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Sabermetrician and founder of STATS, Inc. Richard “Dick” Cramer wrote the article “Average Batting Skill Through Major League History,” in which he demonstrated that the average major-league batter has gotten better over time.1 This article hopes to chart a parallel improvement of the average batting statistics over the course of baseball history. This is a […]

Parkway Field, with the iconic Ralston Purina grain silos visible past the right field wall, was the site of benefit game between the Bustin’ Babes and Larrupin’ Lous in 1928. Ruth and Gehrig are flanked by some of the top local amateur ballplayers from Epps Cola and Beck’s Lunch who comprised their teams. (Used with […]

When Brandon Nimmo took his position in right field on September 26, 2018, in a game at Citi Field, he was wearing his usual number nine and would bat ninth in the batting order. It seemed to me that this was an interesting confluence of facts: a player whose uniform number matches his fielding position […]

Say a prayer for baseball’s competitive balance. The topic is discussed strictly to be mourned or vili­fied. Testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 21, 2000, Commissioner Bud Selig warned, “At the start of spring training, there no longer exists hope and faith for the fans of more than half our thirty clubs. “1 […]

The problem of measuring batting skill is as old as baseball itself. The earliest statisticians were content to count the hits and runs scored by each batter, but the unfairness of this simple method to the stars of weak teams soon prompted invention of the batting average. Since then statistics have proliferated to the point […]

The yardstick for enshrinement in Cooperstown is generally determined by a player’s ability to dominate a decade. Dale Murphy more than met that standard. Crippled by recurring knee problems that required mid-career surgery, Murphy retired with 398 home runs—one fewer than first-ballot inductee Al Kaline and 16 more than 2009 inductee Jim Rice. When he […]

This is an excerpt of an article that appeared in the April 1983 issue of Baseball Gold.   If it hadn’t been for “the big gamble,” the 1993 National League baseball season wouldn’t be going on in San Diego. It all goes back to 1935. San Diego wanted to get a franchise in the Pacific […]

One of my favorite topics is the contributions of skill and luck in baseball. I recently ran one thousand simulations of a 162-game schedule that is the same as is currently being used in the majors (two leagues of 15 teams, three divisions each, with interleague play) where every team was the same and games […]

By the fall of 1978 modern free agency was entering its third year, and teams were beginning to come to terms with both its existence and its potential, though ownership still hoped to roll it back dramatically. Front offices were figuring out the mechanics of pursuing free agents, how to fit them into their payroll […]

Hard as it may be to believe, the Brooklyn Dodgers have been the Los Angeles Dodgers for half a century—and have now played more seasons in Chavez Ravine than in Ebbets Field. By August 5, 1957, the storied history of the Brooklyn Dodgers was fast approaching its final days. But as the Dodgers, who were […]

“Bad trades are a part of baseball; I mean who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas for gosh sakes.” — Annie Savoy, Bull Durham   Outside of the 1919 sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees, baseball trades do not often occupy a persistent niche in pop culture. As the Bull Durham quotation indicates, […]

Ty Cobb is usually thought of as the very embodiment of the Deadball Era hitter; the “Punch and Judy” counterpoint to the post-1920 Ruthian power game.1 This common misconception is underscored in a number of ways. First, it is supported by the types of players who have surpassed Cobb’s career records. Lou Brock bested his […]

In baseball there are many kinds of excitement. Seeing great catches and timely hits by legendary players, watching your favorite team crush the opposition, having a record set-most fans would be excited by such occurrences. However, we are interested here in the “edge-of-your-seat, who’s going to win the big game” type of excitement. The reader […]

Most people associate the history of night baseball with a few isolated incidents, Larry MacPhail in 1935, Johnny Vander Meer’s double-no-hitter in 1938, Wrigley Field in 1988. But the story is a complex one, going all the way back to the first night game in 1880, just a few months after Edison perfected the incandescent […]

Back in the mid-1990s, I published Great Baseball Films (Citadel Press), which charts the manner in which the sport has been depicted onscreen from the late 1890s to early 1990s. Twenty years ago as today, even the most obscure films with obvious baseball themes were readily accessible to researchers. However, seeking out films in which […]

In the bottom of the sixth inning of Game Six of the 1947 World Series, Al Gionfriddo replaced Eddie Miksis in left field. Normally an infielder, Miksis had gone in as a replacement for Gene Hermanski. As Dodgers broadcaster Red Barber later wrote, Brooklyn pitcher Joe Hatten was “wobbly.”[fn]Barber, Red. 1947: When All Hell Broke […]

Willie Mays with the New York Mets (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)   Willie Mays returned to New York in a trade on May 11, 1972.1 “It’s a wonderful feeling to be coming back here,” said the longtime Giants superstar, who left with the team for California after after the 1957 season. “I’ve always […]

Introduction and Context Now fully invested in the Great War taking place in Europe, the United States was burdened by a shift in its political and economic conditions that demanded a sharp focus on a mobilization of the nation’s armed forces.  On the home front, Americans were implored to sacrifice for the good of the […]

Jackie Robinson slides to home plate in an attempt to avoid the tag during a game between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers game at Ebbets Field on May 13, 1956. Catcher is Ray Katt. Batter is Clem Labine. It was one of the times he didn’t make it. (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME […]

The idea that there are batters whose hits are more noteworthy for their timeliness than for their quality is probably as old as the game itself. Efforts to measure “clutch-hitting” systematically include the RBI, one of the three most universal batting statistics, and more recently, the “game-winning hit”. It is my own belief that clutch […]

(Photograph by Duane Rieder.)   It was fitting that Nelson Cruz received the Roberto Clemente Award in 2022 as the 50th anniversary of Clemente’s untimely passing approached. Both Clemente and Cruz hailed from Caribbean islands, and each used his wealth and status derived from playing major-league baseball to help improve the lives of the less […]

Manager Paul Richards, right, seen here shaking hands with New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel in 1958, is often credited with the invention of the “Waxahachie Swap,” where a pitcher changes place with a position player before returning to the mound. Richards was born in Waxahachie, Texas. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   Baseball managers have platooned players […]

The Miracle Braves of 1914: Boston’s Original Worst-to-First World Series Champions Edited by Bill Nowlin Associate Editors: Bob Brady, Clem Comly, and Len Levin Publication Date: February 19, 2014 ISBN (paperback): 978-1-933599-67-0, $39.95 ISBN (e-book): 978-1-933599-68-7, $9.99 8.5″ x 11″, 392 pages Long before the Red Sox “Impossible Dream” season, Boston’s now nearly forgotten “other” […]