Miguel Olivo enjoyed a solid, if unspectacular major league career as a mostly starting catcher with some pop, averaging 21 home runs and more than 70 RBI over a 162-game season.  The Dominican Republic native retired in 2014 with a respectable 145 lifetime homers. But it was his first round-tripper ever that got plenty of attention.  On this day in béisbol in 2002, Olivo was catching and batting ninth for the White Sox when he stepped up to the plate in the top of the third with two men on base against Yankees great Andy Pettitte — and launched a

He was the definition of grace under pressure, and on this day in béisbol, Sept. 13, 2011, Yankees closer Mariano Rivera reached a milestone only one other pitcher before him had achieved. Rivera recorded the 600th save of his brilliant career, putting the Panama native just one behind Trevor Hoffman’s then-record of 601. The save came in a 3-2 win against the Mariners at Seattle. In the ninth inning Rivera sandwiched two swinging strikeouts around a single by fellow future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki — who was gunned down trying to steal second for the game’s final out. Rivera,

Few things frightened opposing pitchers more than the sight of David Ortiz striding to the plate with the game on the line, spitting into his batting gloves and daring them to throw their best stuff. On this day in béisbol, Sept. 12, 2015, Big Papi terrorized Tampa pitcher Matt Moore by hitting two home runs in a 10-4 rout of the Rays — becoming the 27th member of the 500 Home Run Club.  Ortiz, 39, clubbed a three-run shot in the first inning and added a solo blast in the fifth. He finished the year with 37 home runs and

Minnie Miñoso hadn’t stepped up to the plate in 12 years. But on this day in béisbol, Sept. 11, 1976, the long-retired White Sox icon was activated for a three-game publicity stunt. The popular player known as the “Cuban Comet” broke into the Major Leagues in 1949 with the Cleveland Indians as a 23-year-old rookie out of Havana, then spent most of his then-15-year career with Chicago. He has the distinction of being MLB’s first Black Cuban and the White Sox’s first Black player, but on this day he joined a short list of players to have appeared in four

There have been more than 400 sets of brothers who have played in the Major Leagues, but only a handful of instances when three siblings have been big leaguers. The most well-known trio is arguably the Alou brothers, who not only have the distinction of playing for the same team at the same time in the modern era (the Wright brothers, Harry, George and Sam, were all members of the 1876 Boston Red Caps), but hold the record for most games appeared in by brothers — 5,129 games combined. On this day in béisbol, Sept. 10, 1963, Felipe, Matty and

Fernando Valenzuela was arguably the best and certainly the most beloved pitcher to come out of Mexico, but the Brewers’ Teddy Higuera was an ace in his own right. The American League counterpart to the “Fernando Mania” that spread among L.A. Dodgers fans in the early 1980s, Higuera was easily overshadowed by Valenzuela’s heroics despite being one of the best pitchers in either league. On this day in baseball, September 6, 1987, Higuera threw his third consecutive shutout, beating the Minnesota Twins 6-0. The streak came during a year in which he won 18 games and followed his only 20-game

There were plenty of players who contributed to the Cleveland Indians’ history-making hot streak during the home stretch of the 2017 season, when they won 22 games in a row to pull away from the rest of the AL Central pack. But in a formidable lineup that boasted DH Edwin Encarnacion, SS Francisco Lindor and 1B Carlos Santana, it was Jose Ramirez who carried the team through its nearly month-long tear from late August to mid-September. On this day in béisbol, Sept. 3, 2017, the Dominican-born third baseman kept up his torrid hitting when he tied an MLB record with

The 1966 season turned out to be a pretty good one for Roberto Clemente, an all-around hitter who had his best power year and ended up winning the National League MVP award. On this day in béisbol, Sept. 2, 1966 the Pirates right fielder also marked a huge career milestone in the midst of his special season: his 2,000th hit. Facing fellow future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs in the bottom of the fifth inning at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field, Clemente rocketed an opposite-field, three-run jack into the upper deck in right to seal an eventual 7-5 win.