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Chances are if one were to poll SABR members about the greatest left-hander in the 121-year history of the Dodgers franchise, the most frequent response would be, “Sandy Koufax.” But they would be incorrect. Without a doubt, the honor of greatest southpaw in organizational history belongs to Vincent E. Scully. Since the emergence of radio-broadcast […]

Adrian C. Anson, who rose to national prominence as captain of the Chicago White Stockings, was the first of what is now a long list of baseball players who succumbed to the lure of the footlights. Anson made his theatrical debut in 1895 in a production called A Runaway Colt. Arguably the most famous baseball […]

JERRY MALLOY (1946–2000) was a pioneer researcher who has been honored by the creation of an annual Negro League Conference named for him, as well as a book prize. SABR is honored now to count him among its Chadwick Award recipients. His first great contribution to baseball history was “Out at Home: Baseball Draws the […]

Baseball fans have always enjoyed picking mythical “dream teams,” ranging from the serious to the whimsical. My work with the SABR Collegiate Baseball Committee got me involved in a project to select numerous new dream teams. The ultimate objective was to determine which college can field the strongest all-time alumni squad. In an attempt to […]

L to R top row: Ken Medlock, Bobby Darwin, Mike Sgobba, Phil Pote. Middle row: George Genovese, Dick Wiencek, Joe Stephenson, Roger Jongewaard. Bottom row: Dick Cole, Angel Figueroa, Edward James Olmos, Jesse Flores. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library).   The heroes of baseball movies usually are brawny power hitters who bash ninth inning […]

1923 Eastern Colored League After the initial success in the Midwest of the Negro National League, which was launched in 1920, there began a drumbeat on the East Coast for a black league there. There were enough good teams to support one, and as early as the spring of 1922 rumors of an organization were […]

Dick Hall’s trade to the Baltimore Orioles — with Dick Williams — on April 12, 1961, for Jerry Walker and Chuck Essegian, was influenced by Charles Finley’s resolve not to trade with the Yankees, a team he despised. Finley once pointed a school bus in the direction of New York and burned it to symbolize […]

Shorty Fuller (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)   What is a catch? A player grasps the ball. At some instant the catch is completed. If the player drops the ball before this instant, a catch has not occurred. If he drops the ball after this instant, this does not change the fact of the […]

The Yankees arrive in Japan on October 20, 1955. (Rob Fitts Collection)   On Thursday, October 20, 1955, the New York Yankees and their entourage landed at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to begin a three-week, 16-game goodwill tour of Japan. There, they were mobbed by kimono-clad young women bearing bouquets, an eager press corps, and a […]

Babe Ruth meets Yale baseball player George H.W. Bush in 1948. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)   George Herbert Walker Bush began the first year of his term as the 41st President of the United States of America on January 20, 1989. Then, just seventy-three days later (on April 3, 1989), he carried out […]