Portal:Baseball
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Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter).
The opposing teams switch back and forth between batting and fielding; the batting team's turn to bat is over once the fielding team records three outs. One turn batting for each team constitutes an inning. A game is usually composed of nine innings, and the team with the greater number of runs at the end of the game wins. Most games end after the ninth inning, but if scores are tied at that point, extra innings are usually played. Baseball has no game clock, though some competitions feature pace-of-play regulations such as the pitch clock to shorten game time.
Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. Baseball's American origins, as well as its reputation as a source of escapism during troubled points in American history such as the American Civil War and the Great Depression, have led the sport to receive the moniker of "America's Pastime"; since the late 19th century, it has been unofficially recognized as the national sport of the United States, though in modern times is considered less popular than other sports, such as American football. In addition to North America, baseball is considered the most popular sport in parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. (Full article...)
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James Robert "Loafer" McAleer (July 10, 1864 – April 29, 1931) was an American center fielder, manager, and stockholder in Major League Baseball who assisted in establishing the American League. He spent most of his 13-season playing career with the Cleveland Spiders, and went on to manage the Cleveland Blues, St. Louis Browns, and Washington Senators. Shortly before his retirement, he became a major shareholder in the Boston Red Sox. His career ended abruptly. During his brief tenure as co-owner of the Red Sox, McAleer quarreled with longtime friend and colleague Ban Johnson, president of the American League. In the wake of this disagreement, he sold off his shares in the Red Sox and broke off his relationship with Major League Baseball.
McAleer's rift with Johnson, along with his sudden retirement, damaged his professional reputation, and he received little recognition for his contributions to baseball. Today, he is most often remembered for initiating the customary request that the President of the United States throw out the first ball of the season. (Full article...) -
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Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation.
The ninth surviving child of Methodist parents, Crane began writing at the age of four and had several articles published by 16. Having little interest in university studies though he was active in a fraternity, he left Syracuse University in 1891 to work as a reporter and writer. Crane's first novel was the 1893 Bowery tale Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, generally considered by critics to be the first work of American literary Naturalism. He won international acclaim for his Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895), considered a masterpiece by different critics and writers. (Full article...) -
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Rogers Hornsby (April 27, 1896 – January 5, 1963), nicknamed "the Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1915–1926, 1933), New York Giants (1927), Boston Braves (1928), Chicago Cubs (1929–1932), and St. Louis Browns (1933–1937). He was named the National League (NL)'s Most Valuable Player (MVP) twice, and was a member of one World Series championship team.
Born in Winters, Texas, and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Hornsby played for several semi-professional and minor league teams. In 1915, he began his major league career with the St. Louis Cardinals and remained with the team for 12 seasons. During this period, Hornsby won his first MVP Award and the Cardinals won the 1926 World Series. After that season, he spent one season with the New York Giants and another with the Boston Braves before being traded to the Chicago Cubs. He played with the Cubs for four years and won his second MVP Award before the team released him in 1932. Hornsby re-signed with the Cardinals in 1933, but was released partway through the season, effectively ending his career as a full-time player. He was picked up by the St. Louis Browns and remained there until his final season in 1937, though he made only 67 appearances for them as a player. From 1925 to 1937, Hornsby was intermittently a player-manager. After retiring as a player, he managed the Browns in 1952 and the Cincinnati Reds from 1952 to 1953. (Full article...) -
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Stanley Frank Musial (/ˈmjuːziəl, -ʒəl/; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consistent hitters in baseball history, Musial spent 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, from 1941 to 1944 and from 1946 to 1963, before becoming a first-ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.
Musial was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, where he frequently played baseball informally or in organized settings, and eventually played on the baseball team at Donora High School. Signed to a professional contract by the St. Louis Cardinals as a pitcher in 1938, Musial was converted into an outfielder and made his major league debut in 1941. Noted for his unique batting stance, he quickly established himself as a consistent and productive hitter. In his first full season, 1942, the Cardinals won the World Series. The following year, he led the NL in six different offensive categories and earned his first MVP award. He was also named to the NL All-Star squad for the first time; he appeared in every All-Star game in every subsequent season he played. Musial won his second World Series championship in 1944, then missed the 1945 season while serving in the Navy. After completing his military service, Musial returned to baseball in 1946 and resumed his consistent hitting. That year he earned his second MVP award and third World Series title. His third MVP award came in 1948, when he finished one home run short of winning baseball's Triple Crown. After struggling offensively in 1959, Musial used a personal trainer to help maintain his productivity until he decided to retire in 1963. (Full article...) -
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Lawrence Winchester Wetherby (January 2, 1908 – March 27, 1994) was an American politician who served as Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Kentucky. He was the first of only two governors in state history born in Jefferson County, despite the fact that Louisville (the county seat) is the state's most populous city. The second governor born in Jefferson County is the incumbent governor, Andy Beshear.
After graduating from the University of Louisville, Wetherby held several minor offices in the Jefferson County judicial system before being elected lieutenant governor in 1947. He was called Kentucky's first "working" lieutenant governor because Governor Earle C. Clements asked him to carry out duties beyond his constitutional responsibility to preside over the state Senate, such as preparing the state budget and attending the Southern Governors Conference. In 1950, Clements resigned to assume a seat in the U.S. Senate, elevating Wetherby to governor. Wetherby won immediate acclaim by calling a special legislative session to increase funding for education and government benefits from the state's budget surplus. In 1951, he won a four-year full term as governor, during which he continued and expanded many of Clements' programs, including increased road construction and industrial diversification. He endorsed the Supreme Court's 1954 desegregation order in the case of Brown v. Board of Education and appointed a biracial commission to oversee the successful integration of the state's schools. As chairman of the Southern Governors Conference in 1954 and 1955, he encouraged other southern governors to accept and implement desegregation. (Full article...) -
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A picture of a Wii Sports disc
Wii Sports is a 2006 sports simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The game was released in North America along with the Wii on November 19, 2006, and in Japan, Australia, and Europe the following month. It was included as a pack-in game with the console in all territories except Japan, making it the first sports game included with the launch of a Nintendo system since Mario's Tennis for the Virtual Boy in 1995. The game was later released on its own as part of the Nintendo Selects collection of games.
