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On July 2, 1968, San Diego Padres vice president/general manager Eddie Leishman announced that the new National League franchise had chosen Yuma, Arizona, as its spring-training base. This was cause for celebration in Yuma, since the community had been trying to attract another major-league club ever since the Baltimore Orioles reluctantly trained at Yuma’s Municipal […]

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 […]

This article is an excerpt from David Pietrusza’s upcoming book published by McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers. Used by permission.   DURING THE SUMMER OF 1901, as the infant American League battled for acceptance, New York Giants owner Andrew J. Freedman invited fellow National League magnates John T. Brush of Cincinnati, Arthur Soden of Boston […]

One of baseball’s most absurd semiannual rituals takes place when the Atlanta Braves advance in the playoffs and a national audience is reintroduced to the “tomahawk chop,” an impression of Native American “braves” striking with a foam reproduction of the eponymous weapon. The subsequent discussion often devolves into an accounting of who is offended and […]

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 […]

As baseball movies go, The Kid from Cleveland is strictly second division. The film, which came to movie houses in 1949, is no Field of Dreams or Bull Durham—nor does it rate with the more entertaining baseball films of the post-World War II era, from Kill the Umpire and the original Angels in the Outfield […]

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 — […]

Were it not for the Chicago Defender, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, Baltimore Afro-American, and other African American newspapers, there would have been scant coverage of Black professional baseball. White-owned and -run dailies like the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Washington Post published few informative articles on the African American baseball […]

This article was selected for inclusion in SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game. Editor’s Note By John Thorn Let me tell you how this wonderful reminiscence by a seemingly nondescript Red Sox pitcher came to light. When I created The National Pastime (TNP) as […]

You have heard of the Curse of the Bambino and the Curse of the Billy Goat, but what about the “Curse of King Korn?” In 1962 the Bohack supermarket chain announced incentives for various Mets “firsts” in the form of King Korn trading stamps.1 These could be turned in for merchandise at redemption centers. For […]

  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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

Kansas City Royals: A Royal Tradition Edited by Bill Nowlin  Associate Editors: Bill Carle, Len Levin, Curt Nelson, and Carl Riechers   Foreword by Ryan Lefebvre   Publication Date: June 20, 2019 ISBN (e-book): 978-1-9701-5902-8, $9.99  ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5903-5, $29.99 8.5″ x 11″, 350 pages Kansas City Royals: A Royal Tradition recounts the best moments and best players […]

The Base Ball Palace of the World: Comiskey Park Edited by Gregory H. Wolf Associate editors: Bill Nowlin, Kevin Larkin, and Len Levin   Publication Date: October 17, 2019   ISBN (e-book): 978-1-9701-5915-8, $9.99  ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5914-1, $29.95 8.5″ x 11″, 320 pages Comiskey Park, affectionately known as the “Base Ball Palace of the World,” […]

How We Played the Game: Baseball at Manzanar, 1942–1945 Edited by Russ Speiller and James Forr Associate Editor: Bill Nowlin Foreword by Dave Roberts, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Publication Date: September 30, 2026 ISBN (paperback): 978-1-960819-67-3, $19.95 ISBN (ebook): 978-1-960819-66-6, $9.99 8.5″ x 11″, 162 pages Within the pages of this SABR Digital Library book […]

From the Braves to the Brewers: Great Games and Exciting History at Milwaukee’s County Stadium Edited by Gregory H. Wolf Associate editors: James Forr, Len Levin, Bill Nowlin Publication Date: June 27, 2016 ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9438-1622-4, $9.99 ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9438-1623-1, $19.95 8.5″ x 11″, 297 pages This SABR Digital Library book rekindles memories of Milwaukee’s […]