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This article was originally published in “St. Louis’s Favorite Sport,” the 1992 SABR convention journal.   In the late 1920s, John George Taylor Spink, publisher of The Sporting News, a weekly newspaper produced then as now in St. Louis, embarked on a European vacation with his wife, Blanche. The Spinks were in the French port […]

Lenny DiNardo being transported by Bill Janovitz and Pete Caldes during the 2004 World Series celebration. (Photo courtesy of Lenny DiNardo)   Before Game One of the 2004 World Series, the Red Sox team and staff were introduced individually, coming out from the dugout and standing along the Fenway Park first-base line.  This included the […]

Even contemporary writers were misled about Walter Johnson’s 1913 streak. Walter Mueller homered in his first at-bat in the major leagues, but another player was credited with the blast. JOHNSON’S 1913 EARNED-RUN STREAK In the 1985 edition of this publication one of my items stated that Walter Johnson had pitched 57 consecutive innings without giving […]

The Annus Mirabilis that was 1884 left a massive fallout for the campaign of 1885. For the first time, there had been three major leagues operating simultaneously, and the messy multi-circuit milieu — especially the tenuous stability of the freshman Union Association, and the renewed tensions between the National League and the American Association — […]

Introduction The 2016 Baseball Winter Meetings were held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland (December 4-8). The meetings took place 32 days after a thrilling Game Seven of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians. The game went into extra innings tied 6-6, and then […]

Move over, Charlie Finley and Bill Veeck – the old Browns’ owner was baseball’s first great promoter. And move over George Steinbrenner – Von der Ahe was a meddler supreme.   PERHAPS THE GREATEST DAY of Chris Von der Ahe’s life occurred in the spring of 1882, when he dedicated his new Sportsman’s Park on […]

By the time she pitched and won the final game of the Shaughnessy  Championship Series for the Kalamazoo Lassies on Sunday, September 5, 1954, June Peppas had twice been selected as an All-Star in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). She became the league’s first team first baseman in 1953 and 1954, even though she often […]

This appendix accompanies the article “Player Win Averages” written by Pete Palmer and published in the Spring 2016 Baseball Research Journal. To scroll down to pitchers, click here.   Player Win Averages-Batters Player Games PW RW Barry Bonds 2986 120.3 123.2 Henry Aaron 3298 97.2 94.6 Willie Mays 2992 95.7 87.5 Mickey Mantle 2401 92.4 […]

Some of the great pitching duels in baseball history have received little publicity because more than 30 extra-inning contests ended in 0-0 ties. Extra-inning tie games are rare these days since most games now can be suspended and finished at a future date, but in the old days natural elements usually put an end to […]

The center of the baseball world had been New York City, but after the Civil War came a time of tremendous growth in the game. The National Association of Base Ball Players had been formed in 1858 and the number of member teams skyrocketed from 80 in 1860 to 202 in 1866, and more than […]