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After Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record, there was a renewed interest in Ruth and several new books on the Babe were published. At least two of them deal at some length with his early life and entry into Organized Ball. That was more than 60 years ago, and researching the pertinent […]

This article was originally published in “The Northern Game—And Beyond,” the 2002 SABR convention journal.   Like the sea captains of an earlier era, Roland Hemond is a native New Englander who has sailed far and wide and worked in many ports along the way. A kid with a fervor for baseball, he started at […]

The summer of 1960 was a special season for me. As a young lad I got my first glimpse of the legendary Jackie Robinson during a political tour. He was campaigning for Republican presidential candidate Richard Milhous Nixon. As a brash, up-and-coming little league player, I knew everything about this icon and the impact that […]

Roy Mack affixes his signature to an agreement selling the Athletics to the Philadelphia syndicate on October 17, 1954—a commitment Roy would betray just a day later in a backroom deal with Arnold Johnson. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)   Bill Renna was playing winter ball for the 1953–54 San Juan Senators, managed by […]

This article chronicles the waning days of the 1966 season, including the event-filled season-ending doubleheader in Philadelphia three days before the start of the World Series. Seldom are the occasions when a team emerges as back-to-back champions in the National League. Rarer still when that team’s manager could call upon a well-heeled mound corps that […]

Led by Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio’s brother Vince, who belted 21 homers and knocked in 100 runs, the 1941 Pittsburgh Pirates under future Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch finished in fourth place with an 81-73 record, 19 games behind the National League champion Brooklyn Dodgers.  Two months later, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the country […]

There have been a number of baseball pennants and world championships in the Philadelphia and nearby New Jersey area over the last 120 years. The Phillies have participated in seven world championships, the A’s won nine pennants and participated in eight world championships, and the Philadelphia Stars won the 1934 Negro National League championship. However, […]

In keeping with one of SABR’s objectives—“To encourage further research and literary efforts to establish and maintain the accurate historical record of baseball”—the Society has promoted numerous research initiatives. One such effort, the BioProject (archived online at SABR.org/bioproject), has generated large amounts of information in its mission to publish biographical articles about everyone who ever […]

Racial discrimination did not miraculously disappear in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation, nor did it cease with Civil War’s end in 1865. However, even as race relations remain a topic in 2011, the process for dealing with race faced an evolution. Speaking to this evolution, Jerry Malloy, in his Introduction to Sol White’s History of […]

My Mom started me on my never-ending search for the per­fect sliding photos back in 1947. A regular part of every summer day was spent going through the newspapers, searching for sliding photos, then identifying the players without looking at the caption below the photo. I became quite adept at looking for key elements and […]