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Baseball and politics are two impassioned national pastimes. In the early days of New York City, they were often intertwined in schemes to ensure huge financial gains. The betterment of the game and the interest of citizenry came second. Highlighted here are some of the personalities and events that played an influential role during these […]

Once upon a time, A.J. Liebling, consummate Manhattanite and writer for The New Yorker, dubbed Chicago America’s Second City.1 But in relation to New York-centric baseball movies, this AAA-league rating is extremely generous. Across the decades, baseball films with Chicago references have been relatively scarce. For every on-screen image of Wrigley Field, there are scores […]

Across the decades, professional actors and athletes have shared a special camaraderie. Both are paid entertainers, performing for the pleasure of the masses. So not surprisingly, many thespians are vocal supporters of their favorite ball teams. Back in the day, for example, Tallulah Bankhead was a famed New York Giants fan-atic. (“There have been only […]

The Annus Mirabilis that was 1884 left a massive fallout for the campaign of 1885. For the first time, there had been three major leagues operating simultaneously, and the messy multi-circuit milieu — especially the tenuous stability of the freshman Union Association, and the renewed tensions between the National League and the American Association — […]

  Bill Veeck had a decades-long baseball career. He was known for bringing a little person up to bat with the sole intention of getting a walk because his strike zone was impossibly small. He was the first big-league owner to put names on the backs of uniforms. He erected a huge center field scoreboard […]

Pete Rose’s move from left field to third base in early May 1975 often receives credit as a pivotal moment in the success of the 1975 Reds — and with good reason. That’s when the team began to win consistently, surging to the National League West Division title. Pete Rose roamed around the diamond during […]

Gil Hodges has received more votes for the Hall of Fame than any other person not selected. He came as close as 44 votes shy of election, but unfortunately, that came in his last year of eligibility under the BBWAA vote. Gil Hodges’ Hall of Fame fate resides in the hands of the newly constituted […]

While the winter chill still held Chicago in its grip, longtime White Sox fan and season ticket holder Dan Ferone informed Chicago White Sox management that he had decided to cancel his season tickets. Soon afterward, Mike Veeck, promotions director of the Chicago White Sox and son of club owner Bill Veeck, wrote to Ferone […]

“We must look for some legislation before long in regard to the pitcher. We are all willing to concede that he is a plucky, determined Base Ball character, and the very fact that he is so persistent and combative makes it necessary now and then to subordinate him a little to the other men who […]

The baseball community met at the Galt House hotel in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, December 3-9, 1992. Reportedly, 1,800 to 1,900 people registered for the annual meeting, with vendors increasing the size of the meeting to about 2,500. By most accounts, the 1992 Winter Meeting was especially eventful, highlighted by a number of prominent free-agent signings […]

Introduction The most important labor arbitration decision of all time involved baseball, two pitchers and one of the finest labor arbitrators of all time, a true arbitration “superstar.” His 1975 decision in baseball’s Messersmith case still reverberates throughout the multibillion-dollar sports industry. Arbitrator Seitz set the players free. Peter Seitz was a role model for […]

Although the arrival of Major League Baseball in Southern California is usually dated to 1958, when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, big league clubs had roots in the area going back several decades. The Chicago Cubs began training in L.A. in the spring of 1903, and the White Sox played an exhibition game […]

The work of establishing the Union Association of Base Ball Clubs began on September 12, 1883, at the Monongahela House hotel in Pittsburg. Sporting Life commented that the “men in the room are well known in baseball circles.”1 In all, representatives of nine teams met that day: Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Virginia, Indianapolis, […]

“Well, this year I’m told the team did well because one pitcher had a fine curve ball. I understand that a curve ball is thrown with a deliberate attempt to deceive. Surely this is not an ability we should want to foster at Harvard.” This quotation is best known from its appearance in Ken Burns’ […]

As part of the National League expansion in 1962, a franchise was awarded to New York City. From 1962 to the current day the Metropolitans’ ownership has been fairly stable. Joan Payson and her family maintained control of the club until they sold the team in 1980 to the publishing firm Doubleday and Co. Nelson […]

Once tabbed by Ty Cobb as “a sure 30-game winner in the major leagues,” Smoky Joe Williams is often mentioned by oldtimers as black baseball’s greatest pitcher, superior even to Cannonball Redding, Bill Foster, Frank Wickware, and Satchel Paige. (In the twilight of his career with the Homestead Grays, Williams bested Paige, 30 years his […]

Celebrating the Dodger Dog. (Courtesy Todd Anton)   “A hot dog at the park is better than a steak at the Ritz.” — Humphrey Bogart 1 “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” may mention peanuts and Cracker Jack, but the hot dog is the cleanup hitter of the baseball stadium lineup. The quintessential ballpark meal […]

Hall of Fame executive Ed Barrow secured his legacy during his years with the Yankees. He joined New York’s front office after the 1920 season as their first de facto general manager. The next year the team won its first pennant; during his 24-year tenure, from 1921 through 1944 (through 1947 he stayed on as […]

The 1976 renovation of Yankee Stadium removed the columns that obstructed views on the lower decks and the seats in center field that obstructed batters, but it also relegated the recognizable frieze to above the outfield wall. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   In the spring of 1976, the Yankees celebrated a grand reopening of Yankee Stadium.1 It […]

When eternal Dodgers hero Johnny Podres threw the first pitch to Cincinnati Reds shortstop Eddie Kasko on April 10, 1962, it marked the official opening of Dodger Stadium as the new home of the Los Angeles Dodgers.1 Less recognized and certainly less celebrated was how it represented the definitive end of what has come to […]

Early 1950s Japanese publication featuring Jackie Robinson. (Author’s collection)   There was a saying in Japan during the late 1950s: Kamisama, Hotokesama, Inaosama (God, Buddha, Inao). The 19-year-old Kazuhisa Inao was out there on the mound. The kid wasn’t that big, at least not by American standards – about 5-foot-9, 185 pounds. But he was […]

    In the old days when vaudeville was popular, a number of ball players had brief trials as actors or singers. In 1912-13, for example, Mike Donlin and Marty McHale teamed up to do an act where Donlin told jokes and McHale, who had developed his voice and his pitching arm at the University […]

Observing the similarity between two celebrated dynasties — the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s and the Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s — is hardly original, and hardly new. But the comparisons between the two teams are worth exploring in some detail. They were a ballclub well-known then and well-remembered today not just for their victories […]

Forfeits were relatively commonplace in the early days of baseball. There was at least one forfeit in the major leagues every year from 1883 to 1907, including 13 in 1884. A review of the reasons for these forfeits reveals how ”bush league” the major leagues still were. In 1889, St. Louis’s American Association team failed […]