Wii Sports is a collection of five sports simulations designed to demonstrate the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote. The five sports included are tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, and boxing. Players use the Wii Remote to mimic actions performed in real-life sports, such as swinging a tennis racket or rolling a bowling ball. The rules for each game are simplified to make them more accessible to new players. The game also features training and fitness modes that monitor players' progress in the sports. (Full article...) -
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Daniel Lucius "Doc" Adams (November 1, 1814 – January 3, 1899) was an American baseball player and executive who is regarded by historians as an important figure in the sport's early years. For most of his career he was a member of the New York Knickerbockers. He first played for the New York Base Ball Club in 1840 and started his Knickerbockers career five years later, continuing to play for the club into his forties and to take part in inter-squad practice games and matches against opposing teams. Researchers have called Adams the creator of the shortstop position, which he used to field short throws from outfielders. In addition to his playing career, Adams manufactured baseballs and oversaw bat production; he also occasionally acted as an umpire.
From 1847 to 1861, the Knickerbockers selected Adams as their president six times, and as a vice president, treasurer, or director in six other years. As president of the club, Adams was an advocate of rule changes in baseball that resulted in nine-man teams and nine-inning games. When the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was formed in 1858, he led the rules and regulations committee of the new organization. In his role, Adams ruled that the fields' bases should be 90 feet (27 m) apart, the modern distance, and supported the elimination of the "bound rule", which allowed for balls caught after one bounce to be recorded as outs. He resigned from his positions with the Knickerbockers and NABBP in 1862. Adams' contributions in creating baseball's rules went largely unrecognized for decades after his 1899 death, but in 1980 a letter about him appeared in The New York Times; by 1993, researcher John Thorn had written about Adams' role. Other historians have given him credit for helping to develop the sport, and Thorn has called Adams "first among the Fathers of Baseball". (Full article...) -
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Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time, Johnson spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning a national championship with Michigan State in 1979, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers, leading the team to five NBA championships during their "Showtime" era. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests against his return from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.
Known for his extraordinary court vision, passing abilities, and leadership, Johnson was one of the most dominant players of his era. His career achievements include three NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, three NBA Finals MVPs, nine All-NBA First Team designations, and twelve All-Star games selections. He led the league in regular season assists four times, and is the NBA's all-time leader in average assists per game in both the regular season (11.19 assists per game) and the playoffs (12.35 assists per game). He also holds the records for most career playoff assists and most career playoff triple-doubles. Johnson was the co-captain of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team ("The Dream Team"), which won the Olympic gold medal in Barcelona. After leaving the NBA in 1991, he formed the Magic Johnson All-Stars, a barnstorming team that traveled around the world playing exhibition games. (Full article...) -
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Thurman Lowell Tucker (September 26, 1917 – May 7, 1993) was an American professional baseball player. A center fielder, Tucker played in Major League Baseball for nine seasons in the American League with the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians. In 701 career games, Tucker recorded a batting average of .255 and accumulated 24 triples, nine home runs, and 179 runs batted in (RBI).
Because of his resemblance to film comedian Joe E. Brown he was nicknamed "Joe E.". (Full article...) -
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Herschel Greer Stadium was a Minor League Baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two mi (3.2 km) south of the city's downtown district. The facility closed at the end of the 2014 baseball season and remained deserted for over four years until its demolition in 2019. Following an archaeological survey, the land is expected to be reincorporated into Fort Negley Park.
Greer was opened in 1978 for the Nashville Sounds, an expansion franchise of the Double-A Southern League who moved to the Triple-A American Association in 1985 and to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1998. The stadium played host to the team until 2014. The subject of numerous upgrades and repairs to maintain its functionality, Greer became one of the oldest stadiums used by a Triple-A team and had fallen well below professional baseball's standards for a stadium at that class level by the end of its use. For over a decade, the Sounds attempted to secure agreements with the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County for a new ballpark to replace Greer, eventually resulting in the construction of First Tennessee Park, which became the Sounds' new home in 2015. (Full article...) -
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James Francis Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk): Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887 – March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won two Olympic gold medals in the 1912 Summer Olympics (one in classic pentathlon and the other in decathlon). He also played football (collegiate and professional), professional baseball, and professional basketball.
He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the contemporary amateurism rules. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals with replicas, after ruling that the decision to strip him of his medals fell outside of the required 30 days. Official IOC records still listed Thorpe as co-champion in decathlon and pentathlon until 2022, when it was decided to restore him as the sole champion in both events. (Full article...) -
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The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the city's association with the music industry, specifically the "Nashville sound", a subgenre of country music which originated in the city in the mid-1950s. The team plays their home games at First Horizon Park, which opened in 2015 on the site of the historic Sulphur Dell ballpark. The Sounds previously played at Herschel Greer Stadium from its opening in 1978 until the end of the 2014 season. They are the oldest active professional sports franchise in Nashville.
Established as an expansion team of the Double-A Southern League in 1978, the Sounds led all of Minor League Baseball in attendance in their inaugural season and continued to draw the Southern League's largest crowds in each of their seven years as members. On the field, the team won six consecutive second-half division titles from 1979 to 1984 and won the Southern League championship twice: in 1979 as the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and again in 1982 as the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. (Full article...) -
Image 13Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout hits a home run on a pitch from New York Mets pitcher Tommy Milone on May 21, 2017.
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter).
The initial objective of the batting team is to have a player reach first base safely; this generally occurs either when the batter hits the ball and reaches first base before an opponent retrieves the ball and touches the base, or when the pitcher persists in throwing the ball out of the batter's reach. Players on the batting team who reach first base without being called "out" can attempt to advance to subsequent bases as a runner, either immediately or during teammates' turns batting. The fielding team tries to prevent runs by getting batters or runners "out", which forces them out of the field of play. The pitcher can get the batter out by throwing three pitches which result in strikes, while fielders can get the batter out by catching a batted ball before it touches the ground, and can get a runner out by tagging them with the ball while the runner is not touching a base. (Full article...) -
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Orval Leroy Grove (August 29, 1919 – April 20, 1992) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for ten seasons in the American League with the Chicago White Sox. In 207 career games, Grove pitched 1,176 innings and posted a win–loss record of 63–73, with 66 complete games, 11 shutouts, and a 3.78 earned run average (ERA).
