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It was Boston’s eighth trade since the end of the 1965 season. In 1964 Billy Herman, about to become the Red Sox manager, had vowed, “If I am ever made manager of this team and we have a losing club, I promise you one thing: We’ll lose with new faces.”1 Herman lived up to his […]

Imposing, confident, complex, charismatic, and controversial, Dave Winfield ranks as the greatest multisport athlete to emerge from the state of Minnesota. Drafted by five teams in five leagues in three major sports, Winfield chose baseball and compiled a first-ballot Hall of Fame career. At 6-feet-6 and 220 pounds, the powerfully-built right-hander wielded a menacing black […]

To date, there has only been one woman who played baseball with a team of major leaguers in a big-league ballpark. Her name was Mary Elizabeth Murphy and on August 14, 1922, she played for a team of “all-stars” in an exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Lizzie Murphy’s team beat […]

Steve Balboni played for the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals before he bookended brief stints with the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers around a second tour with the Yankees. He owns four World Series rings, one as a player with the Royals and three as an advance scout with the San […]

“That night might have been the best thing anyone has done in baseball in the last 10 years.” — Mike Downey, August 28, 1985 ***** In 1985 Eddie Murray drove in a career-high 124 runs, had a career-high 37 doubles (a total he matched in 1992), and reached the 30-home-run mark (31) for the fourth […]

Solid left fielder Joe Rudi was a core member of the Oakland A’s 1972-74 dynasty. He was the runner-up for the American League Most Valuable Player twice during this period, and he also won three straight Gold Gloves (1974 through 1976). Rudi’s numbers with the bat don’t look dazzling today, but he did lead the […]

Twenty-seven miles due south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, lies the town of Woodsboro, Maryland, the lifelong home of Archie Stimmel.[1] At the turn of the twentieth century, he was a tall, wiry right-handed pitcher who briefly made a name for himself with the Cincinnati Reds, crossed paths with many of the game’s earliest superstars, bounced around […]

Sophie Mary Kurys, born into a Ukrainian-Polish family in Flint, Michigan, on May 14, 1925, grew up during the Great Depression and developed a lifelong love of sports, especially baseball and golf. Starting in 1943 and playing through 1950 (and briefly in 1952), she became one of the all-time great players of the All-American Girls […]

James Gilmore, left, and Charles Weeghman of the Federal League, circa 1914 (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)   In the early 1890s “Lucky Charlie” Weeghman descended on Chicago as a teenager seeking fame and fortune. A natural salesman, he soon became one of Chicago’s best-known restaurateurs and a celebrity man about town. Then the baseball bug bit. […]

To many fans, John Olerud was the player who wore his batting helmet while in the field. But to those who knew him best, he was a player with a gorgeous swing, a reliable glove, and a refusal to ever say anything remotely mean or controversial. After suffering a nearly fatal brain aneurysm in college […]

Right-hander Edwin Correa spent parts of three seasons (1985-1987) as a starting pitcher with the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers before suffering a career-ending shoulder injury. Only 19 when he earned his first victory, he was the majors’ youngest player for all but one of his big league appearances.1 Although he pitched some Friday […]

Sam Jones was an intimidating pitcher. He was big (6 feet 4 and 200 pounds), threw hard, had a massive sweeping curveball, and could be quite wild. Three times he led the National League in both strikeouts and walks (1955, 1956, and 1958). He narrowly missed this feat a fourth time in his finest season, […]

It’s the bottom of the ninth, and coach Otto Vogel’s Iowa Hawkeyes trail the Golden Gophers of Minnesota by a run. Manush, the Iowa hitter, fouls to the catcher, who went behind the Iowa dugout to make a brilliant catch of the ball and supposedly end the ballgame. However, coach Vogel is claiming the ball is out […]

Pitching isn’t just about throwing hard. It’s about contrast and ball movement, and Enrique Romo kept hitters off stride and guessing. He had a broad repertoire, featuring a screwball, which he delivered from various arm angles while constantly changing speeds. “He’s the kind of pitcher you don’t want to face even once in a game,” […]

“Monge doesn’t need a rest;That’s why he’s among the best.He is one who earns his payPitching almost every day.” — Dan Coughlin, April 24, 1979   How many baseball players, good — even great — baseball players have never played in a World Series? Moreover, how many players can say that they played for both […]

Editor’s note: An excerpt of John Jakicic’s poem, “My Bums Holding My Dream,” was published in Volume 2 of Turnstyle: The SABR Journal of Baseball Arts (2020). The entire poem, truly epic in length, is here for all Baseball and the Arts Committee members to enjoy.   All my dreams as a kid are long […]

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the Baseball Research Journal No. 33 in 2004. If this was a real scientific journal and I was a real academic, the title of this article would be The Problem of Distinguishing Between Transient and Persistent Phenomena When Dealing with Variables from a Statistically Unstable Platform. But […]

Steve Gromek, left and Larry Doby celebrate after Cleveland’s win in Game Four of the 1948 World Series. Cleveland would go on to win the championship in six games, and the franchise is still looking for its first World Series title since. (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY)   Introduction Cleveland had a history of […]

The baseball team known as the Braves makes its home in Atlanta, but traces its diamond ancestry back through Milwaukee and to Boston, where it began in 1871. In fact, the Atlanta Braves are the only baseball team that has played every season consecutively since 1871, outdating even the National League itself. While forgotten by […]

Editor’s note: During our Stay Home With SABR initiative, enjoy these light-hearted Dispatches From the Mudville Bureau by Joanne Hulbert of SABR’s Boston Chapter to stay engaged with baseball until the games return. Check out what’s new and keep up with all the news in the Boston Chapter on Facebook at BostonSABR or on Instagram […]