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Cupid Childs was one of the best-hitting major-league second basemen during the late nineteenth century, not to mention a better than average fielder who possessed great range on the diamond. Only four other second basemen in the history of major-league baseball have averaged more total chances per game than Childs. His all-around outstanding play made […]

Maryland has produced five of the top 53 major league–leading career home-run hitters through the 2008 season: Babe Ruth (b. Baltimore), 714 career HRs, no. 3 all-time Jimmie Foxx (b. Sudlersville), 534 HRs, no. 16 Cal Ripken Jr. (b. Havre de Grace), 431 HRs, no. 38 Al Kaline (b. Baltimore), 399 HRs, no. 44 (tie) […]

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 […]

It was an unlikely time for a post-game riot, even in a baseball-crazy city like Philadelphia. Yet that is exactly what occurred at newly-minted Shibe Park on the afternoon of August 3, 1909. Moments earlier, the hometown Athletics had completed an exciting come-from-behind 10–4 victory to sweep a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox. The […]

Graveyards are not a significant part of baseball lore. True, the 1919 Cincinnati Reds held spring workouts in a Texas town’s cemetery. Moe Berg, visiting a Baltimore cemetery after dark, is reported to have stood on the grave of Edgar Allan Poe and recited “The Raven” from beginning to end. Edd Roush administered a cemetery […]

Editor’s note: This article, originally published in  “Baseball’s Business: The Winter Meetings, 1958-2016” (SABR, 2017), was honored as a 2018 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award winner.   Negro League baseball magnates meet at the Hotel Teresa on June 20, 1946, in New York City. The owners had all attended the Joe Louis boxing bout the night […]

When each team had several games cancelled at the start of the 1972 season, traditionalists muttered about tampering with the schedule. Actually, the major league schedules have been changed several times since the National League was organized in 1876. Originally there were 8 NL teams playing each other 10 times for a total of 70 […]

Six of the eight most populous cities in the United States were not represented in the National League for the baseball season of 1881. New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, St. Louis, Baltimore, and Cincinnati were not members of the League, which included only two charter members (Chicago and Boston) and teams from the smaller cities of […]

Major League Baseball marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Cy Young Award in 2006. The award was established in 1956 by Commissioner Ford Frick to honor the best pitcher in major league baseball. The award was named for all-time wins-leader Denton True “Cy” Young, who had died the year before, in 1955. Members of the […]

Today Wrigley Field is the second oldest major league ballpark. When it began, it was known as Weeghman Park and was the new home park of the Chicago franchise of the upstart Federal League. The park was built in less than two months before the 1914 season, and was named for the owner of the […]