This Old Glove

06/09/2026

05/21/2026

05/19/2026

If you buy or sell on EBay as I do you should know this.

05/15/2026

My Man!

05/10/2026

Just a bunch of TALL dudes 😳

05/07/2026

This Day in the Old Ball Game: May 7

Two no-hitters separated by 89 years, the rarest defensive play in baseball turned in a losing cause, and a fastball that rewrote a young pitcher's life in less than a second.

The Year's Only No-Hitter (1922)
Jesse Barnes of the Giants threw the only no-hitter of 1922, beating the Phillies 6-0 at the Polo Grounds. He chased perfection into the fifth before walking Cy Williams, who was promptly erased on a double play. Barnes faced only the minimum 27 batters.

Buckshot Wright's Lightning (1925)
The Pirates led the Cardinals 9-4 going into the eighth at Forbes Field, then watched St. Louis storm back with six runs to take a 10-9 lead. In the top of the ninth, Pirates shortstop Glenn "Buckshot" Wright caught Jim Bottomley's hit-and-run liner, stepped on second to double up Jimmy Cooney, and tagged Rogers Hornsby a few feet away. The 6th unassisted triple play in AL/NL history, and the first ever by a shortstop. Hornsby supposedly said, "Nice work, kid." Cardinals won 10-9 anyway.

The Liner That Changed Two Lives (1957)
Herb Score was 23 and the most electric young pitcher in baseball: Rookie of the Year, two All-Star nods, back-to-back AL strikeout titles. The Yankees came to Cleveland. Hank Bauer grounded out. Gil McDougald stepped in. Score threw a fastball. McDougald lined it back through the box before Score could raise his glove. The ball struck him between the nose and right eye, ricocheted to Al Smith at third, who threw out McDougald at first. Score was carried off. He came back in 1958 but never approached his old form. McDougald, haunted, vowed to retire if Score lost his sight.

Verlander's Masterpiece (2011)
Justin Verlander threw the second no-hitter of his career at Rogers Centre, beating the Blue Jays 9-0. He lost his perfect game in the eighth when J.P. Arencibia walked on a full count that missed by an inch. Verlander struck out Rajai Davis to end it on his 108th pitch. 2011 was his signature season: AL pitching Triple Crown, Cy Young unanimously, and MVP, the first starting pitcher MVP since Roger Clemens in 1986.

Ed. 05.07.26

05/06/2026

Murderers’ Row didn’t play baseball — they rewrote it.

05/05/2026

This Day in the Old Ball Game: May 5

A game so perfect they had to invent a name for it, a 35-year-old pinch-hits for himself, the Devil comes to Broadway, and a catcher passes the man whose record stood for 11 years.

Cy Young Throws a Game That Didn't Have a Name Yet (1904)
At Huntington Avenue Grounds, 37-year-old Cy Young retired all 27 Athletics he faced in 83 minutes. He struck out 8, including Rube Waddell on a fly ball for the final out. The next morning, the Boston Daily Globe headline called it simply "Athletics Lose in Unique Game." The concept of a perfect game didn't exist yet. Young's masterpiece anchored a 24-inning hitless streak, a record that still stands.

Ty Cobb Pinch-Hits for Himself (1922)
Browns lefty Bill Bayne took a no-hitter into the ninth against the Tigers. Player-manager Ty Cobb, 0-for-3, sent up Larry Woodall to break it up with a single. His own spot was due next. Instead of batting, Cobb called on rookie Bob "Fats" Fothergill, the only player ever to pinch-hit for Cobb after his 1906 rookie season. Fothergill flew out. Cobb hit .401 that year. One of the strangest acts of self-awareness in baseball history.

Damn Yankees Opens on Broadway (1955)
A Senators fan sells his soul to the Devil for the chance to beat the Yankees and win the pennant. That was the premise of Damn Yankees, which opened at the 46th Street Theatre with music by Adler and Ross, choreography by Bob Fosse, and Gwen Verdon as Lola. It ran for 1,019 performances and won 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical. For 60 years no baseball show had succeeded on Broadway. This one cracked the curse with a Faustian bargain.

Piazza Passes Fisk (2004)
At Shea Stadium, Mike Piazza turned on a 3-1 fastball from Jerome Williams and drove it to right-center for career home run number 352 as a catcher, passing Carlton Fisk for the all-time record. Piazza had tied Fisk eight days earlier and gone six games without one since. After the game, Fisk called him personally to say he was glad it was Mike who broke it. Piazza retired with 396, a mark that still stands.

Ed. 05.05.26

04/30/2026

This Day in the Old Ball Game: April 30

A new ballpark for a new era, a rookie nobody saw coming, the Iron Horse's quiet farewell, and Rapid Robert reminding the Yankees the war hadn't slowed him down.

A New Park Opens in Philadelphia (1887)
The team then known as the Quakers christened their brand-new National League Park with a 15-9 win over the New York Giants. Eighteen thousand tickets were sold for a ballpark built to hold 12,500, with overflow fans crowded onto the bicycle track that circled the field. The park would burn down seven years later, get rebuilt in steel and brick, and eventually be renamed the Baker Bowl. Babe Ruth would play his final big league game inside its walls.

A Rookie No One Believed (1922)
Charlie Robertson made his fourth career start at Navin Field and threw the fifth perfect game in major league history against a Tigers lineup featuring Ty Cobb and Harry Heilmann. Cobb was so convinced Robertson was doctoring the ball that he sent umpires to inspect his uniform mid-game and walked over to check the first baseman's glove himself. Nothing was found. Robertson finished his career 49-80, but the next perfect game wouldn't come for 34 years.

The Iron Horse's Last Stand (1939)
Lou Gehrig played his 2,130th consecutive game at Yankee Stadium against the Senators. He went 0-for-4, the Yankees lost 3-2, and nobody in the ballpark knew it was the last game he would ever play. Two days later in Detroit, he walked into manager Joe McCarthy's office and asked to be benched. On July 4 he stood at home plate at Yankee Stadium and called himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. The streak stood 56 years before Cal Ripken Jr. broke it.

Rapid Robert Returns to Form (1946)
Bob Feller had spent nearly four years in the Navy during World War II, and a lot of people wondered if his fastball had come back with him. He answered at Yankee Stadium, no-hitting a New York lineup that included Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, and Bill Dickey in a 1-0 win. The only run came on a ninth-inning home run from his catcher, Frankie Hayes. Feller later said it was the best stuff he ever had.

Ed. 04.30.26