The only freshman on the Proviso Township High School varsity baseball team, Grove's pitching ability attracted the attention of the White Sox. After signing with the team in 1937, Grove moved between the major leagues and minor leagues for a few seasons until 1943, when he found a solid place in the White Sox's pitching rotation. Grove had a career-year in 1943, finishing the season with career-bests in ERA, wins, and complete games; in 1944, he made his only All-Star appearance. (Full article...) -
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William Harold Ponsford MBE (19 October 1900 – 6 April 1991) was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill Woodfull, his friend and state and national captain. Ponsford is the only player to twice break the world record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket; Ponsford and Brian Lara are the only cricketers to twice score 400 runs in an innings. Ponsford holds the Australian record for a partnership in Test cricket, set in 1934 in combination with Don Bradman (451 for 2nd wicket)—the man who broke many of Ponsford's other individual records. In fact, he along with Bradman set the record for the highest partnership ever for any wicket in Test cricket history when playing on away soil (451 runs for the second wicket)
Despite being heavily built, Ponsford was quick on his feet and renowned as one of the finest ever players of spin bowling. His bat, much heavier than the norm and nicknamed "Big Bertha", allowed him to drive powerfully and he possessed a strong cut shot. However, critics questioned his ability against fast bowling, and the hostile short-pitched English bowling in the Bodyline series of 1932–33 was a contributing factor in his early retirement from cricket a year and a half later. Ponsford also represented his state and country in baseball, and credited the sport with improving his cricketing skills. (Full article...)
General images - load new batch
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Image 1A well-worn baseball (from Baseball)
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Image 2The NL champion New York Giants baseball team, 1913. Fred Merkle, sixth in line, had committed a baserunning gaffe in a crucial 1908 game that became famous as Merkle's Boner. (from History of baseball)
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Image 4Cy Young—the holder of many major league career marks, including wins and innings pitched, as well as losses—in 1908. MLB's annual awards for the best pitcher in each league are named for Young. (from Baseball)
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Image 5Defensive positions on a baseball field, with abbreviations and scorekeeper's position numbers (not uniform numbers) (from Baseball)
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Image 61906 World Series, infielders playing "in" for the expected bunt and the possible play at the plate with the bases loaded (from Baseball rules)
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Image 7Diagram of a baseball field Diamond may refer to the square area defined by the four bases or to the entire playing field. The dimensions given are for professional and professional-style games. Children often play on smaller fields. (from Baseball)
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Image 8By the time of the 1860s Civil War, baseball (bottom) had begun to overtake its fellow bat-and-ball sport cricket (top) in popularity within the United States, partially because baseball was much shorter in duration than the form of cricket played at the time. (from Baseball)
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Image 9Sadaharu Oh managing the Japan national team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Playing for the Central League's Yomiuri Giants (1959–80), Oh set the professional world record for home runs. (from Baseball)
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Image 10Pick-off attempt on runner (in red) at first base (from Baseball rules)
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Image 11Alexander Cartwright, father of modern baseball (from History of baseball)
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Image 12Jackie Robinson in 1945, with the era's Kansas City Royals, a barnstorming squad associated with the Negro American League's Kansas City Monarchs (from Baseball)
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Image 13A first baseman receives a pickoff throw, as the runner dives back to first base. (from Baseball)
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Image 15Rickey Henderson—the major leagues' all-time leader in runs and stolen bases—stealing third base in a 1988 game (from Baseball)
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Image 17An Afghan girl playing baseball in August 2002 (from Baseball)
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Image 19Two players on the baseball team of Tokyo, Japan's Waseda University in 1921 (from Baseball)
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Image 21Sadaharu Oh managing the Japan national team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Playing for the Central League's Yomiuri Giants (1959–80), Oh set the professional world record for home runs with 868. (from History of baseball)
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Image 232013 World Baseball Classic championship match between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, March 20, 2013 (from Baseball)
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Image 24Pesäpallo, a Finnish variation of baseball, was invented by Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala in the 1920s, and after that, it has changed with the times and grown in popularity. Picture of Pesäpallo match in 1958 in Jyväskylä, Finland. (from Baseball)
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Image 25A New York Yankees batter (Andruw Jones) and a Boston Red Sox catcher at Fenway Park (from Baseball)
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Image 26A game from the Cantigas de Santa Maria, c. 1280, involving tossing a ball, hitting it with a stick and competing with others to catch it (from History of baseball)
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Image 27Cover of Official Base Ball Rules, 1921 edition, used by the American League and National League (from Baseball rules)
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Image 28The American Tobacco Company's line of baseball cards featured shortstop Honus Wagner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1909 to 1911. In 2007, the card shown here sold for $2.8 million. (from Baseball)
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Image 29In May 2010, the Philadelphia Phillies' Roy Halladay pitched the 20th major league perfect game. That October, he pitched only the second no-hitter in MLB postseason history. (from History of baseball)
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Image 30Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. The Green Monster is visible beyond the playing field on the left. (from Baseball)
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Image 32The typical motion of a right-handed pitcher (from Baseball rules)
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Image 33Jackie Robinson in 1945, with the era's Kansas City Royals, a barnstorming squad associated with the Negro American League's Kansas City Monarchs (from History of baseball)
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Image 34A batter follows through after swinging at a pitched ball. (from Baseball rules)
Good articles - load new batch
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Rector v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, No. 303630 (N.Y. Sup. Bronx Co. 2014), was a New York Supreme Court defamation case. Andrew Rector sued Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees, ESPN and their MLB announcers for broadcasting images of him sleeping at a game at Yankee Stadium between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox and allegedly making defamatory comments about him. Rector sued for $10 million for "defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress". The case was dismissed by Judge Julia Rodriguez, who ruled that the statements made were not defamatory. (Full article...) -
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Clifton Phifer Lee (born August 30, 1978) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher who played for 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Between 2002 and 2014 he played for the Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners, and Texas Rangers. During his career, Lee was a member of four All-Star teams, won the Cy Young Award, and had consecutive World Series appearances in 2009 and 2010 with the Phillies and Rangers.
