History

The National League had Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson, and Maury Wills.

The American League had nobody for 13 years.

After the 1963 season, the American League finally had Elston Howard. The New York Yankees' catcher was the first black player to become the American League's Most Valuable Player.

At the 2006 trade deadline the Phillies, 49-56 at the time, unloaded mercurial OF Bobby Abreu to the Yankees. Not for a windfall of prospects but, to Phillies fans’ dismay, to simply unload an expensive player. Abreu was making $13.6M in 2006, and stood to make $15M in 2007. General manager Pat Gillick didn’t think Abreu was a piece of the puzzle worth the price, and in what Bill Conlin dubbed “the Great Gillick Giveaway”, he traded Bobby for a group of low-level prospects and a Triple-A lifer.

The signing of Fred Lewis has been a heist of epic proprotions; it's actually tightened security at Luftansa airport. Even more unfortunate: They haven't made an air freshener potent enough to purge the scent of swindle lingering in the San Francisco Giants' front office.

For the Toronto Blue Jays, having a true leadoff hitter in their ranks once more has been reaffirming. It hearkens back to a simpler time, when OBP was maybe just an acronym for something that was possibly offensive.

Mike Mussina once was a dominant pitcher, but never was he more masterful than on the night of Sept. 2, 2001 against the Boston Red Sox, when he came within one strike of pitching the fourth perfect game in Yankees’ history.

Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre noted, as he watched Mussina warm up in the bullpen before the game, that he was taken aback by the sharp drop on Mussina’s curve ball.

"It looked the same as David Wells’ curve ball on May 17, 1998."

The Chicago White Sox won the World Series in 2005 for the first time since 1917.

The 1917 White Sox won 100 games and defeated the New York Giants to become World Champions, but with the passage of time, the Pale Hose have become an afterthought.

A major reason is that many associated with baseball prefer that the 1919 World Series, which was fixed, be mentioned as little as possible. Bad memories should be repressed.

Many players on the 1917 World Champion White Sox were members of the 1919 American League Champion White Sox.

On Tuesday, one of the greatest baseball announcers of all time past away. Ernie Harwell, the voice of Tigers baseball, died at the age of 92. 

As a lifelong Tigers fan, I have associated Harwell's voice with baseball since my early childhood. Harwell called games for the Tigers for 42 years. Every time I see a home run, I remember Ernie's "and its loooonnng gone!" or his, "two for the price of one," every time the Tigers would turn a double play.

Ernie was far more than just a great play-by-play announcer.

On May 6, 1953, in his first major league start, the St. Louis Browns’ Alva “Bobo” Holloman pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics.

The 27-year-old Holloman struck out three, walked five, and helped himself offensively by batting in three of the Browns’ runs with a pair of singles in the Browns’ 6-0 victory.

Since 1901, only Bobo had tossed a no-no in his first start.

The Browns Paid $10,000 for Holloman's Contract

Barry Bonds has set some remarkable records. What is notable is not the fact that he set them, but that he broke the old marks by such a wide margin.

Babe Ruth was the most feared batter in baseball history until Bonds, late in his career, discovered how he could become even more frightening to pitchers than the Ruth.

Pitchers wanted to face Barry Bonds as much as a pudgy kid wants to face a naked salad. 

Bottom of the ninth and two outs. There was a runner on first and a ghost runner on third, and Moose, the neighborhood meathead and opposing team's best hitter, was at the plate.

Filthy, drenched in sweat, and a tightly wound bundle of nerves, I stood on the mound (which was actually just a chalk line drawn on the ground)—the loneliest kid on earth.

"Baseball is the President tossing out the first ball of the season and a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm. A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That's baseball."—Ernie Harwell in his Induction Day Speech (August 2, 1981)

Quotes from Ernie Harwell

"Baseball is a lot like life. It's a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life."