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Babe Ruth strikes a batting pose at Fenway Park in the early 1930s. (Leslie Jones photo, courtesy of the Boston Public Library.)   Even among Jazz Age giants like Al Jolson and Jack Dempsey, it was Babe Ruth who was the King of Swing. “I swing as hard as I can, and I try to […]

It ain’t braggin’ if you can back it up. That was the reply of one Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean when questioned about his lack of humility when it came to discussing his formidable talent as a big league pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals’ Gas House Gang of the 1930s. Ol’ Diz was from a […]

On the morning of May 11, 1953, the fair citizens of Waco, Texas woke up to a muggy day. Many prepared themselves for the beginning of the work week by downing their daily cup of coffee and reading the latest edition of the Waco Tribune–Herald. Sprawled across the front page were reports of intense tornadoes […]

This article was originally published in “Mining Towns to Major Leagues,” the 1999 SABR convention journal.   On August 19, 1958, the Douglas Copper Kings of the Class-C Arizona-Mexico League recorded a home run feat never before accomplished in organized baseball—the Copper Kings hit nine home runs and every player in the lineup contributed one […]

In February 2001, more than a dozen members of the Society for American Baseball Research joined the first Cubaball Tours visit to enjoy a week of baseball in Cuba. Most tour participants felt the weeklong tour was one of the best travel experiences they’d ever enjoyed. The group, led by Kit Krieger and Peter Bjarkman, […]

Baseball “common wisdom” says that in the days of yore, the shortstop was a defensive specialist whose bat was secondary, and that it is only in recent decades that we have seen the “rise of the offensive shortstop.” But the word “shortstop” alone conjures thoughts of some of the game’s greatest players, both past and […]

Introduction and Context The disquieting year of 1981 featured the worst upheaval in baseball history — to that point in time — due to a players strike that erased roughly one-third of the regular-season schedule.  Play was halted on June 12, and after weeks of acrimonious negotiations between players, club owners, and their respective representatives, […]

On Saturday, June 9, the Connie Mack Chapter held their regional meeting in Trenton, New Jersey, at Mercer County Waterfront Park, home of the Trenton Thunder, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. Thirty-two SABR members and guests came from Delaware, New Jersey, New York and across Pennsylvania to enjoy a half-dozen research presentations, […]

Norman Macht (1929 –  ): Honoring octogenarian Norman Macht might well seem a long time coming. But it might also seem appropriate, since it comes just a few short months after publication of the third and final volume of his biography of Connie Mack, an endeavor that demanded over 30 years of research, writing, effort, […]

From SABR member Paul Lukas at Uni-Watch on January 15, 2019: The photo shown above was taken during spring training in March of 1950. The gentleman on the right is Philadelphia A’s owner/manager Connie Mack, who was then 87 years old and was preparing to manage his 50th season — and, as it turned out, […]