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On October 16, 2014 – 63 years to the month after Bobby Thomson hit “The Shot Heard ’Round the World” to give the New York Giants an improbable 1951 National League pennant – the San Francisco Giants sought to eliminate the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Championship Series for the second time in three […]

Typically stocked with ballplayers past their prime or otherwise below average, major-league expansion teams have had little prospect of participating in pennant races during their inaugural seasons. As a result, their fans celebrated lesser triumphs – like their first win, their first win at home, and their first walk-off win. The Kansas City Royals collected […]

Right fielder Joe Ferguson’s first career assist came on a key throw to home plate in the 1974 World Series. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   The first-ever all-California World Series pitted two contrasting teams. The two-time defending American League (and World Series) champion Oakland A’s featured a new manager and experienced teammates. The National League champion Los […]

Rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, US Senator Sam Nunn, Hockey Hall of Famer Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, soul-funk pioneer James Brown, baseball Hall of Famers Johnny Mize and Luke Appling,1 and two members of US President Jimmy Carter’s Cabinet were among the famous names who attended the Atlanta Braves’ 1977 home opener.2 Shining brightest among the […]

Delivered from minor-league limbo in 1979 as a pinch-hitting specialist with the World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates, Mike Easler assumed a larger role as a platoon left fielder when injuries jeopardized Pittsburgh’s title defense in 1980. Easler’s play as the platoon’s lefty-swinging half heralded his arrival as a big-league slugger, most prominently when he hit […]

May 16, 1902, is noted for an occasion that has never since been duplicated: a major league game in which two deaf players faced each other as opponents. Luther “Dummy” Taylor was a pitcher for the New York Giants. The team was visiting Cincinnati for a weekend series against the Reds. The hometown club’s roster […]

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitchers Don Sutton and Andy Messersmith began the 1974 National League Championship Series by frustrating the Pittsburgh Pirates’ potent offense in back-to-back wins. With a third standout starter, Tommy John, sidelined after reconstructive surgery on his elbow, the Dodgers turned to Doug Rau to close out the series in Game Three. […]

The New York Mets were 4-4 nine days into the 1977 season. All of those wins had come from two of their starters, Tom Seaver and Nino Espinosa. The Chicago Cubs had arrived in town two days earlier, beating the Mets in the first game of their three-game series at Shea Stadium on April 15. […]

The 32,040 fans who came to Royals Stadium for a Monday night game in late June were in for a treat, as they saw California’s 39-year-old Dave Winfield become the oldest major leaguer to hit for the cycle. In addition, Kansas City’s Bill Pecota was involved in a few rare occurrences of his own. While […]

Left-hander Ron Perranoski’s sinking fastball, sharp-breaking curve and ability to thrive in critical situations made him one of baseball’s top relievers. Over 13 seasons (1961-1973) with four teams, mostly the Dodgers and Twins as well as the Tigers and Angels, he pitched in five postseasons and three World Series — earning championship rings with Los […]

Early Black baseball figure Hurley McNair played professionally from 1910 through 1937. Yet despite being a key cog of the dominant Kansas City Monarchs lineups of the 1920s, the outfielder remains relatively unknown. Statistics can build a legacy. But when stats are hard to come by, legacies are built by stories. Nothing crafts a compelling […]

After nearly a century, many baseball historians still wonder how Shoeless Joe Jackson’s career might have turned out were he not permanently banned from baseball after the fixing of the 1919 World Series. The same question remains for another slugging outfielder who was also thrown out of Organized Baseball after he was accused of taking […]

Major-league pitcher and umpire J. Harry Colliflower was born on March 11, 1869, in Petersville, Maryland. His first name was the same as his father’s: James, a carpenter. His mother was Catherine Cramer Colliflower. The family was reasonably well-off; they had a domestic living with them at the time of the 1870 U.S. census. There […]

Many baseball fans know about the 1894 Philadelphia Phillies team that featured four outfielders who each batted over .400. In fact, if you look at the Phillies’ lineup on Baseball-Reference, all of the starting eight batted over .300 and the team led the league, hitting .350. The lowest average for a position player with over 100 at […]

Josh Gibson has often been called “the black Babe Ruth” since he, like the Sultan of Swat, was his league’s most-feared home run hitter, but Wilmer Fields – Gibson’s teammate during four of his seasons with the Homestead Grays – had much more in common with the Babe than Gibson did. On the surface, this […]

Baseball teams rely on their stars and regulars to make the greatest impact. Of course, backups also play important roles, giving starters a rest and filling in when injuries occur. Oscar Boone assumed the role of second-string catcher behind future Hall of Famer Roy Campanella for the Baltimore Elite Giants in 1939 after Biz Mackey […]

Often compared to his teammate Rod Carew, Lyman Bostock was second only to Carew as a hitter in the eyes of his Minnesota Twins manager Gene Mauch. Mauch once said he had no doubt that Bostock would eventually win batting titles. With Bostock having hit .323 and .336 during his first two full big league […]

Tommy Lasorda. You could almost say he needs no introduction. Famous and familiar for his nearly 20 years as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lasorda was the personification of the Dodgers and baseball’s best-known ambassador. Profane or charming, pugnacious or proud, outrageous or simply outspoken, Lasorda could be all these and more. Lasorda’s major-league […]

Tris Speaker of the world champion 1915 Boston Red Sox declared Carl Weilman of the St. Louis Browns to be one of the six best pitchers he ever faced.1 “If you ask the Detroit Tigers,” said sportswriter L.C. Davis, “the six best pitchers in the American League are Carl Weilman.”2 The Tigers were the best […]

On July 1, 1907, the Washington Times ran a photo of .300-hitting Washington center fielder Charlie Jones. The caption read: “One of the Most Valuable Outfielders in the World.” For Jones, it was the pinnacle of a checkered career: streaks and brilliant fielding balanced by vast slumps. Jones shared endless batting theories with anyone who’d […]

Mike Kahoe appeared on major league rosters mostly as a catcher for eleven seasons. In that time he played in an unremarkable 410 games and batted a mere .212. Yet his career is forever joined with some of baseball history’s most celebrated individuals, unique events, and folklore. Kahoe’s acquisition by the Chicago Nationals in 1901 […]

Here are the final SABR Defensive Index™ rankings for the 2023 season among positional qualifiers for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award. For the 11th 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 […]