Your Home For Vintage Baseball Photos And Essays With Over 1500 Fully Categorized Articles. Ranked By Feedspot As The Internet's #2 Baseball History Website (Behind Only Baseball Reference)
“The fact that most baseball fans did not see him in his prime is one of the great tragedies of the game.” –Iconic Baseball photographer George Brace, speaking of Satchel Paige.
With February being Black History Month, here’s a salute to the great Hall of Famer Satchel Paige, who many baseball historians think may be the greatest pitcher ever…
With February being Black History Month, here’s a salute to the great Hall-of-Famer Satchel Paige, who many baseball historians think he may be the greatest pitcher ever.
Recent Posts Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive! to receive new posts automatically Pittsburgh Crawfords Photo […]
Recent Posts Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive! to receive new posts automatically Satchel Paige Photo […]
Recent Posts Subscribe to my blog for automatic updates and Free Bonus Reports: “Memorable World […]
Recent Posts I interviewed more than 50 Negro Leaguers in the late 1980s and […]
Recent Posts Subscribe to my blog for automatic updates and as a Bonus get instant […]
Recent Posts The legendary 35-year-old Satchel Paige and Kansas City Monarchs ace warms up […]
Recent Posts Click “Home” icon on left to see display of all my articles. Follow […]
“Dick Allen hits the ball harder than any player I’ve ever seen!” –Willie Mays. Now that’s quite a quote!…
“There are two times in my life the hair on my arms has stood up: The first time I saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the second time, I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball. -Dodger scout Al Campanis…
Watching the Yankees’ excruciating implosion in the fifth inning of Game Five reminded Vince Jankoski of an earlier, similar fifth-inning meltdown – in Game Two of the 1966 fall classic….
With the exciting conclusion of the 2024 World Series last night – and congrats to the Dodgers! – I thought the time was right to recall one of the best WS ever – from the Dodgers’ perspective!: the 1955 Fall Classic….
In past essays, I’ve explored the “Agony of Defeat” — World Series style — with posts highlighting numerous World Series goats. So now that we’re again in full World Series mode, I’ll instead just concentrate today on what is much more fun: the “Thrill of Victory.”…
As we get closer to the start of the 2024 World Series, this is a good time to start my annual tour through memorable World Series incidents Today we’ll take a look back at the aftermath of the 1964 World Series….
I think we’re all aware of what a great player Carl Yastrzemski was, and we’re aware of his heroic role in the Red Sox’ 1967 pennant drive and subsequent World Series championship. But when you read about all the specifics – as recounted for us today by Vince Jankoski – you’ll undoubtedly be as surprised as I was at just how spectacular his role was…
As I watched Detroit and Cleveland play their recent playoff series, I found myself thinking about a great player who starred for both these teams in days gone by. I was thinking, of course, of Rocky Colavito…
“Home run hitters drive Cadillacs; singles hitters drive Fords.” By Hank Greenberg’s definition of a home run slugger we can be sure that he was driving a Cadillac!…
“Them’a Cubs…they ain’t ‘a gonna’ winna’ no more! They are now and a’ forever cursed! –Billy Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, while being escorted out of Wrigley Field during the 1945 World Series…
The entire baseball world was deeply saddened today to learn of the passing of Pete Rose. Those of us who saw Pete Rose play regularly will never forget the fire he brought to the game. Love him or hate him, there’s no disagreement he was a great ballplayer – one of the best ever…
We’ve all seen variations of Willie Mays’s great catch in the 1954 World Series before. But there’s something about this photo that I’ll bet you never noticed. It’s… The “Mystery Person!”…
“Hung over, yes, many times…drunk, no.” -Hack Wilson, when asked if he ever played drunk.
“He was built like a beer keg…and was not unfamiliar with its contents!” -Unknown sportswriter, describing Hack Wilson’s physique…
Today is the 76th anniversary of a great day in Cleveland Indian history. Under Manager Lou Boudreau, they clinched the 1948 World Series after prevailing against the Boston Red Sox in a one-game playoff…
Sprotwrtiers play a major role in our enjoyment of the sport we all love. Often the contributions of even the great ones don’t receive recognition due them. Today, Vince Jankoski turns our attention to one of the most legendary sportswriters of all time with an unlikely first name: Shirley Povich…
I think all fair-minded baseball fans would never want to see anyone’s life negatively altered by what happens in a baseball game (think: Steve Bartman). Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to a young 19-year-old rookie named Fred Merkle 116 years ago today…
My Facebook friend of long-standing, Chris Baker, just posted a great photo of himself at the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore. Chris is holding the Yankee sweater of his great-grandfather, Hall of Famer Frank “Home Run” Baker….
