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A third of a century has passed since the Dodgers commemorated their centennial – 100 years since joining the National League in 1890, the year they consider their founding. The anniversary was highlighted by a midsummer Old-Timers Weekend held at Dodger Stadium, which included a private luncheon for former players and coaches on Saturday, June […]

As the major-league ownership gathered in Chicago, Illinois from December 8 through 10, 1931, the Great Depression was a silent partner to the discussions. Unemployment rose dramatically in 1931, topping out at 16 percent and showing no signs of relenting. Attendance dropped at almost every ballpark during the 1931 season, and overall attendance for the […]

Thomas Francis Qualters was a bonus baby whom the Philadelphia Phillies signed on June 16, 1953, for an estimated $40,000. He was a star pitcher at McKeesport, Pennsylvania and once struck out 21 batters in a seven-inning high school game and 24 in an eight-inning high school game, allowing only one hit in each contest.1 […]

Introduction Deep in the heart of Texas, the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (better known as the minor leagues) huffed and puffed at their major-league brethren and tried to … well … not blow the house down but remodel it into something they could live with more comfortably. But from New York, the majors […]

Baseball has always been a favorite subject for artists wishing to portray popular aspects of American culture. Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), America’s “Dickens with a paint brush,” produced dozens of illustrations of the National Pastime for novels and magazine stories, commercial advertisements and magazine covers, notably 11 for the Saturday Evening Post. These paintings, which included […]

A mural in Montréal attests to Jackie Robinson’s popularity in the city. (Author’s collection)   “To the large group of Louisville fans who came here with their team, it may be a lesson of goodwill among men. That it’s the man and not his color, race or creed. They couldn’t fail to tell others down […]

Introduction It was decided both major leagues would hold their annual winter meetings in New York City in December 1910. Although it would not be a joint meeting, this would be of great convenience to the writers and help centralize interest in the meetings.1 The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (the minor leagues) had […]

This article was originally published in SABR’s The National Pastime, No. 14 (1994).   My most desired time-machine dream game happened on August 2, 1930. On a hot, humid summer night in Kansas City, Missouri, two men, one with smoke and the other with fire, engaged in a wild, free-swinging 12-inning contest that would result […]

Myth, legend and controversy mix together with history and fact in baseball’s churning cauldron of the past. Abner Doubleday’s invention of baseball is a myth. Babe Ruth’s calling his shot in the 1932 World Series is legendary (and probably a myth). The 1969 Mets World Series win is a fact, however improbable and however much […]

  Several players on the 1919 Chicago White Sox agreed to lose that year’s World Series, earning the nickname “Black Sox.” Their manager William (“Kid”) Gleason said publicly after the Series that “something was wrong. I didn’t like the betting odds. I wish no one had ever bet a dollar on the team.”1 Gleason had […]

Led by National League Most Valuable Player Dolph Camilli, the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers won their first National League pennant in 21 years with a 100-54 record to edge out the St. Louis Cardinals by 2½ games. Camilli led the league with 34 home runs and 120 runs batted in.  Pete Reiser had the league’s highest […]

“On Monday morning, before accepting of any civilities at the hands of the Nationals, the Mutuals [of New York] held a special meeting at Willard’s Hotel, at which President [Andrew] Johnson was unanimously elected an honorary member of the club. After which such of them as felt like sight-seeing were taken in charge by the […]

Billie Barnie was 30 years old when he took the helm of the Baltimore Orioles in 1883. On his arrival Barnie found his new second baseman just released from custody for the attempted murder of his father. It didn’t get better from there. This is the story of the “degenerate” Orioles of the American Association.

A few days after Shohei Ohtani made his major league debut on March 29, 2018, Jay Jaffe wrote, “Ohtani is doing things that haven’t been done at the major league level in nearly a century. … and not since 1919 has a player served as both a starting pitcher and a position player with any […]

Babe Ruth and Boston Braves executives in a Copley Plaza Hotel room, after signing with the Boston Braves, February 28, 1935. (l to r): Charles F. Adams, Babe Ruth, and Judge Emil Fuchs. (Leslie Jones photo, courtesy of the Boston Public Library.)   When George Herman “Babe” Ruth arrived in St. Petersburg in 1935 for […]

In 1944, even the Browns were able to win an American League pennant, having previously come close only when the George Sisler-led 1922 assemblage barely lost out to Babe Ruth and the pre-Lou Gehrig Yankees. But it could have turned out quite differently. Missing from the action The 1944 Red Sox were missing three of […]

Jackie Robinson in his UCLA track uniform. (UCLA LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS)   Once he got to the major leagues, it didn’t take long for Jackie Robinson to establish his credentials as a Hall of Fame baseball player. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1947, and MVP two years later. His skill at baseball […]

With two games left in the 1933 season, manager Bucky Harris handed in his resignation. Detroit Tigers owner Frank Navin was suddenly in the market for a new skipper. He knew he needed a strong leader to light a spark under his perennially lethargic club. Enter Mickey Cochrane. In the fall of 1933, the Detroit […]

About 3,000 people were present at the Brotherhood Base Ball Grounds when the championship pennant for 1890 was presented to the Boston Club. Colonel Charles H. Taylor made the presentation speech, complimenting the team upon the high standard of their work during the season. Mike Kelly received the pennant, made no set speech, and immediately […]

Early days with the Montreal Royals. March 6, 1946. (Courtesy of Rachel Robinson and the Estate of Jackie Robinson)   On Tuesday, October 23, 1945, 15 of Montreal’s sportswriters and broadcasters were invited to a press conference at the home of the Montreal Royals, Delorimier Stadium, and were promised “a major announcement.” The Triple-A International […]

Serious baseball research has refuted the earlier contention that Abner Doubleday laid out the first baseball diamond at Cooperstown, N.Y. in 1839 while a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy. But this should not diminish the relationship that developed between baseball and the military over the last century. Both the effort to credit General Doubleday […]

The good feelings of recent gatherings dissolved in New York City. The December 1898 winter league meeting was a highly contentious one, with little of substance accomplished. The most vexing controversies confronting meeting attendees can readily be identified: (1) recognition of a representative of the St. Louis franchise from between two rival claimants; (2) determining […]

Abe Saperstein created the Harlem Globetrotters and is widely credited with pioneering the three-point shot. (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History)   Abe Saperstein is best known as the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, but he also was deeply involved in baseball. During the 1930s, Saperstein worked as a promoter, publicist, and agent […]

One of baseball’s highest-regarded feats is the cycle: “A single, double, triple, and home run (not necessarily in that order) hit by a player in the same game.”1 In the history of major league baseball (1876–2023) there have been 351 documented regular-season cycles, including seven in the Negro Leagues.2 The distribution of the starting defensive […]