Be honest…Have you ever heard of Elmer Flick? If so, did you know he’s in the Hall of Fame? It doesn’t seem right to include a Hall of Famer in the “Forgotten Stars” category, but I think it applies to Elmer Flick. Mike Janacek returns today and attempts to set the record straight with an interesting account of Elmer’s life and career…
Smoky Burgess and His Bat Got Around!
Lets face it…the old pinch hitters (from the pre-DH era) are the Rodney Dangerfields of baseball: they get no respect! Today, Mark Kolier sets the record straight with an interesting essay about one of the best pinch hitters of all time: Smoky Burgess. I think you’ll enjoy what Mark has for us today…
Another Edition of “Baseball’s Forgotten Stars”: Guy Harris ‘Doc’ White
Mike Janacek returns today with an interesting essay on the long-forgotten Deadball Era star, Doc White. I was familiar with him as a standout pitcher for the 1906 World Series champion White Sox, but, as I discovered, he possessed many other talents not normally associated with ball players. I always find it enlightening to learn more about the game’s forgotten stars, so I think you’ll enjoy what Mike has for us today.
Another Edition of Baseball’s Overlooked Stars! Eppa Rixey Jr.
It seems like a contradiction to say that a Hall of Famer is a forgotten star, but I think the term applies in the case of Eppa Rixley. I’d venture to guess that the vast majority of baseball fans have never heard of him. And does he belong in the Hall of Fame? Mike Janacek returns today with a detailed and interesting look into his career. You can decide for yourself the answer to the question…
Let’s Remeber Bucky Harris: Grandfather/Godfather/Inventor of the Modern Relief Pitcher!
Vince Jankoski returns with another installmetn in his series on the evolution of relief pitchers. Today, he highlights the role that HOF manager “Boy Wonder” Bucky Harris played in the development of the modern relief pitcher…
Another Edition of Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Larry French
“He’s destined to become one of the greatest hurlers in the National League.” – Lefty Grove, speaking of a young Larry French…
Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Frank ‘Noodles’ Hahn
Many of you may have heard of the early twentieth century ball player, Noodles Hahn. Besides having one of the greatest baseball nicknames of all-time, Noodles Hahn was quite a pitcher over his injury shortened career, as Mike Janacek tells us today…
Ray Caldwell’s Unusual Contract – And that’s putting it mildly!
Today Mike Janacek returns with an interesting story of Ray Caldwell’s very unusual contract terms, given to him by his manager, that well-known “Doctor” of psychology, Tris Speaker. As weird as it appears, it seems to have worked!…
Another Edition of Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: John Montgomery Ward
We welcome back Ron Christensen with a detailed look into one of baseball’s forgotten stars from the nineteenth century, Hall of Famer John Montgomery Ward. As Ron demonstrates, JMW was truly a “jack of all trades,” and one of baseball’s great innovators…
Pete Runnels: The Most Underrated Hitter You’ve Never Heard of!
OK…I had heard of Pete Runnels and knew he played for the Red Sox, and had a vague recollection that he was a good hitter, but, as a National League fan back then, that was about the extent of my knowledge of his career. Today, we welcome back Ron Christensen who sets the record straight on this fine ball player, including winning two batting titles!…
Forgotten Dodger Star Dolph Camilli, Part Two
Today, we continue with Part Two of Bill Gralnick’s interesting essay on former Brooklyn Dodger, Dolph Camilli, whose outstanding achievements have been overlooked over the passage of time. We’re happy to shine our baseball spotlight on this true baseball star from the 1940s…
Another Edition of Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Dolph Camilli—Slugger with a Smile!
Today we welcome back longtime Brooklyn Dodger fan, Bill Gralnick, with an interesting essay about one of his favorite players: overlooked Dodger star and 19141 MVP, Dolph Camilli, one of the strongest men ever to play the game…
Another Edition of “Baseball’s Forgotten Stars!” Phil Cavarretta
“You can’t handle the truth!” I think there’s a real good chance the former 1930s-’40s baseball star Phil Cavarretta saw the classic 1992 movie A Few Good Men sometime during his long life. If so, we can be fairly certain he felt a sense of vindication as he heard the famous line.…
Tito Francona’s 1961 Home Run Gives New Meaning to the Term: “Dead Ball” Era!
Whenever you look past the surface and go deeper into the career of almost any major leaguer, you’ll invariably find some little tidbit of information that’s interesting or unusual. Such was the case when I was investigating the career of Tito Francona…
Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Mark Belanger
I always enjoy shining our baseball spotlight on forgotten stars – those who played just under the radar of their generation’s greats. And so today we welcome an interesting essay from Vince Jankoski about Orioles’ outstanding shortstop, Mark Belanger.
Great Deal for White Sox: Billy Pierce Comes Gift-Wrapped from the Tigers!
What a career the highly underrated, often overlooked Billy Pierce went on to have, including one day in 1958 when he flirted with the history books…
Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Herb Score Sets Rookie Strikeout Record!
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…
Another Edition of Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Lynwood “Schoolboy” Rowe
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…
Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Johnny Blanchard
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….
BOB KUZAVA – WAS CASEY STENGEL A GENIUS…OR JUST PLAIN LUCKY?