Born and raised in Benton, Arkansas, Lee's 91 mph (146 km/h) fastball attracted the attention of MLB scouts during his senior year at Benton High School in 1997, but he rejected draft offers twice in order to play college baseball for Meridian Community College and later the Arkansas Razorbacks. Lee finally came to terms with the Expos after his selection in the fourth round of the 2000 MLB Draft, and he spent two years in their farm system before a trade to Cleveland in 2002. Lee made his MLB debut with his new team that year, and made his first opening day roster in 2004. His early years in Cleveland were marked by a number of temper flares, appearing to intentionally pitch at his opponents' heads and storming off of the mound, but by 2005, he was an established part of the Indians' starting rotation. The low point of his career, when he was sent back to the minor leagues in 2007, was followed by his Cy Young-winning season, during which he led the American League with a 2.54 earned run average and all of MLB with 22 wins. (Full article...) -
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Dayton Moore (born February 17, 1967) is an American baseball executive who is currently serving as senior advisor of baseball operations for the Texas Rangers. Moore's baseball career began as an assistant coach at George Mason University. He transitioned to professional baseball after being hired by the Atlanta Braves. In the Braves' organization, Moore worked in the team's scouting department and was later promoted to the baseball operations department. In 2006, Moore was hired by the Kansas City Royals to fill a vacancy in their general manager position, replacing Allard Baird. Moore was the Royals' general manager during the team's 2014 American League championship and 2015 World Series titles.
He served as the franchise's general manager until the end of the 2021 Royals season and in 2022, Moore was promoted to the team's president of baseball operations. He was fired by the Royals later that season. (Full article...) -
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Joseph Michael Nathan (born November 22, 1974) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago Cubs. Nathan started out his baseball career as a shortstop in high school and in college for Stony Brook, but converted to a pitcher after being drafted by the Giants. He worked his way through the minor leagues, alternating between spots in the rotation and the bullpen.
When he debuted in 1999, he became the first player from Stony Brook to reach MLB. After a few years of splitting time between the major leagues and minor leagues, Nathan had a breakout season as a setup man for the Giants in 2003. That offseason, Nathan was traded to the Twins and became their closer. From 2004 to 2009, Nathan was considered one of the top closers in the major leagues, with four All-Star selections and a league-leading 246 saves. Nathan finished fourth in American League (AL) Cy Young voting in 2004 and fifth in 2006. (Full article...) -
Image 5Brien McKeiver Taylor (born December 26, 1971) is an American former pitcher in minor league baseball. He spent seven seasons in the minor leagues, primarily with the New York Yankees organization. In his career, he had a win–loss record of 22–30, a 5.12 earned run average (ERA), and 425 strikeouts.
Born in Beaufort, North Carolina, Taylor attended East Carteret High School, where his pitching ability caused him to be chosen by the New York Yankees with the first overall selection in the 1991 Major League Baseball Draft. After two full seasons in the minor leagues, he injured his shoulder in a fight, and was ineffective after returning to baseball. He retired in 2000, having never played a game above Class AA. He is one of three players to be drafted first overall in the Major League Baseball Draft and never play in the major leagues, along with Steve Chilcott and Brady Aiken. (Full article...) -
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Ramón A. Ramírez (born September 16, 1982) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds. He threw three pitches: a fastball, a slider, and a changeup.
Ramírez was signed by the San Diego Padres in 2000 as an outfielder, but he was released in 2001. The Reds signed him in 2003 as a pitcher, and he reached the major leagues in 2008, when he made four starts for the Reds. The next year, he appeared in 11 games in relief for the Reds. After the season, the Tampa Bay Rays claimed him off waivers, but they released him. The Boston Red Sox claimed him off waivers, and he spent 2010 in the minor leagues for them. He signed with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization in 2011, but he was released before appearing in a game with them. (Full article...) -
Image 7Sandoval with the Atlanta Braves in 2021
Pablo Emilio Sandoval Reyes (born August 11, 1986) is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball third baseman for the Staten Island FerryHawks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves. He stands 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall, and weighs 268 pounds (122 kg). Nicknamed "Kung Fu Panda", Sandoval is a two-time All-Star and has won three World Series championships with the Giants. He hit three home runs in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, becoming the fourth player to hit three home runs in a World Series game, leading to his being named that year's World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP). During the offseason, Sandoval plays for the Navegantes del Magallanes of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (VPBL).
In 2002, Sandoval was signed by the San Francisco Giants. Sandoval worked his way through the minor leagues and debuted with the Giants in 2008, batting .345 in 41 games. Capable of playing first base, third base, and catcher, he became the Giants' starting third baseman in 2009, ceasing to catch that year and playing first base only occasionally. In 2009, Sandoval finished second in All-Star Final Vote balloting, batting .330 with 25 home runs and 90 runs batted in (RBIs) in his first full season in the majors. However, Sandoval struggled in 2010 and was benched during the playoffs for the 2010 World Series, which the Giants won. He lost weight before 2011 and hit .315 with 23 home runs in 117 games. Injuries limited Sandoval to 109 games in 2012, but he was selected to his second-straight All-Star Game. Then, in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, Sandoval joined Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, and Albert Pujols as the only players to hit three home runs in a World Series Game. For his contributions, Sandoval was named the World Series Most Valuable Player, as the Giants swept the Detroit Tigers. In 2013, he appeared in 141 games, batting .278, with 14 home runs, and 79 RBIs. (Full article...) -
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Paul Kenneth Shuey (born September 16, 1970) is an American former professional baseball player. Primarily a relief pitcher, Shuey pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians (1994–2002), Los Angeles Dodgers (2002–2003) and Baltimore Orioles (2007).
Shuey was honored as an All-American as a college baseball pitcher for the North Carolina Tar Heels baseball team. The Indians selected Shuey with the second overall selection of the 1992 MLB draft. Envisioned as a comparable pitcher to Cincinnati Reds closer Rob Dibble, Shuey had more success as a setup reliever than closer. (Full article...) -
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Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox pitched a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners by retiring all 27 batters he faced on April 21, 2012, as the White Sox defeated the Mariners 4–0. It was the 21st perfect game in Major League Baseball (MLB) history and the third by a member of the White Sox, and remains the earliest calendar date for a perfect game in MLB history. It was Humber's first career complete game, although he had come close to achieving no-hitters on several occasions at several levels of organized baseball. The game was played in Seattle and broadcast regionally by Fox Sports in the two teams' metropolitan areas.
