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The Chicago White Sox of the early twentieth century provided the inspiration and the subject matter for three of America’s greatest novelists.   JAMES T. FARRELL For most of his youth, Farrell lived with his grandmother and a maternal uncle in several neighborhoods, all close to Comiskey Park. He attended as many as 40 White […]

When Jim Bunning stepped to the mound in Shea Stadium on June 21, 1964, perhaps the last thing on his mind was pitching a perfect game. When Jim Bunning stepped to the mound in Shea Stadium on June 21, 1964, perhaps the last thing on his mind was pitching a perfect game. After all, no […]

Major league players, after their active diamond days are over, move into a range of occupations that are not much different from those which apply to most of the male population. Of course, a certain percentage branch off into other baseball or related positions, such as manager, coach, umpire, scout, executive, or broadcaster, which are […]

   In the modern era of baseball there have been many great minor league clubs. Those that come immediately to mind are the 1937 Newark Bears, the 1934 Los Angeles Angels, the 1925 San Francisco Seals, the 1939-40 Kansas City Blues, the 1933 Columbus Red Birds, the  1928-31 Rochester Red Wings, and those special minor […]

The annual meetings of the National League and the American Association after the 1888 season took place in the unusual context of “the great event in the modern history of athletic sports,” as the famous baseball journalist Henry Chadwick dubbed it. He was referring to the six-month world tour by the Chicago White Stockings and […]

Within the past 25 to 30 years, baseball has unquestionably achieved the status of being a “World Game.” It is now being played in virtually every part of the globe. We keep hearing reports that baseball is making significant progress in a number of European countries, including Italy, Holland, Belgium, Czecho­slovakia and Spain. We all […]

Moving into 1909, change was in the wind. All ballparks had been, up to that point, made of wood, but Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field, Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, and St. Louis’ rebuilt Sportsman’s Park opened that year as baseball’s first steel-and-concrete facilities.1 More umpires were hired so that the majority of big-league games would now feature two […]

I hang out in cemeteries. Well, that’s not exactly accurate. I go to cemeteries. A lot of them. As of February 15, 2019, I have gone to more than 2,750 cemeteries in 41 states and the District of Columbia in order to find more than 6,200 baseball-related graves. Since the cemeteries are not all along […]

This article was originally published in the 1991 SABR convention journal (New York City).   In baseball’s modem era there have been many outstanding minor league teams. Coming to mind immediately are the 1937 Newark Bears, the 1934 Los Angeles Angels, the 1925 San Francisco Seals, the 1939-1940 Kansas City Blues, the 1933 Columbus Red […]

Among the anticipated business of the National and American Leagues at their postseason winter meetings in 1912 were trades, policy discussions, appointments to league posts and boards of directors. The National League convened on Tuesday, December 11, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, and the American League meeting on the next day at the […]