what the world maps look like now if Gavrilo Princip was a lousy shot? Baseball has plenty of those great “what if’s” as well, and it was one of those minor turn of events that gave the game its greatest player. […]
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 […]
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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In early June, Rupe Mills was leading the Federal League in batting, home runs, fielding percentage, pitching wins – in fact, Mills was leading in EVERY category because he was the ONLY player in the league that year. […]
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. […]
Anyone who’s done their share of baseball research by culling through old newspapers knows how easy it is to get sidetracked by an interesting article totally unrelated to the thing you’re looking for. That’s what happened when I was going through a 1925 Dallas sports page and stumbled on an Associated Press article that caused me to abandon what I was originally searching for and set my artistic sights on an obscure outfielder whose major league career totaled just 173 games spread over 5 mediocre seasons with 5 different teams. […]
Somewhere enroute to Dallas, Branch Rickey stopped long enough to send a telegram which went something like this: “Am on my way with a hot potato. Batterton looks great and is great.” […]