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Both the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers were out of contention when they played the final game of the 1952 season on September 28, but there were still some individual titles to be decided, including the American League home-run crown. It had been only five years since Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947; […]

The defending world champion Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees had been in a fierce pennant race all year long in 1921. On the morning of September 19, with less than two weeks left in the season, the teams were in a virtual tie for first place, as the Yankees hosted the Detroit Tigers […]

Having won the World Series in both 1915 and 1916, the Boston Red Sox, chasing the idle first-place White Sox, needed to beat Washington to salvage a series split against the mediocre Senators. The game took place in front of only 928 fans in “wartime Washington … an apathetic baseball town”1 despite a compelling matchup […]

“Tho’ much is taken, much abides … that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” — Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ulysses   The night was perfect for baseball, as so many nights are […]

The Chicago White Sox are pictured on April 12, 1918, before an exhibition game against a US Army team at Camp Funston, outside of Junction City, Kansas. Just weeks earlier, the first major outbreak of a global influenza pandemic killed 38 soldiers at the base. An estimated 50 million people around the world died from […]

In late January of 1901, American League President Ban Johnson convened a series of organizational meetings at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago. The purpose of the gatherings was to iron out the final details in preparation for the launching of his new major league. Seven years earlier, Johnson, a Cincinnati sportswriter, had become president […]

Of the more than 200 Negro League games played at Yankee Stadium in the 1930s and ’40s, one of the most memorable was a pitching duel between Satchel Paige and Stewart “Slim” Jones in September 1934 that ended not with a victory, but in a 1-1 tie. Black baseball’s fans could have been excused for […]

Through dedicated and honorable achievement, baseball executive John Heydler rose to the position of National League president, and the league became known as “the Heydler circuit.” He retired in 1934 after 32 distinguished years of service in the league office. J.G. Taylor Spink of The Sporting News called him “a veritable Rock of Gibraltar” who […]

Pat Collins, back in the minors in 1925 after six frustrating seasons with the St. Louis Browns, found himself in the right place at the right time in 1926. Collins saw his playing time bottom out with the Browns in 1924 and the 28-year-old was relegated to the American Association. His response to playing more […]

The deep and talented farm system developed by General Manager Branch Rickey began to pay dividends when the St. Louis Cardinals won the National League pennant in 1930 and the following year won 101 games and captured the World Series. The team was expected to be even stronger in 1932 because the organization’s top three […]

In the early years, baseball had its share of Buck Weavers, but the most famous among them was not the “original.”  That distinction, according to sportswriter Fred Lieb, goes not to the White Sox infielder, but to William Clinton Bond Weaver, known more commonly today by his other nickname, “Farmer.”1 This Buck Weaver started his […]

During the Philadelphia Stars’ 1934 championship season, a pitcher named “Blackwell” poured himself a cup of coffee but didn’t stick around for a refill. Blackwell has been described as a “fringe player” who “pitched briefly” with the Stars that year, but that “his playing time was severely restricted.”1 His only documented appearance with the Stars […]

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 […]

Martin Flaherty was a major-league owner, player, and umpire during the 1880s – sort of. Mostly, he was a fan. For six innings in 1881, he played outfield as an emergency substitute for the Worcesters, a National League team he partly owned. The following season he umpired a single game: the Worcesters’ final nine innings […]

William Warren Peace was born in Kittrell, North Carolina, on August 6, 1921. Kittrell is a village in Vance County, about 35 or 40 miles northeast of Durham. The population at the time of the 1920 census was 223. “It’s a little one-horse town,” Peace told interviewer Brent Kelley. “In fact, the horse died. [Laughs] […]

Right-handed pitcher Rube Schauer had one of the most rapid ascents to the major leagues in baseball history. In 1912 he was playing for his hometown semi-pro team in rural North Dakota, and by the end of 1913, his first season in professional baseball, he was a member of the pennant-winning New York Giants. His […]

For as long as he could, Fermín “Mike” Guerra kept playing baseball all year around, in his native Cuba and in the United States. The two lands obviously had quite different cultures, baseball and otherwise, and Guerra even told Roberto Gonzalez Echevarría that he had been initiated into santería, the particular syncretic Afro-Cuban religion.1 Fermín […]

Right-handed pitcher Charley Schanz worked 13 years in the minor leagues and four full seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1940s, followed a couple of years later by 14 games with the Boston Red Sox in 1950. His major-league record was 28-43 with a 4.34 earned run average. His best big-league season was his […]

Bespectacled right-hander John Podgajny jumped from a Class C league to the Philadelphia Phillies as a 20-year-old September call-up in 1940. He completed three of his four starts and issued only one walk in 35 innings, suggesting a bright future. The Phillies, however, were at the nadir of their long history, in the midst of […]

Elmer William Valo was born in Slovakia but lived the American dream during nearly sixty years in professional baseball. He insisted he was not a “natural athlete,” saying, “Being a baseball player is not a glamorous job, it’s hard work.”1 In twenty years as a major league player, he reached base as often as Joe […]

Yeah, who needs a .300 hitter? Especially if you’re a perennially last-place ballclub. Outfielder Ike Boone hit .337 for the Boston Red Sox in 1924 and .330 the following year, with on-base averages of .404 and .406, respectively. The Red Sox finished in last place nine years in row, excepting only 1924, when they finished […]

No one chooses to become a professional widow, and Eleanor Gehrig derived little satisfaction in being called one. Yet few ballplayers’ wives maintained a level of such prominence so long after their husband’s death as they had when he was alive. Mrs. Lou Gehrig was married less than eight years; she was a widow for […]

How did a ballplayer from Indiana whose entire major-league career saw him pitch for the Boston Americans come to be known as Tex? His given name was Charles Leroy Pruiett. It wasn’t his lanky stature; he was 5-feet-8 with a listed playing weight of 176 pounds. The answer is probably a simple one: It likely […]

On the evening of Monday, May 18, 2020, SABR’s Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston met via Zoom, thanks to Joe Thompson for facilitating the technology! Forty-two baseball fans gathered in front of computers, tablets, and phones to enjoy the virtual gathering. Chair Bob Dorrill led off by reflecting on two recent losses: Bob Watson, who […]