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First Reserve Clause Enacted 100 Years Ago Baseball’s first reserve clause was enacted 100 years ago at a meeting of the National League magnates held at the Palace Hotel in Buffalo, New York, on September 29, 1879. The delegates to that historic meeting were:  William A. Hulbert, President of the National League, who represented both […]

  In June 1972, the Detroit Tigers selected Harvard University’s Rick Wolff in the 33rd round of baseball’s amateur draft.1 Wolff played two seasons in Detroit’s farm system, batting .236 in 196 Class A games before retiring to attend law school, and then pursue careers in publishing and sports psychology. Wolff’s time in the Western […]

In 1971, Satchel Paige became the first Negro Leagues player to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was the same year the Pirates fielded the first all-black lineup in major-league history on their way to a World Series title. Since 1971, over 30 Negro Leagues players and executives have been elected to […]

“With the bases full Foley caught the sphere fair on the end of his ash and away it went over the left field fence for a home run.”1 This first-inning grand slam on May 25, 1882, by Buffalo Bisons outfielder Charles “Curry” Foley sparked a 20–1 rout over the rival Cleveland Blues. Along the way, […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: In August of 1982 James K. Gaynor, Professor of Law Emeritus of Northern Kentucky University, sent this long narrative poem to TNP. In the letter accompanying it he wrote: “The current SABR directory indicates that only seven of the 1,161 members are interested in umpiring, but I am one of the seven. . […]

The Havana Sugar Kings played in the International League between 1954 and 1960. It was a short existence, but a memorable one. The Sugar Kings began with hopes of a major league franchise, experienced a shooting during a home game and a political revolution, won the International League’s Governor’s Cup and the Junior World Series, […]

In one of the 1951 Bowman trading card sets, Jets, Rockets, Spacemen, visitors from Earth watch a baseball game beamed from Cleveland years earlier via alien technology. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)   In October 2019, three American astronauts aboard the International Space Station played baseball to mark the final game of the World Series, in which the […]

The Athletic club of the Eastern Championship Association was not a direct antecedent to today’s Oakland Athletics. (SABR-Rucker Archive)   In 1881 several baseball clubs in major northeastern cities joined together to create the Eastern Championship Association (ECA). It did not claim major league status nor did it attempt to challenge the National League by […]

Jeff Bagwell, Mike Bordick, Pie Traynor, Carlton Fisk, Mickey Cochrane, Tino Martinez, Eric Milton, Mark Mulder, Frank Thomas, and Mo Vaughn all have something in common. They are just a few who competed in the Cape Cod League, the premier amateur baseball program in the nation since 1885. In 2002 there were over 180 former […]

After several years as a member of the Class C Virginia League, Norfolk, Va., entered the higher classified Piedmont League in 1934 and proceeded to win the pennant by a substantial margin. Norfolk, long an also-ran in the lower circuit, began a 22-year stay at the Class B level during which that Navy-oriented city was […]

Major league players, after their active diamond days are over, move into a range of occupations that are not much different from those which apply to most of the male population. Of course, a certain percentage branch off into other baseball or related positions, such as manager, coach, umpire, scout, executive, or broadcaster, which are […]

George Edward “Rube” Waddell was an original oddball lefty, who could endear himself to fans, provide fodder for sportswriters, and alienate his teammates and manager. He was also immensely talented. Hijinks notwithstanding, he was the premier power pitcher in the opening decade of the 1900s. The enigmatic Waddell struggled during the first few years of […]

If a modern fan could be transported back to a baseball game in 1908, to the strains of the new tune “Take Me out to the Ball Game,” he or she would feel right at home. The rules, the two major leagues, and many of the teams were similar then to what they are today. […]

In September 2020, I had the good fortune of speaking with Sharon Robinson, Jackie’s daughter, over the course of two interviews in which we discussed representations of her father. The conversation is frank, detailed, and gives a keen insight into just how involved the Robinson family has been in telling their patriarch’s tale. Sharon also […]

The pregame ceremonies before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series included a giant American flag in center field and President George W. Bush throwing out the first pitch. (Courtesy of Scott Pitoniak)   At Yankee Stadium over the weekend of September 7-9, 2001, the Yankees had swept the visiting Boston Red Sox. Boston was […]

Among the anticipated business of the National and American Leagues at their postseason winter meetings in 1912 were trades, policy discussions, appointments to league posts and boards of directors. The National League convened on Tuesday, December 11, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, and the American League meeting on the next day at the […]

Baseball contracts seem to be headed increasingly in the same direction; teams are trying to lock up their younger (particularly homegrown) stars to long-term deals before they hit the free agent market, which would drive up the price for a player. The Reds did it with Joey Votto (10 years, $225 million), and Ryan Braun […]

Introduction and Context As World War II seemed to be winding down (even though the Battle of the Bulge in Europe was only days away and the Pacific invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were still in the future), recovery from the war was the watchword at the 43rd annual baseball winter meetings. The nation […]

Lon Goldstein, who performed for some of baseball’s top managers including Bill McKechnie at Cincinnati in 1943 and ’46, does not hold back praise for Texas diamond legend Jimmy Adair. “Jimmy Adair was thorough and the best manager I ever played for,” Goldstein noted. “He knew the game inside and out and gave a reason […]

This article was originally published in SABR’s The National Pastime, Spring 1985 (Vol. 4, No. 1).   When a team of Japanese collegians defeated their American counterparts to claim the 1984 Olympic gold medal for baseball, stunned American fans realized what the Japanese have felt for years: Baseball is as truly theirs as ours. Japan’s […]

Baseball milestones are as well known to fans as their own birthdays and addresses. True baseball fans know that 714-511-4256 is not a phone number, but Babe Ruth’s home run total, the career wins of Cy Young, and Pete Rose’s hit tally. Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak of 56 games is a sacred number, 2632 will […]

In a blog post of March 23, 2008 (“Do Players Turn ‘Clutch’ When Chasing a Personal Goal?” sabermetricresearch.blogspot.com), I speculated about the anomaly, discovered by Bill James, that there are more 20-game winners than 19-game winners in the major leagues. That is the only case, between 0 and 30, where a higher-win season happens more […]