Search Results

After 15 seasons of pitching for the New York Giants, many of them dominant, Christy Mathewson was clearly not himself as the 1915 season began. The revered “Matty” lost his first three starts, posting a 4.50 ERA over that span. He was reported to have taken up the spitball for the first time – though […]

Father and son managers Danny and Tim Murtaugh both had challenging seasons in 1976. But their difficulties faded for one night at the start of July, when the Murtaughs faced off in a two-generation manager matchup during an exhibition game. In what was reported to be their first head-to-head battle, Danny’s Pittsburgh Pirates took the […]

On April 22, 1980, the Chicago Cubs were 5-3, and one game out of first place in the National League East Division. They had swept the New York Mets in a three-game home series that drew healthy turnouts to Wrigley Field. Nonetheless, the “jury was still out” in regard to the amount of support new […]

Baseball folklore has it that Abner Doubleday “chased the cows out of Elihu Phinney’s cow pasture on an afternoon in 1839”1 and thus was inspired to invent the game of baseball. While home on leave from the United States Military Academy, as the story goes, Cadet Doubleday (Class of 1842) drew up the rules and […]

When Ontario Premier David Peterson aimed a laser pointer upward on June 3, 1989, technicians took the cue and hit the switch to begin opening gigantic roof panels at SkyDome. The world’s first fully retractable roof was finally in motion,but the Saturday night sellout crowd gathered for a variety show booed as a rainstorm soaked […]

“All in all, it was not a bad first weekend in the Bronx. Looking back, I am proud of the fact that it all began in Yankee Stadium. To get your first at-bat, base hit, and home run in the same box where Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle stood is pretty special.” – Tim Salmon1 […]

On August 27 the St. Louis Browns finished a sweep of Washington that allowed the Philadelphia Athletics to creep to within a half-game of first place. Since then the Senators (or Nationals, as many sportswriters called them) were on a torrid pace, posting a 16-5 mark. They were now on the verge of clinching their […]

It was a battle for fourth place in the NL East – not the most coveted prize. The Cardinals held a half-game lead over the Phillies. St. Louis’s record was 36-33, Philadelphia’s 38-36. To arrive at a similar, middling place, though, the teams took different paths. The Phillies started well. They had winning streaks of […]

David LeFevre, who once tried to buy the Cleveland Indians, said it: “I want to stand next to Gabe Paul when they drop the atomic bomb.”1 Because Paul was a survivor. In his first 20 years as a major league general manager, he never won a pennant and only once came close. Then he sold […]

Tom Veryzer got into 996 big-league games from 1973 through 1984, mainly as a shortstop. He didn’t provide much offense, hitting just .241 with 14 homers, but in those days, one could still hold down a starting job at short at the top level on the strength of sound fielding. Veryzer was solid enough to […]

“I think I was put on this earth to be a coach.”1 “Have you ever had an itch you can’t scratch? Athletes have one for life, a ‘jock’s itch’ that a ton of Tinactin won’t cure.”2 So writes Tom House, former left-handed pitcher who, after he retired from baseball, went on to pursue graduate studies. […]

In 1903 Honus Wagner, unquestionably the most outstanding baseball player of his era, predicted that Pittsburgh pitcher Bucky Veil would be “a great star.”  Wagner may well have been right, had intervening circumstances not derailed the rookie’s promising major-league career Nevertheless, in his short stay (1903 and 1904) with the Pirates before it was curtailed […]

With a good Irish name like Paddy and a commonplace surname like Smith, it turns out that this major leaguer’s father was Italian. Paddy’s father, Angelo Amato, and his brother, Dominic Amato, moved to the United States from Monte San Giacomo near Salerno, Italy. They married the Houlihan sisters from Kingston, New York, whose parents […]

It was the spring of 1975, and Pete Rose was befuddled as he stood in the batting cage. A young, bespectacled right-hander named Tommy Hume, the Cincinnati Reds’ first-round choice in the January 1972 secondary phase of the amateur draft, was buzzing fastballs by the World Series MVP-to-be in batting practice. “The kid had Rose […]

A case could be made for the Hairston family to be labeled the “First Family of Baseball.” Former major leaguer Sam Hairston Sr. and his ballplaying descendants’ careers spanned nearly 70 years, including the Negro Leagues of the 1940s, the early days of the integration of major-league baseball, and the modern-day game. The family includes […]

Timothy Andrew Flood1 was an aggressive ballplayer, a scrappy left-handed-hitting (and occasionally switch-hitting)2 second baseman from St. Louis who fought for every advantage on the field and every dollar for his pocket. His baseball career of over 20 years in duration was notable for service as a major-league and minor-league player, a minor-league manager, and […]

In 1958, a 20-year-old left-hander from rural Oklahoma was making a name for himself pitching for the Rochester Red Wings. Cal Browning was dominating the International League for the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate, using his fastball to lead the league in strikeouts and earn a spot on the league’s All-Star team. He and Bob […]

University of Tennessee football and baseball star Hunter “Dodo” Lane darted in and out of professional ball in less than 24 months, yet still ascended to the major leagues. The infielder became a “one-hit wonder” with a 1-for-15 performance for the 1924 Boston Braves, before opening a successful politically-involved law practice in the Memphis area. […]

Bob Feller was a 35-year-old veteran of 15 major-league seasons in 1954 when the Cleveland Indians won 111 games and swept to the American League pennant by eight games over the New York Yankees. His fastball had lost a good deal of its luster and manager Al Lopez had reportedly wanted to release him during […]

During a stellar career at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, Charlie Moran1 was “considered the crack college shortstop in the country”2 and had several major league clubs bidding for his services. Once he entered the professional ranks he soon developed a reputation as a trouble-maker and malingerer, wearing out his welcome with such celebrated managers […]

Infielder Jeff Richardson played in the major leagues every other year from 1989 through 1993: in 53 games with the Cincinnati Reds from July 14, 1989, through the end of the season, and then brief stints with the Pittsburgh Pirates in May 1991 and the Boston Red Sox in April and May 1993. All told, […]

Baseball fans, tune in this season to SABRcast with Rob Neyer, a new weekly podcast hosted by award-winning author and longtime SABR member Rob Neyer. SABRcast will feature insights and analysis of what’s happening in modern baseball on and off the field, plus compelling interviews with figures from around the game — and music from […]

Baseball fans, tune in this season to SABRcast with Rob Neyer, a new weekly podcast hosted by award-winning author and longtime SABR member Rob Neyer. SABRcast will feature insights and analysis of what’s happening in modern baseball on and off the field, plus compelling interviews with figures from around the game — and music from […]

Editor’s note: This article was published in the Spring 2021 edition of “Beating the Bushes,” the SABR Minor Leagues Committee newsletter.   When major league baseball announced it had formed agreements with the Atlantic League, the Frontier League, and the American Association in 2020, it was introduced as a new partnership with independent minor league […]