Fun, Unique, and Unusual Baseball Stories

 A review of some unique and unusual stories in the world of baseball. 

Home Team Wins – a FIRST in Major League Baseball history! 

A new statistic was accomplished in baseball on Tuesday, August 11, 2015.  For the first time in Major League Baseball history, ALL 15 home teams won on the same day!  The closest home teams have ever come before now was 12 wins, over a hundred years ago, on May 23, 1914.

The 15 winning home teams were the Blue Jays, Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Indians, Mariners, Marlins, Mets, Padres, Rays, Royals, Twins and White Sox. Added altogether, the winning teams outscored their visitors by 80-32 runs.

I love baseball statistics! 

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Flash Gordon in Baseball

Tom Gordon was a major league pitcher from 1988 to 2009.  He recorded 153 strikeouts in 1989 while playing for the Kansas City Royals. Those strikeouts were one of the highest totals in the American League that year, earning Tom the nickname “Flash.” 

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1899 Cleveland Spiders - The year that nobody came to the game!

The Cleveland Spiders were a major league baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio from 1887 to 1899.  They achieved minor successes for ten of their eleven seasons of play. In 1899, their last year as a professional baseball team, they played so poorly that eventually the fans stayed away. 

This wasn’t entirely the fault of the team. That year, the owners bought the St. Louis Browns and decimated the Cleveland Spiders’ team to enhance the St. Louis team. Also, a large number of Cleveland home games were shifted to ‘road’ games. As a consequence, the fan base dwindled. The first 16 home games only drew a total of 3,179 fans (an average of 199 fans per game). Because of these meager attendance figures, the other teams in the league (NL) refused to come to Cleveland because their cut of revenue from ticket sales wouldn’t even cover their travel expenses. Thus, the Spiders were forced to play 85 of the rest of their 93 game schedule on the road.  

The Cleveland Spiders ended up with an average of only 145 fans per game paying to attend home games. They finished with a dismal win-loss record of 20-134 ~ the worst in MLB history. 

Winning a ROY

While watching or listening to a baseball game on TV or radio, you may have heard the announcers talking about who might win a ROY. The first time I heard that term, I had no idea what it was and had to look it up. 

ROY stands for ‘Rookie-of-the-Year, an awarded honor which recognizes the top-performing first-year athlete in a professional sports league.  A Roy award is not just for baseball.  Other sports, such as soccer, basketball, and football, recognize outstanding debut seasons. 

Summary

I hope you have enjoyed this compilation of unusual and unique informational tidbits from the world of Major League Baseball. 

*This post about Fun and Unusual Baseball Stories was written by Wednesday Elf, the Baseball Contributor on ReviewThisReviews.com  

 Baseball Facts for Curious Fans: 1350 Mind-Blowing Pieces of Trivia About the Sport's History, Pro Teams, Famous Players, Iconic Moments, and Much More (Sports Facts for Curious Fans)Check Price

 

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Brothers in Baseball - A Sports Review

 

Over the many years of Major League Baseball, there have been quite a few sets of brothers who have played the game. Along with several fathers & sons and even grandsons of former players.

Most of the brothers that fans have watched have played for different teams. What makes the two sets of brothers featured here unique is the fact that they are currently playing for the same team. 

The Naylor Brothers of the Cleveland Guardians

Bo & Josh Naylor, Professional Baseball
Players with the Cleveland Guardians

Noah-Gibson “Bo” Naylor is a Canadian professional baseball catcher for the Cleveland Guardians. Born in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Bo is 24 years old. He made his MLB debut with the Guardians on October 1, 2022.

Joshua-Douglas “Josh” Naylor, brother of Bo Naylor, is a Canadian professional baseball first baseman and outfielder for the Cleveland Guardians. He made his MLB debut on May 24, 2019, for the San Diego Padres and began playing for the Cleveland Guardians in 2020. Josh is 26 years old.

Note: Josh and Bo Naylor have a younger brother, Myles (age 19) who is currently playing for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. A Brotherly Love of Baseball indeed. 

The Rogers Brothers of the San Francisco Giants

Taylor & Tyler Rogers, twin relief pitchers
for the San Francisco Giants Baseball Team

Tyler and Taylor Rogers are both relief pitchers for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. What makes them especially unique is not only are they brothers playing for the same team and playing the same position, but they are also identical twins!

Born 30 seconds apart in 1990 (Taylor is the oldest), the Rogers twins are 33 years old. They are mirror image identical twins - Taylor is left-handed and Tyler is right-handed. 

*Note: Taylor & Tyler Rogers became the 5th set of twins to play in the MLB.

Summary

A Sports Review of Baseball Brothers featuring the Naylor Brothers playing for the Cleveland Guardians and the Rogers Twins pitching for the San Francisco Giants. 

