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“Pitching is the art of instilling fear.”1 — Sandy Koufax In Major League Baseball, the difference between a winning team and a losing one can be mental preparation and psychological advantage. It is a game of streaks, slumps, and momentum. A team that can get inside its opponent’s head will find it much easier to […]
One Thousand, Nine Hundred, Ninety. Nineteen-Ninety-One. One-Nine-Nine-Five. Nineteen Hundred, Ninety-Six. One can find all these different numbers for Lou Gehrig’s lifetime Runs Batted In (RBIs), depending where one looks. Which, if any, of those numbers—1,990, 1,991, 1,995, or 1,996—is correct? THE PROBLEM The Howe News Bureau served as the official statistician for the American League […]
Before the first game of the 1911 World Series, legendary managers John McGraw (left) of the New York Giants and Connie Mack (right) of the Philadelphia Athletics are pictured shaking hands. Also shown are the pitching aces of the two teams, Hall of Famers Christy Mathewson (left) of the Giants and Charles Albert Bender (right) […]
This article was originally published in The SABR Review of Books, Volume III (1988). Roger Angell’s office at The New Yorker where he works as senior fiction editor and baseball reporter, has the rumpled busy look of a college professor’s study. Shelves are lined with baseball guides, SABR publications, autographed baseballs, odd wire sculptures of […]
Stan Musial batted .365 in 1946 and won his second NL MVP award. (SABR-Rucker Archive) INTRODUCTION Stan Musial is undeniably one of the greatest baseball players of all time. With 24 All-Star appearances, just one behind Hank Aaron for the most ever, and three MVP awards – while finishing in the top 10 a […]
George Shuba greets Jackie Robinson at home plate on April 18, 1946. (Courtesy of Greg Gulas, Carrie Anderson, Mike Shuba) The 1946 Montreal Royals of the International League have received much attention over the years because Jackie Robinson broke Organized Baseball’s historic and shameful color line by playing second base for the Royals.1 But […]
Bob “Rapid Robert” Feller (left) and Satchel Paige (right) played on the Cleveland Indians together for one and-a-half seasons in 1948 and 1949. (SABR-RUCKER ARCHIVE) Hall of Fame pitchers Bob Feller and Satchel Paige primarily supplemented their ball club salaries by playing in barnstorming games over the course of their careers. The duo faced […]
August 3, 1988, was a scorching day on the north shore of Lake Ontario; in Imperial-averse Canada, the temperature reached a high of 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). Playing an evening game offered little relief from the heat for the Toronto Blue Jays and their visitors, the Minnesota Twins. When Jeff Musselman of the […]
After a World Series appearance in 1965 and finishing second to the Baltimore Orioles in 1966, there were many reasons to believe the Minnesota Twins had a good shot at the American League pennant in 1967. Decades later, this remains one of baseball greatest and most historic pennant races. On September 30, 1967, a Saturday […]
The importance of psychology in the development of baseball players has been recognized for many years. But there is not much information on how professional baseball organizations began to utilize the services of full-time mental training consultants during the 1980s. Harvey Dorfman is perhaps the most celebrated of these consultants. For over 27 years, Dorfman […]
Unhappy with the team’s contract offer for 2003 and beyond, Philadelphia’s All-Star third baseman Scott Rolen was threatening to become a free agent at the end of the 2002 season. Taking those threats seriously, the Phillies chose to get what they could for Rolen and traded him to the Cardinals two days before the July […]
The annals of baseball prose include several memoirs and biographies from and about major-, minor-, and amateur-league umpires, well stocked with entertaining war stories from the diamond front, as well as numerous how-to-manuals for those pondering careers in this noble and unappreciated profession; and books inviting fans to offer their own interpretation of baseball’s knottier […]
It is the custom at major league baseball games that fans can keep all baseballs which are hit or thrown out of play into the spectator seating area. Not surprisingly, many fans treasure souvenir baseballs obtained in this manner. Indeed, if given a choice, most young fans would probably appreciate more catching a foul ball […]
Ask any resident of Eau Claire if any Hall of Fame baseball players got their start in their Western Wisconsin city, and you will likely hear a story about Henry Aaron and his storybook 1952 season. Or you can view the bronze statue featuring the likeness of the young slugger, wearing his not so famous […]
In 1904 when Tyrus Raymond Cobb arrived on the professional baseball scene, his first name was not at all well known. In fact, most fans had never even heard of anyone with that particular name—Ty himself apparently among them. That was to change in short order, however, as Tyrus Cobb’s fame spread nationally within […]
This article was originally published in “Baseball in the Buckeye State,” the 2004 SABR convention journal. On Saturday, October 15, 1892, Charles Leander Jones of Cedarville, Ohio, pitched a no-hitter for the Cincinnati Redlegs against the Pittsburghs. It was Jones’ first major league game and the first National League no-hitter for the Reds. Additionally […]
Whitey Kurowski, Marty Marion, Stan Musial, and Ray Sanders get together during the 1944 World Series against the St. Louis Browns. (SABR-Rucker Archive) Stan Musial was involved in 13 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals as a player, member of the front office, and later as the team’s senior ambassador – Mr. Cardinal. […]
This article was originally published in “St. Louis’s Favorite Sport,” the 1992 SABR convention journal. When Miller Huggins found he couldn’t own the Cardinals—or at least a good hunk of them—he opted for a job for which he had been recommended by Ban Johnson, the founder of the American League, and endorsed by J. […]
Doug Glanville in his new baseball memoir notes that many players, “rewarded with huge contracts because of their offensive prowess, . . . have developed a kind of attention deficit disorder when it comes to defense. . . . If you put up tremendous offensive numbers year after year, the game will cut you […]
“One thing I can’t go for is any “hero” stuff. I know I am no hero. All right, I flew 39 missions—I know too many others who flew 100 and more. . . .Just because I happen to be in baseball, it seems to be big news. Well, I’m not kidding myself and I am […]
The Society launched a research project in 1976 to gather information about — what is now a rather rare baseball occurrence — the inside-the-park home run (IPH). Some of the questions raised at the outset of this project v re rather basic in nature. How many inside-the-park homers are being hit at the present time […]
In order to bring the Astrodome to fruition, given the project’s incredible size and scope, Roy Hofheinz consulted with many of the leading architectural and engineering minds of his era. He was particularly concerned with making his original vision of a modern-day Roman Colosseum a reality. The processes associated with the design and eventual construction […]