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There were other events, including the meanderings of a runaway horse named Red, worthy of ink on the front page of the Brooklyn Eagle on Sunday, October 4, 1953, but after the Dodgers had evened up the World Series the day before, the banner headline, “Let’s Be Unmerciful!” expressed the sentiment of the Brooklyn faithful.1 […]

The 1973 season was not going as envisioned by Cincinnati Reds players and fans. Not only was the team in danger of not successfully keeping the National League pennant or even the NL West Division title in the Queen City,1 but on July 1 the Reds stood just two games over .500. Cincinnati had finished […]

The Chicago Cubs’ center fielder played well on April 25, 1976. He collected three hits, scored two runs, and drove in another. His efforts helped the Cubs to rally from a three-run deficit and tie the game, even if they did not prevent a 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 10 innings. But […]

Reggie Jackson had not returned in years, but it made no difference. Decades after being one of the few Black minor leaguers on the 1967 Birmingham A’s, he could still recall how segregationists would point and refuse him service. He could still recite the taunts: “The n****r can’t stay here”; “The n****r can’t eat here.”1 […]

When the Chicago Cubs took the field for their first game in September of 1961 they had a new manager – or as they called him, “head coach” – and a new catcher. For the season, the Cubs had instituted a field management strategy that involved rotating a “College of Coaches,” each taking turn as […]

Near the end of March 1954, Stan Hack was suddenly named to become the new manager of the Chicago Cubs.1 Phil Cavarretta had abruptly resigned after refusing a reorganization shuffle to guide Hack’s minor-league team at Triple-A Los Angeles (PCL).2 The Cubs had finished in the second division since 1947, and several unfavorable comments Cavarretta […]

It was time for Ted Williams to unload. He came into the Tuesday night game in Detroit hitless in his last six at-bats. He was facing Jim Bunning, against whom he had been 0-for-7 to this point in 1958. Nine days earlier, Bunning had no-hit the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Williams was 0-for-4 in […]

The New York Yankees had long been out of contention by Friday night, September 17, 1982. Their 14-0 loss at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers that night signaled their statistical elimination from the race. Harvey’s Wallbangers moved to a two-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East Division, while the Yankees […]

William Orange Forman, who pitched briefly for Washington in 1909 and 1910, was born on October 10, 1886, in Venango, Pennsylvania, the youngest of William (Billy) and Almira (Myra) Forman’s three children. The elder Forman came to northwestern Pennsylvania during its oil rush, and made a living drilling wells and refining their product. Young Will […]

Super Scout: Thirty-five Years of Scouting was the name of Jim Russo’s 1992 memoir. The title was simple and apt. Russo worked full-time for the Baltimore Orioles franchise from 1951, when it was still the St. Louis Browns, until 1986. As the club rose to prominence in the ’60s, he gained acclaim as one of […]

Billy Sorrell was the type of player scouts coveted: a 6-foot, 190-pound left-handed hitter with power and speed who could play both infield and outfield. Legendary scout Tony Lucadello tracked and signed Sorrell for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1959. Sorrell was a good batsman, often clutch, who played 14 professional seasons from 1960 until 1973, […]

A latecomer to the game, Tony Boeckel was 19 years old before he first handled a baseball.1 But he rose to become one of the better third basemen in the early 1920s before his life was tragically cut short at the height of his career. Norman Doxie Boeckel was born in Los Angeles, California, on […]

A speedy line-drive-lashing lefty with a strong arm, veteran Wally Moses joined the Red Sox midway through the 1946 season, shored up right field during Boston’s run to the American League pennant, and batted .417 in four World Series games. A well-liked and respected Georgian who spent 41 seasons in the majors, 17 as a […]

Once described by Baseball Digest as the “Rodney Dangerfield of baseball,” Cecil Cooper was a great player who didn’t get the respect he deserved.1 An introverted Texan, Cecil Cooper remained in the shadows for much of his 17-year playing career. The left-handed first baseman spent his major-league years with Boston and Milwaukee from 1971 to […]

Louis Frank Klein, Jr. was an international baseball lifer who had a travelogue of experiences. Perhaps best known as one of 22 major league players who jumped to the outlaw Mexican League and for his tenure as a rotating manager in the Chicago Cubs’ College of Coaches, Klein had a varied and colorful career. The […]

A teenaged soda vendor at the new Birmingham minor-league ballpark, a low minors “doubleheader” workhorse, a victor over Walter Johnson, and a tragic victim of tuberculosis at 31, Pop-Boy Smith is an enigmatic figure in the Southeast baseball scene from the 1910s and early 1920s. Clarence Ossie Smith was born on May 23, 1892 in […]

Opening Day at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, April 10, 1980. Visiting Boston scores two runs in the top of the inning to tie Brewers at 5 apiece. Bottom of the inning, two outs, bases loaded. Up to the plate steps Sixto Lezcano. A packed house of 53,313 screaming as one, urging Sixto to send them home […]

From 1906 to 1911, right-handed pitcher Wallace Luther “Toots” Shultz was the most sought-after student/athlete in baseball. From his days at prep school through his college days at the University of Pennsylvania he was pursued by his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates, the Philadelphia A’s and Phillies, both Boston teams, and the New York Highlanders. In 1911, […]

Growing up in downstate Illinois, between Chicago and St. Louis, a midcentury youth was blessed by time and place. By radio, born in 1920, and television’s relatively new wonderwork, baseball could be followed through the art of play-by-play. If you grasped the pastime’s rhythm, the Voices often became as arresting as being at the park. […]

Harry Walker was born to baseball and spent his life in the game. The son of one major leaguer and the brother of another, he was an All-Star outfielder, the lightning-rod manager of three teams, and a controversial hitting guru. Harry and Dixie Walker are the only brothers to win batting titles. When Harry came […]

“You Called That a What . . . ?”The Newsletter of the Official Scoring Committee Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) November 2018, Volume 4, Number 1 Past newsletters   Editor: Stew Thornley From the Chair Conundrum of the Month (or Quarter or Whatever) Meet Sven Muencheberg Profile: Pat Thompson 9.17 From 1944 Conundrum Solution […]

“You Called That a What . . . ?”The Newsletter of the Official Scoring Committee Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) November 2018, Volume 4, Number 1 Past newsletters   Editor: Stew Thornley From the Chair Conundrum of the Month (or Quarter or Whatever) Meet Sven Muencheberg Profile: Pat Thompson 9.17 From 1944 Conundrum Solution […]

Ken Griffey Jr. slides in with the winning run for the Seattle Mariners on Edgar Martinez’s 11th-inning double to beat the New York Yankees 6-5 in Game Five of the American League Division Series on October 8, 1995. The excitement of the Mariners’ first playoff appearance helped fuel a political effort to build a new […]