Columbia University boasts proud baseball tradition

March 30th, 2026
Josh Simpson

Columbia University predates the United States of America Columbia University ranks among the nation’s oldest and most respected academic institutions. Originally named King’s College, the school opened in 1754, twelve years before America’s Declaration of Independence. The university founded in honor England’s King George II also has a rich baseball history. The sport became the first varsity offering at the school in 1868, three years after the conclusion of the US Civil War. Baseball as a professional endeavor had yet to be formed. Today, the Columbia baseball program remains one of the oldest in continuous operation. Its first big leaguer John Ward resides in Cooperstown John Montgomery Ward linked Columbia to early professional baseball. He debuted in 1878 and led the league with a 1.51 ERA. The next year he topped all hurlers with 47 wins and 239 strikeouts. In 1880, his eight shutouts resulted in another league-leading total. Ward’s prowess was not limited to the mound. He performed at every position except catcher and first base. On the basepaths, he twice led the league in steals, including a career-best 111 in 1887. Across his 17-year career, Ward collected more than 2,000 base hits. During his eighth major league season, […]

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Robin Roberts authored 28 consecutive complete games in ’52 and ’53

November 10th, 2025
Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts poses next to his statue

Robin Roberts was a true workhorse. The majors’ leader in complete games during the 1950s, he led the Senior Circuit in the category every year from 1952 through 1956. He also put together a streak that will never again be seen. From August 28, 1952 until July 3, 1953 he completed 28 consecutive starts. In the third game of his streak, Roberts threw all 17 innings of a 7-6 September 6 win over the Boston Braves. Five days later he went the distance against Cardinals. In the final 30 days of the ’52 season, Roberts logged 80 innings across eight starts, completing and winning them all. He finished the year with a career-high 28 wins to go along with a stingy 2.59 ERA – the lowest of his career. In ’53 Roberts was even better. He continued the streak of consecutive complete games by finishing his first 20 starts. Then on July 9th a quintet of Brooklyn Dodger Hall of Famers got to him. Roberts began the game three scoreless innings, before surrendering a two-run homer to catcher Roy Campanella in the fourth. Shortstop Pee Wee Reese tacked on another Dodger run with an RBI single in the 5th. Roberts […]

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Whitey Ford loved telling the “Yogi Berra and the four-ball story”

September 24th, 2024
Whitey Ford Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra had a way with words. Just ask his battery mate of 12 seasons Whitey Ford.

One of the pitcher’s favorite tales to tell was “Yogi Berra and the four-ball story”. Ford delivered it many times.

Like many of the best baseball stories, this one is a mixture of truth and fantasy.

It’s a quick and easy read that’s sure to give you a chuckle.

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America’s Greatest Generation: The story of a few good men

June 3rd, 2024
Lou Brissie

Famed historian on American Culture Jacques Barzun said in 1954, “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball”. For many who love the game, this remains true today. Baseball reflects American culture, our hopes and dreams. Among the eras when baseball and our country’s culture was most intertwined was during the Second World War. Of the more than 16 million Americans who served in World War II, nearly 40% were volunteers. Men chose to serve out of a sense of honor, allegiance and loyalty to the flag and the ideals it represents. They formed “America’s Greatest Generation” – a cohort defined by a shared unselfish sense of the greater good, of duty and honor. Four ballplayers do their part The heroism of Ted Williams and Bob Feller during the War is well-documented. Those two men weren’t alone in their service. This is the story of wartime contributions of a few lesser-known ball players: Lou Brissie, Buddy Lewis, George Earnshaw, and Al Niemiec. These men, like many Americans of the era, felt an undeniable drive to do the right thing. They exemplified the American culture and spirit of their time. Though their stories seem heroic […]

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Bill James called Connie Mack’s move in the 1929 World Series, “the most brilliant managerial stratagem in the history of baseball”

October 12th, 2022
howard ehmke connie mack

Connie Mack’s 1929 Philadelphia Athletics were one of the greatest teams in baseball history. With a lineup that included Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane, and Al Simmons, they finished 18 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Yankee team that won 6 of the previous 8 American League pennants. The Athletics pitching staff boasted a pair of aces with the left-right combination of 20-game winner Lefty Grove and 24-game winner George Earnshaw. For good measure, Mack’s #3 starter Rube Walberg had 18 wins of his own. On May 12th Philadelphia moved into a first-place tie with the Yankees and never relinquished the top spot. By the end of the month the A’s were five games up. Their lead swelled to 10 1/2 games on August 1st behind Earnshaw’s 17th win of the season. The margin remained at double digits the rest of the way. As Philadelphia cruised toward the AL pennant, the Cubs did the same in the National League. When Charlie Root shut down the Giants at the Polo Grounds on August 21st, the Cubs’ lead stretched to 10 1/2 games and never diminished. The two teams were on a collision course for the World Series. An aging […]

