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One of the greatest defensive shortstops of the Deadball Era, Donie Bush used quick feet and soft hands to lead the American League in assists five times and putouts three times, and his 425 putouts in 1914 established an American League record and tied a major league mark which has never been broken. At the […]

His name sounded like a contradiction – his last name was Schlitzer and at some point he’s said to have picked up the prototypical WASP nickname “Biff” – though we never came across a single mention of the nickname in our research. He was a 5-foot-11, 175-pound right-handed pitcher who worked in 41 American League […]

Four decades after being banned from Organized Baseball for life, Chicago White Sox great Eddie Cicotte said, “Nobody can hurt me anymore. … I’ve tried to be a good father, a good grandfather and a good husband.”1 He could easily have added a good uncle. In 1953, when his great-nephew Al Cicotte was making an […]

Marvin “Twitch” Rickert’s career was typical of that of many players in the first half of the 20th century. Before the days of free agency and long-term contracts, Rickert was a useful piece that several clubs plugged in, and then discarded, over his six-year big league career. The speedy, left-handed-hitting outfielder reached 100 hits only […]

Al Barlick rose from a Midwestern coal-mining family to a long career as a major-league umpire and eventual election to baseball’s Hall of Fame, the sixth umpire to be so honored. He gave his adult life to baseball and umpiring, working 57 years (1936-1993) in the game. Albert Joseph Barlick was born on April 2, […]

Connie McGeehan appeared in five major league games as a pitcher-outfielder, all shortly before his 21st birthday in the summer of 1903 with the Philadelphia Athletics. After returning to the minors to gain experience, he developed a terminal illness within two years and ultimately perished in what his local newspaper called “the most pathetic double […]

Dusty Baker has spent a lifetime in baseball. After a productive career as an outfielder for four teams over a 19-year career, Baker joined the managerial ranks. As a major league manager over most of the period since 1993, he developed a reputation for helping teams win, although it took him until 2022 to capture […]

“Ben was a fine hitter. He could have starred on any team in the major [leagues] except the Yankees. He wound up playing behind Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel in the Yankee outfield.” — Hall of Famer Joe Sewell[i] One wonders what might have become of a player like Benjamin Edwin Paschal had he actually […]

One of the most influential figures in the history of the sport, Charles Comiskey had a 55-year odyssey through professional baseball that ran the gamut: captain of one of the greatest teams of the nineteenth century; league-jumper during the 1890 players’ rebellion; one of the chief architects of the American League’s emergence in 1901 as […]

Gene Krapp, a diminutive right-handed spitballer, holds an iconic spot in the legendary halls of baseball journalism. Celebrated baseball writer Fred Lieb wrote in his memoir about the influence that writer Charley Dryden had upon Lieb’s career. Lieb was especially impressed with Dryden’s ability to occasionally slip a double entendre past an editor. Lieb wrote, […]

The careers of Jerry Stephenson and his father Joe embrace over 100 years of major-league experience. Jerry broke into the big leagues in 1963 and has been involved with the game ever since. Joe broke in with the New York Giants during World War II and scouted for the Red Sox from 1948 until nearly […]

Lew Moren played in six major-league seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1903-04) and the Philadelphia Phillies (1907-10). A right-handed pitcher – and one of the first knuckleballers – he stood 5-feet-11 and weighed 150 pounds. Occasionally referred to as “Hicks,” the nickname for which he may best be remembered is the “Million Dollar Kid,” in […]

In 1964, a 24-year-old Dominican strongman named Ricardo Adolfo Jacobo (Rico) Carty burst into the major leagues like a tropical storm. After two hitless at-bats in 1963, Carty’s batting average (.330) in his first full season was the second highest in the majors. Only Roberto Clemente hit better, and only a phenomenal year by Philadelphia’s […]

When considering the life of Dick Armstrong, most contemporaries think only of his ample accomplishments in the theological world. This is for good reason. Armstrong spent six decades of his life as a noted Presbyterian minister, pastor, educator, author, and humanitarian. Yet he had more than one career, and there is so much more, from […]

When Baltimore Orioles shortstop Bobby Floyd fielded the final out to preserve Jim Palmer’s no-hitter on August 13, 1969, it was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the little-used Floyd’s career. His was not a household name. The quintessential good-field, no-hit utility infielder who usually played only when a starter was hurt or needed a […]

A scrappy outfielder, Nemo Leibold had a 13-year major-league career and played on four World Series teams, winning a championship with the Chicago White Sox in 1917 and another with the Washington Senators in 1924. Later a distinguished manager in the minor leagues from 1928 to 1948, Leibold is best known for passing through the […]

“The taxi driver, the bartender, the waitress, the man in the street, those are my people,”1 Harry Caray once said. Caray was a larger-than-life figure who loved the game and broadcast it with enthusiasm. He was respected by colleagues for his play-by-play ability but unlike many sportscasters, he never hesitated to editorialize. A typical moment […]

Major League Baseball’’s revenue generating power exploded during the 1950s and 1960s due in large part to franchise relocations and expansion, though in truth it had to be dragged into the lucrative expansion era. William Shea drummed up support, at least on paper, for a third major league to be called the Continental League in […]

The play sparked immediate controversy and remains one of the enduring questions in World Series history. Did Sam Rice catch Earl Smith’s deep fly while falling into the stands to preserve the Washington Senators’ 4-3 victory in Game Three of the 1925 World Series? Sportswriter Chester L. Smith described Rice’s feat as “one of the […]

After outscoring the New York Yankees 12-6 to take two of the first three games of the 1951 World Series, the New York Giants’ offense dried up after a rainy Sunday led to Game Four’s postponement. As historian Frank Graham observed, “it rained and it was as if the rain cooled the Giants off, for […]

Nothing in the early spring of 1951 gave any clue that this would be the New York Giants’ season of miracles. The year when the Giants overtook the Dodgers in baseball’s most dramatic pennant race saw the New Yorkers drop 12 of their first 14 games, and by the end of April they were in […]

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 […]