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Many different methods exist for projecting the performance of major leaguers in a variety of statistical categories for an upcoming season. These projection systems include Brad Null,1 Bill James Handbook,2 CAIRO,3 CBS,4 CHONE,5 ESPN,6 Hardball Times,7 Hit Tracker,8 KFFL,9 Marcel,10 Oliver,11 PECOTA,12 RotoWorld,13 and ZiPS.14 Despite the availability and prevalence of these systems, there has […]

“You see, Mr. Gaffney, in 1794, when this law was passed, the communities were very small, consisting of little towns and villages where they had cock-fighting, dog-fighting, and other sports and games which no doubt did create a noise which disturbed the entire community. But conditions have changed since that time and I don’t believe […]

Pittsburgh Pirate Honus Wagner is the greatest shortstop of all time. Baseball guru Bill James ranks Wagner as the second greatest baseball player in history, behind only Babe Ruth. He was a longtime hero in Pittsburgh. So how did the beloved Pirate get routed in the 1925 race for sheriff of Allegheny County? He ran […]

In 2001, economist George Akerlof won a Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on the theory of the “market for lem­ons.” The idea is this: suppose in the population of otherwise identical used Chevrolets, some will be defective “lemons,” while some will be very reliable “cherries.” The owner of the car knows, from his […]

For a while, Boston National League fans who saw Brooklyn play at Braves Field had a decent chance of seeing a lot of extra baseball. On May 1, 1920, the teams played 26 innings to a 1-1 tie – still the longest game in major-league history as of spring 2022. Two days later they played […]

On this crisp afternoon, the sky was a vivid blue, the grass and ivy were a radiant green, and the infield dirt was a golden brown. One color, though, was making its debut at Wrigley Field. For the first time, a Black baseball team would play in the famous ballpark, a hallmark of racially segregated […]

This article appears in SABR’s “Wrigley Field: The Friendly Confines at Clark and Addison” (2019), edited by Gregory H. Wolf.   Well into the twentieth century, Black players were barred from participating in baseball games at Wrigley Field, even though there had been Negro League baseball in the area for many years. The first evidence […]