SABR

Baseball provided an opportunity for Irishmen to participate in and excel at something distinctly American — as players and as umpires.

Is a long hitting streak consistent with a random coin-tossing model or is it an exceptional event that defies the odds?

Every batter has unique psychological approaches, swing mechanics, habits and characteristics. Even so, one thing about hitting is true for every hitter: Every time he walks up to the plate, he has only one tool to work with.

Why are there so few innovations to equipment and strategy in baseball? Here's a few quirky ideas.

A look at some of the new, and not so new, defensive metrics available and which major-league clubs are mining them for an advantage.

Tris Speaker is rarely considered a great manager, but his success with the Indians in 1920 and 1921 reveals a special leadership skill set.

The key to competing efficiently is to get the biggest bang for your payroll bucks by finding “value.” One approach is to determine which player-performance attributes or skills are “discounted” in baseball’s labor market.

Overshadowed three months later by arguably the greatest catch in the history of baseball, Hall of Famer Larry Doby performed a remarkable feat in center field for the Indians in July 1954.

Catchers have always put their bodies on the line. But early efforts to protect themselves met with a lot of flak.

Nearly a decade before the amateur draft as we know it today, Major League Baseball instituted the First-Year Player Draft in an effort to reduce signing bonuses to prospects.

In 1948, Willard Nixon and Hugh Radcliffe were two of the nation's premier pitching prospects. Because of the "bonus rule" in effect at the time, each had to make a difficult, life-altering decision about their futures.

Analyzing whether the "Game Score" stat Bill James made widely public in 1988 significantly measures pitching performance.

The idea that the MLB amateur draft would be broadcast nationally on prime time was preposterous as recently as 1998.

The Earl of Baltimore was one of the first managers to make extensive use of statistics, but it was his AL-record 94 ejections that dominate his legacy.

After returning home from World War II, Al Niemiec hoped to resume his baseball career with the Seattle Rainiers. When the team released him, he filed suit under the Selective Training and Services Act. The lawsuit affected baseball for years to come.

Before the widespread use of action photography or motion pictures, the Jackson Manikin Baseball Indicator helped baseball fans keep up with the game for one summer.

As owner Walter O’Malley was jockeying with Robert Moses and other New York politicians about the future of baseball in Brooklyn, the Dodgers played 15 regular-season games in Jersey City in 1956-57.

On "The Bill James Gold Mine 2010".

On Larry Tye's 2009 biography of Paige and Timothy M. Gay's 2010 book on the barnstorming tours of Paige, Dizzy Dean and Bob Feller.

On four books about baseball cards: "The T206 Collection" (Zappala, Zappala, Blasi); "Mint Condition" (Jamieson); "Cardboard Gods" (Wilker); and "House of Cards" (Bloom).

On "59 in '84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had."

On John Klima's 2009 book about Willie Mays and the 1948 Birmingham Black Barons and James S. Hirsch's 2010 book, "Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend."

On autobiographies from Doug Glanville and Dirk Hayhurst.

Allen, who worked at the Hall of Fame for a decade between 1959 and 1969, was the foremost baseball historian of his time.

Davids, a career federal-government employee, founded the Society for American Baseball Research in 1971.

From his self-published "Abstracts" to his work with the Boston Red Sox, James has revolutionized baseball analysis.

Morris's five monumental works have firmly established him as one of the giants among baseball historians.

Neft's creation of Macmillan’s Baseball Encyclopedia in 1969 changed the face of baseball research.

Palmer first gained national prominence when he found an error in Ty Cobb's 1910 batting data, co-authored "The Hidden Game of Baseball" and helped produce "Total Baseball" and "The Baseball Encyclopedia."

Ritter's "The Glory of Their Times," published in 1966, set the standard for baseball oral history.

Harold Seymour and Dorothy Seymour Mills co-authored an unprecedented three-volume history of the game, each bearing the title "Baseball."

Tygiel is best known for his 1983 classic on the evolution of baseball's integration, "Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy."

Chadwick, known as the "Father of Baseball," wrote about and commented on the game for more than fifty years.