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Tony Kubek was a bit anxious. Not just because he was the starting left fielder for the New York Yankees, or that he was a rookie who was participating in his first World Series. But the series had shifted to his hometown of Milwaukee. For the first time, his family would see him play in […]

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 for 26 seasons, he developed a reputation for helping teams win, although it took him until 2022 to capture a World Series title. […]

The astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson estimates that the slowest pitch that could reach home plate on the fly would travel around 30 miles per hour.1 Stu Miller didn’t defy the laws of physics, but he challenged the equation that says Velocity = Success. “He’s got three speeds of pitches – slow, slower and reverse,” the sportswriter […]

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 […]

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 […]

How do you throw a spitball? “The idea is to get part of your grip wet, and the other dry. When the ball leaves your hand, it slips off your wet fingers and clings, just tiny-like, to the dry part on your thumb. The ball jumps on account of it. If it’s a good ’un, […]

Eddie Boyd was a little-known player who had brief stints with the Detroit Stars and Chicago American Giants in 1920, the first year of the Negro National League’s existence. After his time with those two franchises, Boyd became a jack of all trades for the barnstorming Winnipeg Giants team that served as a developmental squad […]

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 […]

Charles C. Crabtree was born on January 31, 1888, in Farmersville, Texas. His father, Jim, was a carpenter, and his mother, Susie (Burns) Crabtree, was a housewife and helped with chores on their farm.1 When Charles died on March 30, 1943, at the age of 52 in Houston, his death certificate gave his name as […]

When pitcher Jack Warhop “has control he is one of the hardest men in the league to hit. For a little fellow he has a surprising amount of speed, and this, together with that peculiar underhand delivery, baffles most batsmen.”1 — Ed Grillo, Washington Star, 1911   Before the New York Yankees became a perennial […]

Donning the uniforms of the Chicago Cubs and Brooklyn Dodgers for the better part of his career, along with playing short stints for the Reds, Giants, and Athletics, Augie Galan (pronounced “guh-LANN”) put together a lifetime .287 batting average in 16 major-league seasons. He reached the .300 plateau six times, played in three World Series, […]

Serving as the pitching coach for the Big Red Machine is a bit like being the drummer in Billy Joel’s band. Even if you’re an integral part of an exceptional team, only the most devoted and hard-core observers will ever know your name as opposed to the headline-grabbing main attraction. While the Reds’ offense and […]

Once a coveted young left-handed pitching prospect, Eddie Eayrs was nearly 30 when he finally received some regular major league playing time with the 1920 Boston Braves. Always a good contact hitter, Eayrs promptly capitalized on outfield assignments accorded him by manager George Stallings, and by season’s end he led Braves batsmen in batting average […]

Many famous major-league players had their careers interrupted by military service in World War II, and we wonder what records men like Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Pee Wee Reese, Hank Greenberg, and others might have achieved if it hadn’t been for those lost years. Furthermore, a large group of younger men […]

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 […]

From the predicted goat to the arguable hero of the 1931 World Series was quite an accomplishment for a somewhat stoic Dib Williams. Dr. Earl Williams, an Arkansas country doctor, really enjoyed baseball, and a couple of the players he helped develop made it to the major leagues: Otis Brannan, an infielder for a couple […]

Game Five of the 1957 World Series had everything a fan wanted to see: nail-biting tension, high-stakes drama, unsung heroes, excellent fielding, aggressive base running, clutch hitting, and lights-out pitching. In what was described as the “fiercest struggle of the World Series thus far,” Milwaukee’s Lew Burdette hurled a masterful shutout, needing only 86 pitches […]

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 […]

Yogi Berra played in 2,120 major-league games. All but four of them were in a New York Yankees uniform. The three-time American League MVP ended his playing days with the crosstown Mets; his final effort came on May 9, 1965, in the first game of a Mets-Braves Mother’s Day doubleheader at Shea Stadium. Berra went […]

On Saturday, August 18, 1956, the Cincinnati Redlegs and Milwaukee Braves combined to hit 10 home runs, tying a major-league record (at the time) as the Redlegs came away with a 13-4 victory at Crosley Field in front of a crowd of 30,244, fans, including 8,772 ladies night guests. It was an early-arriving crowd; the […]

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 […]

“I remember these summer days when it was hot and that cool air coming out of the mountains just felt so good.”1 — Danny Godby For the better part of the 20th century, baseballs disappeared against the lush foliage of the mountainside, and the crack of the bat competed with the drone of passing trains. […]

For more than 15 years, beginning in 1993, SABR member Gene Carney wrote a semi-regular column called “Notes From The Shadows of Cooperstown” from his home in Utica, New York. At first, Carney’s self-published “Notes” was an eclectic blend of essays, poetry, book reviews, and a little baseball history. Then, in September 2002, it took […]