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The Growth of the Society
The Growth of the Society By the fall of 1974 the membership of the Society had risen from the original 16 members to 230. It climbed slowly but steadily through the ’70s, reaching 300 in October 1975, 350 at Society’s fifth birthday in August 1976, 410 in December 1976, and 634 in July 1978, before […]
Journal Articles
Introduction: From Rube to Robinson
Click here to download your free e-book edition or save 50% on the paperback of From Rube to Robinson: SABR’s Best Articles on Black Baseball, edited by John Graf (SABR, 2021) It almost goes without saying, that were it not for the Negro Leagues, modern professional baseball would be in a much different place. […]
‘We Are Trying to Close the Gap, but It Is Very Wide Yet’: The Baltimore Orioles’ 1971 Tour of Japan
Shigeo Nagashima of the Yomiuri Giants and Boog Powell. (Robert Fitts Collection) Matsutaro Shoriki spent four decades dreaming of an international World Series matching the champion team of American baseball and that of the Japanese. He created Japan’s greatest team, sponsored by his newspaper and known over the years as either the Tokyo or […]
Managing the 1947 Dodgers: The “People’s Choice”
Was Burt Shotton the best person to manage the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, Jackie Robinson’s historic rookie season? The “People’s Choice” is one person Branch Rickey may not have considered.
Jackie Robinson and the World Series
“No sporting event so decisively enthralls the national consciousness as baseball’s annual October pageant.… There is something heroic about the pitched combat of two teams that are at once survivors and winners, meeting to decide the world championship.” – Donald Honig1 Even though the nature of postseason baseball has changed dramatically over the past 50 […]
Jackie Robinson’s Signing: The Real Story
This article was selected for inclusion in SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game. Author’s note: Jules Tygiel and I collaborated on this story for SPORT magazine in June 1988. Subsequently it appeared in SABR’s The National Pastime, in several editions of Total Baseball, and […]
Jackie on Stage: Jackie Robinson and Vaudeville in 1947
Just across Florida Avenue, in the shadow of Griffith Stadium, home to both the Senators and the Grays in 1947, sat the Sportsman Inn. Joe Hurd, the new proprietor, had recently purchased the establishment from longtime DC radio DJ and baseball announcer Hal Jackson, who was in the process of moving to New York. On […]
The State Survey of Players
Is Henry Aaron a greater player than Willie Mays? Was Joe DiMaggio better than Ted Williams? Those were just two of the tough decisions members of the Society for American Baseball Research were asked to make in a survey of the greatest baseball players born in the different states. Aaron and Mays were matched because […]
Intentional Bases on Balls:The First 25 Seasons
The intentional base on balls was a part of professional baseball long before it became a part of baseball’s official statistics. The Sporting News’s Baseball Record Book lists Napoleon Lajoie of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League as the first player to receive an intentional walk with the bases full, in the ninth inning […]
On Base Average for Players
There are two main objectives for the hitter. The first is to not make an out and the second is to hit for distance. Long-ball hitting is normally measured by slugging average. Not making an out can be expressed in terms of on base average (OBA), where: OBA = Hits + Walks […]
A Great Leap Forward: Jackie Robinson and The View From Montreal
Early days with the Montreal Royals. March 6, 1946. (Courtesy of Rachel Robinson and the Estate of Jackie Robinson) On Tuesday, October 23, 1945, 15 of Montreal’s sportswriters and broadcasters were invited to a press conference at the home of the Montreal Royals, Delorimier Stadium, and were promised “a major announcement.” The Triple-A International […]
Ford Frick and Jackie Robinson: The Enabler
Ford Frick, president of the National League in 1947, is not the first person who comes to mind concerning Jackie Robinson and the integration of baseball, though he deserves more consideration than he has been given. While no other individual rivals the role played by Branch Rickey in breaking the game’s color barrier, other than […]
They Served with Valor: Negro League Ballplayers in the Armed Forces during World War II
In 1944, three years before he broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier, Lieutenant Jack Roosevelt Robinson was court-martialed at Fort Hood, Texas. Robinson had volunteered for combat with the segregated 761st Tank Battalion. Although he had signed a waiver for a previous football injury, he was required to undergo extensive medical tests before being transferred […]
The Most Dominant Triple Crown Winner
Baseball’s Triple Crown is a heroic achievement reserved only for the sport’s elite. It has been accomplished only thirteen times since 1900, by eleven different stars. Only Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams were able to repeat the feat of winning the league’s batting title, home run crown and RBI title in the same season.The achievement […]
1947 Dodgers: The suspension of Leo Durocher
Leo Durocher made the cover of Time magazine just once: the April 14, 1947, issue. Published the day before Jackie Robinson broke into the major leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Time article did not cast the Dodgers’ manager in a kind light. The words “I don’t want any nice guys on my ball club” […]
Retiring Clemente’s ’21’: True Recognition for Latinos in the Majors
“Most of what I learned about style I learned from Roberto Clemente.” — John Sayles, filmmaker A ballplayer’s life is rarely if ever finely crafted finish-work carpentry; rather it is almost always rough framing, with all the gaps and gouges exposed to critics and admirers alike. Polishing and puttying and sanding the rough edges […]
Thomas Tull: On Dark Knights, Hangovers, and Baseball
How does a man of modest background become a billionaire Hollywood player? For Thomas Tull, his status as a Tinseltown powerhouse is the result of a combination of fortuity, hard work, and relentless drive. It is the byproduct of his forming his own film company and producing or executive-producing such box-office blockbusters as The Dark […]
All-Time Georgia-Born All-Star Team
In anticipation of hosting SABR 40, the Magnolia Chapter has selected an All-Time Georgia-born All-Star team. Any major-league player born in the state of Georgia was theoretically eligible; no residency requirement was stipulated. In order to make the process more efficient, the author screened the master list of players to eliminate most “cup of coffee” […]
Jackie Robinson, UCLA Tie USC 0-0 in 1939 Pacific Coast Conference Title Game
Jackie Robinson’s UCLA college yearbook page, 1939. (COURTESY OF BRYAN STEVERSON) Organized Baseball’s euphemistic “gentlemen’s agreement” struck out on April 15, 1947, when 28-year-old African-American Jack Roosevelt Robinson took up a position at first base for the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Although much has been written about this milestone, another nearly as […]
The Brooklyn Dodgers in Wartime
Led by National League Most Valuable Player Dolph Camilli, the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers won their first National League pennant in 21 years with a 100-54 record to edge out the St. Louis Cardinals by 2½ games. Camilli led the league with 34 home runs and 120 runs batted in. Pete Reiser had the league’s highest […]
Ron Hunt, Coco Crisp, and the Normalization of Hit-by-Pitch Statistics
It’s a basic rule that’s familiar to all baseball fans: A batter, when struck by a pitched ball, shall be awarded first base. While some people may dismiss the hit-by-pitch as a relatively minor aspect of the game, a hit batsman can have significant consequences. As an extreme example, the Tommy Byrne pitch that struck […]
1898 Winter Meetings: Little of Substance Accomplished
The good feelings of recent gatherings dissolved in New York City. The December 1898 winter league meeting was a highly contentious one, with little of substance accomplished. The most vexing controversies confronting meeting attendees can readily be identified: (1) recognition of a representative of the St. Louis franchise from between two rival claimants; (2) determining […]
Trades from Hell: A Tale of Two Cities
The major league baseball clubs of Cleveland and Cincinnati have much in common. They call the same state home. Both have established a proud tradition that dates back to the nineteenth century, and have enjoyed success and endured failure. They are mid-market teams who can afford to compete when managing resources wisely, but can’t […]