The Liniment Ball
The pitchers had the spitball, and the batters had the liniment ball. This popular legend is actually a true story, though commonly mistold.
Quirky
Non-HOF Players
Bobby Lowe’s Four-Homer Game
Hitting four consecutive homers with the dead ball of 1894 seemed an impossible feat, but a 150-pound leadoff batter did it, and all four homers cleared the fence!
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Hall of Fame
Lou Gehrig’s Big Day
Gehrig was the first player to hit four consecutive homers in a game under the modern rules. Yet more was written about his final at-bat than any of his homers that day.
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Non-HOF Players Quirky
Brakeman Jack Taylor
What do you think the record is for most consecutive pitching appearances without needing relief help? Would you believe that it includes 187 complete games!? Meet Brakeman Jack Taylor.
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Non-HOF Players Quirky
Surprise Master of the Complete Game
The number of complete games began to decline rapidly in the move to the Live Ball Era, when higher offensive levels made it tougher for a pitcher to go all the way. The best at tossing complete games in the Live Ball Era was the little known Red Lucas.
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Hall of Fame Negro Leagues
Hilton Smith’s Slow Rise to the Majors
Hilton Smith played in only one major league game before he turned 30. This is the story of the slow journey that began his Hall of Fame career.
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Non-HOF Players
Rise and Fall of Marty O’Toole
He arrived in the majors as the most heralded rookie pitcher of his generation. The check paying for his record-setting acquisition is in the Hall of Fame, but practically no one remembers him today.
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Evolution
Evolution of the Spitball
Story of how the spitball developed into the devastating pitch that forced baseball to ban the pitch to prevent it spreading further in the game.
Evolution of the Spitball Read Post »
Hall of Fame
Charles “Chief” Bender
Story of the career of pitcher Charles “Chief” Bender, the first Native American and Minnesotan in the Hall of Fame.
Charles “Chief” Bender Read Post »
Uncategorized
Notice
This site was hacked for ransom purposes in early January, which I refused to pay. I am currently rebuilding the site from scratch, which will take some time. I completely deleted the old WP installation, installed a fresh blank installation on a different server, updated to MySQL 8.0, and developed a better backup plan. (After