In Cincinnati, Opening Day is like a holiday when the Reds begin the season. Johnny Vander Meer was part of the inaugural class inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1958. The lefty had a career record of 119-121 in 13 seasons, while going 116-116 in 11 years with the Reds. Those stats […]
Category: 1940s Baseball History
No-hitters are special, but to have two in one season is historic. During the 1944 season, Boston Braves right hander Jim Tobin became the second pitcher in the modern era to toss a pair of hitless affairs in the same year. Cincinnati’s Johnny Vander Meer was the first in 1938 with back-to-back performances. The knuckleballer […]
Voting for the National Baseball Hall of Fame has always been fascinating. Between the writers and other committees there is always controversy. Perhaps one of the most unusual stories belongs to Red Ruffing, who was inducted in 1967 after the third and final run-off election in the history of the shrine. According to the rules […]
Baseball nicknames are a part of the game. In some cases, many fans may not know a player’s real name. Some of the players are even listed on the baseballreference.com site with their nicknames like Cap Anson, Home Run Baker, Choo-Choo Coleman, Pee Wee Reese, Smokey Joe Williams and perhaps the most famous, Babe Ruth. […]
Curiosity is a funny thing. It makes me obsessive, especially about baseball. After listening to the television commentators during the post-season series between the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies, it’s hard not to be a fan of Erik Kratz. However, here is where my obsession kicked in my brain. At 38, it was stated that […]
It was a trade that made front page news back in 1932. Babe Herman of the Brooklyn Dodgers apparently wasn’t happy. The star outfielder was holding out during spring training because, according to stories in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle prior to the season, he didn’t like the $15,000 offer from the Dodgers after making $19,000 […]
Connecting through social media sites like Facebook has become commonplace in today’s world. Like most people, it’s allowed me to stay in contact with many friends from high school and college. But there is something that social media has done for me, which was hard to imagine as I began writing about baseball history on […]
One swing determined everything. In one moment, New York Yankees pitcher Bill Bevens lost a no-hitter and a game on baseball’s biggest stage in 1947. Bevens was one out away from winning the fourth contest of the World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, but one pitch to Cookie Lavagetto resulted in a reversal of fortune. […]
Adrian Zabala was one of 13. Back in 1946, Zabala was suspended by Major League Baseball Commissioner A. B. “Happy” Chandler for jumping to the Mexican League. According to the Montreal Gazette from May 10, the ex-major league players were “ineligible” for five years. The story went on to include that the commissioner said players […]
Monday marks what would have been the 100th birthday of Johnny Hopp. The Nebraska native, who was a member of four teams that won the World Series, died in 2003 at the age of 86. A 14-year major leaguer, Hopp began his career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1939 and played there until 1945. […]