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“No doubt some graphics do distort the underlying data, making it hard for the viewer to learn the truth. But data graphics are no different from words in this regard, for any means of communication can be used to deceive.” — Edward Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information Data-visualization expert Edward Tufte suggests […]
The Canadian Military Headquarters team defeated their American opponents before a huge crowd at Wembley Stadium on June 3, 1944. The hero of the day, Ed Smith, is back row, third from the right. (Library and Archives Canada) Ed Smith was twice a hero during Canada’s Second World War. Smith, working at the Canadian […]
As inadvisable as it would be to draw conclusions based on 34 plate appearances or 72 innings of defense spread out over more than a decade, it’s safe to state that Roberto Clemente’s All-Star Game performances only enhanced his legacy. The lifetime .317 hitter batted .323 in 15 midsummer exhibitions against his most skilled competitors […]
One could pen a book or perhaps even an encyclopedia on the manner in which baseball and television have merged across the decades. Such a volume not only would explore the manner in which ballgames have been broadcast on TV both locally and nationally and the celebrated sportscasters who announce them. It would feature everything […]
The late Ed Linn, coauthor of Veeck—As in Wreck, later wrote in The Great Rivalry (1991), “I don’t care what anybody says, there is no rivalry on the face of the earth that can compare with the Yankees and Red Sox.”1 Linn, who died in 2000, might have been able to justify that statement more […]
The 2003 Winter Meetings were held from December 12 to 15 at the Marriott Hotel in New Orleans. This was the fifth time the Winter Meetings were held in The Big Easy, with the most recent having been in 1997. Economic conditions in the United States were improving as lower interest rates, the child-tax credit, […]
With an original cover illustration of Jim Bouton designed by SABR member Gary Cieradkowski, we hope you enjoy the new issue of the Baseball Research Journal! By the time you read this, the 2021 World Series champion will have been crowned. But right up to the morning of game 161 the possibility of a four-way […]
On October 14, 1969, Gary Gentry pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings against the Orioles, and then got relief help from Nolan Ryan as New York beat Baltimore 5–0 to take a two-games-to-one lead in the World Series. Of course the Mets went on to shock Baltimore and win the Fall Classic in five games. While […]
On one level, the answer to this question seems obvious: since batters strike out, fly out, and ground out at different rates, and since each of these three ways of making an out have very different associated error rates, batters who ground out in a high percentage of their at-bats should reach base on errors […]
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. […]
For a batter or pitcher, the best—or worst—of the “Three True Outcomes” is a home run or a strikeout.1 The rates of the both home runs and strikeouts have increased substantially over the years. To illustrate, let’s compare 1949 and 2019. In the National League in 1949, 42,711 at bats resulted in 935 homers and […]
The New York Yankees have finished with a .700 winning percentage three times, most recently in 1998 when they went 114-48 and swept the World Series against the San Diego Padres. (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY) The inspiration for this article was the play of the St. Louis Cardinals at the start of […]
Nate Colbert set a single-season RBI record in 1972; hardly anyone noticed. Even today – ten years after the fact – few fans and fewer record books are aware of the big right-handed slugger’s accomplishment. In fact, if it hadn’t been for his performance on August 1 of that year – the best single day […]
Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth on July 4, 1939 on Lou Gehrig’s last day at Yankee Stadium. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.) Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig weren’t exactly best friends or worst enemies, weren’t exactly master and pupil, weren’t exactly equals on or off the field. Half a generation apart in age1 […]
“I Must Go Dear and Talk to Father” She had just finished saying goodbye to some luncheon guests and was walking past her husband’s study. She realized something was terribly wrong. His secretaries were scrambling, and two phones were in use. She overheard the phone conversations, and knew there had been an attack. She returned […]
Sandy Koufax posted a career-low 1.73 ERA and struck out 317 batters in his final season with the Dodgers in 1966. (SABR-Rucker Archive) The fact that Sandy Koufax had arthritis in his left elbow was well known for the final two years of his career. He woke up after a spring-training game in 1965 […]
Welcome to the Spring 2021 issue of the Baseball Research Journal. It’s been a banner year for baseball research and writing. Why? Because during the lockdown(s) of 2020, when folks couldn’t go anywhere or do anything else, a lot of SABR members spent their time researching and writing. The result was a bumper crop of […]
Merle Harmon interviews Herb Score. The 1955 American League Rookie of the Year winner later joined the baseball broadcasting fraternity after his career ended prematurely. (COURTESY OF MERLE HARMON) He was a sports broadcaster and former college football player from the Midwest. Tall and gray haired, he sported a crooked nose as a football […]
This article was originally published in the November 2018 edition of “The Inside Game,” the SABR Deadball Era Committee newsletter. Since February 2015, The Inside Game has had the privilege of publishing Herm Krabbenhoft’s record-revising research into the accuracy of Deadball Era statistics. Herm’s work on stats long predates his association with the newsletter, and […]
Of the major American sports, baseball is the only one that continues to enforce a segregation so complete that girls are directed to an “equivalent” sport. Yet generation after generation of women, from the late eighteenth century when baseball first arrived in the United States, to the USA Baseball National Team today, have refused to […]
Ten Keys to Good Research 1. Break new ground Make an original contribution to knowledge about a particular subject. If a lot has already been written about it, you have a lot to read in order to determine whether what you intend to do has already been done by someone else. Do not merely repeat, […]