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The Minnesota Twins’ first home baseball game was played on April 21, 1961, but that 5–3 loss was the tip of a large and rocky iceberg. Minneapolis and St. Paul civic leaders, yearning for their metro area to be considered “big league,” had been chasing a major league team for almost a decade. It did […]

Here is supporting evidence for the correction of errors in the official RBI record of Lou Gehrig.

Detroit Tigers fans in every part of Michigan were focused on the team as they led the pennant race in the fall of 1934. For the first time in 25 years, the team was poised to advance to the World Series. And for the first time in the team’s history, Tigers fans throughout the state […]

What with Bill Veeck Jr.’s gregarious nature, numerous achievements, and well-known career as “a champion of the little guy” (to quote from his Hall of Fame plaque), it is not surprising that writers have penned quite a few profiles of the flamboyant baseball executive. On the other hand, regrettably little ink has been spilled in […]

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 […]

Abe Saperstein created the Harlem Globetrotters and is widely credited with pioneering the three-point shot. (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History)   Abe Saperstein is best known as the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, but he also was deeply involved in baseball. During the 1930s, Saperstein worked as a promoter, publicist, and agent […]

On October 10, 1961, the National League held the expansion draft to provide players for the Houston Colt .45s and the New York Mets. While the American League had held a seemingly similar expansion draft on December 14, 1960, the National League draft had the following distinctions: It was held earlier in the year. There […]

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. When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 1918, it was their fifth triumph in the fifteen years of the modern classic. The club had the best player in […]

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. Introduction In his December 29, 2005 internet blog, John Thorn, the noted baseball author and SABR member, mentioned that the shotgun that killed Ty Cobb’s father in 1905 had been part […]

Billy Harrell has had two careers: his first started in 1952, when he signed with Cleveland and lasted for the next 15 years, during which he played for the Indians, Red Sox, and Cardinals organizations. His second career began immediately after his 1967 retirement from baseball, when he took a position as a juvenile probation […]