Humber, a top pitching prospect from a Texas high school, attended Rice University, where he had a successful career. A high draft pick by the New York Mets, he debuted in MLB for the Mets before headlining a group of four prospects traded to the Minnesota Twins for Johan Santana. After two ineffective seasons with the Twins, Humber pitched a season for the Kansas City Royals. Acquired on waivers by the Chicago White Sox in 2011, Humber had his first successful season in an MLB starting rotation. The perfect game, Humber's 30th career start and his 2nd of the 2012 season, totaled 96 pitches. (Full article...) -
Image 10Grant with the Minnesota Vikings in 1968
Harry Peter "Bud" Grant Jr. (May 20, 1927 – March 11, 2023) was an American professional gridiron football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). Grant was head coach of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings for 18 seasons; he was the team's second (1967–83) and fourth (1985) head coach, leading them to four Super Bowl appearances, 11 division titles, one league championship and three National Football Conference championships. Before coaching the Vikings, he was the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for 10 seasons, winning the Grey Cup four times.
Grant attended the University of Minnesota and was a three-sport athlete, in football, basketball, and baseball. After college, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Minneapolis Lakers where he won the 1950 NBA Finals. Grant left the NBA to play in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles before leaving for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL. A statue of Grant stands in front of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' current stadium, IG Field. (Full article...) -
Image 11
Jeffrey Robert Bagwell (born May 27, 1968) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and coach who spent his entire 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) playing career with the Houston Astros.
Originally a Boston Red Sox fourth-round selection from the University of Hartford in the 1989 amateur draft, Bagwell was traded to the Astros in 1990. Bagwell was named the National League (NL) Rookie of the Year in 1991 and won the NL Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in 1994. Bagwell and longtime Astros second baseman Craig Biggio and teammate Lance Berkman were known as the "Killer B's", and the team experienced consistent success during their careers; Houston finished in first or second place in the NL Central division in eleven of twelve seasons from 1994 to 2005. During that period, the Astros qualified for the playoffs six times, culminating in Bagwell's lone World Series appearance in 2005. (Full article...) -
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Ronald Alcides Torreyes (born September 2, 1992) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball infielder. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, and Minnesota Twins.
Torreyes began playing baseball at a young age in Barinas, Venezuela, after watching his father play. He was ignored by several MLB teams on account of his small frame, but signed with the Cincinnati Reds in 2010. Torreyes played for several minor league affiliates of the Reds, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays before he was traded to the Dodgers in 2015. Torreyes made his MLB debut for the Dodgers that September, filling in for an injured Jose Peraza. He underwent another series of transactions at the start of 2016 before settling with the Yankees as a backup infielder. Torreyes was used sparingly until 2017, when a shoulder injury to Didi Gregorius saw him start at shortstop for the first month of the season. When Greg Bird returned to the lineup in 2018, however, Torreyes lost his place on the Yankees roster. (Full article...) -
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Eric Lynn Hacker (born March 26, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Hacker stands 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) and weighs 230 pounds (100 kg). He throws right-handed but is a switch hitter. He has also played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Minnesota Twins, and San Francisco Giants. He throws a fastball, a slider, a curveball, and a changeup.
Hacker was drafted out of Duncanville High School by the New York Yankees in 2002. He pitched in their minor league system from 2002 to 2009 (missing 2004 and 2006 with injuries) before getting traded to the Pirates. He made his major league debut with Pittsburgh on September 22, 2009, and pitched in three games for them that season. He signed with the Giants in the offseason and spent the entire 2010 season in the minor leagues. In 2011, he signed with the Twins and appeared in two games with them. He signed with San Francisco in 2012 and made his first career start in the majors, recording a loss. He also pitched three games in relief for the Giants that year. (Full article...) -
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James Evan Gattis (born August 18, 1986) is an American former professional baseball designated hitter and catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros. Gattis has also earned the nickname of El Oso Blanco or The White Bear, due to his raw power capabilities when playing for the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. While with Atlanta, he played catcher and occasionally left field.
Gattis was a premier amateur baseball player in the Dallas–Fort Worth area through high school. However, anxiety and substance abuse led him to abandon his scholarship to Texas A&M University. After wandering around the Western United States for four years, he returned to baseball, and was drafted by the Braves in 2010. (Full article...) -
Image 15Charles Wilber Rogan, also known as "Bullet Joe" (July 28, 1893 – March 4, 1967), was an American pitcher, outfielder, and manager for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro baseball leagues from 1920 to 1938. Renowned as a two-way player who could both hit and pitch successfully, one statistical compilation shows Rogan winning more games than any other pitcher in Negro leagues history and ranking fourth highest in career batting average. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.
Rogan's early baseball career took place in the U.S. Army, where he played for a famous team in the all-black 25th Infantry. After joining the Kansas City Monarchs, he was the top pitcher and one of the best hitters on a team that won three pennants from 1923 to 1925 and the 1924 Colored World Series. He became a playing manager in 1926 and led his team to another league title in 1929. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg/47px-Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg.png)
- ... that Devin Futrell used a post to dodge a draft?
- ... that Billy Raimondi declined opportunities to play in Major League Baseball?
- ... that Frankie Saluto was a member of the Ringling Giants, a dwarf baseball team that raised money for charity?
- ... that Major League Baseball pitcher Charlie Gray was billed as his team's pitcher "of six fingers and six toed fame" and called "a freak" by the Sporting Life?
- ... that Scott Isphording coached golf and baseball for a time while on the football coaching staff at Wittenberg University?
- ... that Drew Golz, who was Baseball Academic All-American of the Year and Soccer Academic All-American of the Year, became the first male student athlete to be named Academic All-American of the year for two sports at the same time?
- ... that the injuries Anthony W. Case suffered in a school shooting led him to give up baseball and turn to astrophysics as a career?
- ... that Dominic Keegan refused a position on the New York Yankees to "go back and win another championship" for his college baseball team?
Quotes
When you make a bad pitch and the hitter puts it out of the park and you cost your team the game, it's a real test of your maturity to be able to stand in front of your locker fifteen minutes later and admit it to the world. How many people in other professions would be willing to have their job performances evaluated that way, in front of millions, every afternoon at five o'clock. |
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Image 1
Ben Sheets made six Opening Day starts for the Brewers, a franchise record.
The Milwaukee Brewers are a Major League Baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They play in the National League Central division. Established in Seattle, Washington, as the Seattle Pilots in 1969, the team became the Milwaukee Brewers after relocating to Milwaukee in 1970. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starting pitcher is an honor which is given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season, though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day. The Brewers have used 34 different Opening Day starting pitchers in their 56 seasons.
