Search Results

The home grounds for the Boston Red Stockings were the South End Grounds.1 But there were five other venues where they played “home” games as well. Here is the list of such games: 1871 May 27—Washington Olympics 6, Boston Red Stockings 5, at Union Grounds, Brooklyn, New York. Despite the new 50-cent admission charge, about […]

This appendix accompanies the article “Player Win Averages” written by Pete Palmer and published in the Spring 2016 Baseball Research Journal. To scroll down to pitchers, click here.   Player Win Averages-Batters Player Games PW RW Barry Bonds 2986 120.3 123.2 Henry Aaron 3298 97.2 94.6 Willie Mays 2992 95.7 87.5 Mickey Mantle 2401 92.4 […]

  Toronto’s worst incident of civil unrest happened in one of its most storied ballparks. More than six hours of brawls, bloodbaths, and beatings were unleashed at the corner of Bloor and Christie streets because of tensions built during 15 years of postwar animus. It was a race riot, it was a lawless free-for-all, it […]

In a stunning development on September 29, 1953, the city of Baltimore went from being the home of the minor league Orioles of the International League to having the major league Orioles of the American League.1 On that historic day, Bill Veeck, president of the St. Louis Browns, announced “a Baltimore group headed by attorney […]

The 2007 Old-Timers Day included Whitey Ford (16), Yogi Berra (8), Reggie Jackson (44), Don Mattingly (23), Ron Guidry (49), Moose Skowron (14), Don Larsen (18), Graig Nettles (9), Bobby Murcer (1), Goose Gossage (54), Paul O’Neill (21), Scott Brosius (18), Joe Pepitone (25), and Chris Chambliss (10). (Jerry Coli/Dreamstime)   The original Yankee Stadium, […]

Henry Aaron posing for a pre-game portrait in Puerto Rico. (Courtesy of Jorge Colon Delgado.)   Henry Aaron arrived in Puerto Rico as a teenager, a poor defensive infielder, and a minor leaguer. A few months later, he left a bona fide star, a father, and a major-league-ready outfielder. The Milwaukee Braves wanted him to […]

Publicity photo issued by Philco. Connie Mack (center) and Boake Carter (right) are shown conducting the interview. Note the television camera and how primitive it is by today’s standards.   Baseball’s relationship with the media can be traced back to the earliest days of the game. It started with newspapers in the nineteenth century, broadened […]

The Caguas Criollos won back-to-back Caribbean Series crowns in 2017 and ’18, beating Mexicali 1–0 in 10 innings on February 7, 2017, and defeating Aguilas Cibaeñas from the Dominican Republic on February 8, 2018. The Criollos’ fifth Caribbean Series title puts them in elite company: Only the Dominican Republic’s Tigres del Licey have won more […]

Carlos Bernier was 26 years old when he broke the Pittsburgh Pirates’ color line on April 22, 1953, nearly one year before Curt Roberts played his first game with the Pirates.1 The controversial and temperamental outfielder was one of two Bucs, with Lino Donoso, a Cuban pitcher, who encouraged Roberto Clemente to refrain from emotional […]

This article was originally published in SABR’s The National Pastime, Spring 1985 (Vol. 4, No. 1).   When a team of Japanese collegians defeated their American counterparts to claim the 1984 Olympic gold medal for baseball, stunned American fans realized what the Japanese have felt for years: Baseball is as truly theirs as ours. Japan’s […]

Buster Keaton’s journey as a physical athlete starring in silent cinema.

The late Ed Linn, coauthor of Veeck—As in Wreck, later wrote in The Great Rivalry (1991), “I don’t care what anybody says, there is no rivalry on the face of the earth that can compare with the Yankees and Red Sox.”1 Linn, who died in 2000, might have been able to justify that statement more […]

This statue of Henry Aaron was unveiled in June 2025 in Mobile. (Photograph by George Bovenizer.)   Hank Aaron’s hometown of Mobile, Alabama, is full of history, both baseball-related and otherwise. The latter includes bragging rights as the birthplace of Mardi Gras, although New Orleans may beg to differ, but that’s an argument for another […]

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. […]

There is no shortage of arguments either for or against Keith Hernandez’s enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. I have no horse in this race. I am not a rabid Mets fan, and I did not know much about Hernandez prior to this project. I was aware he played an important role for the 1986 […]

Orchardist John Chapman, otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed, spent the early 1800s sowing apple seeds throughout Ohio and beyond, expecting them to grow into bountiful trees. Bob Feller, the winningest and to many the most beloved pitcher in Cleveland Indians history, embarked on a similarly ambitious crusade after his Hall of Fame career. He spent […]

Mickey Mantle and Henry Aaron met in the 1957 World Series, won by the Braves in seven games. Aaron hit .393 with three homers and seven RBIs. Mantle batted .263 with one homer and two RBIs. Photograph from 1958 spring training at St. Petersburg. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   In a career that spanned 23 major-league seasons […]

  In mid-March 1921—amid delay in the criminal proceedings pending against those accused of corrupting the 1919 World Series—baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis placed the eight indicted Chicago White Sox players on the game’s ineligible list. “Baseball is not powerless to defend itself,” an impatient Landis declared. “All these players must vindicate themselves before they […]

The 2014 major-league season ended with the San Francisco Giants winning their third World Series in five seasons, beating the Kansas City Royals in a dramatic seven-game series on the shoulders of a staggeringly dominant performance by their 25-year-old southpaw, Madison Bumgarner. The Giants had established themselves as the decade’s model franchise, the Royals emerged […]

As tensions between owners, general managers, and players mounted, the winter meetings of 1993 featured battles over the commissioner’s chair, the free-agent process, revenue sharing, and the salary cap. These points of contention collided over four months of meetings that began in early November, when the general managers met in Naples, Florida. The National Association […]

By the fall of 1978 modern free agency was entering its third year, and teams were beginning to come to terms with both its existence and its potential, though ownership still hoped to roll it back dramatically. Front offices were figuring out the mechanics of pursuing free agents, how to fit them into their payroll […]

An Ottawa Lynx pitcher delivers a pitch during a Triple-A game. (SeregaI / Dreamstime.com)   The freshly minted Ottawa Lynx were to make their debut March 20, 1993 in a preseason game against the Albuquerque Dukes in Dodgertown. The mixture of prospects and borderline major leaguers who made up the new Triple-A International League affiliate […]