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Last Saturday, November 8, was a great meeting for the East Tennessee Chapter of SABR. Lots of good baseball talk, a bit of business, two authors talking about their books (Gerald C. Wood on Smoky Joe Wood and Bryan Steverson on Baseball: A Special Gift from God). It was our highest attended chapter meeting, including […]

Despite having a lifetime .236 batting average, Randy Hundley is one of the most beloved Chicago Cubs of all time. The Virginia native played 10 seasons with the Cubs in the 1960s and 1970s and was considered a leader on the field for the team that endured a historic collapse in 1969. Hundley also introduced […]

Fred Claire wasn’t a politician. However, like many politicians, the erstwhile executive vice president of the Los Angeles Dodgers said one thing when he was talking about Pedro Martínez in 1992, ended up doing the opposite, and regretted his action. “I won’t trade Pedro Martínez, I don’t care who they offer,” said Claire.1 Well, he […]

Australian Chris Oxspring pitched in just five big-league ballgames in September 2005. However, he also performed in Nippon Professional Baseball, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), and the Australian Baseball League (ABL). In addition, the righty represented his homeland in international competition — most notably in the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the semifinal against Japan’s “Dream […]

Voted by the Pittsburgh fans as the greatest right-handed pitcher in Pirates history, Deacon Phillippe may have been the greatest control pitcher ever — his 1.25 walks per nine innings is the lower ratio of anyone who hurled after the modern pitching distance was established in 1893. Longtime teammate Honus Wagner recalled that Phillippe “wanted […]

For Red Sox outfielder Tommy McBride, the 1946 World Series between Boston and the St. Louis Cardinals had some great moments mixed with some bad memories. One high point came on Sunday, October 6, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis when McBride, playing alongside Ted Williams and Dom DiMaggio, started in right field in the […]

One can statistically evaluate with some degree of accuracy the worth of a baseball player to his team. However, sometimes a player stands out because of characteristics that inspire his teammates and draws the admiration and respect of fans. Eddie “The Brat” Stanky was one of those. Stanky was a gritty, scrappy player, not gifted […]

“For an all-too-brief time, the pitcher who didn’t look or throw like anybody else could pitch better than everybody else.”1 From 2008 to 2011, San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum won two successive Cy Young awards, led the National League in strikeouts for three consecutive seasons, and was selected to the All-Star team four times. […]

After spending five seasons in the minor leagues, in addition to a late-season call-up in 2004, rookie Clint Barmes was thrilled to be named the Colorado Rockies’ starting shortstop on Opening Day 2005. With the sold-out Coors Field crowd on their feet and the score tied 10-10 in the bottom of the ninth, Barmes launched […]

Otto Schomberg was a hitting wonder in his one full year in the big-leagues (1887). Poor fielding and health issues saw him out of the majors after the following season, but the Wisconsin native then became a major-league lumberman with other substantial ventures. Otto H. Schomberg was born in Milwaukee on November 15, 1864. His […]

An intelligent player whom both teammates and opponents respected, 29-year-old first baseman Dick Hoblitzell opened the 1918 season as the Red Sox’ captain and cleanup hitter, but an early-season slump and his June induction into the Army Dental Corps marked an inglorious end to an otherwise distinguished 11-year career in the major leagues. Though he […]

The Cincinnati Reds of the 1930s were the National League’s weakest team, logging five last place finishes from 1931 to 1937. That futility ended when Bill McKechnie took over as the Reds’ manager in 1938. McKechnie led Cincinnati to back-to-back pennants in 1939 and 1940 and a world championship in 1940. Although several key players […]

When walking through the exhibits at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, it is difficult not to absorb slices of the game’s history and lore, and to learn about the role the sport has played in both American and world history. It also quickly becomes clear that the stories of the […]

Jim Mutrie managed in the major leagues for nine seasons, two seasons in the American Association (1883-1884, New York Metropolitans) and seven seasons in the National League (1885-1891, New York Giants). As a big-league manager Mutrie achieved a .611 winning percentage, the second highest career percentage among major-league managers, trailing only Hall of Fame inductee […]

Baseball can be the most agonizing of games because blame is so clear and individual failures are so carefully quantified. Yet for those players with tough minds and resilient talents, it is also among the most forgiving fields of endeavor.1 The 2005 Opening Day matchup between the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies stands as […]

When the expansion Chicago Colleens got off to a 1-13 start in their inaugural season in 1948, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) held an emergency meeting to decide how to prop up the floundering franchise.1 Rockford Peaches fans were not happy with how the issue was resolved.2 When the dust had settled, the […]

On October 27, 2008, the Philadelphia Phillies were on the verge of winning the second World Series championship in their history. With only their 1980 title since the club’s inception in 1883, another generation of fans was anxiously waiting for another title. Two wins at Citizens Bank Park had given the Phillies a commanding lead […]

Just as the major leagues have big-market and small-market teams, so too do the minor leagues. In the Class-A Midwest League, it would be difficult to find two representatives more different than the Dayton Dragons and the Clinton LumberKings. Clinton, Iowa, joined the league in 1954 as an expansion team, when the circuit was still […]

American Independence Day, July 4, roughly marking the middle of the baseball season, is also significant in the venerable history of the Boston-Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves franchise. On July 4, 1914, the Boston Braves lost both ends of a home doubleheader to the Brooklyn Robins to further embed themselves in the National League cellar with a 26-40 […]

The spring of 1970 was a season of turmoil on college campuses across the United States. Student protests of the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia escalated after four students in Ohio were killed on May 4 during a demonstration at Kent State University.1 A mid-May nationwide survey reported student strikes at 278 colleges, […]

Ruppert Stadium was the home of the Kansas City Monarchs beginning in 1923. The stadium was first known as Muehlebach Field (1923), then Ruppert Stadium (1937), and later Blues Stadium (1943). It was completely rebuilt and renamed Municipal Stadium in 1955. (Courtesy Noir-Tech Research, Inc.)   Satchel Paige left the mound in Kansas City’s Municipal […]

Petco Park has been home to the San Diego Padres since 2004. It has proved to be popular with fans and is largely credited with stimulating significant development of the East Village neighborhood in which it is located, development that was necessary to generate tax revenues necessary for the City of San Diego to meet […]

The Minnesota Twins have called Target Field home since 2010. (COURTESY OF STEW THORNLEY)   The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have long been a baseball mecca. The Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints were Triple-A mainstays, and each had a long and distinguished history, being the two teams with the most wins […]

Edgar Renteria of the Florida Marlins celebrates his walk-off single to win Game Seven of the 1997 World Series. In just their fifth season of existence, the Marlins became the then-fastest franchise to win a championship in baseball history. (COURTESY OF THE MIAMI MARLINS)   The National League expansion of 1993 was a long time […]