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Years before he would become infamous for inadvertently starting the Black Sox Scandal,1 the Chicago Whales’ Claude Hendrix pitched a dominating no-hitter, defeating the Pittsburgh Rebels, 10-0, on May 15, 1915. It was just the second no-hitter thrown at Pittsburgh’s Exposition Park III, and third no-hitter thrown in the Federal League. In 1915 right-hander Hendrix […]

After the Brooklyn Tip-Tops rallied for a one-run victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Rebels in the first game of a Labor Day doubleheader, Brooklyn fans were treated to another come-from-behind one-run victory in the second game. In addition to a five-run rally by the Tip-Tops in the bottom of the eighth inning, the second game […]

On a muggy July day with intermittent showers looming in the forecast, the fifth-place Brooklyn Tip-Tops took the field against the cellar-dwelling Pittsburgh Rebels at Washington Park. This was the last game of a nearly two-week-long homestand for the Tip-Tops. Brooklyn, like many Federal League teams, had been having trouble drawing fans but fortunately for […]

When Nolan Ryan struck out 16 batters in the second game of a 1971 Mets-Padres doubleheader, a trade seemed as unlikely as fictional TV news producer Lou Grant transforming from gruff to cuddly in Mary Tyler Moore, an iconic sitcom of the era. But the unthinkable happened about 6½ months after Ryan’s May 29 drubbing […]

“I’m not a home run hitter,” said the Milwaukee Brewers’ Paul Molitor after smashing three home runs.1 He wasn’t exaggerating either: Entering that historic game, the speedy line-drive hitter had cranked only 27 round-trippers in parts of five big-league seasons. Though he developed a stroke to belt a career high 22 in 1993 with the […]

The events of August 2 in baseball history are quite varied. In 1921 a Chicago jury arrived at a not-guilty verdict in the trial of the Black Sox, accused of participating in a fix of the 1919 World Series.1 In 1979 New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson perished in an airplane crash in Canton, Ohio.2 […]

The major sports story of the day for September 22, 1927, was the defeat of Jack Dempsey by Gene Tunney, the heavyweight boxing champion. It concentrated on how Tunney was aided by what appeared to be a long count when he was knocked to the canvas by the challenger. A sportswriter described the scene: “A […]

It didn’t take long for St. Louis Cardinals fans to appreciate Bruce Sutter. In the Cardinals’ second game of the 1981 season, the right-handed relief ace pitched three nearly flawless innings to earn the save in a 7-3 victory over the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies on April 12 at Busch Stadium. Sutter, the […]

The St. Louis Cardinals returned to the postseason for the first time in 14 years when they clinched the 1982 National League East Division championship with a 4-2 win over the Montreal Expos on September 27. With the victory, the Cardinals (91-66) eliminated both the Philadelphia Phillies (84-72), who lost to the Chicago Cubs, and […]

Negro League team owners could see the handwriting on the wall when Jackie Robinson signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers to play in Montreal in 1946. Additional Negro League players, particularly the stars, would be sought out by major-league owners for their own teams, and the Negro Leagues’ competitiveness would decline. Despite the bleak […]

When Chicago White Sox pitcher Jack Harshman shut out the Detroit Tigers on August 13, 1954, it was the second time in less than three weeks that the number 16 would be significant for him. Harshman outdueled the Tigers’ Al “Lefty” Aber in an historic 16-inning contest that ended in a White Sox 1-0 victory. […]

July 6, 1933: the first All-Star Game at Comiskey Park and, in the third inning, the first home run – quite appropriately off the bat of Babe Ruth as part of a 4-2 American League victory. Fast forward exactly 50 years at the same venue, and another long-ball feat was achieved: The first grand slam […]

The Chicago White Sox entered a Memorial Day weekend series having just swept the California Angels in a three-game series at Comiskey Park. As a result, Chicago increased its lead in the American League West to 3½ games. There was a logjam of three teams in second place: the Angels, Minnesota, and Oakland. In the […]

The Kansas City Royals were undergoing a transition in 1986-87. The Royals had won the World Series in 1985, but were slow getting out of the gate in 1986. Shortly after the All-Star break, manager Dick Howser was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He stepped down as manager to undergo treatment, and Mike Ferraro finished […]

It took just 10 pitches. The ninth-inning play-by-play line for the Dodgers read: 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. After striking out Russell Martin with a runner on third and two outs, San Diego Padres closer extraordinaire Trevor Hoffman earned his 500th career save, preserving a 5-2 win over Los Angeles. A Wednesday […]

It was the first trip of the season to California for the 1968 Boston Red Sox. In 1967 they lost seven of nine games played in Anaheim against the Angels, each of those by just one run. On May 20, 1968, Boston started a 10-game road trip with three against the Angels. This game was […]

The Cleveland Indians may have been reaching for some strong mouthwash as they reported to Tucson, Arizona, for spring training in 1952. The Indians led the New York Yankees by one game when the day’s schedule was completed on September 11, 1951. Cleveland had 13 games left on its schedule, while the Yankees had 17 […]

An “all services” honor guard with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s casket in the East Room of the White House, April 14, 1945. (FDR LIBRARY)   On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his famous speech that famously called December 7 “a date which will live in infamy.” On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt died […]

On a hot and sweltering Sunday afternoon, the New York Giants played the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of a doubleheader after blowing an 11-0 fourth-inning lead in the first game and losing 14-12 as the Cardinals orchestrated an improbable comeback. Would the Giants be able to rebound after such a defeat? That […]

They came. They saw. They conquered. But the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees on the evening of August 6, 1979, was more than a victory for the latter squad. It was a cathartic conclusion to a mournful day that began with the burial of a ballplayer whose absence was palpable […]

Opening Day of the 2010 season matched two teams going in different directions. The Texas Rangers were looking to be back in the playoffs for the first time in a decade, while the Toronto Blue Jays were starting yet another rebuild. Rangers ownership was in limbo. Beset by financial problems, Tom Hicks was seeking to […]

The Seattle Mariners’ Opening Day 1989 turned out to be a special one for a kid from Cincinnati. This was no ordinary Mariners Opening Day. It was the debut of Ken Griffey Jr. and over 46,000 fans in Oakland were in attendance to witness the beginning of a Hall of Fame career. Junior Griffey started the […]

Welcome to the SABR Spring Training Database. A comprehensive historical and geographical listing of all professional spring training locations was compiled by the Spring Training Research Committee and is made available online here. These databases download as text-searchable .pdf files (Portable Document Files). Please download the free Adobe Reader software in order to view them. […]

In announcing the March 1921 indictments of the players and gamblers involved in the Black Sox Scandal, Cook County (Illinois) State’s Attorney Robert Crowe announced that the World Series fix originated in St. Louis, specifically with Carl Zork and Benjamin Franklin, rather than in Boston and New York by the Eastern clique of Arnold Rothstein, […]