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One philosophy of pitching holds that pushing off the rubber as hard as possible and landing as far from it as possible generates the most velocity, while another holds that shortening stride length and “pulling off” the rubber will generate the most. In both theories, stride length is a critical component, both for establishing the […]

Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners. (Photo by Dave Wilkie)   Since baseball’s introduction to Japan in 1872, the Japanese game has evolved from being primarily an amateur sport with large fan bases for high-school and collegiate competitions to its teams being ranked tops in the world.1 Throughout the last 150 years, there have been […]

INTRODUCTION In the early eras of baseball, the most important pitching statistic was wins, and the best pitchers were considered those who won the most. However, much of what determines the winning pitcher, most notably run support, is out of that pitcher’s control. Over time, an improved understanding of pitching has led to increasingly accurate […]

Introduction Using Statcast data, it is now possible to compare individual pitches across baseball based on characteristics like movement, velocity, and spin rate that become obvious and meaningful even in a single outing. Various research has used those physical characteristics to define optimal pitches. However, to be effective even an elite pitch must be mixed […]

One day in the late summer of 1947, my mom and I were listening to Harry Caray on the radio describe a very exciting play at the plate during a game between the Cardinals and Dodgers. My mom, who had been clipping sliding action photos from the newspapers for many years, said to me: “That […]

Baseball players, even those playing as children, have likely heard the familiar adage Never make the first or last out at third base. This advice warns players to exercise extreme caution when deciding to advance to third base when there are presently zero or two outs, imploring them to remain at second unless successful advancement […]

1981 Kansas City Royals Goodwill Tour advertisement (Robert Fitts Collection)   For decades it had been the hope of Matsutaro Shoriki, the owner of the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, a conglomerate that produces the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and owns the Yomiuri Giants baseball team, that there would one day be a “true world series” played between […]

Sponsor Herbert L. Kokernot Jr. and manager Tom Chandler view the Alpine Cowboys practice at Kokernot Field in 1956. (Courtesy of Rick Herrscher)   Thanks to a successful, quiet, unassuming, and very generous rancher named Herbert Kokernot, the most remote part of the great state of Texas, sometimes referred to as Far West Texas, has […]

Although he was known as “Mr. Golf,” Fred Corcoran served as agent to Ted Williams and other players. For a time, he and Frank Scott were the only agents working with baseball players. (COURTESY OF JUDY CORCORAN)   Fred Corcoran was the go-to guy in golf circles, starting in the late 1930s. He had successfully […]

From youth “select” baseball to the major leagues, the percentage of players who are African American has reached a historic low. As low as the percentage on 2020 MLB teams’ 30-man rosters had ebbed (7.5 percent1), it is even lower among college players and youth players.2 Scholars and pundits have offered reasons for, and solutions […]

The highest grossing baseball movie of all time, A League of Their Own, features a 15-second scene where an African-American woman picks up an errant ball and throws it back with such snap that it raises eyebrows.1 The film tells the story of what is now known as the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGBPL), […]

The word nickname is derived from the Old English eke name based on the verb ecan meaning to add or augment. Thus, nicknames augment given names and provide a richer and more explicit denotation. They tell us something more about a person than just the fact that he is officially James Smith. Nicknames often serve […]

The Houston Astrodome was the first fully enclosed, air-conditioned major-league ballpark. It was formally unveiled in an exhibition game that pitted the Houston Astros against the American League champion New York Yankees on April 9, 1965. Unlike previous sports venues, the Astrodome was built to be a massive all-purpose, climate-controlled facility that would serve as […]

This article was originally published in The SABR Review of Books, Volume III (1988).   This past February, the city of Chicago finally yielded to massive pressure from the Commissioner’s office and the Tribune company and decided to put lights in Wrigley Field. The City Council tried to mask the significance of the move by […]

Advertisement for August 19, 1963 exhibition game featuring the New York Yankees against the International League All-Stars at Buffalo ’s War Memorial Stadium. (Buffalo Courier-Express, August 19, 1963)   Fans in Montreal and Toronto watched major-league baseball teams years before the Expos or Blue Jays came to town. Same thing with Milwaukee and the Braves […]

Writers often refer to “MLB” as though it were something that has existed as long as there has been major-league baseball. It has not. I decided to ask the question: Did MLB exist before 2000? Or maybe late 1999? Some background on why I decided to delve into this question. Several odd words or constructions […]

Maury Wills attempts to turn a double play against the Yomiuri Giants (Robert Fitts Collection)   By 1966, the bloom was coming off the chrysanthemum of Japan tours by major-league teams. Rebuilding US-Japan relations was less worrisome as the Japanese economy surged and Tokyo proved a stout ally for American fears about Russian and Chinese […]

Sixteen months ago, we were stuck in our homes wondering if, or under what circumstances, baseball would return. To some degree, as I began this essay in April 2021, things had not changed. There were encouraging signs during the summer of 2020. Once, as I was walking my dog, Buddy, we happened on a batting […]

The scene paints a mental picture. It is Philadelphia in the winter of 1908-1909; the exact date is not a matter of record. Charles Albert (Chief) Bender sits in his newly-completed home at 3515 Judson Street, contemplating a survey document received from the Carlisle Indian School. The recently enrolled Jim Thorpe has yet to make […]

In another article, I describe my findings on the accuracy of Major League Baseball’s official runs-scored statistics for each Detroit Tigers player for the period 1945—2007.1 There I report that I discovered—and corrected—26 runs-scored errors affecting 19 players, including four Hall of Famers. Subsequently the Elias Sports Bureau (the official statisticians for MLB), based on […]

One of the most unusual baseball games in Amer­ican League history took place at Shibe Park, Philadelphia, on May 18, 1912. Nominally a contest between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Detroit Tigers, the men who suited up for the Tigers that day were locally recruited ballplayers, while the real Tigers players bought tickets to sit […]

Editor’s note: Justice Samuel Alito delivered this speech as the Supreme Court Historical Society’s 2008 Annual Lecture. It was published originally in the “Journal of Supreme Court History 34,” no. 2 (July 2009): 183–95, and republished in SABR’s law-themed Fall 2009 issue of the Baseball Research Journal. The Justice expresses his gratitude to James Hunter, […]

(Courtesy of The Clemente Museum.)   Robert Clemente was not the first Latino to play major-league baseball, but he was the first Latino superstar. He saw that as both a responsibility and an opportunity. Like Jackie Robinson, he used his athletic celebrity to speak out on behalf of social and racial justice. And like Robinson, […]