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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 […]
The 1940 major-league winter meetings, held at Chicago’s Palmer House on December 10 and 11, saw a number of proposals fail to be adopted. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voted for the status quo in most instances, though in a couple of notable votes he sided with the National League in one case and the American […]
The 1934 All-Americans outside Nagoya Castle (Yoko Suzuki Collection) Katsusuke Nagasaki’s breath billowed as he loitered outside the Yomiuri newspaper’s Tokyo offices. The morning of February 22, 1935 was chilly. But that was good; nobody would look twice at his bulky overcoat. Matsutaro Shoriki, the owner of the Yomiuri Shimbun, was late. Nagasaki strolled […]
On Larry Tye’s 2009 biography of Paige and Timothy M. Gay’s 2010 book on the barnstorming tours of Paige, Dizzy Dean and Bob Feller.
R—O—L—A—I—D—S. The answer in the classic ad: “How do you spell relief?” TRIPLE PLAY!!! The answer to the question, “What’s the perfect remedy for a relief pitcher sum moned into a diamond game with nobody out and two (or three) runners on base?” Take for instance May 30, 1967, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. In […]
The Big Red Machine reached its destiny when Cesar Geronimo closed his glove around Carl Yastrzemski’s fly ball on October 22, 1975 at Fenway Park to end the World Series. In that moment of ecstasy and exhaustion the Cincinnati Reds became world champions, finally grasping the ring that had eluded their reach in the first […]
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 […]
You’re ecstatic that your favorite team won the League Championship Series to get into the World Series, but your pitching ace performs poorly and the team loses Game One. How worried should you be? There is a general perception among many baseball fans that losing the first game of a seven-game series is not a […]
On September 28, 1947, the Bambino made an appearance before a game benefitting his Babe Ruth Foundation – later recognized as the first Old-Timers Day. (SABR-Rucker Archive) The story of Yankee Stadium cannot be told without telling the story of Babe Ruth. His home-field exploits during his playing days are well covered, but a […]
On Opening Day of the 2015 season, Miami Marlins players and fans had to scurry for cover as Marlins Park was soaked with rain — despite the retractable roof installed on the facility. Dee Gordon slipped as he accelerated out of the batter’s box. The speedy Miami Marlins second baseman had just laid down a […]
Babe Ruth meets Yale baseball player George H.W. Bush in 1948. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library) George Herbert Walker Bush began the first year of his term as the 41st President of the United States of America on January 20, 1989. Then, just seventy-three days later (on April 3, 1989), he carried out […]
Claims pop up with frequency that this team or that invented the pitching rotation. These find life in our modern media and attract proponents. Thanks to David Smith, Tom Ruane, and scores of volunteer researchers, we have Retrosheet, and there are methods to determine rotation patterns and fact-check such comments as one spoken by New […]
In 1999 the Society for American Baseball Research completed a poll that ranked Harry Wright as the third largest contributor to 19th-century baseball. Though hindsight is often said to be 20/20, that is questionable in this case. In fact, the 19th-century perception of that question was quite different. In a November 1893 edition of The […]
The Most Important Baseball Figure of the 19th Century? In 1999 the Society for American Baseball Research completed a poll that ranked Harry Wright as the third largest contributor to 19th-century baseball. Though hindsight is often said to be 20/20, that is questionable in this case. In fact, the 19th-century perception of that question was […]
1951 Hazard Bombers. From L-R, top row: J. Ravelo, D. Hayling, E. Bobrik, J. Podres. Second row: K. Johnson, R. Coluni, L. Isert, M. Sanders, R. Torres. Third row: M. Macon, Max Smith (team owner). Fourth row: R. Dacko, J. Tondora, J. Chapman, K. Cox, E. Catlett. Bottom row: C, Crook Jr. (batboy), H. Snyder, […]
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” — T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding, from Four Quartets If it hadn’t been for my mother Jaqueline’s suggestion that I apply for a job as a Little […]
In mid-March 1921—amid delay in the criminal proceedings pending against those accused of corrupting the 1919 World Series—baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis placed the eight indicted Chicago White Sox players on the game’s ineligible list. “Baseball is not powerless to defend itself,” an impatient Landis declared. “All these players must vindicate themselves before they […]
Springfield Cubs official scorecard, 1950. (Courtesy Wood Museum of Springfield History) On Monday evening, February 6, 1950, a cold winter night laced with thoughts of Opening Day two months away, Municipal Auditorium in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, was filled with fans whooping and hollering as the newest baseball team, the Springfield Cubs, was introduced. Sponsored […]
Baseball and politics are two impassioned national pastimes. In the early days of New York City, they were often intertwined in schemes to ensure huge financial gains. The betterment of the game and the interest of citizenry came second. Highlighted here are some of the personalities and events that played an influential role during these […]
From left to right: George Foster, Sadaharu Oh, Pete Rose, Isao Harimoto, and Johnny Bench. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, New York) Pete Rose basked in the attention he was receiving from the Japanese press on Opening Day, April 6, 1978. His Cincinnati Reds were facing the visiting Houston Astros in a […]
It’s the top of the 10th inning, and there is one out in this hotly contested All-Star Game. A runner is on third by way of the triple, another on first via the intentional walk, but now the pitcher has this batter on the ropes with a 2–2 count. The crowd is evenly split between […]
As a young boy growing up in York, Pennsylvania, Harold Wynegar Jr. emulated Mickey Mantle. “I patterned myself after Mantle,” Wynegar said as a minor leaguer in 1975. “He was a switch-hitter, so I started switch-hitting when I was 9. I’m not saying I’m going to be another Mickey Mantle. He’s one of the biggest […]
“No nation that has had as intimate contact with baseball as the Japanese,” The Sporting News wrote in an editorial shortly after Pearl Harbor, “could have committed the vicious, infamous deed of … December 7, 1941, if the spirit of the game had ever penetrated their yellow hides.”1 Today, 60 years removed, the writing is […]