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From left, Sid Mercer of the New York Journal, Al Spink of The Sporting News, and G.W. Axelson of the Chicago Herald. (Photograph by Charles Martin Conlon of the Chicago Herald.)   The irony is clear to anyone who gives it even the slightest thought. At the time that baseball was entering the public consciousness […]

Buddy Hunter described himself as an S.O.B. – a South Omaha Boy. Harold James Hunter was born in Omaha on August 9, 1947, and went to South High in the Nebraska city. As of 2014 he still lived about 20 miles south of downtown Omaha. Hunter’s parents were both involved with cattle. His father, Harold […]

A manager remembered for trying to convert Christy Mathewson to a first baseman. A sportswriter considered “a loudmouthed front-runner with little-to-no credibility.”1 A team president banned from his league. Such is Horace Fogel’s place in baseball history, with much of this colorful reputation well deserved.2 Yet Fogel is also a tragic figure, led to heights […]

Through dedicated and honorable achievement, baseball executive John Heydler rose to the position of National League president, and the league became known as “the Heydler circuit.” He retired in 1934 after 32 distinguished years of service in the league office. J.G. Taylor Spink of The Sporting News called him “a veritable Rock of Gibraltar” who […]

“Dino Restelli is a rawboned young man with powerful arms, bushy eyebrows, and a sunny disposition. Like baseball’s famed DiMaggio brothers, he comes from San Francisco’s sandlots. A fortnight ago, upped to the majors from San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League, Dino pulled on a Pittsburgh Pirate uniform, got into the lineup as an outfielder and […]

Effa Manley co-owned the Newark Eagles with her husband, Abe. In 2006 the Special Committee on Negro Leagues elected her to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for her work as a baseball executive. As of 2019, she was the only woman inducted into the Hall of Fame. On March 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, seamstress […]

This is a man who keeps busy. In 36 years as a major-league scout, he conducted over 1,000 tryouts. As an international scout, he’s visited more than 40 countries, sometimes on multiple occasions – for instance, Australia at least 25 times – while flying something like 100 different airlines. He’s signed at least one player […]

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, the sport of baseball returned to the spotlight bigger than ever with hundreds of new clubs featuring a new generation of players. Such a man was versatile John F. McMullin1, the first regularly used left-handed pitcher in the major leagues. McMullin was born in the Southwark neighborhood […]

Mike Briscese was a minor league umpire who had his chance in the major leagues in 1979, filling in as a replacement in the American League during a labor dispute involving the regular umpires. Briscese was born in Staten Island, New York, on August 19, 1915. His father was a barber, and he had two […]

“If the talents of Christy Mathewson, John McGraw, Ban Johnson and Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis were combined in a single body, and that body was enveloped in a black skin, the result would have to be named Andrew ‘Rube’ Foster. As an outstanding pitcher, a colorful and shrewd field manager, and the founder and stern […]

The first four men inducted into the Boston Braves Hall of Fame after its formation by fans of the long-defunct National League club were Warren Spahn, John Sain, Tommy Holmes, and Sebastian “Sibby” Sisti. In order, that’s one Hall of Famer, two All-Stars, and one .244 hitter who lasted for 14-plus years in the majors […]

He was blessed with cat-like reflexes, an accurate arm, and the ability to get his throws off quickly. His range at third base was as sweeping as a ten-foot leaf rake. He broke into the big leagues in Minnesota, honed his craft in Cleveland, and finally burst into stardom under the bright lights of New […]

At the conclusion of the Boston Red Sox’ disappointing 1993 season, general manager Lou Gorman, manager Butch Hobson, and assistant general manager Mike Port met with a couple of the team’s controlling partners, Haywood Sullivan and John Harrington, to talk about the status of the team and coaching staff.  The quintet resolved to make a […]

Behind the scenes maneuvering resulted in Bud Lally being added to the National League’s staff of umpires for the second half of the 1896 season. In an era of rough and tumble baseball, Lally’s experience as a professional boxer was thought to be an asset. But his lack of knowledge and experience soon became apparent, […]

Outfielder Willie Tasby was one of the many major leaguers who graduated from Oakland’s McClymonds High School after playing for legendary coach George Powles. Robbie Henderson of probaseballscouting.com wrote, “Seventeen of Powles’ protégés made the major leagues. He coached and mentored so many athletes. I doubt any one scout coached/mentored the likes of Curt Roberts, Willie Tasby, […]

The Grandstand Baseball Annual 1996 reprinted an article titled “Baseball Research Before SABR,” by Frank Phelps, which had originally appeared in the 1990 SABR membership directory. GBA’s editorial comment stated that Phelps’s article serves as the “definitive research road map,” and that “all the big names are there who contributed to baseball’s early foundation.” When […]

Eddie “Eppie” Miller, was, by the fielding metrics of his time, the finest fielding shortstop in the National League. He was seven times an All-Star during a career of 14 years.1 His contemporary, Marty Marion, stated that Miller was the best shortstop he ever saw.2 Eddie was always outspoken, managing to talk his way off […]

Barely more than one square mile in size and with about 15,000 residents, Harrison, New Jersey, was an improbable site for the construction of a new major-league ballpark in early 1915. But timing, circumstance, and geography were all the impetus needed for the erection of spacious Harrison Park. In its maiden year, the new ballpark […]

Fourteen seasons. That’s all it took for Scranton-Dunmore Stadium to go from a community’s shiny new plaything to, literally, a pile of parts waiting to be trucked out of town. Between 1940 and 1953, the people of Scranton, Pennsylvania – and of Dunmore, a small neighboring community – got to see Ted Williams, Satchel Paige, […]

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the Baseball Research Journal No. 33 in 2004. If this was a real scientific journal and I was a real academic, the title of this article would be The Problem of Distinguishing Between Transient and Persistent Phenomena When Dealing with Variables from a Statistically Unstable Platform. But […]

This article appears in SABR’s “Puerto Rico and Baseball: 60 Biographies” (2017), edited by Bill Nowlin and Edwin Fernández.   Major-League Spring Training in Puerto Rico The 1936 Cincinnati Reds “The Cincinnati Reds put on the first major league baseball game in Puerto Rican history yesterday” was lead of an AP wire story on February […]

Major League Baseball’’s revenue generating power exploded during the 1950s and 1960s due in large part to franchise relocations and expansion, though in truth it had to be dragged into the lucrative expansion era. William Shea drummed up support, at least on paper, for a third major league to be called the Continental League in […]