Category: Baseball History

Nobody knows. Apparently that record was never kept, and it is now near impossible to go back and determine what the record is or who holds it. One possibility is Joe DiMaggio, in that famous 1941 season. Everyone knows about the 56-game hitting streak, but what is less well known is […]

James “Deacon” White of the Cincinnati Red Stockings is credited with pioneering the catcher’s chest protector and was the first professional to wear a catcher’s mask, at the expense of being teased by the fans. This was in 1869.

While this kind of play occurs often, it is not legal under baseball rules. Officially, an out cannot be recorded on a force play at second unless the fielder touches the bag while holding the ball. In the need to make a quick relay throw, many fielders just sweep their […]

Babe Ruth appeared in ten World Series, winning seven Championship rings. He pitched for Boston’s Championship teams of 1915, ’16, and ’18, and then won four more World Series after his trade to the Yankees (he won rings in 1923, ’27, ’28, and ’32). 1915: Boston Red Sox 4, Philadelphia Athletics 11916: Boston Red Sox 4, Brooklyn […]

According to his autobiography, it is. On June 12, 1970, Ellis stoned the Padres for nine innings (no pun intended), leading his Pirates to a 2-0 win. Impressive in and of itself, but it became even more incredible when he later admitted to having taken LSD before the game. Coming out […]

Steve Carlton holds the all-time strikeout record for lefthanders with 4,136. He is second overall, but still stands a healthy 1,600 behind Nolan Ryan. In a 23-year career with the Cardinals and Phillies, Carlton was good for a 3.22 ERA and led the majors in Ks five times. His 329 wins put […]

There have been over 200 no-hitters since the beginning of baseball. Most have been shutouts, but occasionally the opposing team will score a run or two on some combination of walks, errors, wild pitches, etc. But on only four occasions has a team scored so few runs that their unhittable […]

When Cal Ripken Jr. ended his streak on September 20, 1998, manager Ray Miller inserted prospect Ryan Minor into the lineup at third base. Ripken returned the next game. Minor, tabbed as Ripken’s eventual successor, has hit just .185 in limited duty since then, while old man Ripken just keeps rolling along, hitting .300 since that point.

Tom Seaver struck out 10 consecutive Padres on April 22, 1970, leading the Mets to a 2-1 victory over San Diego. He set another record by whiffing 19 total batters, though that has since been broken by Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood. The 10 straight Pads to go down were the final 10 of the […]

Originally, baseball writers were told to use their own guidelines in determining rookie status. In 1950, Cleveland youngster Al Rosen did not get a single vote, despite his league-leading 37 homers. Boston’s Walt Dropo, who was certainly deserving, won the award instead. However, the determination that Rosen was ineligible based on his 58 […]