FROM LEFT FIELD. A COLLECTION OF CLASSIC BASEBALL ANECDOTES

Gaylord Perry was baseball's notorious spitballer who turned deception into an art form, winning 314 games and becoming the first pitcher to win Cy Young Awards in both leagues. He  gained notoriety for doctoring baseballs with Vaseline and K-Y Jelly. etc. His psychological warfare was legendary, but beyond the antics, Perry was truly dominant, throwing a no-hitter in 1968 and joining the exclusiv

Branch Rickey—the "Mahatma"—was baseball's most unlikely revolutionary. This Methodist executive who refused to attend Sunday games transformed the sport by signing Jackie Robinson, breaking the color barrier. He invented the modern farm system, pioneered statistical analysis, and won multiple World Series championships, proving moral conviction and shrewd business sense could reshape America's pa