Nolan Ryan has thrown seven no-hitters, which is the standard in the major leagues. Frank O’Loughlin was the home plate umpire in a record six no-hitters. Although there are 10 umpires in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, arbiters are not often recognized unless they make the “wrong” call depending on one’s perspective. An American […]
Category: Shoestring Catches
The top performance in Major League Baseball this week was by Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs. The 29-year old right-hander picked up a pair of wins over his last two starts including a no-hitter. Arrieta tossed his no-hitter on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 2-0 decision on Sunday, Aug. 30. […]
Work or fight. That was the order from Provost Marshall General Crowder that changed the 1918 baseball season. The United States had entered World War I a year earlier and the mid-summer order would end the season on Sept. 2. Several players would soon be serving the nation in many ways, including on the battlefield. […]
Winning your first game as a starting pitcher is quite an accomplishment, but add a major league record and you can be in a class by yourself. In this case, however, it’s a group of two. J.R. Richard of the Houston Astros and Karl Spooner of the Brooklyn Dodgers share the big league mark with […]
Finally. It may have taken Dave Stieb awhile to pitch a no-hitter for the Toronto Blue Jays, but after four close calls, he finally was able to accomplish the feat 25 years ago on Sept. 2, 1990. The right-hander lost his first try on the ninth inning homer by Rudy Law of the Chicago White […]
Ideally, major league baseball trades are supposed to benefit both organizations. In the long run, it usually works out that one team often seems to get the better end of the deal. The Toronto Blue Jays are currently reaping the rewards for a transaction made on July 31, 2009. The Cincinnati Reds traded Edwin Encarnacion […]
The top performances in Major League Baseball this week were by Edwin Encarnacion of the Toronto Blue Jays and Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers. Encarnacion blasted three homers and knocked in nine runs as the Blue Jays won 15-1 over the Tigers at the Rogers Centre on Saturday, Aug. 29. The designated hitter also […]
Strat-o-Matic is a baseball simulation that began as a cards and dice game in the early 1960s before entering the computer age. These featured games on Shoestring Catches are part of season replays or tournaments played with cards and dice. Today’s game matches the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates and the 1981 Houston Astros. I’m always amazed […]
Dan Bankhead didn’t have a good outing as a pitcher in his historic major league debut on Aug. 26, 1947. Bankhead had just been signed by Brooklyn two days before giving up eight runs on 10 hits to the Pittsburgh Pirates in relief of Dodgers starter Hal Gregg. Gregg had given up six runs by […]
Baseball is a sport with numerous connections. Teammates or opponents, players can usually be linked by an accomplishment or just being on the same team. Joe Glenn played professional baseball from 1928 until he retired as 40-year old in 1949, after over 1,000 minor league games. Glenn was a catcher in the big leagues from […]