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Background The 1972 baseball Winter Meetings played host to over 1,300 people at the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, from Saturday, November 25, through Friday, December 1. “It looms as the largest in history,” said Jack Quinn, general manager of the Pacific Coast League’s Hawaii Islanders, “and it marks the first time that all convention […]

This article presents those little known but important men who helped to launch so many players from the sandlots of Los Angeles to baseball stardom.  Southern California has long been fertile ground for major-league talent. Walter Johnson, Jackie Robinson, Bob Lemon, Duke Snider, Don Drysdale, George Brett, Tony Gwynn, and Ozzie Smith all began their […]

Baseball is one of the few sports not dictated by a time clock, but its beautiful symmetry is what makes it unique: the ultimate game of equal opportunity. Countless contests in history have extended into extra innings. In some cases, overtime matchups have turned into drawn-out affairs leaving only the most ardent fans waiting for […]

Editor’s note: This article is a sidebar to John Cronin’s “When a Dream Plays Reality in Baseball: Roberto Maduro and the Inter-American League”, from the Spring 2011 edition of the Baseball Research Journal. Wayne Tyrone, who played for the Miami Amigos and led the IAL with eight homers, was a contestant on “The Price Is […]

From youth “select” baseball to the major leagues, the percentage of players who are African American has reached a historic low. As low as the percentage on 2020 MLB teams’ 30-man rosters had ebbed (7.5 percent1), it is even lower among college players and youth players.2 Scholars and pundits have offered reasons for, and solutions […]

Pete Rose’s move from left field to third base in early May 1975 often receives credit as a pivotal moment in the success of the 1975 Reds — and with good reason. That’s when the team began to win consistently, surging to the National League West Division title. Pete Rose roamed around the diamond during […]

Carlos Bernier was 26 years old when he broke the Pittsburgh Pirates’ color line on April 22, 1953, nearly one year before Curt Roberts played his first game with the Pirates.1 The controversial and temperamental outfielder was one of two Bucs, with Lino Donoso, a Cuban pitcher, who encouraged Roberto Clemente to refrain from emotional […]

Editor’s note: All statistics are current through the 2016 season.   Playing in postseason is a special time for players. It is also special for umpires who are assigned to officiate. The first modern World Series in 1903 was umpired by two men: Hank O’Day and Tommy Connolly. O’Day, a retired player, had been a […]

The New York Mets and Houston Colt 45s were the first new franchises in the National League in 70 years. The last time the league had expanded was 1892, after the folding of the American Association led to the NL absorbing four AA clubs. The two new teams in 1962 had come from another league […]

In 1905, Tokyo’s Waseda University became the first Japanese ballclub to play on American soil. Under the visionary leadership of Isoo Abe, the man now celebrated as “the Father of Japanese Baseball,” Waseda played 26 games against American colleges and semi-pro teams, finishing with a 7–19 record (.269 winning average).1 In 1911, Waseda returned to […]