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This article was originally published in the 1991 SABR convention journal (New York City). In 2020, Bud Fowler was selected as SABR’s Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend.   New York state made a significant contribution to black baseball in the 19th century. Not only did such great independent clubs as the Cuban Giants and […]

Toronto hosted the 1979 winter meetings at the Sheraton Centre, marking the fourth time the winter meetings were held outside the United States (Montreal in 1930 and 1936 and Mexico City in 1967).1 The owners’ discussions, both formal and informal, focused on the game’s economics and the coming labor negotiations with the players — only […]

My first contacts with baseball scouts occurred in 1955 during my junior year at Tucson High School in Arizona. These were always casual meetings — a scout might “happen” to bump into me after one of our games, introduce himself, and toss an off-handed compliment such as, “That’s some fastball you have there, kid.” The […]

Granted, numerous screen biopics have charted the lives of ballplayers from Hall of Famers to major leaguers with unusual, marketable life stories.1 One legend – Lou Gehrig – has been portrayed twice, in 1942’s The Pride of the Yankees and A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story, a 1977 made-for-television movie. Another – […]

Moses and Welday Walker played with the Toledo club of the American Association in 1884 and thereby became the only recognized Negroes to make the major leagues until Jackie Robinson did it in 1947. But what about the rest of Organized Baseball, the fledgling minor leagues of the 19th Century? Was it just as difficult […]

You can whiffle all you want about Reggie Jackson’s 18 post-season home runs. Big deal – it took him 77 games and 281 at-bats to reach that mark. More impressive is Mantle’s 18 in 65 games and 230 at-bats – all hit in the World Series. I am even more impressed by the Babe’s 15 […]

Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Hanley Ramirez, and Dustin Pedroia – names you likely would not expect to read about in a book about the 2004 Boston Red Sox. After all, these men were key players in the 2007 World Series championship. Lester, Papelbon, and Pedroia were on the team, while Ramirez was traded to the […]

Working on mechanics, Wendelstedt School, January 2017.   After interviewing so many umpires, and hearing about their experiences in umpire school, and reading Shaun McCready’s wonderful blog, I figured the final thing I needed to do to try to bring this SABR Book on Umpires and Umpiring to completion was to see where modern professional […]

After the Civil War, the U.S. Army built dozens of military forts on the Great Plains. As the railroads pushed westward, settlers soon followed, and the first cities on the western frontier were established. From the earliest days, the playing of base ball was a favorite pastime, first by the soldiers and later by the […]

The 1949 Drummondville Cubs, Quebec Provincial League champions. Left to right: Gerry Cotnoir, Roy Zimmerman, Roger Bréard, Quincy Trouppe, Len Hooker, Sal Maglie, Conrado Perez, Roberto Vargas, Joe Promowicz (Prom), Joe luminelli, Danny Gardella, Stan Bréard, Vic Power, Ernie Sawyer. (Collection of Daniel Papillon)   George Gmelch, then playing for the Drummondville Royals, recalled a […]