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In addition to 1976 being the Nation’s Bicentennial, it also is a big year for celebration in each of America’s major baseball organizations. The venerable National League, being born in New York, February 2, 1876, is celebrating its proud centennial. Its once upstart junior, the American League, is accepting congratulations on surviving 75 tempestuous seasons. […]

In the bottom of the sixth inning of Game Six of the 1947 World Series, Al Gionfriddo replaced Eddie Miksis in left field. Normally an infielder, Miksis had gone in as a replacement for Gene Hermanski. As Dodgers broadcaster Red Barber later wrote, Brooklyn pitcher Joe Hatten was “wobbly.”[fn]Barber, Red. 1947: When All Hell Broke […]

Introduction The Winter Meetings of 1990 were held amid a dispute between the major and minor leagues and uncertainty arising from an agreement between the major-league owners and the players union concerning collusion. The minor leagues were mainly asking for additional support for their farm teams from the major-league parent. With respect to the collusion […]

The 1984 Winter Meetings in Houston, Texas, took place in the midst of important leadership transitions for both major-league baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association. Baseball had a new commissioner — Peter Ueberroth, an outsider best known for founding First Travel Corporation and for his role in the highly praised and financially successful […]

John “Rube” Benton, a National League pitcher from 1910 to1925, was the center of two unusual controversies. The first involved his pitching with the wrong team, a dispute which contributed to the downfall of the National Commission that ruled baseball prior to 1921. The second involved his being declared ineligible and yet being allowed to […]

This article was selected for inclusion in SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game. Twelve managers have won more games than Bill McKechnie. None has won more respect. Deacon Bill McKechnie was the first to lead three different teams to the World Series and the […]

The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, comprising 58 leagues, held its 47th annual Winter Meetings in Minneapolis December 7-11, 1948, to engage in, among other things, its yearly “carnival of buying and selling baseball talent.”1 More than 1,200 people in all, 1,100 of them officially registered delegates, attended.2 In advance, there was speculation that […]

“I don’t give a damn about O’Malley.” Hank Greenberg was furious. The 6-foot-4 Hall of Famer towered over Commissioner Ford Frick, who had just told him what he did not want to hear: Before Greenberg could put an American League expansion team in Los Angeles, he would have to pay tribute to Dodgers owner Walter […]

After a 1985 season in which he hit 29 home runs and drove in 97 runs, Detroit Tigers outfielder Kirk Gibson was the top position player of that winter’s free-agent class. So when he accepted an invitation to go bird hunting with people from the Kansas City Royals, he believed the outing would be a […]

A recap of the 1935 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs.On the eve of the 1935 World Series, pitting the National League champion Chicago Cubs against the two-time American League champion Detroit Tigers, Mickey Cochrane was asked his thoughts on the outcome. “From what I have seen and heard,” the Detroit […]