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There were plenty of storylines at the onset of the 2016 American League Division series between Cleveland and Boston. John Farrell led the Red Sox to their third world championship of the twenty-first century in 2013, his first season at the helm of the Red Sox. But since then, the Red Sox had finished in […]

Versatile players can help give a manager a bit more flexibility. When a team is losing a not-that-important game 10-1 heading into the ninth inning, a position player who takes a stint on the mound can help spare a beleaguered bullpen. When Boston Red Sox shortstop Tzu-Wei Lin pitched the ninth inning on September 24 […]

On June 15, 2016, the Cleveland Indians were tied for first place in the American League’s Central Division with the Kansas City Royals. By July 2, Cleveland had a franchise-record 14-game winning streak and a seven-game lead over the Royals.1 The streak had begun at home, with sweeps of the Chicago White Sox and Tampa […]

On the Saturday before graduating from high school in June 1961, 18-year-old Lew Krausse Jr. watched from a box seat at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC, as hurler Norm Bass tossed the Kansas City A’s first shutout of the season.1 Sitting with Krausse was his father, former major-league pitcher Lew Krausse Sr., and their host, […]

Ban Johnson conceived the idea of a more gentlemanly major league because he figured baseball enthusiasts of the early 1900s would respond well to that style of play. But even Johnson, the guiding force for the American League’s emergence in 1901, was stunned by the throng of rooters who turned out to Columbia Park when […]

Many fathers refer to the birth of a child as one of their most memorable days. That was the case for shortstop Lennie Merullo on September 13, 1942, when his son Lennie Jr. was born. But it was also a day Merullo would just as soon forget, after he committed four errors in one inning […]

Andy Van Hekken is not listed among the who’s who of Detroit Tigers legends. But on one day late in the 2002 season, he captivated baseball with a brilliant outing – the likes of which had not been seen in the American League since 1975 – to etch his name into Tigers lore alongside a […]

Though both men were amazingly talented on the field, the Yankees’ Home Run Twins couldn’t have been any more different. Babe Ruth was a brash and boorish free spirit who had a casual and often defiant way of dealing with authority. He was also fun-loving and charismatic, with an ego that craved the spotlight. By […]

The 1965 baseball season was one of great excitement for fans in Houston. Their National League team had moved into the newly built Astrodome and renamed itself the Houston Astros. The novelty of indoor baseball brought fans from all over the area to see major-league play in the modern air-conditioned comfort of the “Eighth Wonder […]

“Life moves pretty fast,” the title character of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off says after fooling his parents into thinking he is too sick to go to school. “If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris, a high-school senior from a Chicago suburb, refuses to miss that day’s […]

In 1889 at the age of 15, diminutive southpaw Willie McGill graduated from the Chicago sandlots to the Evansville (Indiana) Hoosiers in the Central Interstate League. He defeated the Davenport Hawkeyes in his first outing. The following year he joined the Cleveland Infants in the Players’ League and had 11 wins under his belt before […]

Thomas Michael McCarthy was a right-handed pitcher who battled his way through a considerable number of injuries and pitched in the major leagues for the Boston Red Sox (1985) and Chicago White Sox (1988 and 1989). He also toiled through 15 years of minor-league baseball, most of them at the Triple-A level. Though he never […]

At first glance, Adrian Beltré’s path seems predictable. Sought after at a young age, he instantly became a highly touted prospect who plowed through the minor leagues and reached the majors before he turned 20. Over the course of 21 seasons (1998-2018), he earned more than $200 million through multiple multi-year contracts. In 2018, The […]

Infielder Paul Noce (pronounced No-chi) was with the Chicago Cubs for much of the 1987 season. He started 47 games that year, filling in for second baseman Ryne Sandberg and shortstop Shawon Dunston. Noce was 27 years old and in his seventh year as a pro when he made it to the majors. Several weeks […]

Every little boy wants to follow in his big brother’s footsteps, especially when it comes to sports. One of Gary Rajsich’s three older brothers, lefty pitcher Dave Rajsich, made it to the big leagues for parts of three seasons (1978-80). In the end, Gary outdid Dave, playing one full season in the majors and parts […]

The third son of a saloon keeper who’d come to America to seek a better life, Albert Karl “Kip” Selbach played 13 years of major-league baseball and went on to become the proprietor of a bowling alley in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Selbach was born in Columbus on March 24, 1872. His parents, Charles […]

Lon Knight’s career was one of firsts. He threw the first pitch in National League history, was likely the first player of Italian descent to play professional baseball, and was the first to hit for a natural cycle in major-league history. So who better to lead the Athletics into the 1883 season than the Philadelphia […]

Middle infielder Rey Sánchez spent 15 years in the major leagues and worked just 10 games shy of 1,500. About two-thirds of the games were at shortstop and one-third at second base. He hit .272 over the course of a career spent with nine big-league ballclubs, though his first seven seasons were spent with the […]

Stan Williams worked in professional baseball for more than 50 years. The Dodgers signed the big, tall, right-handed fireballer after he completed high school in the 1950s, and he was still on a major-league payroll as a scout into his 70s. Williams had a knack for contributing to winning teams. In just his second season, […]

Joe Black helped lead the Brooklyn Dodgers to the 1952 pennant, going 15-4 with 15 saves, and a 2.15 ERA. He won the NL’s Rookie of the Year Award and became the first African American pitcher to win a World Series game. “Let’s put it this way,” Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen told reporters, “Where would […]

Three days before the start of the 1990 season, Omar Vizquel, the Seattle Mariners’ slick-fielding shortstop, sprained his left knee during a collision in a Cactus League exhibition. The injury sidelined him until July. That same day, April 6, the Mariners signed utility infielder Mike Brumley to fill the void. Before the signing, Brumley had […]

Here are the SABR Defensive Index™ rankings through games of June 12, 2016. For the fourth consecutive season, the SDI will be used to help select the winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™, presented by SABR. The SABR Defensive Index accounts for approximately 25 percent of the Rawlings Gold […]

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2021 as part of the SABR Century 1921 Project.   In 1921 Arthur Irwin, at age 63, was in the twilight of a long career in baseball when he was named manager of the Hartford Senators of the Eastern League. He was also a scout for the […]

Here is a list of all known players to have hit four or more home runs in a single professional game, first published by SABR founding member Bob McConnell in The Minor League Research Journal, Volume 2 (1997), updated in Going for the Fences: The Minor League Home Run Record Book (2009), and now maintained […]