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The Society for American Baseball Research recently completed a survey of Hall of Fame candidates who made a valuable contribution to baseball outside of playing.  Sixteen sample names of executives, managers, and umpires were provided and members were asked to supply nominees of their own and then vote for five or fewer in order of […]

Umpires, the unsung heroes of baseball, predictably received less than an appropriate share of the publicity generated by the 75th anniversary of the World Series in 1978. Although the men in blue are both essential and conspicuous participants in the National Pastime, they continue to be regarded generally as necessary evils by fans and as […]

The 1979 edition of the Baseball Research Journal contains a well researched article by Larry Gerlach focusing on those long-overlooked cornerstones of the game, the umpires. “Umpire Honor Rolls” points out that only a small percentage of the long service umpires, or even those who served 5-10 years, had significant backgrounds as major league players. […]

The days of the classic umpire-ballplayer feuds are long gone and in all probability, will never return.  The present generation of fans does not realize what it has missed, having never witnessed the likes of such umpire baiters as Cap Anson, John McGraw, Joe Medwick and others of their type.  Only Leo Durocher, who himself […]

In addition to 1976 being the Nation’s Bicentennial, it also is a big year for celebration in each of America’s major baseball organizations. The venerable National League, being born in New York, February 2, 1876, is celebrating its proud centennial. Its once upstart junior, the American League, is accepting congratulations on surviving 75 tempestuous seasons. […]

Only one tripleheader has been played in the majors in this century and that was 60 years ago. Considering that, in this Age of Television, nine innings may take three or more hours to play, it is unlikely that we shall soon see another one. The last tripleheader was played on October 2, in the […]

The drama of All-Star, championship series, and World Series contests notwithstanding, the no-hitter remains the most intensely exciting game in baseball for spectators and participants alike. The pressure felt by a pitcher striving to realize a rare achievement that will ensure him both fame and immortality in the record books is widely appreciated. And the […]

  While the World Series returns to us annually, some Series live in legend forever. One of those classics was surely the 1906 World Series, which pitted the Chicago Cubs against the Chicago White Sox.1 The 1906 World Series was full of firsts. Being an all-Chicago affair, it was the first twentieth century “Subway Series”2 […]

From an article on Christy Mathewson in the 1963 Turkin-Thompson Baseball Encyclopedia, we read that “Matty was anathema to most hitters in the league but to the weak hitting Joe Tinker he was just another pitcher.”  And Samuel Weller, a sportswriter of the early 1900’s, had this to say in the Chicago Tribune of September […]

On June 28, 1970, the Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs and Forbes      Field’s role in Pirate baseball was over. The park was condemned and doomed to the wrecker’s ball. It was 61 years earlier, almost to the day, that Forbes Field opened, with the Pirates hosting the same Chicago Cubs. Over […]