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When New York Giants announcer Russ Hodges uttered the immortal words “The Giants win the pennant!” the legacy of Bobby Thomson was indelibly etched into baseball history. Despite modest career stats, Thomson’s October 3, 1951, home run off Ralph Branca was, in 1999, ranked number one on The Sporting News’ Greatest Baseball Moments.1 The “Shot […]

On June 1, 1986, 31-year-old pitcher Chris Welsh made his debut for the Cincinnati Reds, the hometown team he grew up rooting for. “I had my family and my friends there,” Welsh said years later.1 But trouble started right away. He walked the leadoff man, and not just any leadoff man. He then proceeded to […]

While the honor of having the sweetest swing in baseball may seem like it’s a subjective one, few would disagree that Ken Griffey Jr. possessed the sweetest swing there ever was. He was a natural, and his inborn abilities coupled with his youthful enthusiasm ignited an entire city’s passion for baseball. Behind the center-field wall […]

A mediocre fielder at third base, Red Smith was a good enough hitter to hold down third base for the Brooklyn Dodgers, until he clashed with his new manager, Wilbert Robinson. Robbie regarded Smith as a troublemaker, and Smith was summarily shipped to the Boston Braves – in time to make an important contribution as […]

“The great Jackie Robinson once said, ‘A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.’ This afternoon, as the Mariners acknowledge Tuesday’s league-wide celebration of the life of Jackie Robinson, the Mariners are pleased to welcome a special guest who personifies Jackie’s spirit and has dedicated his life to serving […]

Second baseman Newt Allen’s Kansas City Monarchs teammates gave him the nickname “Colt” in 1922 because he was the youngest member of the team.1 Over the course of a 23-plus-year career in the Negro Leagues that also included stints in other countries, Allen proved to be one of the best players ever to man the […]

Throwing sinkerballs with his right-handed, three-quarters delivery, John Flinn pitched a dozen seasons of professional baseball, but only 42 games in the majors. As a big-leaguer, Flinn won five, lost two, posted a respectable 4.17 ERA and held Hall of Fame members to only two hits in 23 at-bats (Carlton Fisk notched both). But it […]

Cleveland pitcher Dennis Eckersley was pitching pretty well. His last outing was a 12-inning game against Seattle, in which he held the Mariners without a hit from the sixth inning on, covering the last 7 2/3 innings. He was rewarded with a complete-game win, when the Tribe pushed a run across in the last of […]

He was born Harry I. Dalton on August 23, 1928, in West Springfield, Massachusetts, the same hometown as Leo Durocher. He graduated as an English major from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Historically, Amherst faced Williams in the world’s first intercollegiate baseball game in 1859. He had been accepted to the Columbia University School of […]

For decades, Emil Verban was remembered as an obscure minor-league infielder who made the majors because of depleted wartime rosters, then played for losing teams and hit one home run in 2,911 times at bat. But more than 20 years after his retirement, Verban won a measure of fame as the namesake of the Emil […]

Baseball has yet to take firm hold in the island of Jamaica, even though it is surrounded by other nations with a strong tradition in the sport. As the 2018 season ended, four men of Jamaican birth have made it to the majors, all of whom learned the game in the United States. The first […]

Pete Knisely’s story is a familiar one: a player who excelled in the minors, could knock a ball over fences and walls in left field,1 but failed to make an impact in the majors over four seasons from 1912 through 1915. Knisley was known as “Pickleburg Pete”2 or “Pickle Bird.”3 (The origins of these nicknames […]

Statistically, a 13th-round draft pick is highly unlikely to see the majors at all; even fewer go on to make two All-Star Game appearances or win five Gold Gloves and a World Series championship. Very few four-year college outfielders who debut in the majors at age 24 go on to have 19-year careers in which […]

In 1890 professional baseball was illegal on Sundays in many parts of the country. But in California, Sunday baseball was celebrated. The Oakland Colonels and San Francisco Metropolitans played two games on Sunday, October 12, 1890. The first began at 10:30 A.M. in Oakland and was won by the Mets, 4-2. The second game started […]

Frank Robinson stuck to his word. The Cleveland Indians manager was impressed with the pitching of his 20-year-old righty Dennis Eckersley. The Oakland native posted a remarkable record at San Antonio of the Double-A Texas League. Eck went 14-3 with a 3.40 ERA for the Brewers, totaling 163 strikeouts against 60 walks. But was he […]

On a sultry Wednesday afternoon at Ebbets Field, the Robins and Pirates played for 4 hours and 15 minutes in the first game of a doubleheader.1 A “paltry 1,500 ‘bushers’ were on hand to appreciate” the longest game in the 41-year history of the National League.2 A Brooklyn newspaper account noted that “forty-seven safeties, one […]

When baseball returned to Washington in 2005 after an absence of 33 seasons, RFK Stadium became the home of the transplanted Montreal Expos, now the Washington Nationals. Its cookie-cutter design was of its era — round and multipurpose.1 As this baseball finale approached, the state of RFK Stadium could best be described as leaky and […]

Between May 5, 1969, and July 22, 1973, Freddie Velázquez went 0-for-4 as a major leaguer. Not hitless for four at-bats, but hitless for four years. A big-league debutant at 31, Velázquez collected two hits in six appearances for the Seattle Pilots in the early weeks of the 1969 season.1 He then returned to the […]

The underachieving Milwaukee Braves were on the verge of losing their eighth consecutive game and falling further behind in the pennant race. They trailed by a run in the bottom of the ninth of their July 22, 1959, contest against the Cincinnati Reds. Second baseman Roberto “Bobby” Ávila, acquired one day earlier and in the […]

As their 1954 season staggered toward its conclusion, the Philadelphia Athletics would host the New York Yankees in the home finale at Connie Mack Stadium. The game, however, was bereft of suspense for either team. For the Yankees, winners of the previous five World Series, their dethroning by the Cleveland Indians was complete. The day […]

The first major-league baseball game this writer ever saw was at the Polo Grounds in New York City on May 24, 1946. Since then he has visited major-league and minor-league parks from Boston to San Diego and many places in between. But he has never seen games anywhere that rival the pageantry of those at […]

Members and guests of the Buck O’Neil/North Florida Chapter gathered on October 4, 2023, at Casa Grande Margaritas & Cocina in Tallahassee, Florida, for their monthly meeting.  In attendance were: Matt Keelean, President Matt Hudson, Vice President Renee Watters, Communications Co-Director Brent Kallestad, Communications Co-Director Rick Swain, Treasurer Kent Putnam, Secretary Frank Alarcon Fred Dunphy […]

The Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston welcomed spring with its monthly Zoom meeting on Monday, March 15, 2021, with 29 members in attendance. Chair Bob Dorrill led off with several news items. Eddie Robinson recently celebrated his 100th birthday and is at spring training in Arizona. Monica White, widow of the late Tom White, a […]

SABR Bibliography Committee Research Guide No. 10: Baseball in History Journals (1980-88) Editor’s note: This guide was first published by the SABR Bibliography Committee in 1989. To download the original in PDF form, click here. By Jim SumnerApril 1989 This guide consists of all the articles I could find on baseball history published in history […]