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Jackie Howard was a Giants' fan who grew up in Flushing. He was 10 years old when the Giants won the pennant in 1951, but the Yankees beat them in the World Series. That's when Jackie Howard started his hate affair with the Yankees, which grew more intense during the 1962 World Series. I Couldn't Watch the Giants After my team moved, I had to listen to ...

During the 1950s, the Yankees had a major league farm team named the Kansas City Athletics. Larry Levensen is a Giants' fan who resented the Yankees because he knew that it was almost impossible to beat both the Yankees and their Kansas City farm team. "I Will Probably Die Waiting for a World Championship ." I was only four years old when the Giants won the 1954 ...

The 1976 Cincinnati Reds were one of the most dominating offensive teams of all time.á They led the National League in every major category, some by a wide margin. á Dominant Statistics The Reds batted .280, scored 857 runs, had a .357 on-base average, and slugged .424.á They led the National League in doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs, walks, strikeouts, and stolen bases.á á Four Future Hall of Famers Four future ...

It was 103 years ago. To some, it seems as if it were yesterday. The 1906 Chicago Cubs won 116 games while losing a mere 36 for a .763 winning percentage. There aren't many individuals who could name the 1906 Cubs lineup or pitching staff. How fleeting is fame.   Manager and First Baseman Frank Chance, the Peerless Leader Frank Chance played first base. He batted .319, tied for the National League in slugging ...

Few teams have dominated a World Series the way the Los Angeles Dodgers dominated in 1963. The Dodgers won 99 games during the season, and faced the defending World Champion Yankees in the Series for the first time since they abandoned Brooklyn. Outstanding Los Angeles Pitching Sandy Koufax had the first of his four outstanding years, going 25-5 with a minuscule 1.88 ERA, a 159 ERA+, and an ...

When compared to Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, George Sisler, Hank Greenberg, and Bill Terry, Fred McGriff is not a Hall of Famer. But when compared to Tony Perez, Orlando Cepeda, Eddie Murray, and Harmon Killebrew, Fred McGriff is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Fred McGriff Compared to the Greatest First Basemen Fred McGriff's offensive production pales in comparison to the first group's offensive production, but it holds its own against ...

Mickey Mantle's last solid season was 1964, although he did fairly well in 1966. In 1964, Mickey hit .303 with 35 home runs, 111 RBIs, and a .423 on base average. The 1966 season was not as good, when Mickey hit .288 with 23 home runs, and that was followed by two sub par seasons, after which Mickey retired. There is a tendency to excuse or even disregard Mickey's last few seasons, ...

In 1996, Ken Caminiti had a career year, batting .326, hitting 40 home runs, and batting in 130 runs. Ken had a .408 on base average, slugged .621. and won his second consecutive gold glove. As a result of his great season, Ken Caminiti was selected the National League's Most Valuable Player by a unanimous vote. It was only the fourth time a National Leaguer won the award unanimously (Orlando Cepeda, ...

There have been many outlandish claims made when comparing the relative merits of baseball players, but to conclude that Johnny Damon is in the same league as Derek Jeter is as graphic an example of specious reasoning as baseball fans have ever heard. The only way to accept the claim is to facetiously state that they are in the same league because they are both American Leaguers. It Hurts ...

In 1961, the American League added the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators to become a 10-team league. Finishing in eighth place no longer meant finishing last. á Ninth to First Five years later, in 1966, the Boston Red Sox finished a dismal ninth, but they weren't as bad as they looked. The following season, they proved it by winning the pennant. The Boston Red Sox became the first American ...