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The Phillies’ Richie Ashburn hit only 29 homers—approximately one per 300 times at bat—in a 15-year career, and none of them are legendary because of their length. Eight were inside-the-parkers that never left the playing field. Exhibiting a slashing style of hitting that contrasted sharply with the “swing-from-the-heels” approach of most of his contemporaries, he […]

This article was originally published in The SABR Review of Books, Volume II (1987). SAY IT AIN’T SO, JOE!  The Story of Shoeless Joe Jackson  By Donald Gropman   229 pp., illus., Little, Brown & Co., 1979  ONE LAST ROUND FOR THE SHUFFLER  By Tom Clark 157 pp., illus., Truck Books/Pomerica Press 1979 Paperback $4.95 (still […]

There still is one career home run record that Henry Aaron has not taken from Babe Ruth, but probably not for long! That is most home runs hit on the road. Ruth hit 367 and Aaron, going into the 1976 season, is right on his heels with 366. Aaron, of course, leads with most roundtrippers […]

If Earl Weaver’s retirement repose is ever disturbed by nightmares, chances are a recurring one bears the dateline: Toronto – June 26, 1978. That night the fledgling Blue Jays, losers of 102 games in their second year of existence, handed Weaver the most humiliating loss of his career. The 24-10 rout also inscribed the late […]

Who deserves to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and who does not? The Hall of Fame electors wrestle with this question every year. The selection process for players causes controversy on an annual basis, but the institution, since its inception, has also grappled with the issue of recognition for non-playing contributors. Some […]

There have been scores of players called “Doc” in the long history of major league baseball; however, the ones who earned the nickname by virtue of a degree in medicine have been few in number. Yankee pitcher George “Doc” Medich, who attends the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in the off-season, is the latest to […]

In 1959 Bill Bryson remarked in Baseball Digest: “The masculine character of the big leagues has been laced with some contradictory names and nicknames of feminine nature.” For the past several decades sportswriters have referred, often with amusement, to a particular player or players whose nickname had definite feminine connotations. Recently Vic Maestri even titled […]

Many of even the most casual fans are familiar with the legendary 1909 baseball card of Pittsburgh Pirates’ immortal Honus Wagner. The card was apparently withdrawn by the manufacturer, the American Tobacco Company, because either Wagner protested being associated with cigarettes or because the company didn’t compensate Wagner sufficiently for the use of his likeness […]

Introduction and Context Some of the best players in baseball traded places at the 1933 winter meetings. The meetings opened amid optimism, with a feeling that baseball was recovering from the Depression and could “be expected to gain steadily” as it moved forward.1 During 1933, all 14 minor leagues that began the season completed it; […]

Maryville College is a fast-growing co-educational institution, located in St. Louis County.  As a part of our innovative approach to higher education, I originated an accredited course in baseball history during the spring semester of 1973. Entitled “The Thinking Fan’s Guide to Baseball,” which I adapted from Leonard Koppett, the course was designed for the […]