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Tony Oliva stands at the forefront of an exceedingly select group – one that also includes Tany (Atanasio) Pérez, Rafael Palmeiro, and Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso. These are the few unrivaled candidates for recognition as the greatest major-league hitter ever to emigrate to the professional big time from the baseball-rich island nation of Cuba. Palmeiro (with […]

There have been countless cosmetic changes in how baseball has been played during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, but the tools and rules of the game — and of the professional sport — have not been radically altered. A spectator from 1901 would recognize the game in 2021. The revolutionary advances occurred in the 19th […]

Despite 100-plus big-league victories, a half-dozen straight workhorse campaigns of 200-plus innings tossed, and a crucial role in a historic mid-’60s American League pennant drive, Pedro Ramos’s small degree of diamond immortality will likely always rest upon two individual pitches tossed in the midst of an erratic 15-season sojourn. Both fateful deliveries came while he […]

Nick Young’s baseball career illustrated important aspects of the game’s early development. He was a cricketer who took up baseball during Civil War service; afterward he joined a club of amateurs that grew increasingly competitive and came to include paid players. This evolved into helping organize the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, which […]

Right-hander Joel Finch had an excellent minor-league career, building toward a major-league debut the year after the Red Sox were eliminated by the New York Yankees in the 1978 single-game playoff that closed Boston’s season that year. During the 15 games in which he worked in the majors — all for the Red Sox and […]

Fred C. Newmeyer had “won another” game for his Bay City, Texas, baseball team in July of 1911.1 Through circumstance and personal motivation, Newmeyer would, after four years in professional baseball, begin and maintain a career in the motion-picture industry, rising from film extra to film director. In 1928, having worked with numerous silent film […]

Bradley David Ausmus enjoyed a prosperous career in baseball after he took a circuitous road to get to the major leagues. Although it took more than five years for him to reach the majors, his path to being a major-league manager was much shorter. Ausmus became manager of the Detroit Tigers after a brief managing […]

“A real man is Bill Tuttle – someone who will stand up and tell the truth.” – Joe Garagiola, 1998[1] Bill Tuttle was a capable journeyman outfielder who played during 11 seasons in the American League (1952; 1954-63). He had his best year at age 25, manning center field for the 1955 Detroit Tigers. He appeared […]

Before Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders made “two-sport athletes” a vogue term in the 1980s and ’90s, there was Dick Groat. Groat lacked the power of Jackson or the speed of Sanders. But what he lacked in physical gifts he more than made up in guile and spirit. His collegiate career at Duke University earned […]

There are some players, in some seasons, who definitely experience the home-field advantage. In 1996 Larry Walker was one of those players. He played 43 games at home (Coors Field) and 40 games on the road.1 He batted .393 with a 1.248 OPS in Denver — but only .142 (.523 OPS) away from his home […]

A year after rallying to beat Cleveland for their first World Series title since 1908, the 2017 Chicago Cubs used a second-half push to win their second straight National League Central title. They advanced to the National League Championship Series for the third consecutive season and second straight time against the West Division champion Los […]

Both the Washington Nationals (18-16, second in the NL East, 2½ games behind the New York Mets) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (15-17, fourth in the NL West, seven games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers) entered this game looking for a series win. The first game of the three-game series had been a blowout for […]

Two major-league teams based in New York City debuted in 1883. One, known simply as the New Yorks,1 joined the National League, and the other, the Metropolitans, entered the American Association. Both were owned by John B. Day, a tobacco merchant. Day’s teams shared a home venue, a huge park in Manhattan that used to […]

The middle of August is often called the “dog days” of summer and of the baseball season. It can be hard to generate interest or excitement because the season has been going for more than four months but late-season pennant races have not yet gotten red-hot. The Chicago Cubs found a way by scoring a […]

Baseball looked different in 1969 from previous years. The pitching mound was lower, the number of teams was greater, and the Chicago Cubs looked like a contender. The Cubs stormed to an early lead in the new NL East Division, a creation necessitated by the expansion that brought the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres […]

Winning their fourth title, the New York Yankees crushed the Chicago Cubs 13-6 to sweep the 1932 World Series. Guy Bush started for Chicago and opposed Johnny Allen of New York. Both exited early. After averaging eight runs over the first three games of the Series, the Yankees got off to another good start offensively, […]

Here are the SABR Defensive Index™ rankings through games of June 12, 2016. For the fourth consecutive season, the SDI will be used to help select the winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™, presented by SABR. The SABR Defensive Index accounts for approximately 25 percent of the Rawlings Gold […]