This set of 11 retired players who were active after the dead ball era ended enforces Mark McGwire’s 70-homer season in ’98 as the upper limit for candidacy. Eight of them are in the Hall of Fame, a ninth is in for his playing and managing record, and a 10th probably should be in. And […]

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Exactly one decade ago today, one of the baseball world’s biggest signings of the 21st century occurred. It wasn’t a star pitcher or a high profile slugger. It wasn’t a player at all—though the person was about the age of an athlete in his prime. It was a front office executive. On Nov. 25, 2002, […]

10,000 days ago, the Padres and Pirates fought in a really close, back-and-forth game that is most notable for one rather bizarre play. It’s a play that rarely happens, but even by that standard, it was an odd one. In the bottom of the seventh on July 6, 1985, Pittsburgh’s Steve Kemp became one of […]

10,000 days ago, one of the uglier moment of 1980s baseball occurred, when the Red Sox dugout went into the stands to deal with a heckler. This, as you might guess, wasn’t an ordinary heckler. Baseball players are used to hearing the typical boorish behavior. Now, this guy went a bit further because he wasn’t […]

10,000 days ago, one of the wildest and most bizarre games in baseball history was played. Or, more accurately, 10,000 days ago, it began. It wouldn’t finish until nearly 4:00 AM the next morning. It will forever be known as the Rick Camp Game. I’ve discussed it previously here at the mighty THT, but it […]

Twenty years ago today, Major League Baseball had its expansion draft for its two newest franchises, the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies had first pick and spent it on the creature least likely to succeed in Denver, a pitcher. David Nied became the answer to a trivia question when he became the […]

Ten years ago today, the Rockies and Marlins conducted a major trade, sending several notable players between the two teams. It was a six-player deal, with four men going to Colorado in exchange for two headed to sunny southern Florida. Juan Pierre and Mike Hampton (and cash) went to the Marlins in exchange for Vic […]

Phil Coke played a major role in Detroit’s rise to the World Series in 2012: Tigers manager Jim Leyland turned to him as the closer over the unstable Jose Valverde. However, his career in the big leagues almost never happened. According to Jonah Keri’s column in Grantland, Coke was heading down pink slip lane: Coke […]

One hundred years ago today, Hal Trosky was born. He had tremendous talent, tremendous success, but ultimately Trosky became a tremendous disappointment. He’s one of the great also-rans in baseball history, a sad what-might-have-been tale. Trosky made his big league debut as a 20-year-old with the Cleveland Indians in 1933. By age 21, he was […]