50 years ago today, Hank Aaron, among other things, had one of the greatest moments in his career, belting perhaps the most clutch of his 755 career home runs. And not only was it a clutch shot, but Aaron’s blast helped brother Tommie Aaron and him jointly make a bit of baseball history. On July […]

A couple of times a week, I download a bunch of baseball stats into Excel and generate my own standings table. Since we’re at the official All-Star break thingie, I thought I’d inflict my standings format on you: 7/11/2012 Win Probability Added American League East Temp RS RA PWins Diff Close Bat Starters Bullpen NYY […]

If five was ever Justin Verlander’s lucky number, it isn’t this morning. The Tigers All-Star and reigning MVP gave up five earned runs in the first (and his last) inning of Tuesday’s All-Star Game. That’s obviously a rare occurrence. How rare? That’s why you come to The Hardball Times: so borderline-obsessive stats-craving fans like me […]

Note: due to the All-Star break, we now bring you a special “Classic” version of “And That Happened.” The following originally ran on July 10, 1977 Orioles 6, Yankees 5:  Reggie Jackson went 1 for 3 with an RBI double, but that wasn’t good enough for manager Billy Martin, who tried to physically attack Jackson […]

80 years ago today, one of the wildest games in baseball history took place. In fact, you can make a damn good argument that it is the wildest game of them all It was July 10, 1932 when the Indians squared off against the A’s. It was unusual even before the first pitch was thrown. […]

We have reached the All-Star break. Which means that this is the last And That Happened for a week. Unless there’s a temporal anomaly or something, which has been known to happen … Pirates 13, Giants 2: Andrew McCutchen was added to the Home Run Derby the other day. He got some early practice yesterday, smacking […]

Ten years ago today was one of the most famous games of the first decade of the 21st century. It is certainly the most famous game that didn’t count. On July 9, 2002, the NL and AL squads met up in the annual All-Star game. That time, it didn’t count, as the game rather embarrassingly […]

A quarter century ago today was one of the most infamous games in Chicago Cubs history. It’s one of those games every Cubs fan of a certain generation remembers—and remembers quite well. Twenty-five years ago today was the Eric Show game. On July 7, 1987, the Cubs hosted the visiting San Diego Padres in the […]

Mets 6, Phillies 5: The R.A. Dickey vs. Cole Hamels matchup didn’t pan out as some expected, but David Wright took care of things, going 3 for 5 with four RBI including the game winner. Cardinals 6, Rockies 2: Lance Lynn had been skidding but the Rockies cured his ills. The Rockies cure everyone’s ills. […]

Phillies 9, Mets 2: Cliff Lee stood to lose yet another one, as he and the Phillies were down 2-0 entering the seventh, but three runs in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings saved his bacon. First win of the year for Lee. Marlins 7, Brewers 6: On Tuesday Milwaukee beat Miami in […]