The Pilots, whose home ballpark was Sick's Stadium, played their inaugural Opening Day game on the road against the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California, on April 8, 1969. Marty Pattin was their starting pitcher that day; he earned the win in a game the Pilots won, 4–3. In 1970, the team relocated to Wisconsin and began playing their home games at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Brewers opened their first season in Milwaukee at home with Opening Day starter Lew Krausse Jr. taking the loss in a 12–0 defeat by the California Angels on April 9. County Stadium was home to the Brewers for 31 seasons through 2000. Their final Opening Day game at the facility occurred on April 26, 1995. Starter Ricky Bones took a no decision in the Brewers' 12–3 win over the Chicago White Sox. Steve Woodard received an unusual no decision in 2000, when the team's Opening Day game against the Cincinnati Reds was called in the sixth inning due to rain, with the score tied at 3. The team moved into American Family Field, then known as Miller Park, in 2001, but they did not play their first Opening Day game at the new stadium until five years later. In that game, held on April 3, 2006, Milwaukee defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5–2; starter Doug Davis did not figure in the decision. (Full article...) -
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Citi Field is the home stadium of the Mets.
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in Flushing, Queens, New York City. They compete in the East Division of Major League Baseball's (MLB) National League (NL). The team's current home stadium is Citi Field, after playing two years at the Polo Grounds and 45 years at Shea Stadium. Since their inception in 1962, the Mets have won two World Series titles and five NL championships. As of the end of the 2023 season, the Mets have won more than 4,700 regular season games, a total that ranks 20th among MLB teams and fourth among expansion teams.
The Mets lost 120 games in their inaugural season, the most by a post-1900 MLB team. After six more years in which their best league finish was ninth, the Mets won the World Series in 1969, defeating the Baltimore Orioles in five games to earn what is widely considered one of the biggest upsets in baseball history. Four seasons later, the Mets returned to the World Series, where they lost to the Oakland Athletics in seven games. After winning two NL championships in five years, New York struggled for the next decade, not coming within 10 games of the NL East leader until 1984. (Full article...) -
Image 3The Dick Howser Trophy is bestowed annually to the national college baseball player of the year. The award is named after former collegiate and Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager Dick Howser, who died as the result of brain cancer on June 17, 1987, at the age of 51. In that same year, the award was established by friends of Howser and presented to Mike Fiore, the inaugural winner. It is considered to be the Heisman Trophy of college baseball.
Six winners of the Dick Howser Trophy are members of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. Five winners—Kris Benson, David Price, Stephen Strasburg, Adley Rutschman, and Paul Skenes—went on to become the first overall MLB draft pick. Jason Jennings, Buster Posey, and Kris Bryant went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award several years after winning the Dick Howser Trophy. Jered Weaver is the only award winner to pitch a no-hitter, while Mark Teixeira holds the record for most games with home runs from both sides of the plate. Furthermore, seventeen players won the Golden Spikes Award alongside the Dick Howser Trophy. Brooks Kieschnick is the only player to win the trophy more than once. (Full article...) -
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Mark Teixeira (2001) played 162 games for the Rangers in back-to-back seasons and finished second in the MVP voting in 2009.
The Texas Rangers are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. They play in the American League West division. Before 1972 (and for the first seven years of the draft), they were known as the Washington Senators and based in Washington, D.C. Since the institution of MLB's Rule 4 Draft, the Rangers franchise has selected 68 players in the first round. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the Rule 4 Draft is MLB's primary mechanism for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. In addition, teams which lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks.
Of the 71 players picked in the first round by Washington or Texas, 37 have been pitchers, the most of any position; 27 of these were right-handed, while 10 were left-handed. Twelve outfielders, nine third basemen, six shortstops, four catchers, two first basemen, and one second baseman were also taken. Fourteen of the players came from high schools or colleges in the state of Texas, and California follows with ten players. The Rangers have drafted one player, Tanner Scheppers in 2009, who was playing in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball at the time of the draft. Scheppers was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 29th round of the 2005 MLB Draft, and by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second round of the 2008 MLB Draft. (Full article...) -
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Eddie Plank, the holder of 10 franchise records for the Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Oakland, California. The Athletics formed in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics; after moving to Kansas City for 13 seasons, the Athletics relocated to Oakland in 1968. Through 2023, the Athletics have played 19,113 games, winning 9,260, losing 9,766, and tying 87, for a winning percentage of approximately .487. This list documents the superlative records and accomplishments of team members during their tenures as Athletics.
Eddie Plank holds the most franchise records as of the end of the 2023 season, with ten, including the most career wins, losses and hit batsmen. He is followed by Jimmie Foxx, who holds nine records, including the best career on-base percentage and the single-season home runs record, as well as Al Simmons, who holds the single season hit and RBI records. (Full article...) -
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Orlando Hernández won gold with the Cuban team in the 1992 Summer Olympics, baseball's first appearance as an Olympic medal sport.
Baseball is a sport formerly contested at the Summer Olympic Games. It was originally played as a demonstration sport in seven Olympics—1912, 1936, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1984, and 1988— more than for any other sport in Olympic history. These exhibitions featured a single game at the first five Olympic appearances and then a tournament format in 1984 and 1988. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted baseball official status on October 13, 1986, for the 1992 Summer Olympics. The sport was contested at each subsequent Games through 2008, after which the IOC removed it from the roster of Olympic sports.
In 1992, the first official Olympic baseball tournament was won by the Cuban team. Cuba had boycotted the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, missing the previous exhibition baseball tournaments, but entered in 1992 as the favorite, having won the past 12 world championships and with a 62–1 record in international competitions since 1986. The Cubans went undefeated in the 1992 Olympics and trailed in only one game. They went undefeated again at the 1996 Olympics en route to a second consecutive gold medal. The United States won their first medal (bronze) in the 1996 Olympics and then won gold at the 2000 Summer Olympics. 2000 was the first Olympics in which Cuba lost a game: first to the Dutch team in round-robin play and then again to the Americans in the gold medal game. This was also the first time professional players were allowed to compete in baseball, though Major League Baseball (MLB) did not permit any player on the 40-man roster of an MLB team to compete. In 2004, the reigning gold medalist United States did not qualify for the Olympic tournament, while the Cuban team won its third gold medal. (Full article...) -
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Bill Dawley was the starting pitcher for the Sounds' inaugural April 15, 1978, opener.
The Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team has played in Nashville, Tennessee, since being established in 1978 as an expansion team of the Double-A Southern League. They moved up to Triple-A in 1985 as members of the American Association before joining the Pacific Coast League in 1998. With the restructuring of the minor leagues in 2021, they were placed in the Triple-A East, which became the International League in 2022. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starting pitcher is an honor which is given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season, though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day. The Sounds have used 43 different Opening Day starters in their 46 seasons.
Nashville's first Opening Day game was played against the Memphis Chicks at Tim McCarver Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 15, 1978. Bill Dawley was their starting pitcher that day; he took the decision in a game the Sounds lost, 4–2. Their first Opening Day game held at home was an 8–7 win against the Birmingham Barons at Herschel Greer Stadium on April 9, 1981. Starter Jamie Werly, who went on to win the Southern League Most Outstanding Pitcher Award that season, did not figure in the decision. On April 4, 2013, starter Tyler Thornburg took a no decision in the final Opening Day game at Greer Stadium, a 5–4 Sounds win. The team left Greer after the 2014 season, but did not play their first Opening Day game at First Horizon Park, their new facility then known as First Tennessee Park, until two years later. In that game, held on April 7, 2016, Sounds starting pitcher Chris Smith was charged with the loss in a 5–0 shutout by the Oklahoma City Dodgers. (Full article...) -
Image 8There have been 23 managers in the history of the Los Angeles Angels Major League Baseball franchise. The Angels are based in Anaheim, California. They are members of the American League West division of the American League (AL) in Major League Baseball (MLB). The Angels franchise was formed in 1961 as a member of the American League. The team was formerly called the California Angels, the Anaheim Angels, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, before settling with the Los Angeles Angels.
Bill Rigney became the first manager of the then Los Angeles Angels in 1961, serving for just over eight seasons before being fired by Angels owner Gene Autry during the 1969 season. In terms of tenure, Mike Scioscia has managed more games and seasons than any other coach in franchise history. He managed the Angels to six playoff berths (2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009) led the team to a World Series championship in 2002, and won the Manager of the Year award in 2002 and 2009. With the Angels' 2009 Playoff appearance, Mike Scioscia became the first Major League Baseball manager "to guide his team to playoffs six times in [his] first 10 seasons." None of Scioscia's predecessors made it to the World Series. Dick Williams and Whitey Herzog, who served as an interim manager immediately before Williams, are the only Angels managers to have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. (Full article...) -
Image 9
Tim Dillard is the Sounds' career leader in wins (48), games pitched (242), innings pitched (710), and strikeouts (437).
The Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team has played in Nashville, Tennessee, since being established in 1978 as an expansion team of the Double-A Southern League. They moved up to Triple-A in 1985 as members of the American Association before joining the Pacific Coast League in 1998. The team was placed in the Triple-A East in 2021 prior to this becoming the International League in 2022. In the history of the franchise, numerous players and teams have set records in various statistical areas during single games, entire seasons, or their Sounds careers.
Of the nine Sounds who hold the 19 career records tracked by the team, Tim Dillard holds the most, with seven. He is followed by Skeeter Barnes and Chad Hermansen, with three each; and Keith Brown, Mark Corey, Hugh Kemp, Otis Nixon, Tike Redman, and Joey Wendle, with one apiece. Dillard holds the most franchise records, with eight. He is followed by Jamie Werly, with six; and Steve Balboni and Skeeter Barnes, who hold four records each. (Full article...) -
Image 10The San Diego Padres are a professional baseball franchise based in San Diego, California. They are a member of the National League (NL) West in Major League Baseball (MLB). The team joined MLB in 1969 as an expansion team and have won two NL Championships in 1984 and 1998. The team played their home games at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly known as San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium) from 1969 to 2003. Starting with the 2004 season, they moved to PETCO Park, where they have played since. The team is owned by Ron Fowler, and A. J. Preller is their general manager. There have been 21 managers for the Padres franchise. The team was most recently managed by Jayce Tingler, who was fired at the end of the 2021 season.
The first manager of the Padres was Preston Gómez, who managed for four seasons. Bruce Bochy is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games managed (1926), the most regular-season game wins (951), the most playoff games managed (24), and the most playoff-game wins (8). Bob Skinner is the Padres' all-time leader for the highest regular-season winning percentage, as he has only managed one game, which he won. Of the managers who have managed a minimum of 162 games (one season), Jack McKeon has the highest regular-season winning percentage with .541, having managed for 357 games. Dick Williams, the only Padres manager to have been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame, is the franchise's all-time leader for the highest playoff winning percentage with .400. Williams and Bochy are the only managers to have won an NL Championship with the Padres, in 1984 and 1998 respectively. Bochy and Black are the only managers to have won a Manager of the Year Award with the Padres, in 1996 and 2010. Greg Riddoch and Jerry Coleman have spent their entire managing careers with the Padres. (Full article...) -
Image 11
In the first World Series in 1903, the Boston Americans (front row) defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates (back row) 5-3 in an eight-game series.
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) and concludes the MLB postseason. First played in 1903, the World Series championship is a best-of-seven playoff and is a contest between the champions of baseball's National League (NL) and American League (AL). Often referred to as the "Fall Classic", the modern World Series has been played every year since 1903 with two exceptions: in 1904, when the NL champion New York Giants declined to play the AL champion Boston Americans; and in 1994, when the series was canceled due to the players' strike. The best-of-seven style has been the format of all World Series except in 1903, 1919, 1920, 1921, when the winner was determined through a best-of-nine playoff. Although the large majority of contests have been played entirely during the month of October, a small number of Series have also had games played during September and November. The Series-winning team is awarded the Commissioner's Trophy. Players, coaches and others associated with the team are generally given World Series rings to commemorate their victory; however, they have received other items such as pocket watches and medallions in the past. The winning team is traditionally invited to the White House to meet the President of the United States.
