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“The St. Louis Cardinals are as bush as the name of the beer company that owns them,” sniped Boston Red Sox manager Dick Williams in his ghostwritten column, referring to the inside pitching of the St. Louis staff.1 His Hearst-syndicated column ran on the front page of the Boston Sunday Advertiser; the headline for the […]

It seems that the Expos wanted to give their fans a lifetime of memories as quickly as possible. As if the inaugural game at Shea Stadium or the first home win at Jarry Park weren’t memorable enough, the Expos quickly adopted a flair for the dramatic in just the franchise’s ninth game, on April 17, […]

The Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland does not often miss when an opportunity presents itself. On August 14, 2004, the famed brewery on Cleveland’s lower west side held a party to debut its new creation, Blackout Stout. The celebration was to commemorate the first anniversary of “The Great Blackout” of 2003. The brewery’s website […]

It was evident to at least one person that Dennis Eckersley was destined to be a top pitcher in the big leagues. But the man who held this opinion, Frank Robinson, had to do some prodding to convince others. Cleveland’s rookie manager in 1975, a veteran of 19 seasons in the majors and as accomplished […]

September 30, 1962, was a warm, sunny day in Chicago as the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs took the field for the last game of the season. Both teams resided in the National League basement. The Cubs would finish with a record of 59-103. The Mets would end up even worse, 40-120. The Mets’ […]

It was the bottom of the eighth inning in a summer contest at Detroit’s Navin Field when Babe Ruth sent a Bert Cole pitch over the fence at the deepest part of the ballpark. The historic shot officially measured a distance of 560 feet, giving Ruth his 36th home run of the season and the […]

We may have all been there at one time or another. You begin the school year and the English teacher’s first assignment is for you to write a composition: “What I did this summer?” No doubt the subject of most of the papers submitted center on a family vacation, a summer job or perhaps something […]

The Mets and the Braves had become intense rivals towards the end of the 1990s. The 1999 season ended with the two teams playing a dramatic league championship series that the Braves won in six games. With the Mets’ fortunes rising, the Braves finally returned to Shea Stadium on June 30, 2000. It was Fireworks […]

New York City was still reeling from the devastation of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. With that experience still fresh in everyone’s memory, the New York Mets played the Atlanta Braves 10 days later, on September 21, 2001. Mike Piazza would later reflect that “[p]eople wanted to find refuge […]

The Philadelphia Phillies planned to open the 1970 season at the new Veterans Stadium in South Philadelphia but site delays forced the club to open its home schedule at the oldest ballpark in the major leagues, 61-year-old Connie Mack Stadium, on April 6, 1970. A crowd of 15,918 attended the home opener between the Phillies […]

The start of the 2019 season came on March 28, when the Arizona Diamondbacks traveled to Dodger Stadium to take on the previous year’s National League champions. In 2018, the 82-80 Diamondbacks ended up 9½ games behind the Dodgers in the National League West race. Perhaps the breakout should not have been too much of […]

Mother Nature and Old Man Winter were not yet in a “base ball” mood when the Red Stockings were supposed to begin their season in late April 1874. Two officially scheduled dates were snowed out and rained out respectively before May 2, when the Reds could finally open their season against the Mutuals of New […]

Brooklyn Dodgers manager Casey Stengel released 34-year-old Hack Wilson in August 1934, and picked a surprising replacement: 21-year-old rookie outfielder Nick Tremark, a left-handed batter, of Italian ancestry, from Yonkers, New York.1 What distinguished Tremark from other ballplayers was his diminutive stature – he stood 5 feet 4¾ inches.2 “Because he is a little fellow […]

On Campy Campaneris Night1 at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium, a crowd of 21,576 showed up to witness a different kind of baseball history. Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City Athletics became the first major leaguer to play all nine positions in a game.2 The event was dampened as the Athletics lost to the California Angels […]

Lou Gehrig became the second New York Yankees player to hit for the cycle at least twice in his career, as the Yankees routed the St. Louis Browns, 14-5, on August 1, 1937.1 The Yankees hosted the Browns before a Sunday crowd of 18,924 at Yankee Stadium and came away with 17 hits. However, the […]

“The sun is right bang in your eyes all the time,” said right fielder Dusty Miller of the Cincinnati Reds. “It takes a lot of figuring to get under them [fly balls] properly.”1 Playing in right field, the “sun field,” at Cincinnati’s League Park was difficult even “if you are protected … by smoked glasses,” […]

Two remarkable pitchers powered Providence’s drive toward the 1884 National League pennant. In late June the Grays stood first at 33–10, thanks in large measure to the work of 21-year-old Charles Sweeney and veteran Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn, who was eight tough years older. Sweeney won 15 of his 21 starts, including his sensational 19-strikeout […]

The 2004 regular season ended with the St. Louis Cardinals winning 105 games, while the Houston Astros squeaked past the San Francisco Giants by one game and into the wild-card spot on the last day of the season. Though the Cardinals had won the National League Central Division by 13 games over Houston, many experts […]

Though the Pittsburgh Pirates had finished in second place in 1977, five games behind the Philadelphia Phillies, they had won 96 games and harbored high hopes for overtaking their intrastate rivals as the 1978 season began. Unfortunately, as the month of August arrived, things were not looking good for the Bucs. After enduring a seven-game […]

The warmth of early summer welcomed the Ladies Day crowd of 13,643 who gathered at Ebbets Field to watch the Redlegs play the Dodgers, each trying to gain ground on the league-leading Braves.1 Bonus baby Sandy Koufax took the ball for the defending World Champions, and faced off against Cincinnati’s Hal Jeffcoat. A dramatic comeback […]

By the end of the 1960s, it seemed that the Major League Baseball All-Star Game had turned into an annual exhibition of National League dominance. The senior circuit had won 11 of 13 games during the decade (two games were played in 1960, 1961 and 1962; one game was tied when it was called because […]

The 1915 Cleveland Indians, in their first year with that nickname after Napoleon Lajoie retired, were a woeful team with a near-bankrupt owner. They were in last place on July 19 when they made unwanted history as they lost their fifth straight to the Washington Senators, 11-4. Washington ran away with eight stolen bases in […]

Just four days after banging six hits against the Washington Senators,1 St. Louis Browns first baseman George Sisler produced a 5-for-5 game against the Detroit Tigers, hitting for the cycle for the second time in his Hall of Fame career.2 In front of “a good-sized half holiday crowd”3 at Detroit’s Navin Field, the Browns and […]

“You Called That a What . . . ?”The Newsletter of the Official Scoring Committee Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Summer 2016, Volume 1, Number 2 Past newsletters   Editor: Stew Thornley Howdy Conundrum of the Month (or Quarter or Whatever) How Do You Do It? What’s New? The Hardest Thing in the World […]