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Bordering Hoboken — which dubs itself the “birthplace of baseball” because of the legendary 1846 game between the Knickerbockers and the New Yorks at Elysian Fields — Jersey City stands on the edges of the Hudson River and Newark Bay, somewhat obscured by the baseball notoriety of its neighbor to the northeast and the epic […]

A common trivia question among baseball fans is, “How many ways are there for a batter to reach first base?” According to Question 5 in the individual primary round of the trivia contest at the 2009 SABR 39 National Convention in Washington DC, there are eight different ways. The Wiki Answers web site lists 23. […]

1. Introduction Rule 9.02 of the official MLB rulebook states, “Any umpire’s decision which involves judgment, such as, but not limited to, whether a batted ball is fair or foul, whether a pitch is a strike or a ball, or whether a runner is safe or out, is final. No player, manager, coach, or substitute […]

The “Astros Better Halves” prepare to play their husbands under the Dome in the 1970s. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF HOUSTON ASTROS)   Although the earliest of American baseball clubs in the mid-1800s were organized as exclusively male social organizations, spectators were soon drawn to their games, and plenty of women were among them. The Knickerbocker Base […]

Bobby Layne is the only Longhorns pitcher to throw two nine-inning no-hitters, both in 1946—versus the Southwestern University Pirates (March 26) and the Texas A&M Aggies (May 4). (Texas Student Media/The Cactus)   During the 1944 and 1946-48 baseball seasons, while playing for the University of Texas Longhorns, Bobby Layne compiled an amazing 28-0 won-lost […]

For two days in the summer of 1971, Tom Seaver dueled with another dominant hurler, splitting the games by scores of 1–0 and 2–1. Red Foley, writing for the Daily News, rhapsodized about this matchup, comparing it favorably to legendary contests between Dizzy Dean and Carl Hubbell, Mort Cooper and Whit Wyatt, and Christy Mathewson […]

Baseball’s here and now is most notable for its almost uncouth levels of offense. Records fall and lose their luster. Benchmarks of yore are swatted into obsolescence. The time span of the typical game is more of the Cecil B. DeMille variety than of the Woody Allen. It’s a tumult, to be sure. Almost overlooked […]

Baseball is among the most heavily mythologized elements of American culture; Abraham Lincoln is among the most heavily mythologized Americans. Inevitably, their mythologies have become intertwined. The most reliable place to look for baseball mythology is Spalding’s Americas National Game, and it doesn’t disappoint. This story from the book is accompanied by a drawing of […]

In recent years there has been a rather surprising emphasis on religion in baseball. This “born again” movement is based largely on the establishment of the Baseball Chapel Program, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Danny Thompson Award for exemplary Christian spirit in baseball. Major League baseball has had a number of players — […]

This article was originally published in SABR’s Baseball Research Journal, Vol. 23 (1994).   Red Smith once wrote: “Ninety feet between bases is the nearest to perfection that man has yet achieved.”1 Technically, this statement is incorrect: there has never been 90 feet between bases. In fact, in the nineteenth century, the distance between bases […]

Moving into 1909, change was in the wind. All ballparks had been, up to that point, made of wood, but Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field, Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, and St. Louis’ rebuilt Sportsman’s Park opened that year as baseball’s first steel-and-concrete facilities.1 More umpires were hired so that the majority of big-league games would now feature two […]

Speculating on ultimately unanswerable questions remains one of most fascinating aspects for those of us who study baseball history. For example, how might many of the all-time records differ if Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Oscar Charleston, and all of the other great Negro League stars had been eligible to play in white Organized Ball? How […]

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Journalism History, Vol. 32, No. 1, Spring 2006.   Had baseball card collecting been popular in the 1920s, fans of the nascent Negro leagues likely would have coveted the cards of Andrew “Rube” Foster, C.I. Taylor, Ed Bolden, and John Blount. Because these men were team owners and […]

It was 1977 and I had never been to Connecticut before. I was impressed with the pine-studded hills and small ponds. They looked especially nice with the patches of snow on the ground. What do I know about Al Schacht? I asked myself. He was born November 11, 1892 in New York City. He pitched […]

“Spring training is almost as old as baseball itself. The best evidence points to spring training first taking place in 1870, when the Cincinnati Red Stockings and the Chicago White Stockings held organized baseball camps in New Orleans. Other baseball historians argue that the Washington Capitals of the National League pioneered spring training in 1888, […]

There can be little doubt that compared to pitching and hitting, fielding is the most vastly under-analyzed part of the game. There is very good reason to hope that the greatest advances in our understanding of the game through statistics will come in the area of fielding measures.

Across the decades, professional actors and athletes have shared a special camaraderie. Both are paid entertainers, performing for the pleasure of the masses. So not surprisingly, many thespians are vocal supporters of their favorite ball teams. Back in the day, for example, Tallulah Bankhead was a famed New York Giants fan-atic. (“There have been only […]

Until the Dodgers and Giants come to their senses and return home to New York, Casey Stengel remains the only figure in history to have worn the uniform of these four New York City teams: the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees, and Mets. The coincidence of this was no small thing to Casey, who died in 1975, […]

The life of Jimmie Reese as described by Tom Willman, journalist and friend.

In the years between 1892 and 1925, Charlotte, North Carolina, “Queen City of the South,” emerged from the obscurity of a backwater frontier boomtown to its present position as one of the South’s most prosperous, thriving cities. One of the early exponents of the “New South” commercial and industrial development was Daniel Augustus Tompkins. In […]

Canton, Ohio, the defending champions of the Tri-State League, assembled for spring training at home on April 9, 1890 with five rookies on hand for the first practice. Included was a six foot two inch, 200 pound, 23-year-old pitcher seeking his first professional baseball job. Denton T. Young and four companions made the jaunt to […]

Were it not for the Chicago Defender, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, Baltimore Afro-American, and other African American newspapers, there would have been scant coverage of Black professional baseball. White-owned and -run dailies like the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Washington Post published few informative articles on the African American baseball […]

Jackie Urbaez congratulates an Ottawa Titans teammate during a Frontier League game. (Courtesy of Timothy Austen)   The first weather alert went out about two hours before the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League were to play their 2024 home opener. The warning to residents of Canada’s capital from Environment Canada was grim: prepare for […]