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Frank Torre, Crackers first baseman whose mother, sister, and brother Joe traveled from New York to Atlanta to watch his team in a crucial game against the rival Birmingham Barons on July 8, 1954.   For the first eleven days of July 1954, the Atlanta Crackers, the Birmingham Barons, and the New Orleans Pelicans fiercely […]

St Louis on the evening of July 19, 1950. The New York Giants came to town to challenge the winging Cardinals, engaged in a taut four-team race with Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Boston. A mere one and one-half games separated the contenders. Unlike their hosts, the visiting Giants harbored no pennant aspirations. Having just lost 12 […]

Sandy Koufax shared his baseball insight on the NBC Game of the Week after retiring from the Dodgers. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   When Sandy Koufax retired on November 18, 1966, many people were surprised. Not Buzzie Bavasi–the Dodgers pitcher had told him over the phone the day before. Others within the organization probably had at least […]

I think that no players in the majors today could conceive of going through what Negro Leaguers did for a chance at a baseball career. At the same time, however, most of the veterans of baseball’s black leagues will say that, if given the chance, they would do it all over again. A statement like […]

Just how bad were the early Texas Rangers teams? Put it this way: When reporter Mike Shropshire wrote a book about covering the Rangers from 1973 to ’75, he called it Seasons In Hell, and when that book was published, two decades later, the Rangers still hadn’t made the playoffs. Counting the ’60s, the decade […]

The Asahi in Osaka, Japan, during their 1925 tour. From left, back row: Kichitaro Okagaki, Nobukichi Ishikawa, Jay Nishida, Morio Sera, Harry Hashimoto, Jimmy Araki, Earl Tanbara, Mr. Takeshita, Fred Koba, and two Japanese officials. Front row: Tom Sakamoto, Sai Towata, Jimmie Yoshida, Jiggs Yamada, Frank Ito, Russell Hinaga, Ed Higashi. (Kanemoto Collection, Kifune Family […]

The 1972-73 A’s were the first team not named the New York Yankees to win back-to-back world championships since, well, the A’s. Some four decades and two franchise relocations earlier, Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics had claimed the 1929 and 1930 world championships. His team reached a third straight World Series in 1931, but the A’s […]

Richard Nixon may have been the greatest baseball student to occupy the presidency. In 1936 Nixon, 23, saw his first big-league game. “I don’t remember much about it,” he said, “except that the date was July 4, the Washington Senators lost a doubleheader at Griffith Stadium, and a rookie named DiMaggio put one in the […]

On September 25-27, 2015, the Baltimore Orioles visited Boston’s Fenway Park for a three-game series. Bill Nowlin sat down and talked with the umpiring crew: Jim Joyce, Greg Gibson, Chad Fairchild, and Carlos Torres. Conversation in the Umpires Room at Fenway Park on September 26, 2015. Bill Nowlin: I notice that a lot of umpires […]

“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 […]

As baseball grew over its first half-century and the manner in which it is played has evolved, new statistics have appeared and vanished. But only one statistic, barely two generations old, has single-handedly altered the way the game is managed, influences the spending of millions of dollars, and determines the roles to be played by […]

The National Football League and baseball have enjoyed a close relationship from the beginning. To capitalize on the popularity of baseball, pro football teams have, at times, adopted major league names: Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants, New York Yankees, and Pittsburgh Pirates. The Jets picked their name to rhyme with the […]

Although not now as legendary as Fred Merkle’s base-running blunder or Fred Snodgrass’s muffed fly ball, Heinie Zimmerman’s failed pursuit of Eddie Collins in the final game of the 1917 World Series was quite notorious in its time. Most present-day descriptions of the play originate from the account given by Frank Graham in his team […]

As the Civil War continued to impact America, the population pressed forward with daily and seasonal routines including recreations like baseball. The top clubs in the Northeast continued to slowly increase the number of games they played each season, which had dwindled since the onset of the conflict. The game was steadily overtaking cricket as […]

During the 1981 World Series, pitcher George Frazier of the Yankees achieved the dubious distinction of losing three games. He was the first to drop three unintentionally (Claude Williams of the infamous Black Sox lost a trio in 1919). Less rare, but nevertheless a pitching achievement to be proud of, is winning three games in […]

The more Hall of Famers a team owns, the more championships it wins, right? Research suggests a far different picture. For one thing, those Famers may be finished.   ALTHOUGH MUCH IS WRITTEN about Hall of Fame players, little is written about the teams they have played on together. Fans who know the answer to […]

In an article in the 2008 issue of The Baseball Research Journal, Trent McCotter argued that hitting streaks are achieved more frequently than if there were no “hot hand” effect.1 Here, the author acknowledges that finding, but argues that the effect is so small that it can be ignored for practical purposes. In addition, he […]

In addition to 1976 being the Nation’s Bicentennial, it also is a big year for celebration in each of America’s major baseball organizations. The venerable National League, being born in New York, February 2, 1876, is celebrating its proud centennial. Its once upstart junior, the American League, is accepting congratulations on surviving 75 tempestuous seasons. […]

Just across Florida Avenue, in the shadow of Griffith Stadium, home to both the Senators and the Grays in 1947, sat the Sportsman Inn. Joe Hurd, the new proprietor, had recently purchased the establishment from longtime DC radio DJ and baseball announcer Hal Jackson, who was in the process of moving to New York. On […]

A real “put-down” for a club is to get shut out in both games of a doubleheader. This happened to the Red Sox on Labor Day of 1974 when the Orioles almost put the Beantowners out of business for the season. Actually, they were close games, with Ross Grimsley beating Luis Tiant 1-0 in the […]

June 29, 1979, was a night unlike any other at San Diego Stadium. Fans were gnarled in a four-mile-long traffic jam and the start of the game was delayed 36 minutes.1 Gaylord Perry was scheduled to face Houston’s Joaquin Andujar that night. But the capacity crowd of 47,022 was not necessarily there to see baseball.2 […]

Base ball clubs from various Minnesota cities began playing match games with each other in the mid-1860s. The first games were rather cordial events between clubs of gentlemen; within a few years they became spirited games for the silver ball, awarded to the base ball champions of Minnesota.