Many other brothers, in the past and currently, have become professional baseball players. If you do a search online, you can find multiple stories about them.  My favorites were the Molina Brothers (Bengie, Yadier and Jose) who became the first family of catchers in Major League Baseball. 

If you follow professional baseball (as I do fervently), you will enjoy watching the baseball brothers featured here and reading other stories about brothers in baseball. 

For More Baseball Reviews on ReviewThisReviews, Click Here.

For More Sports Reviews, Click on ReviewThisReviews: Sports.

*Brothers in Baseball Review written by Wednesday Elf, the Baseball Contributor on ReviewThisReviews.com 

Bo Naylor & Josh Naylor (Photo Credit by Erik Drost on Wikipedia via Flickr 

Brothers In Baseball

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Opening Day of the MLB Baseball Season

A Quick Review of the 2026 Major League Baseball Season Openers

OPENING DAY BUTTON

by thehotbutton

The Opening Day of baseball for the 2026 MLB season is Wednesday, March 25, the earliest beginning date ever at any traditional Major League ballpark.  The season begins with the New York Yankees playing at the San Francisco Giants, with all the other clubs beginning on Thursday, March 26th. 

It's time for the 2026 baseball season!

World Series Champion 2025

 

Dodgers 2025 Championship T-ShirtCheck Price

 

The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in a seven games series. 

Previewing Highlights of 2026 in the World of Baseball 

Athlon Sports Magazine 2026 MLB Teams Preview: All 30 MLB Teams Coverage, Star Player Shohei OhtaniCheck Price

 

Some of the highlights of the 2026 Major League Baseball season will include:

• March 25, 2026 – Official Opening Day
• April 15, 2026 – Jackie Robinson Day
• July 14, 2026 - 90th All-Star Game, Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park 
• August 13, 2026 - return of the Field of Dreams game (MIN vs. PHI)
• August 23, 2026 - Little League Classic
• October 23, 2026 – Scheduled first game of the World Series. 

Baseball is Back!

This avid 'baseball fan' will be glued to the TV for each moment of these Opening Day games! (I LIVE for this!). 

If you are as 'Crazy about Baseball' as I am, the 2026 baseball season from Opening Day to the last game of the World Series will occupy your time and thoughts for the next 26 weeks.  The joy of baseball has returned!

For more Baseball Stories, check out ReviewThisReviews: Sports

*Quick Link to more baseball stories:

• More baseball moments and memories from your 'Baseball Contributor',  Wednesday Elf 

(c) Wednesday Elf has written this update to the Opening Day of the 2026 baseball season and includes highlights of upcoming special days throughout the season. Let's Play Ball! 

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For Love of the Game – a Movie Review

As the baseball season winds down once again, I begin to make plans for my wintertime baseball replacements.  I am a died-in-the-wool, I LIVE for This baseball fan who is not happy without a daily dose of baseball in some form or other.  This means that during that WINTER season (as per my favorite Bill Veeck quote “There are only two seasons – winter and baseball”) I find books and movies about BASEBALL to fill the time until Spring Training returns once again!

For Love of the Game

I have many favorite (baseball) movies I love to re-watch each winter.  One of the top ten on my list is For Love of the Game which stars the actor I consider the best and most believable at playing the part of a baseball player ~ Kevin Costner.

Costner's character in the movie is a Detroit Tigers pitcher named Billy Chapel.  Billy has an on-again, off-again girlfriend, Jane (Kelly Preston) who tells him she's leaving him and moving to England just before what is most likely Billy's last professional game.  It's the last game of the season against rival team the New York Yankees.  Vin Scully (playing himself) announces the game.

This 1999 movie was filmed in the real Yankee Stadium where a 40-year-old pitcher (Billy Chapel) is pitching the final game of his 19-year career. Battling a sore arm and coping with the news that the team has been sold and he will be traded, on top of learning that his long-time girlfriend is leaving to take a job in London, Billy enters the game fighting both physical and emotional limits.

The movie opens with Billy taking the mound to pitch.  The loud sounds of the crowd slowly diminish as Billy enters his 'zone' where he blocks out everything to concentrate on pitching, leaving a total silence as he winds up for the pitch.  We hear his thoughts as he approaches each batter and each pitch, giving us a glimpse into what a real life professional baseball pitcher goes through. 

What makes the movie most interesting is that the entire movie takes place during this one baseball game and the story of everything that led up to this day is reflected in flashbacks.  Girlfriend Jane is shown in subsequent scenes as she watches the game on TV at the airport while waiting for her overseas flight.  The suspense of the game builds as one out after another is recorded, leading toward the crowning glory moment for a baseball pitcher, a Perfect Game. 

Movie Trailer

 

Kevin Costner as Billy Chapel giving us 'one more day of summer' in the movie For Love of the Game. 

To me, For Love of the Game is the perfect title for this baseball movie, as it is exactly how I feel about the game of baseball.  My wintertime will be filled with this and my many other baseball movies and my home library of books about baseball until my favorite time of year (Baseball's Opening Day) returns. 