A total of 119 World Series have been contested through 2023, with the AL champion winning 68 and the NL champion winning 51. The New York Yankees of the AL have played in 40 World Series, winning 27 – the most championship appearances and most victories by any team amongst the major North American professional sports leagues. The Dodgers of the NL have the most losses with 14, while the Yankees have the most losses among AL teams with 13. The St. Louis Cardinals have won 11 championships, the most championships among NL clubs and second-most all-time behind the Yankees, and have made 19 total appearances, third-most among NL clubs. The Dodgers have represented the NL the most in the World Series with 21 appearances. The Seattle Mariners are the only MLB franchise that has never appeared in a World Series; the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, and Colorado Rockies have all played in the Series but have never won it. The Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals are the only teams who have won their only World Series appearance, and the Toronto Blue Jays and Miami Marlins are the only teams with multiple World Series appearances with no losses. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only franchise from outside the United States to appear in and win a World Series, winning in 1992 and 1993. The Houston Astros are the only franchise to have represented both the NL (2005) and the AL (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022), winning the Series in 2017 and 2022. The current (2023) World Series champions are the Texas Rangers. (Full article...) -
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Major League Baseball (MLB) annually honors its best relief pitchers in the American League (AL) and National League (NL) with the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year Award and Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year Award, respectively. The awards are named after former relievers Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman, who played their entire careers in the respective leagues. First issued in 2014, the awards replaced the Delivery Man of the Year Award, which had been presented since 2005.
The Reliever of the Year Awards are based on the votes of a panel of retired relievers. Each voter selects three pitchers for each league based solely on their performance in the regular season; a 5-3-1 weighted point system is used to determine the winner. At its inception in 2014, the panel consisted of the top five relievers in career saves at the time—Rivera, Hoffman, Lee Smith, John Franco, and Billy Wagner—and the four living relief pitchers who were in the Hall of Fame: Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, and Bruce Sutter. (Full article...) -
Image 13
Cy Young is the all-time leader in wins.
In Major League Baseball, the 300-win club is the group of pitchers who have won 300 or more games. Twenty-four pitchers have reached this milestone. This list does not include Bobby Mathews who won 297 in the major leagues plus several more in 1869 and 1870 before the major leagues were established in 1871. The San Francisco Giants are the only franchise to see four players reach 300 wins while on their roster: Tim Keefe in the Players' League, Christy Mathewson and Mickey Welch while the team was in New York, and most recently Randy Johnson. Early in the history of professional baseball, many of the rules favored the pitcher over the batter; the distance pitchers threw to home plate was shorter than today, and pitchers were able to use foreign substances to alter the direction of the ball. Moreover, a schedule with rest days after most games allowed pitchers to start a far higher proportion of their team's games than modern pitchers do, typically every other game or even more (in the second half of the 1884 season Old Hoss Radbourn started 40 games out of 43). The first player to win 300 games was Pud Galvin in 1888. Seven pitchers recorded all or the majority of their career wins in the 19th century: Galvin, Cy Young, Kid Nichols, Keefe, John Clarkson, Charles Radbourn, and Welch. Four more pitchers joined the club in the first quarter of the 20th century: Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Eddie Plank, and Grover Cleveland Alexander. Young is the all-time leader in wins with 511, a mark that is considered unbreakable. If a modern-day pitcher won 20 games per season for 25 seasons, he would still be 11 games short of Young's mark.
Only three pitchers—Lefty Grove, Warren Spahn, and Early Wynn—joined the 300-win club between 1924 and 1982, which may be explained by a number of factors: the abolition of the spitball; World War II military service, such as Bob Feller's; and the growing importance of the home run in the game. As the home run became commonplace, the physical and mental demands on pitchers dramatically increased, which led to the use of a four-man starting rotation. Between 1982 and 1990, the 300-win club gained six members: Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro, Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, Don Sutton, and Tom Seaver. These pitchers benefited from baseball's increase from a 154-game schedule to a 162-game schedule in 1961, and expansion of the league from 16 teams in 1960 to 26 by 1977. The increased use of specialized relief pitchers, an expanded strike zone, and new stadiums, including Shea Stadium, Dodger Stadium and the Astrodome, that were pitcher's parks all also suppressed offensive production. Also, the increasing sophistication of training methods and sports medicine - such as Tommy John surgery - allowed players to maintain a high competitive level for a longer time. Randy Johnson, for example, won more games in his 40s than he did in his 20s. (Full article...) -
Image 14The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in St. Petersburg, Florida. They play in the American League East division. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starter is an honor, which is often given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season, though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day. The Rays have used fifteen different Opening Day starting pitchers in their twenty-six seasons. Since the franchise's beginning in 1998, the fifteen starters have a combined Opening Day record of seven wins, ten losses (7–10), and nine no decisions. "No decisions" are awarded to the starting pitcher if the game is won or lost after the starting pitcher has left the game.
Chris Archer and James Shields holds the Rays' record for most Opening Day starts with four. Archer has one win, two losses, and one no decision, while Shields has one win, one loss, and two no decisions. The all-time record for a Tampa Bay starting pitcher winning an Opening Day game is one, shared by Steve Trachsel, Albie Lopez, Victor Zambrano, James Shields, David Price, Chris Archer, and Shane McClanahan. (Full article...) -
Image 15
The Boston Red Sox are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1912 to the present, the Red Sox have played in Fenway Park. The "Red Sox" name originates from the iconic uniform feature. They are sometimes nicknamed the "BoSox", a combination of "Boston" and "Sox" (as opposed to the "ChiSox"), the "Crimson Hose", and "the Olde Towne Team". Most fans simply refer to them as the Sox.
One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Boston in 1901. They were a dominant team in the early 20th century, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903. They won four more championships by 1918, and then went into one of the longest championship droughts in baseball history. Many attributed the phenomenon to the "Curse of the Bambino" said to have been caused by the trade of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920. The drought was ended and the "curse" reversed in 2004, when the team won their sixth World Series championship. Championships in 2007 and 2013 followed. Every home game from May 15, 2003, through April 10, 2013, was sold out—a span of 820 games over nearly ten years. The team most recently won the World Series in 2018, the ninth championship in franchise history. (Full article...)
More did you know
- ... that while playing baseball at Shibe Park, outfielder Herschel Bennett crashed into a wall, causing him to fall into a 36-hour coma and helping to end his major league career?
- ... that Helen Callaghan of the AAGPBL and son Casey Candaele are the only mother/son duo to play professional baseball, with Candaele having a career batting average seven points lower than his mother's?
- ... that in his Major League Baseball debut on July 30, 1961, pitcher Art Mahaffey gave up two singles but picked off each of those baserunners at first base?
- ... that Johnny Sylvester received a promise from baseball player Babe Ruth while suffering from a life-threatening illness that he would hit a home run for him during the 1926 World Series?
- ... that Roger Peckinpaugh set a World Series record for errors?
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The Norfolk Tides, a Farm team for the Baltimore Orioles, take on the Columbus Clippers at Harbor Park
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