Ninety years ago today, September 21, 1934, was a memorable day in baseball history. It was also a memorable day for the Dean family. In the second game of a doubleheader at Ebbets Field, 22-year-old Cardinal rookie pitcher Paul “Daffy” Dean became the fifth rookie to throw a no-hitter, beating the Dodgers, 3-0…
Today Vince Jankoski takes us on a revisit to the 1960 World Series. Vince takes a deep dive into some of the more subtle reasons the Yankees lost the 1960 World Series to the Pirates despite besting them in virtually every offensive and pitching category…
In a game played at Washington’s Griffith Stadium sixty-nine years ago yesterday, Indians’ rookie left-hander Herb Score fanned nine Senators bringing his season total to 228, setting a new rookie record for strikeouts in a season…
Thanks to Paul Doyle for calling my attention to possibly the most unusual trade in baseball history…
I love uncovering baseball oddities…you know…things that happen “between the white lines” that are very rare, some of which may never happen again. And I know you love reading about these things too, because…well…you’re a baseball fan!
The baseball world was sadden today to learn this week of the passing of the Mets Ed Kranepool (November 18, 1944-September 8, 2024) in Boca Raton, Florida after suffering from cardiac arrest…
One hundred years ago yesterday, on September 6, 1924, something very unusual occurred. St. Louis Browns right-hander Urban Shocker started and completed both ends of a doubleheader against the White Sox at Comiskey Park…
We all know a lot about the Babe, but I thought I’d share some interesting information about his second wife, Claire Hodgson. Also, I’ll shed some light on the purported role that Claire played in the storied feud between the Babe and the great Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig.
On September 9, 1961, the New York Yankees celebrated Whitey Ford Day at Yankee Stadium. Ford was in the midst of his greatest season, the only season in which he would win a Cy Young Award. Ford was in the process of being showered with gifts when a car drove up with a giant Life Saver candy package in the rear seat. As the car came to a halt, the lid on the Life Saver popped open and relief pitcher Luis Arroyo emerged…
“Baseball’s Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon,” is the best book of baseball photographs ever published.” -Roger Angell, longtime staff writer for the New Yorker …
“Durocher was a dirty manager. He was a dirty player… I hated his guts.” –Carl Furillo…
Here we see the great slugger Jimmie Foxx scratching his head, trying to figure out how his young teammate with such scrawny arms named Ted Williams generates all his power!
It’s time for another edition to my ongoing series of Baseball’s Forgotten Stars. “Schoolboy” Rowe fits right in. He’s a great example of a star from days gone by who has been largely forgotten over the passage of time…
I think it’s a safe assumption that most of us enjoy looking at old baseball photos, especially those old black-and white collections from the first half of the twentieth century when baseball was at its peak as the national pastime. Great photographers like Charles Conlon, George Burke, George Brace, Leslie Jones, and Barney Stein come readily to mind…
A few years ago, I wrote an essay about backup catchers, an important team position that is often overlooked. Today Vince Jankoski sets the record straight with an interesting essay detailing the exploits of the Yankees’ backup catcher in 1961, Johnny Blanchard….
Today Matt Kastel concludes his three-part series on the St. Louis Browns with an interesting account of the Brown’s last game. In a fitting conclusion to their 51-year run in St. Louis and their well-earned reputation for ineptitude, they ran out of balls in the last game!…
Here’s something crazy that happened sixty-seven years ago this past week in a game between the Phillies and the Giants…
I was honored this past weekend to give a PowerPoint presentation at the annual SABR convention in Minneapolis highlighting the Leslie Jones Boston Public Library Baseball Collection…
Today we continue with Part Two of Matt Kastel’s three-part series on the St. Louis Browns. Today’s essay is titled: “Enter Bill Veeck”…
Today Vince Jankoski returns with an interesting essay addressing the age-old baseball question of whether Casey Stengel was a genius – as many baseball fans think – or just lucky. His decisions in the seventh game of the 1952 World Series will leave you scratching your head…and with good reason!…
This one goes into the “You learn something new about this game every day” file!…
Today we welcome back Matt Kastel with the first of a three-part series on the not-so-successful history of the St. Louis Browns, certainly the most overlooked franchises in baseball history…
Here in Chicago, we’re in the midst of a stunningly bad baseball season…
Comparing merely great players to Hall-of-Famers is a subjective exercise. Two-time MVP winner HOFer Hank Greenberg born in 1911 is remembered as a no-brainer choice for Cooperstown…
