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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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

Before Minnie Miñoso’s cup of coffee with the Indians in 1949, another Black Cuban was the toast of Cleveland. Although Avelino Cañizares’s story is not as well-known as the Cuban Comet’s, Cañizares led the city to a coveted championship. But then, in a flash, the “Cuban Wonder” was gone. Avelino Cañizares Martínez was born on […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

A right-handed-throwing, switch-hitting outfielder who had much more success from the left side because of his ability to “swing-and-run” and beat out slap base hits, Miguel Diloné was perhaps the quintessential journeyman. He played for seven teams (including two stints with the Pirates) over a 12-year career and had more than 400 plate appearances in […]

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 […]

George McQuillan was the Doc Gooden of the Deadball Era. In 1908 he enjoyed one of the best rookie seasons in history, going 23-17 for the mediocre Phillies with a sparkling 1.53 ERA in nearly 360 innings of work (in 1985 the young Gooden posted an identical ERA). An unusually fast worker even in an […]

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 […]

From May 6, 1992, to July 24, 1993, righty pitcher Anthony Young lost 27 consecutive decisions with the New York Mets. It was an astounding run of bad luck, since Young did not pitch that poorly — although it didn’t help that “The Worst Team Money Could Buy” was behind him. In a 2009 interview […]

Two relief appearances for the 1950 Brooklyn Dodgers were the extent of left-handed pitcher Mal Mallette’s major-league career. An Air Force captain during World War II before entering professional baseball, he became an esteemed journalist after leaving the game. Malcolm Francis “Mal” Mallette was born on January 30, 1922, in Syracuse, New York, and grew […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

On a clear and cool day, the Cincinnati Redlegs and Chicago Cubs prepared for an early May finale of a five-game series at Wrigley Field. A Cubs vice president estimated that the team lost at least 100,000 fans to unstable Chicagoland weather during this 10-game homestand.1 Another small crowd (5,936) entered the turnstiles at Clark […]

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 […]

High and Inside The Newsletter of the SABR BioProject Committee April 2016 (Special Sidd Finch Edition), Volume 1, Number 4 Past newsletters Editor: Stew Thornley From the Editor From the Director Advice from the Experts Project Profile: Jacob Pomrenke Project Poobahs From the Editor Welcome to the latest High and Inside, all the news you […]