Before the 2010 season, Seattle signed the solid and versatile defender, who is a statistical match for the departed Adrian Beltre at third base.

The Hidden Value of Glovework

When Jack Zduriencik replaced Bill Bavasi as the Mariners’…
Longtime historian at the Baseball Hall of Fame, and himself a walking encyclopedia of baseball knowledge, spent three decades compiling biographical data on players. David S. Neft and his team of twenty-one researchers took Allen’s accumulated research as the basis of their massive reference work that was published as the Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia in 1969.

The Macmillian Baseball Encyclopedia, the West System, and Sweat Equity

There is beauty in finding that beneath a complex system, one…

Does a Pitcher’s Height Matter?

In 1993 the Los Angeles Dodgers traded a setup man for a very…
Joined the Tigers in 1939 as a batting-practice pitcher and wore number 16 ... because it fit.

Who Wore Uniform Number 16 for the Tigers—Before Prince Hal?

Since January 2001, I’ve been engaged in a baseball-research…
After studying engineering in college, applied his analytical skills to his job between the white lines. “If there were a pie chart illustrating how players prepare for their opponent,” he writes, “scouting reports would be only one sliver.”

Review: Baseball Memoirs

The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View by…
“Baseball people, as a rule, are generally allergic to new ideas.”

Stealing First Base

BASEBALL BATS OUTSIDE THE BOX There are a number of different…
His 56-game hitting streak in 1941 was an unusual occurrence, but was it only a manifestation of pure chance?

More Thoughts on DiMaggio’s 56-Game Hitting Streak

Each time a player is at bat in a game, there is a certain probability…
At Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, July 30, 1954.

Larry Doby’s “The Catch”

  Arguably the greatest catch in the history of baseball…

Baby Birds versus Bronx Bombers

IN THE six seasons following the transfer of the St. Louis Browns’…

Joe Hardy

EVERY so often there comes a phenom who streaks across the baseball…

Damn Yankees

IN 1954, the Washington Senators were an abominable team They…

Washington Nicknames

WHAT's in a name? If it’s a baseball team’s name, there’s…

Ty Cobb’s Splits

Ty Cobb is still remembered as one of the greatest players in…

Coming from Behind: Patterns of Scoring and Their Relation to Winning

At the annual SABR convention in 2003, in Denver, I presented…

Home-Field Advantage

In every sport and at every level, the home team wins more games…

Graphing Cumulative Rate Statistics

"No doubt some graphics do distort the underlying data, making…

1921: The Yankees, the Giants, and the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York

Nineteen twenty-one was a remarkable baseball season, one that…

What Inspired ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’?

In the Spring of 1908 a young songwriter and vaudeville performer…

James Lanier: Ty Cobb’s Batboy

Growing up in Augusta, Georgia, James Lanier was Ty Cobb’s…

A Tall Tale of “The Brethren”

In their book The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court, Bob Woodward…

A Tale of Two Umpires: When Al Salerno and Bill Valentine Got Thrown Out of the Game

Baseball traveled through rough waters beginning in the late…

The Deadball Era’s Worst Pitching Staff

At first I thought it was a misprint. Right in the middle of…

Modern Baseball’s Greatest-Hitting Team: The 1930 Phillies’ Opponents

What was the best-hitting team in modern (i.e,. post-1900) baseball…