Vince Jankoski Posts | Baseball History Comes Alive

More On “Baseball Goats”: Contemporary Goats

Most of us remember Bill Buckner's error in Game Six of the 1986 World Series. While Buckner was largely blamed for the loss, there was plenty of blame to go around, especially from the Red Sox bullpen...

Posted on: May 11, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 0 Comments

Special Category: Gene Mauch – A Managerial “Goat”

Vince Jankoski returns today with an essay telling us that a manager can be a "goat," too. According to Vince, "Managers, even good managers, make glaring mistakes that cost their teams crucial games". He cites Gene Mauch as Exhibit One!...

Posted on: April 19, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 4 Comments

THE DODGERS’ GOATS

Today Vince Jankoski returns with Part Two of his four-part series on baseball goats, focusing on the Dodgers. The first two incidents, involving Mickey Owen and Ralph Branca are well known, but the third involving the great Gil Hodges and his unfortunate - and uncharacteristically poor - performance in the 1952 World Series is not as well known...

Posted on: April 12, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 3 Comments

THE GREATEST “GOATS” OF ALL TIME

Today, I'm happy to announce that we will be featuring the first of four installments by Vince Jankoski in his series on "Baseball's Goats." Today, Vince starts out with two well-known goats from the Deadball Era, Fred Merkle and Fred Snodgrass...

Posted on: April 5, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 3 Comments

The Classic 1946 World Series: Enos Slaughter’s “Mad Dash”

The 1946 season was a great one for MLB. World War II had ended, the regulars returned, and attendance soared. The World Series that year pitted the St. Louis Cardinals versus the Boston Red Sox. Both teams were stocked with superior players, including two of the greatest hitters of all time: Stan Musial and Red Sox Ted Williams...

Posted on: March 15, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 6 Comments

Player Spotlight: The Senators’ Tom Cheney – The Real Strikeout King!

Today Vince Jankoski returns with an interesting essay setting the record straight on who actually is the record holder for strikeouts in a major league game. It's not someone I ever would have guessed!...

Posted on: March 8, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 0 Comments

Black History Month Trivia, Part Four!

As our month-long tribute to Baseball and Black History Month comes to an end, here's Part Four of Vince Jankoski's trivia quiz. We thank Vince for the great job he did in putting this together...

Posted on: February 29, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 0 Comments

Black History Month Trivia, Part Three

Today we continue with our tribute to Black History Month with Part Three of Vince Jankoski's 28 trivia questions. Before we get to the questions, here's a few words about the Homestead Grays. Photo sent to me by Chris Whitehouse....

Posted on: February 15, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 2 Comments

BLACK HISTORY MONTH TRIVIA, Part Two

Today, in our ongoing tribute to baseball and Black History month, we'll continue with Vince Jankoski's baseball trivia questions. As I mentioned last week, I'll be posting seven trivia questions each Thursday, one for each day of the week for the entire month...

Posted on: February 8, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 0 Comments

BLACK HISTORY MONTH TRIVIA, Part I

Many thanks to Vince Jankoski for reminding us that February is notable for two reasons - and no, the month's terrible weather is not one of them!..

Posted on: February 1, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 1 Comment

Bud Harrelson, RIP

Today Vince Jankoski shares with us a tribute to recently deceased Bud Harrelson with an interesting analysis of his career. Vince addresses the question of how the light-hitting Harrelson (.236 career average) could have survived for 16 seasons in the major leagues...

Posted on: January 27, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 12 Comments

KEN MacKENZIE, RIP

Vince Jankoski returns today with an interesting article about a player I’ve never heard of: Canadian-born pitcher Ken MacKenzie. Two things I’ve said many times here on BHCA: One, anyone who makes it to the major leagues is special in our eyes, whether a star or sub; and Two, when you look deep into the career of almost any major leaguer, you’ll invariably find something of interest...

Posted on: December 20, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 13 Comments

Frank Howard, RIP

We'd be remiss in our duties here on Baseball History Comes Alive if we didn't take notice of the recent passing of the fine ball player Frank Howard in Aldie, Virginia at age 87...

Posted on: November 24, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 9 Comments

WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG FOR THE YANKEES TO MAKE YOGI BERRA THEIR REGULAR CATCHER?

Vince Jankoski returns today with an interesting essay detailing Yogi Berra's path to becoming the Yankees' regular catcher. It wasn't as clear-cut as you might think, as Vince makes clear...

Posted on: November 4, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 8 Comments

Vince Jankoski’s Deep Dive Into Double Plays, Part Four

As promised, Vince Jankoski returns today with the conclusion to his four-part series on Double Plays. As always, Vince has done his homework. I never realized one could get that deep into DPs, but Vince has done just that...

Posted on: October 6, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 9 Comments

Vince Jankoski’s Deep Dive Into Double Plays, Part Three

Today, Vince Jankoski continues his "deep dive" into double plays. In Part Three of this series, he uncovers players who he calls "Double Play Superstars."...

Posted on: September 30, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 4 Comments

Vince Jankoski Takes A Very Deep Dive Into Double Plays! Part Two

We continue with Vince Jankoski's extensive look into double plays and how they affect a team's standings. Today, Vince examines teams that he calls "double-play machines," and again looks for correlations...

Posted on: September 15, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 4 Comments

Vince Jankoski Takes A Very Deep Dive Into Double Plays!

Today we present something new: The first of Vince's four-part series on, yes...double plays...and how does the number of them over the course of a season affect the team's standings?

Posted on: September 6, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 8 Comments

MAJOR LEAGUE VETERANS – KOREAN WAR CHAPTER

Today Vince Janoski turns his "what if" spotlight on major league baseball and the Korean War. He highlights a few baseball stars, among the many who served their country during this conflict...

Posted on: August 18, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 4 Comments

World War II and Major League Baseball

We welcome back Vince Jankoski will another of his specialties: "What ifs?" Today he tackles "what if" WW II hadn't rudely intruded on the careers of many of baseball's biggest stars...

Posted on: August 10, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 11 Comments

The Case For Eddie Mathews

Vince Jankosi is back today, this time making the case that Eddie Mathews is the best pre-Mike Schmidt third baseman. As usual, Vince has done his homework and makes a very strong case. See if you agree...

Posted on: July 28, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 15 Comments

Who Was the Better Third Baseman, Brooks or Clete?

Today we welcome back Vince Jankoski with another thought-provoking essay, asking the question: Who was a better fielder, Brooks Robinson or Clete Boyer?...

Posted on: July 20, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 25 Comments

Part Two: Was Kansas City Really a “Farm Team” for the Yankees?

Those of you who read Part One of this two-part series will recall that Vince Jankoski is doing a "deep dive' into the trades between the Athletics and Yankees from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Vince is making the case that K.C. serving as the Yankees' "farm team" is a myth...

Posted on: July 12, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 2 Comments

Deep Dive Into the Question: “Was Kansas City Really a ‘Farm Team’ For the Yankees?”

Today, we welcome guest contributor Vince Jankoski, who takes an in-depth look at trades between the Kansas City Athletics and the Yankees in the 1950s and early 1960s, dispelling the myth that the A's were a "farm team" for the Yankees...

Posted on: July 5, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 11 Comments