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!…
Frank McCormick’s an MVP You’ve Not Heard Of
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…
Another Edition of Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Eddie Yost
Today Vince Jankoski returns with an eye-opening look at the career statistics of forgotten star Eddie Yost. How can I call a career .254 hitter a forgotten star? It’s because he played 18 years in the Bigs with a .394 on-base percentage, leading the league twice in the category (.435 in 1959 and .414 in 1960). Read Vince’s essay and see if you agree with me…
Another Edition of Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Jack Quinn – The Oldest Pitcher To Hit a Home Run!
Ninety-four years ago this week, on June 27, 1930, Philadelphia A’s pitcher Jack Quinn — just nine days short of his 47th birthday — became the oldest pitcher in major league history to hit a home run…
Forgotten Stars: Staten Island’s Finest, Hank Majeski
Today we welcome back Vince Jankoski with an interesting essay on forgotten star, Hank Majeski. I was familiar with him, but Vince really filled in the gaps as to what a fine ball player Hank Majeski was. I think you’ll enjoy what Vince has for us! -GL
Red Ames: “The Harvey Haddix of the Deadball Era”
If Harvey Haddix were alive today, he could take some solace in the fact the he’s not alone on baseball’s all-time list of “hard-luck” pitchers. He’d be pleased to know that Deadball Era pitcher Red Ames is right there with him!…
Vern Stephens: The Most Ignored Great Shortstop
When my son Gordon and I began our Almost Cooperstown podcast nearly four years ago, we set out to put nine players in the Hall of Fame who had not been elected. This was in our very first episode, and Gordon put out Vern Stephens, a player with whom I was completely unfamiliar…
Dom DiMaggio, “The Little Professor”
“In his post-baseball life, he was one of the most successful players of his generation.”…
Wes Ferrell: The 1930s Version of Ohtani!
Wes Ferrel may very well be one of the best players not in the Hall of Fame. As you will see, he was an outstanding pitcher and one of the best-hitting pitchers in major league history…
SLUGGER TURNED MALAPROP MAESTRO: RALPH KINER
Today Bill Schaefer returns with a long-overdue tribute to slugger Ralph Kiner. If you ever had any doubts that Kiner is a legitimate Hall of Famer, as I once did, I think you’ll be in for a surprise…
Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: The “Mayor of Wrigley Field,” Hank Sauer!
In doing a recent search through the content on my Baseball History Comes Alive website, I realized that I had never even mentioned one of the true stars of the early 1950s, Hank Sauer…
Michael Keedy’s Mystery Player No. Seven!
Today, our contributor and soon-to-be best-selling author, Michael Keedy – fresh off the release of his new book “Top Ten Greatest World Series Catches” – returns with another interesting installment in our ongoing series of “Mystery Players,”…
Let’s Remember Baseball’s Rodney Dangerfield: Knuckleballer Wilbur Wood!
“Who did you say? Wilbur Wood? Yeah, I vaguely remember him. Wasn’t he one of those trick pitch knuckleballers?…
Michael Keedy’s Mystery Player Number Six: Back Into the Dead Ball Era We Go!
Today Michael Keedy takes us back into my favorite era, the Dead Ball Era, with his excellent essay featuring Mystery Player Number Six. As usual, the “Mystery” won’t be too hard to solve for all our many astute baseball history aficionados…but I think you’ll have some fun with it anyway…and you’ll learn a lot about this often-overlooked, outstanding player to boot!…
Oh, Eddie!…Think What Might Have Been! Eddie Cicotte’s Great Span, 1917-1920
I read recently that Friday was the one hundred-sixth anniversary of Eddie Cicotte throwing a no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns in a game played on April 14, 1917 and won by the White Sox 11-0.
It’s Easter Sunday…So Let’s Salute Luke Easter!
“Luke Easter is the only player I ever saw who can hit a baseball as far as Babe Ruth.” –Jimmy Reese, former teammate of Babe Ruth…
Bill Schaefer’s Mystery Player No. Three!
Bill Schaefer returns today with another Mystery Player. As with the first two entries to this series, the identity of No. Three won’t be too difficult to discover for our baseball history “savvy” readers here on Baseball History Comes Alive.
Michael Keedy’s “Mystery Player!”
Of course, it’s no “mystery” that Michael Keedy’s “Mystery Player” was none other than the great Dodger Hall of Famer, Dazzy Vance!
We’re Contacted By Son of Former 1930s Cub Star, Stan Hack!
As I’ve mentioned many times, we always love it when we’re contacted by a relative of a former major leaguer. It makes no difference if the player was a star or a sub…
Let’s Recall the 1940 “Cry-Babies Incident” and the Principal Player Involved, Hal Trosky!
Today marks the 82nd anniversary of the “Cry-Babies Incident,” when Indians owner Alva Bradley finally fired unpopular manager, Ossie Vitt, who had referred to his players as “cry-Babies”…
Another Edition of Baseball’s Forgotten Stars: Billy Pierce
On November 10, 1948, the White Sox acquire left-hander Billy Pierce and $10,000 from the Tigers for All-Star catcher Aaron Robinson…