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Orel Hershiser needed persuading to break Don Drysdale’s consecutive scoreless inning streak in 1988

June 8th, 2022
Orel Hershiser

Records are meant to be broken. Or are they? In 1988 Orel Hershiser wasn’t so sure. Given the chance to break Major League Baseball’s record for consecutive scoreless innings, he almost opted out. One Cooperstown man betters another A hurler’s job is to keep his opponents from scoring. Moundsmen take great pride in putting up zeroes. One of baseball’s greatest run-preventers, Walter Johnson set the big league record by not allowing a man to cross the plate in 55 2/3 consecutive innings in 1913. The 417-game winner held the mark for the rest of his life. More than a half-century later, along came the Dodgers’ Don Drysdale. An intimidating presence on the hill, the 6’5″ right hander believed that pitchers owned the inside half of the plate. Big D finished first or second in batters hit in 12 of his 14 seasons. In 1968 he surpassed the Big Train, extending the consecutive scoreless innings record by three frames. Twenty years later Drysdale entered his first year as the Dodger color man. That season he witnessed Hershiser’s epic run. Hershiser faces a difficult decision Nicknamed “Bulldog” by skipper Tommy Lasorda, Hershiser had great respect for Drysdale, the franchise’s pitching-rich history, and […]

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George Earnshaw was a World Series champ and WWII hero

May 28th, 2022
George Earnshaw Bronze Star

The college standout takes an unconventional path to pro ball George Earnshaw took the road less traveled. Throughout his life he made unexpected decisions that always had a way of working out. Living on his own terms he became the right-handed ace of a baseball dynasty and a World War II hero. Earnshaw was a star in football, basketball, and baseball at Swarthmore College and later a member of the school’s athletic Hall of Fame. On the pitcher’s mound the 6’4″, 210-pounder was an especially imposing presence. When he left the school in 1922, baseball scouts tabbed him as the top local prospect. The International League’s Double-A Baltimore Orioles were Earnshaw’s most persistent suitor. When they wouldn’t agree to his demand of $600 per month, Earnshaw took a job with his uncle’s transportation business in Newark, New Jersey. He later joked he was the only holdout in baseball history who had yet to play a professional game. Over the next couple of years, the Orioles reminded Earnshaw of their interest each time they traveled to Newark to play the Bears. When his uncle’s business closed in 1924, Earnshaw finally took the Orioles up on their baseball offer. More than two […]

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Drysdale’s scoreless streak in ’68 ended in an unlikely way

April 25th, 2022
Don Drysdale

Baseball shines the light on the fringe player like no other sport Every sport celebrates its stars. More than any other pastime, baseball provides opportunities for fringe players to become part of the game’s fabric. Howie Bedell is one such man. In his 67-game big league playing career, Bedell had three runs batted in, the last of which links him to one of the most memorable streaks in the history of the game. The story begins with the 1913 performance of perhaps the greatest pitcher of all time, Walter Johnson. One of five in Cooperstown’s inaugural class, Johnson threw 55 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings that year. The majestic run set a record that Johnson held for the rest of his life. Fifty-five years later another Hall of Fame hurler began a streak of his own. On May 14th, 1968 Dodger hurler Don Drysdale beat Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins with a 2-hit blanking of the Chicago Cubs. Four days later he twirled a 5-hit shutout against the Astros. The Dodgers then headed to St. Louis where Drysdale bested Cooperstown’s Bob Gibson 2-0 on May 22nd. His next start came at the Astrodome against the Houston team he shut out eight […]

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Paul Waner recorded hit #3,000 twice

February 23rd, 2022
3,000th hit Paul WAner

The story of how Lloyd Waner tallied his milestone 3,000th hit is now a mere footnote in baseball history.

It’s also a story worth knowing.

In an unlikely turn of events, an angry Paul Waner rejected a scorer’s decision.

Waner demanded a chance to record his memorable knock cleanly – and got his wish.

This is the forgotten tale of how the 7th MLB batter to total 3,000 hits joined baseball’s exclusive club.

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A white elephant? The Athletics turned an insult into a a team logo in 1902

September 15th, 2021
Connie Mack White Elephant

Today the Oakland Athletics sport a white elephant on their uniform. They also use the pale pachyderm in sales and marketing.

What is the link between the A’s and a white elephant?

It all began because of a feud at the dawn of a new century during the inception of the American League.

John McGraw, Ban Johnson, and Connie Mack – Cooperstown men all – were at the center of the battle. What could’ve been a debacle is today an enduring part of baseball history.

America’s National Pastime has a long and glorious history separates it from every other North American sport.

Enjoy the article that links three baseball titans to the present day.

You gotta love baseball!

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"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball…"

~Jacques Barzun, 1954