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Many Blue Jays fans will forever remember the television play-by-play call after the final out of the 1992 World Series: “For the first time in history, the World Championship banner will fly north of the border. The Toronto Blue Jays are baseball’s best in 1992.”1 In defeating the Atlanta Braves and becoming the first Canada- […]
In 1915, the Chicago Tribune announced a contest to find the three best amateur baseball players in Chicago. The prize for the three youngsters would be a chance to join each of Chicago’s major league teams, the American League White Sox, the National League Cubs, and the Federal League Whales. The contest’s origins, execution, and ultimate success […]
This article is an excerpt from David Pietrusza’s upcoming book published by McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers. Used by permission. DURING THE SUMMER OF 1901, as the infant American League battled for acceptance, New York Giants owner Andrew J. Freedman invited fellow National League magnates John T. Brush of Cincinnati, Arthur Soden of Boston […]
Minor-league baseball in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is virtually synonymous with Texas League professional baseball in the region. The small parts not connected to the Texas League are the rise and fall of black baseball in the area and the brief sojourns of the Fort Worth and Dallas teams in other leagues. (The Metroplex is […]
The St. Louis Cardinals were the most successful major-league team during America’s involvement in World War II. Manager Billy Southworth led the Redbirds to three consecutive pennants and two World Series championships from 1942 through 1944, and to a second-place finish in 1945. Although they benefited from a remarkable level of continuity, especially among their […]
ESPN Radio Chicago Sports Anchor and Talk Show Host Tom Shaer and Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk after Shaer MC’d the August 7, 2005 unveiling of the White Sox’ statue of Fisk at then-U.S. Cellular Field. (Courtesy of Tom Shaer) In 2005 I was a sports anchor and talk show host at ESPN Radio […]
This story tells the tragic tale of Michael “Doc” Powers, a catcher who played primarily for the Philadelphia Athletics and whose baseball career was cut short by his untimely death. Misconceptions about what caused his demise abound, but can be laid to rest by this article. Ultimately, “Doc Powers Day” was organized by the American […]
When Albert G. Spalding wrote his American National Game in 1911, he hired the well-known cartoonist, Homer C. Davenport, to provide appropriate works of art, and in the front of the book he thanked Mr. Davenport, “to whose genius much of the interest in this volume is due.” Theodore A. Dorgan, who used the nom […]
0-10, 10.32: That is the major-league career line for one William T. Stecher of Riverside, New Jersey. If you look it up, the record book tells you that Stecher also holds the records for the “most career games by a pitcher who lost all his games (0–10)” and “most career innings by a pitcher with […]
Babe Ruth pitches in to help the grounds crew in The House That Ruth Built. (Getty Images) November 27, 1922, was an overcast and chilly day, but the grounds crew finished laying the last pieces of outfield sod, pleasing the head groundskeeper. Phil Schenck stood with New York Yankees co-owner Colonel Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston […]
Baseball aficionados often argue that certain records will never be broken. A classic example is Cal Ripken’s 2,632 consecutive-games-played streak. However, for the most part, the arguments given to support an assertion that a particular record will never be broken are subjective and not analytically rigorous. The primary purpose of this paper is to examine […]
Dr. Joseph Jones of the Excelsiors club, former president of the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), walked to the front of the room as he was being announced by the outgoing president, Colonel Thomas Fitzgerald of the Athletic Club of Philadelphia. Jones, now the chairman of the Committee on Rules and Regulations, approached […]
There is not a person alive in the industrialized world who has not been touched directly or indirectly by the wonders of medical science. Death-sentence diseases of the past, like cancer, now carry longer and longer commutation periods, thanks to advanced early detection and modern surgical techniques. The twentieth century discovery of insulin has […]
Stan Hack, who spent his entire big-league career (1932 –47) with the Chicago Cubs, was one of baseball’s all-time top leadoff batters.1 In 1931, playing with the Sacramento Solons, he compiled a .352 batting average and earned the nickname “Smiling Stan.” As Edward Burns wrote in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, “No matter how hard […]
If you are a longtime reader of the Baseball Research Journal, you know the last time we had a themed issue was in 2011, when I first took over as SABR’s Publications Director. That spring, Stu Shea jumped in as guest editor to produce a special issue on the Chicago Cubs, and that fall my […]
Frazee kicked off the new year making another move, again with Connie Mack’s Athletics, trading players to be named later for first baseman Stuffy McInnis. Mack termed the deal a “near-gift,” letting McInnis go to the team where he wanted to play even though he could have sold him for more than $25,000. Mack later […]
Chicago is a city of icons. A hotbed of popular culture, the Windy City owns a curriculum vitae rarely paralleled concerning characters, real and fictional, responsible for defining the American experience. Al Capone rose to kingpin status in Chicago’s underworld during Prohibition in the 1920s. His was a household name, a celebrity status recognizable nearly […]
On four books about baseball cards: “The T206 Collection” (Zappala, Zappala, Blasi); “Mint Condition” (Jamieson); “Cardboard Gods” (Wilker); and “House of Cards” (Bloom).
Canadian soldiers play baseball against their American allies at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London during the First World War. (Library and Archives Canada) Bill Humber, Canada’s foremost baseball historian, has long made the case for baseball’s distinction as Canada’s earliest “national game.” Before indoor rinks and reliable refrigeration, hockey had yet to freeze itself […]
Walter O’Malley, center, shown with Jersey City officials, announced that, in 1956 through 1958, the Dodgers would play seven games each season in Jersey City and would have the option to continue the agreement for three years beyond that. INTRODUCTION The Dodgers are playing the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in Game 7 of the […]