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One of the fastest men in the South, Wilson Collins could cover 100 yards in 9.8 seconds. A baseball, football, and track star at Vanderbilt University, he was called major-league baseball’s first designated runner (he was a pinch-runner in at least half of his games) by Clifford Blau in SABR’s Baseball Research Journal.1 In two […]

Going from convicted felon and star athlete at Sing Sing Prison to Albany Senators center fielder, Alabama Pitts ventured into a firestorm of controversy, provoking a spirited national debate on the merits of prison rehabilitation in 1935. Allowing the ex-convict Pitts to play professionally set a precedent whose influence continues to pervade professional sports, with […]

The 1946 Newark Eagles pitching staff was filled with front-line hurlers like Leon Day, Max Manning, Rufus Lewis, and Len Hooker. However, the team’s roster also lists Jimmy Boyd, who fashioned a 1-0 record with three strikeouts, two walks, and a 1.29 ERA over seven innings in two appearances (one start). Boyd signed a contract […]

They say the best things come in small packages and this is quite true when analyzing Ted Giannoulas’s career as a 5-foot-4 costumed chicken for four decades and counting. Baseball fans in San Diego consider The Chicken as their own but as time passed The Famous Chicken took his act around the world, mesmerizing fans […]

Bob Welch may be most famous for his epic strikeout of Reggie Jackson to end Game Two of the 1978 World Series. He did that as a 21-year-old rookie for the Los Angeles Dodgers. But the tall, lean right-hander enjoyed many other highlights over a 17-year career. He won 211 games, including 27 in 1990, when he […]

On the evening of September 21, 1964, the Philadelphia Phillies’ Art Mahaffey was pitching a gem of a baseball game. In the top of the sixth inning it was a scoreless duel in between Mahaffey and the Cincinnati Reds’ John Tsitouris at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. With two outs, 25-year-old Reds rookie Chico Ruiz […]

Many major league ballplayers have served their country in the military, but few did so before playing their first professional game. Art Mills served in the U.S. Navy as a 16-year-old just after World War I; and then went on to have a baseball career — as a player and World Series winning coach — […]

“Beware of robbing a wretch or attacking a cripple. Do not laugh at a blind man, nor tease a dwarf, nor cause hardship for the lame. Don’t tease a man who is in the hand of the god (i.e. ill or insane)…” [Instruction of Amenemope, Ancient Egypt]1 Frank James Burke was born on March 19, […]

Only 20 years old when the Washington Senators broke camp in spring 1914, right-hander Jim Shaw was deemed a can’t-miss pitching prodigy. The youngster had impressed the previous September during a brief late-season audition with the club, and his spring work had left some onlookers near-swooning, with favorable comparison to renowned staff ace Walter Johnson […]

In the days before radio, Billy Sunday was the most successful evangelist America had ever known. The renowned preacher and temperance crusader found the Lord while playing for the Chicago White Stockings in the 1880s. He was an exciting player, speedy and daring on the base paths and acrobatic in the outfield. His earnest and […]

Most pitchers toiling for the St. Louis Browns in the 1930s merited little distinction. Rollie Stiles, who was with the club in 1930-31, at first glance seems to fall within that category. A losing career record, an ERA near 6, a WHIP near 2 call for oblivion. However, Stiles does rate distinction, if only for […]

Sam Wise teamed with Jack Burdock to form the double-play combination for the Boston Red Stockings for seven years during the 1880s. An unusual shortstop,i Wise was a Jekyll-and-Hyde player,ii a free swinger (“When Sam Wise offers at a ball and misses it he takes a turn like a prize fighter landing the pivot blow”iii) […]

Lee Quillin distinguished himself during 13 years in professional baseball in the early 20th century. He played for the 1906 World Series champion Chicago White Sox and the 1907 Sox team, contributing as a utility infielder. The right-hander also put together four minor-league seasons hitting over .300, plus another at .298; he helped his clubs […]

Left-hander Jehosie Heard stepped onto a major-league mound for the first time on a chilly Chicago spring day in April 1954. As he walked out to the mound at Comiskey Park, Heard became the first African-American to play for the Baltimore Orioles. The team was in Chicago for a four-game series against the White Sox; […]

When Charles A. Stoneham came home one night in October 1918 and told his teenage son Horace, “Horrie, I bought you a ballclub,” he set in motion a family commitment.1 For the next 58 years the Stoneham family name was synonymous with the New York and San Francisco Giants, one of the most storied franchises […]

Wade Lefler clipped Lou Gehrig by one percentage point in 1924 to repeat as the Eastern League batting champion. In the same month of September, Lefler contributed three clutch pinch-hits, helping catapult the Washington Senators to the 1924 American League pennant. The rookie then argued that he was short-changed for his late-season heroics, receiving but […]

Bruce Bochy’s baseball career is filled with notable achievements. From being the first European-born manager to reach the World Series when he was with the San Diego Padres to becoming the first manager to call on his son to pitch in a game when he was with the San Francisco Giants, Bochy’s long career has […]

The initial third baseman enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Jimmy Collins was an outstanding fielder and above-average hitter during his 14-year major-league career in the Deadball Era. As the first manager of the Boston franchise in the American League, Collins gained widespread acclaim when he led the team to consecutive pennants in 1903 […]

Joaquín Andújar was a fierce competitor and entertaining showman for 13 major-league seasons. The hard-throwing right-hander was the first starting pitcher from the Dominican Republic to earn a World Series victory, and no big leaguer won more games in the 1984 and 1985 seasons combined. With his emotional, all-out style of play, Andújar also won […]

After beginning his major-league career in 1873 as a versatile utilityman with a strong claim to being the first notable relief pitcher,1 in the 1880s Jack Manning developed into an outfielder whose primary asset was his strong arm. In his final four major-league seasons (1883-86) he tabulated 100 outfield assists, ranking him fourth among the […]

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in SABR’s “The National Pastime,” Vol. 6, No. 1, Winter 1987. To read more from the TNP archives, click here.   Conceived and nurtured by Information Concepts Incorporated (ICI), a systems company, and published by The Macmillan Company, The Baseball Encyclopedia: The Complete and Official Record of Major League […]

Ebbets Field has been gone for more than half a century, but the place still has a remarkable grip on our consciousness. At least three books have been devoted to the lovable old ballpark in Crown Heights.1 Yet even these in-depth works don’t shine much light on what happened after the Dodgers left Brooklyn. They […]

SABR Bibliography Committee Research Guide No. 10: Baseball in History Journals (1980-88) Editor’s note: This guide was first published by the SABR Bibliography Committee in 1989. To download the original in PDF form, click here. By Jim SumnerApril 1989 This guide consists of all the articles I could find on baseball history published in history […]

Willie Mays became just the fourth major leaguer to hit at least three home runs twice in one season. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)   One week after a legendary four-homer performance,1 the Say Hey Kid stood on the steps of Connie Mack Stadium, looking out at a cool, foggy May 6 night. He patiently […]