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“That was the most exciting thing I ever accomplished in baseball, and to do it with those guys was great.” — Pokey Reese, on being a member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox.1   Pokey Reese didn’t have many things when he was a kid, including a baseball glove. He chucked a tennis ball against […]

A 13-year veteran catcher, Mike Scioscia has – through 2015 – managed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for 16 seasons, the first major-league manager to reach the playoffs in six of his first 10 seasons. He led the Angels to a world championship in 2002. Michael Lorri Scioscia was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, […]

During his two years as a baseball executive, from November 1889 to August 1891, Charles A. Prince was a director of the pennant-winning Boston club in the sole year of the Players League and the president of the pennant-winning Boston Reds club in the final year of the American Association. In between, from November 1890 […]

Jim Bagby Jr. was a second-generation major leaguer, his career neatly echoing that of his father, James “Sarge” Bagby, Sr. Both were right-handed pitchers; both at various times led the American League in innings pitched; and both spent the bulk of their careers with Cleveland. Both compiled some memorable seasons. Twice Jim’s pitching merited his […]

Who was the first major-league pitcher in the modern era to throw a no-hitter in his first start? The answer is the St. Louis Browns’ big right-hander, Alva Lee “Bobo” Holloman. “Improbable” was the adjective most often used to describe Holloman’s gem of May 6, 1953 — and its odd distinction would come to stand […]

After the first game of a doubleheader against the visiting Chicago Cubs on July 4, 1928, rookie outfielder Wally Roettger of the St. Louis Cardinals was hitting a robust .341. In the second game, however, he dislocated his right ankle and broke both bones in his lower leg sliding into third base.1 The injury ended […]

Throughout his 12-year professional playing career, Walter John Hriniak (pronounced RIN-ee-ack) brought Gas House Gang-style intensity to the game. Typically wearing the filthiest uniform, he was dubbed “The Rat” for his tendency to “grovel around the dirt and grime and do anything to win a ballgame. ‘I don’t have the God-given ability of others, so […]

Chances are if one were to poll SABR members about the greatest left-hander in the history of the Dodgers franchise, the most frequent response would be, “Sandy Koufax.” But they would be incorrect. Without a doubt, the honor of greatest southpaw in organizational history belongs to Vincent E. Scully. Since the emergence of baseball broadcasts, […]

The name Billy Sharsig rings familiar to only a select number of baseball chroniclers. Nevertheless, he played a prominent role in late nineteenth-century baseball annals. He is known for founding the American Association Athletics, a team that revived Philadelphia’s historic Athletics appellation. His actions also allowed the city to fill the professional baseball vacuum that […]

At age 22, crafty left-hander Jerry Nops was a budding star, a 20-game winner for the 1897 Temple Cup champion Baltimore Orioles. By age 26, his major league career was behind him, a sterling .637 winning percentage notwithstanding. Undone by alcohol abuse and behavioral issues, Nops – whom Cooperstown-bound manager Ned Hanlon once described as […]

During the period from 1991 through 1997, Chuck Knoblauch was the best second baseman in the American League, accumulating 38 Wins Above Replacement1 (WAR), significantly more than Hall of Famer and runner-up Roberto Alomar (31). Moreover, from 1995 through 1997, he was one of the top players in the AL regardless of position, tying another […]

Pitcher Mike Nagy jumped from Class A to the Boston Red Sox in 1969 and became the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year. The 21-year-old righty was 12-2 with a 3.11 ERA. Yet he never recaptured that form, winning only eight more games in fractions of five more seasons in the majors. Nagy hung […]

In 1906 rookie right-hander Vive Lindaman’s 12-23 record for the Boston Beaneaters gained him admittance to an undesirable fraternity – the 20-game-loser club. But Lindaman was not without company, as three other hurlers on that hapless Boston team (Irv Young, 16-25; Big Jeff Pfeffer, 13-22; and Gus Dorner, 8-25) posted similarly dismal marks, giving Boston […]

Although his tenure in Baltimore was limited to two good seasons and a comeback year, both of the nicknames for which Don Stanhouse became famous were earned while wearing an Orioles uniform. Manager Earl Weaver, overly apprehensive every time Stanhouse was retrieved from the bullpen, called him “Full Pack” after the number of cigarettes he […]

He pitched 18 seasons in the major leagues but for Grant Jackson, it all came down to one inning in the final game ever played in the 1970s. It was familiar territory for the left-hander. Eight years before, the Baltimore Orioles took a lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1971 World Series, which culminated with […]

Like Bob Caruthers, Jack Stivetts, and Guy Hecker, right-hander Dave Foutz embodied a singular 19th-century baseball species: the staff ace so adept with the bat that he was often penciled into the lineup on his pitching off-days. In fact, after a thumb injury reduced his hurling effectiveness, Foutz spent the latter part of his career […]

Few 20th-century politicians had a more impressive résumé than Albert Chandler. During the course of his political career he served as Senator, Lieutenant Governor, and two terms as Governor of his home state of Kentucky. It can also be argued that few non-players had a greater impact on baseball. His support of Branch Rickey‘s signing […]

Dusty Baker has spent a lifetime in baseball. After a productive career as an outfielder for four teams over a 19-year career, Baker joined the managerial ranks. As a major league manager over most of the period since 1993, he developed a reputation for helping teams win, although it took him until 2022 to capture […]

In the only major league box score in which he’ll ever appear, Bill Schlesinger can’t even find his whole name. It was shortened to Schles’ger. The space taken by the apostrophe replaced the “n” — leaving his name actually shortened only by the width of the typset letter “i.” Tony Conigliaro got his full name […]

It is often said that no matter how many times a person may go to the ballpark, chances are good they might see something occur that they had not seen before. That experience is even more enhanced if the achievement or the play is of the record-setting variety. The 26,884 patrons who pushed through the […]

“They set all the records and we won the game.” That was Gino Cimoli’s comment after Game Seven of the 1960 World Series, won in dramatic fashion by the Pittsburgh Pirates when Bill Mazeroski’s home run fell over the ivy in left field, as outfielder Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees could only watch. […]

Normally when a pitcher sustains a serious arm injury, it might have a career-ending ramification. But adversity did not seem to bother Ted Abernathy. Instead, he made a habit of treating setbacks like challenges. He adapted by becoming a sidearmer and then a submariner. He appeared in 681 big-league games, saving 148 of them, from […]

Jersey City, squeezed between Newark Bay and the Hudson River, is a prime metropolis for a ballpark. For 50 years, it had one, an Art Deco edifice débuting in the Depression, thriving for the first half of its life, fading into deep neglect in the 1970s, and succumbing to eventual nullity in the 1980s. Within […]

“You Called That a What . . . ?” The Newsletter of the Official Scoring Committee Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)   October 2020, Volume 6, Number 1 Past newsletters   Editor: Stew Thornley From the Co-Chairs Conundrums of the Month (or Quarter or Whatever) Profile: Mel Franks It Finally Happened: A Four-Base Over-the-Fence […]