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In 1794, the legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania codified a portion of English common law governing observance of the Christian Sabbath, or day of rest. The laws, known as “blue laws,”1 criminalized “any worldly employment or business whatsoever on Sunday (works of necessity, charity, or wholesome recreation excepted.)”2 Those laws were still very much […]

An ancient Chinese curse says, “May you live in interesting times.” In the middle of August 1965, the times in California were interesting indeed. In the north, the Bay Area was with a hotbed of political activity, San Francisco was the epicenter of the national anti-Vietnam War movement, while across the bay Berkeley was a […]

Few names are as synonymous with the development of Negro League baseball as Abe and Effa Manley. The couple is most commonly associated with the Newark Eagles, which they owned from 1936 until they disbanded the club in 1948, one year after Jackie Robinson integrated the White major leagues, thus signaling the end of the […]

Sandy Koufax shut out the Cardinals in the only opening-day start of his big-league career. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)   “A full season of pitching stretches the muscles of the arm. Over the winter, the muscles relax back into place, and whatever little injuries may have occurred in either the stretching or the […]

For the first time in major-league history, two reigning MVPs from the previous season would play in the same regular-season Opening Day game.1 National League President Chub Feeney presented Keith Hernandez the National League MVP plaque during pregame ceremonies while his co-MVP, 39-year-old Pirates slugger Willie Stargell, looked on. The award was shared for the first and, as of […]

The Dodgers and Pirates broke off what New York Daily News sportswriter Dick Young called their “weird affair”1 at just before midnight on June 24, 1950. Brooklyn led, 19-12. A report from the Associated Press boasted, “The crowd of 22,010 was treated to one of the wildest games in Ebbets Field history.”2 And it wasn’t […]

“There have been few World Series battles in history that carried as much in the way of melodramatic suspense,” gushed syndicated sportswriter Grantland Rice about Carl Hubbell’s 11-inning complete-game victory over the Washington Senators in Game Four of the World Series to give the New York Giants a seemingly insurmountable three-games-to-one lead.1 John Drebinger of […]

Entering the 1915 season, one of baseball’s biggest questions involved the Boston Braves. George Stallings’ team, in last place on the Fourth of July in 1914, had mounted an improbable charge to claim the National League pennant and sweep the favored Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series. Could Boston’s NL entry duplicate this performance, or […]

A beautiful Labor Day 2006 matinee in Washington, DC, seemed unlikely to produce a pitching masterpiece. The National League Central Division-leading St. Louis Cardinals were at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium to face the Washington Nationals, who were last in the NL East Division. The Cardinals had won seven of their last nine games, while twice […]

Hall of Fame right-handers Tom Seaver and Fergie Jenkins combined for 595 victories and 1,241 starts in their big-league careers. In their first matchup facing each other, Jenkins bested Seaver, tossing a complete-game six-hitter and belting a home run. After the Chicago Cubs finished third in the National League in both 1967 and 1968, there […]

In September 1922, out of pennant contention, the Cleveland Indians mounted a youth drive of remarkable proportions. The team brought in 19 players, so many that it had trouble finding uniforms for them all, and manager Tris Speaker gave them game action as he could.1 The youngsters didn’t bring back memories of the 1920 Indians, […]

The Boston Red Sox hit nine grand slams during the 2013 regular season, five in the month of September alone.1 On September 25, the final Wednesday of the regular-season schedule, third baseman Will Middlebrooks hit the team’s fifth September grand slam. He also hit a three-run homer earlier in the game, doing enough damage all […]

As one of the early small-market franchises in the National League, the Worcester ballclub had a short tenure in the league, but it has retained a solid place in National League history for how the club entered the league in 1880 and how it was forced to exit in 1882. The Worcester Base Ball Club […]

On the evening of Monday, May 18, 2020, SABR’s Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston met via Zoom, thanks to Joe Thompson for facilitating the technology! Forty-two baseball fans gathered in front of computers, tablets, and phones to enjoy the virtual gathering. Chair Bob Dorrill led off by reflecting on two recent losses: Bob Watson, who […]

SABR Bibliography Committee Research Guide No. 6: Baseball Figures in Dictionary of American Biography Editor’s note: This guide was first published by the SABR Bibliography Committee in 1987. To download the original in PDF form, click here. By Frank PhelpsJuly 1987 Dictionary of American Biography presents authoritative biographies of deceased notable Americans. The biographies usually […]

Michael Columbus Driscoll bore the name of a celebrated explorer, but his own travels in professional baseball were limited to 2½ trips through the Detroit Tigers’ lineup on the afternoon of July 6, 1916. The former University of Maine pitcher was one of numerous college players signed by Philadelphia Athletics owner-manager Connie Mack to rebuild […]

Hugh “Red” Alexander was a promising 20-year-old, having just hit 57 home runs with a high batting average in two minor-league seasons, and tasting his first cup of coffee in the big leagues. He managed one single in 11 at-bats during his late-season callup and was looking forward to a long career as a player. […]

The older half of an obscure Deadball Era brother act, left-handed pitcher Herb Juul was a two-game member of the 1911 Cincinnati Reds. Younger brother Harry Juul,1 a right-hander, appeared in nine games for the 1914 Brooklyn Tip-Tops of the Federal League. Possessed of good breaking stuff, Herb was likely the more talented Juul. But […]

With his last-place team hopelessly out of pennant contention, Washington Nationals manager Joe Cantillon used the final month of the 1909 season to audition recently acquired minor-league prospects. Among those given playing time was Bill Yohe, a third baseman obtained from the Class C Texas League. Although he did little in the field or at […]

On February 27, 1999, Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas, rededicated its baseball park Katt-Isbel Field in honor of Ray Katt, the Bulldogs’ head baseball coach from 1971 until his 1992 retirement.1 For Katt it was a bookend event to a lifetime spent in baseball, including eight full or partial seasons (1952-1959) in the majors […]

It is a sports cliché that records are made to be broken. But in baseball, changing times and modern playing strategies seem to have put certain major-league bests permanently out of reach. The holders of unapproachable all-time records include immortals like Cy Young, Cal Ripken, Nolan Ryan, Zip Zabel, … Zip Zabel? Indeed, just as […]

For nearly 80 years, this stumpy catcher was the only man from the Hawaiian island of Maui to make it to the majors. Even more curious is that Tony Rego was born during the brief period (1894-1898) when Hawaii was an independent republic. The “active little pepperbox” (as the Los Angeles Times described him) got […]

“Beware of robbing a wretch or attacking a cripple. Do not laugh at a blind man, nor tease a dwarf, nor cause hardship for the lame. Don’t tease a man who is in the hand of the god (i.e. ill or insane)…” [Instruction of Amenemope, Ancient Egypt]1 Frank James Burke was born on March 19, […]

Right-hander Jack Fifield faced a challenge familiar to second-line pitchers in the late 19th century: getting out major league batters with a mediocre hurling repertoire. Still, he managed to eke out three full big-league seasons before dropping down to a more congenial competitive level. Pitching for the Syracuse Stars, Fifield was the Class B New […]