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“Willie Foster was the greatest left hander that I ever played with and he was a gentleman on and off the field.” — Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe   If there was a signature moment for a baseball player, Willie Foster’s complete-game victories in both ends of the doubleheader for the Chicago American Giants to decide […]

“Where is the furniture?” To Luis Rivera and his five Latino teammates, it must have seemed like a cruel prank. More than a decade before the dot.com boom made the San Francisco Bay Area an outlandishly expensive place to live, they expected their rented home to be furnished. Wasn’t that common? Their already-stretched $600 monthly […]

One of the fastest men in the South, Wilson Collins could cover 100 yards in 9.8 seconds. A baseball, football, and track star at Vanderbilt University, he was called major-league baseball’s first designated runner (he was a pinch-runner in at least half of his games) by Clifford Blau in SABR’s Baseball Research Journal.1 In two […]

In 1889 the Cincinnati Enquirer ran a human-interest story about Yank Robinson’s entry into professional baseball. The story centers on a “stickily-built lad of about 18 years whose ragged clothing caused much unfavorable comment.” He had just come to an unspecified Massachusetts town that day and asked to be part of practice as the town […]

Frank Meek was a six-game catcher for the 1889-1890 St. Louis Browns of the American Association. Although his major league stay was brief, it was not without distinction. Meek was the opening day catcher for the Browns in 1890, is one of only four players in big leagues history born in Bohemia, and the only […]

“He was a beautiful person. Yes he was. Cool Papa Bell. He was a lovable person. And still is. And always has been. I love him. My goodness, that’s one beautiful man.” – Dave Barnhill (hard-throwing ace pitcher and all-star of the New York Cubans)1 “He had time for everybody. Never hurried. Signed autographs, talked […]

After three years of college, Jake Flowers spent most of his life in Organized Baseball. He was a major-league infielder for seven full seasons and parts of three others; a minor-league player, manager, and executive; a coach with three major-league clubs; and a scout for three organizations. As a major-league player, Flowers was plagued by […]

Joe Cunningham was a left-handed first baseman and converted outfielder who played parts of 12 major-league seasons with the Cardinals (1954, 1956-61), Chicago White Sox (1962-64), and Washington Senators (1964-66). In his All-Star season of 1959, he hit .345 to finish second for the batting title. Known for his excellent batting eye, Cunningham’s lifetime on-base […]

There is no definitive record of precisely when Charles Douglas Bair began playing baseball, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that he was working on his two-seam fastball before he could walk. Simply put, Doug Bair is a baseball man. He always has been, and it’s a good bet that he always will […]

It was strawberry fields forever where Kenny Rogers grew up, on a 15-acre strawberry farm in Dover, Florida, in the heart of Hillsborough County, just a bit west of Plant City, home of the annual state Strawberry Festival. Plant City was also where the Cincinnati Reds held spring training for many years, so Rogers grew […]

Clarence “Cito” Gaston was a National League outfielder from 1967 to 1978. At his best, he was an All-Star in 1970. He also made a vivid impression on the fans in Venezuela, where he won two batting titles in winter ball. However, Gaston attained much greater fame and respect as a manager. He became the […]

Erskine Mayer had a most interesting background, one that was very different from that of most players of the early 20th century. Mayer’s paternal grandparents were Jews who came from Germany. His great-grandfather (his grandmother’s father) had been a buyer for Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian statesman who unified Germany. He disappeared one day, and […]

On June 23, 1931, sportswriter Walter W. Smith encountered George Watkins, the St. Louis Cardinals right fielder, in the lobby of Philadelphia’s Franklin Hotel, where the team was staying for a series against the Phillies. Both men were relatively new to their jobs; Smith had begun covering the team for the St. Louis Star the […]

Certainly there were easier scenarios than facing Bob Gibson for one’s first major-league appearance, but the Milwaukee Braves’ Mack Jones made his debut on July 13, 1961, in St. Louis look like child’s play. His four consecutive hits, including a run-scoring double in his second at-bat, tied a National League record and reinforced the can’t-miss […]

Frank Robinson would not want to be remembered as a racial pioneer. He would prefer to be immortalized as a baseball player who conducted his craft to the best of his ability in the field and at the plate. Robinson knew from a young age that he would face his share of obstacles in life. […]

Fernando Viña’s story could easily have been quite different. Instead of a 13-year major league career, he could have played in the Cuban Serie Nacional.1 Rather than the red, white, and blue US uniform, he could have donned the burgundy Cuban threads. He could have played with Lourdes Gurriel, Omar Linares, and Germán Mesa in […]

Joe Quinn’s 17 seasons between 1884 and 1901 marked the first appearance by an Australian in major league baseball. For 102 years, Quinn was the only player from “Down Under” to feature at the top level of American pro ball, and he remains the only Australian to manage in the major leagues. He played on […]

Harry Fenton (Larry) Schlafly began his professional playing career in 1901, which many people recognize as the first year of modern baseball. He was actively involved in the game every year thereafter until a month before his untimely death in 1919. He played in the major leagues with the Chicago Cubs in 1902, the Washington […]

“The fascinating thing about baseball is that everyone knows that it is a business and you have to win and you have to draw fans to be successful, but you still have fun along the line doing all that,” Bill Rigney once said. “I don’t think I ever woke up one day in my life […]

George Foster experienced American League baseball for the first time in his 18-year career on August 15, 1986, a little over a week after his tumultuous relationship with the New York Mets ended after controversial remarks.1 With 347 career home runs, the 1977 National League Most Valuable Player joined a youthful Chicago White Sox roster […]

This article was published in “The Stars Shone on Philadelphia: The 1934 Negro National League Champions” (SABR, 2023), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin.   The 1934 Negro National League Championship Series between the Philadelphia Stars and the Chicago American Giants was a closely contested, contentious nailbiter of a series. Not only did […]

High and Inside The Newsletter of the BioProject Committee Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) November 2019 Past newsletters Editor: Andrea Long From the Directors Update on BioProject Submissions Let’s be Sociable! From the Editor Project Poobahs   From Co-Directors, Rory Costello and Gregory H. Wolf New Head of Fact-Checking Team Warren Corbett recently informed […]

This article appears in SABR’s “Bittersweet Goodbye: The Black Barons, the Grays, and the 1948 Negro League World Series” (2017), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin.   To people familiar with the historical relationship between the cities of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Birmingham, Alabama, it must seem appropriate that the last Negro League World […]

This article was originally published in the December 2024 edition of the SABR Black Sox Scandal Committee Newsletter.   Judge Hugo M. Friend presided over the Black Sox trial during the summer of 1921, less than a year after he was tabbed to fill a temporary vacancy on the Cook County circuit court bench. (Photo: […]