Julio Franco

It's a rare rookie who's able to become a starting shortstop, but this spring there are a number of newcomers who could turn the trick: Oakland's Tony Phillips moves with grace afield and speed on the base paths. He...

With Dick Wagner ousted last week as the Reds' president and chief executive officer, Bob Howsam resumed those roles—he'd relinquished them in February 1978 to become vice-chairman of the board—and indicated that...

There is no joy in Philly, even when somebody hits a ninth-inning, game-winning, pinch-hit homer before the home folks in the middle of a pennant race. When Len Matuszek did that recently he found a two-person...

The Cleveland Indians are what most people would like to be: young, talented and thin. Since this is baseball, the last, an absence of bench strength, could present a problem. But when it comes to starting lineups,...

The trade of Atlanta's Alex Trevino to the Giants was buried in the agate columns last week as all of baseball gasped at the $2 million-a-year contract Ozzie Smith got to stay in St. Louis. But in the Brave New World...