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“His conduct on the field and off set a standard of conduct for ball players which did much to establish the game with people who believed that sportsmanship should not be lacking even in professional sports.” — Boston Globe, on John Morrill1   John Morrill was Boston’s hometown baseball hero in the 19th century. He […]

A speedy line-drive-lashing lefty with a strong arm, veteran Wally Moses joined the Red Sox midway through the 1946 season, shored up right field during Boston’s run to the American League pennant, and batted .417 in four World Series games. A well-liked and respected Georgian who spent 41 seasons in the majors, 17 as a […]

Frank Hoxie “Kid” Willson was born on November 3, 1895, in Bloomington, Nebraska, to Frank Warren and Isabella A. (Hoxie) Willson. He grew up working on his family’s truck farm along with his two younger sisters, Ida Mae and Veda A., and his younger brother, Edward. The elder Frank also worked as a hotel clerk, […]

If there was one thing the Detroit Tigers could do under player-manager Ty Cobb, it was hit. They set an American League record with a .316 team batting average in 1921, and six of their eight starters in 1922 finished over .300. Even four of their backups hit over .300 that year. They were strong […]

John Lyston was a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher from Baltimore, Maryland, who played professionally in the late 19th century. The talented tosser possessed an outstanding curveball that complemented his powerful fastball. Early on, John was a standout hurler in the amateur and semi-pro ranks in and around the Baltimore area. Word of his pitching prowess soon […]

Joe DiMaggio put his name on a book titled Lucky to Be a Yankee. His teammate Arndt Jorgens seconded the emotion. In 10 years as a backup catcher behind Hall of Famer Bill Dickey, Jorgens cashed five World Series checks totaling around $30,000 without appearing in a single Series game. As the Yankees’ second- or […]

James Creighton was the greatest pitcher of his day. Famous principally for his exploits on behalf of the champion Excelsiors of Brooklyn in the years 1860 to 1862, he possessed an unprecedented combination of speed, spin, and command that virtually defined the position for all those who followed. Prior to Creighton, pitchers had been constrained […]

Urban “Red” Faber, one of the last pitchers to legally throw a spitball, persevered through illness and injury, a world war, and the Black Sox Scandal to win a place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The right-hander played his entire 20-year major-league career with the White Sox, one of the league’s strongest teams […]

Teammates remembered his hands — “bear claws for hands,” one said.1 Those powerful hands could pat you on the back or clamp you so hard your knees buckled. No formula can explain leadership, but Terry Moore knew the secret. As center fielder and captain of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940s, Moore earned the […]

There have been three Gooches in major-league history, and at least another eight in the minors. The Gooch considered here is John Beverley Gooch, who played 805 games over the course of 11 seasons (1921-30; 1933), batting .280 with just seven homers while driving in 293 runs. His younger first cousin Charlie appeared in 39 […]

In October 1876, outfielder-first baseman John Glenn was perched atop the baseball world, a lineup regular for the Chicago White Stockings, champions of the inaugural season of the National League. A dozen years later, he lay semi-conscious on his deathbed in upstate New York, the object of nationwide opprobrium. Universal disdain of Glenn was reflected […]

In the 1970s, three decades after his four-year major-league playing career had come to an end Johnny Welaj (pronounced “WELL-eye”) wrote to author Harrington E. Crissey Jr. to reminisce. “It was great to be associated with [Philadelphia Athletics manager] Connie Mack,” he said. “There are not enough good things that baseball can say of him. […]

Ruby Stephens pitched in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League for six seasons (1946–51). Although her 62–53 won-lost record in 150 appearances1 may seem pedestrian, “Stevie” did have some highlights. She won 20 games in 1948.2 She also threw at least two no-hitters, the first in 1948 in a seven-inning game3 and the second in […]

Editor’s note: On September 23, 2008, SABR’s Deadball Era Committee commemorated the 100th anniversary of the “Merkle Game” by publishing a special centennial edition of “The Inside Game” newsletter focused entirely on the infamous incident that changed the fortunes of the 1908 National League pennant race. Click here to download the Deadball Era Committee’s Merkle […]

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2021 as part of the SABR Century 1921 Project. Eddie Collins, left, and manager Kid Gleason were left to pick up the pieces after the Chicago White Sox lost most of their championship core following the Black Sox Scandal. (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)   The 1921 Chicago White […]

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) had a grueling schedule.1 In its inaugural campaign, in 1943, teams shoehorned 108 regular-season games into a three-month period by playing seven days a week, with a Sunday doubleheader thrown in for good measure.2 Since each team carried only four or five hurlers on its 16-woman roster,3 top […]

On June 24, 1946, the Spokane Indians, a Class B Western International League team full of World War II veterans and promising prospects, traveled by bus across Washington state for their next series in Bremerton. While the team stopped for dinner in Ellensburg, word came that third baseman Jack Lohrke had been recalled by the […]

An ugly incident on July 3, 1965, between budding superstar Dick Allen and veteran bench player Frank Thomas threatened to tear the Philadelphia Phillies apart. It began with some verbal sparring during batting practice and quickly escalated. Allen punched Thomas, who responded by striking Allen on the shoulder with his bat.1 It took seven or […]

On July 21, 1925, the Chicago White Sox (47-43) hosted the Boston Red Sox (27-61) in a doubleheader that closed out a five-game series. The first game of the twin bill was rescheduled from a rainout on July 19 and featured a matchup between Roy Carlyle, a rookie batter who hit for the cycle, and […]

On a pleasant summer Sunday at Fenway Park, before a packed crowd of 32,358, Ted Williams “enjoyed one of his more spectacular days, contributed seven hits, scored two runs, batted in three and generally demoralized the Brownie pitching.”1 The first-place Red Sox swept a doubleheader from the sixth-place Browns, and Williams was the main reason […]

The teams that met at Chicago’s Comiskey Park on August 21, 1921, seemed to be heading in opposite directions. The Washington Senators were on the rise, enjoying a winning season and responding well to a new ownership group headed by majority owners Clark Griffith and William Richardson and a new manager, George McBride. The Chicago […]

The doormats of the American League, also known as the St. Louis Browns, were making their way northward in the AL standings. In 1918 and 1919 they finished in fifth place. In 1920 they inched up to fourth. And when the curtain came down on the 1921 season the Browns were looking up at only […]

The Brooklyn Dodgers, who had won 11 in a row between May 5 and May 16, 1945, had fallen on hard times. They went on a six-game losing streak, the last three of which were the first three games of the four-game set in St. Louis. The Dodgers’ futility at the Cardinals’ home field had […]

As more major- and minor-league ballparks increase protective netting around their fields to protect people from foul balls, it’s a wonder to think that years ago the parks could have used the netting to instead protect the players from the fans. In the years before and after the turn of the nineteenth century, it wasn’t […]