The forgotten All-Star game: Baseball’s Latino legends played in Polo Grounds’ last game ever in 1963
It was the All-Star game few baseball fans witnessed, and few today know it was ever played at all. Nearly 60 years ago, on a warm and sunny autumn afternoon in New York, two teams comprised of Latino players from the Major Leagues squared off at the Polo Grounds for an exhibition game billed as a charity event to benefit a new Latin American Hall of Fame. Held on Oct. 12, 1963 — a week after the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the New York Yankees in the World Series — it would be the last baseball game ever played at
PICTORIAL: Baseball in Puerto Rico, old-school style
Baseball in Latin America — and the fan fervor for the game — goes back more than a century. But it's in the winter when the fun really heated up as MLB players from stars to scrubs —including plenty of future Hall of Famers — would head to the sunny climes of the Caribbean to keep their skills sharp. Click on the photos for a look back at how baseball was played in Puerto Rico.
PICTORIAL: Baseball in the Dominican Republican has a long and proud history
The influx of players from the Dominican Republic in recent years has certainly changed the face of the Major Leagues, but professional ball goes back more than 100 years in the baseball-crazy country. The following vintage photos — culled from the archives of famed Dominican baseball historian Emilio “Cuqui” Cordova, who died March 7 at age 90 — are a rare look back at the history of the game in the D.R., which fielded some great teams and boasted countless excellent players, many of whom would have been MLB stars if not for the color barrier. And much like
The day Michael Pineda got into a sticky situation
The Yankees waited a long time to reap the fruits of their controversial 2012 trade for pitcher Michael Pineda, and when the strapping, 6’7” righty finally made his Yankee debut two years later after a raft of injuries, it looked like New York had itself a future ace in the making. That is, until Pineda got caught with his hand – and neck – in the pine tar jar. Pineda was 23 and coming off a solid rookie season in 2011 for the Mariners, one that included a selection to the All-Star game when the Yankees traded power-hitting catching prospect
GREAT PERFORMANCES: Andres Galarraga blasts 3 HR in 3 straight innings in 1995
By Robert Dominguez At 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, Andres Galarraga was an imposing figure on the diamond known as “The Big Cat” for his unexpected quickness and agility at first base. But as good as he was with the glove, the Big Cat also swung a big bat. He was a lifetime .288 hitter over 19 seasons, smashing 399 homers and averaging 102 RBI a year. A five-time All-Star, Galarraga played for six teams, including eight seasons with the Montreal Expos before signing with the expansion Colorado Rockies as a free agent in 1993, when he won his only batting
THIS DAY IN BÉISBOL Oct. 21: Alfonso Soriano’s 9th-inning blast pushes Yankees to brink of 2001 World Series
The 2001 Seattle Mariners won a record 116 regular season games that season — and then ran right into the buzzsaw that was the Yankees dynasty of the late 1990s and early 2000s. On this day in béisbol, Oct. 21, 2001, New York took a commanding 3-1 lead in the ALCS against Seattle thanks to some stellar pitching and late-inning heroics at The Stadium. By the top of the 8th inning of a scoreless nail-biter, Yankees starter Roger Clemens had only given up one hit in five innings while reliever Ramiro Mendoza had held the Mariners hitless over two innings
THIS DAY IN BÉISBOL Oct. 20: Javier Baez moves Cubs to brink of 2016 World Series
Javier Baez was 23 and a rising star in 2016 when he split time playing second, third and shortstop for the Cubs, making a very good, very young team even better. On this day in béisbol, Oct. 20, 2016, Chicago was on its way to reversing a World Series drought of more than a century as they battled the Dodgers in the NCLS — and Baez was on his way to his first defining moment in the national spotlight. The native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, smacked a bases-loaded double in the 8th inning of an eventual 8-4 win in Game 5
THIS DAY IN BÉISBOL Oct. 19: Dodgers ride Kike Hernandez’ 3 HR, 7 RBI to 2017 World Series
Kiké Hernandez’s clutch, game-tying pinch-hit homer late in Game 7 of the NLCS on Sunday night that helped send the Dodgers to the World Series against the Rays shouldn’t have surprised anybody. L.A.’s valuable utilityman has a knack for stepping it up in the postseason, and on this day in béisbol, Oct. 19, 2017, Hernandez pulled off some October magic with a home-run hat trick that sent the Dodgers to the Fall Classic for the first time since 1988. Batting sixth and playing left in Game 5 of the NLCS, the San Juan, Puerto Rico-born Hernandez led off the top