Enjoy the off-season and join me again when my favorite phrase resounds in baseball parks around the country ~ “Play Ball”.

For Love of the Game is available on Amazon.

*Kevin Costner has starred in several movies with a baseball-theme, such as Chasing Dreams, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, For Love of the Game and The Upside of Anger. I own most of them!

*Review written by Wednesday Elf (10/31/2015)

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Baseball's All-Star Game

Review of a Mid-Summer Classic

*Updated on 3/10/2025

Welcome to July baseball from Wednesday Elf, known as the 'baseball fan contributor' here on Review This!  It's time for a mid-season story about baseball's All-Star Game.

The All-Star Game

Stadium Seating - Source: FreeImages

The Mid-Summer classic known as the All-Star game has occurred (nearly) every July since 1933.  (No official MLB All-Star Game was held in 1945 due to World War II and was cancelled again in 2020 due to a worldwide panendemic.) 

Baseball Stadium Image from Pixabay

The 2025 All-Star Game will be held July 15th at Truist Feild in Atlanta, Georgia ~ home of the Atlanta Braves. 

Facts About the All-Star Game

The All-Star game is held on either the second or third Tuesday in July to mark a symbolic halfway-point in the Major League Baseball season.  Known as the 'All-Star Break', no regular-season games are scheduled on the day before or for two days after the Tuesday All-Star Game.  A number of festivities are held the day before the All-Star game, including the 'Home Run Derby', a contest between MLB's top home runner hitters, which began in 1985.

2015 was the 30 Year Anniversary of the 'Home Run Derby' (1985-2015)

The participants (players) in this annual mid-summer event are chosen by the fans in both the National League and the American League.  Until 1947, the team selections were chosen only by the managers, but since then the fans get to select the starting lineup.  The pitchers are still selected by the managers.  Ballots used to be given out at ballparks throughout baseball for voting on players for the game.  That year (2015) was the first year that all voting is done entirely on the internet.

All-Star Game Venue

The ballparks chosen for each year's All-Star game alternate between the National and the American League, with venues selected for a variety of reasons by a MLB selection committee. The choices may be made to commemorate a particular historical occasion, the opening of a new ballpark, or a significant year. For instance, the game was held in Yankee Stadium (home of the New York Yankees) in 2008 as it was the final year for that stadium prior to the new Yankee Stadium opening in 2009. 

The Midsummer Classic: The Complete History of Baseball's All-Star Game

While waiting for the next All-Star Game in 2025, us baseball fans can catch up on past All-Star games with this great baseball reference book The Midsummer Classic.  It's a fun book for baseball fans who love reading and compiling statistics.  The book has facts and play-by-play game data of every All-Star game through the year 2000. (published in 2001). A comprehensive resource for fans, researchers and baseball historians.







Wednesday Elf , the baseball fan, has more stories about baseball which can be found at:

Baseball Moments and Memories Blogspot

More baseball stories on Review This by Wednesday Elf:

• Why I'm a Baseball Fan
• A Collection of St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Players
• Quiz: Do You Know Your Baseball Jargon?

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Major League Baseball Stadiums

Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO

If you are a baseball fan, there is nothing better than being at a game in person. And when the game is a Major League Baseball game, it's even better, especially when it's your favorite team!

Girl's Day Out at the Ballpark!

In June 2014, while visiting my daughter in St. Louis, we acquired tickets to a St. Louis Cardinals' afternoon game. The seats were fantastic, the view outstanding, the weather beautiful (although very hot) and the game fun, even though the 'Cards' lost 3-2 to the NY Mets. In past years I had been to a number of Cardinals games at the 'old Busch Stadium, but this was my first visit to the 'new' Busch Stadium which opened in 2004.

Ballpark Village at Busch Stadium, St. Louis

Ballpark Village, St. Louis, Missouri

We also had the opportunity before the game to visit 'Ballpark Village', a new dining and entertainment district in St. Louis located next to Busch Stadium. It just opened this 2014 baseball season and is located on the site of the 'old' Busch Stadium. Between the 'village' tour and the Cardinals game, it was a full (and fantastically fun) afternoon.

Favorite Baseball Stadiums

My favorite major league stadium is Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Home of the St. Louis Cardinals, my favorite team.

Kurt, known as BallparkEGuides1 on HubPages  gives us some great tips for enjoying a game at the new Yankees Stadium in the Bronx, NY. 

It doesn't really matter which baseball stadium you visit or which team is your favorite. If you are a baseball fan, any visit to a baseball game becomes a joyful summer experience.

Experience all thirty baseball stadiums in the country from the comfort of your favorite easy chair with The Baseball Stadium Insider found on Amazon.

'Take me out to the ballgame!' 

*Written by Wednesday-Elf, your baseball contributor on Review This Reviews!



*Baseball Stadium Photos are (c) Wednesday Elf

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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