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Three players named John Tobin played pro baseball, each at some time during the early 1930s. John Thomas Tobin’s playing record is well documented. He had a 13-year major-league career, mostly with the St. Louis Browns. He led the Federal League in hits in 1915 and the American League in triples in 1921. He finished […]

Baseball fans have always enjoyed picking mythical “dream teams,” ranging from the serious to the whimsical. My work with the SABR Collegiate Baseball Committee got me involved in a project to select numerous new dream teams. The ultimate objective was to determine which college can field the strongest all-time alumni squad. In an attempt to […]

The annual meetings of the National League and the American Association after the 1888 season took place in the unusual context of “the great event in the modern history of athletic sports,” as the famous baseball journalist Henry Chadwick dubbed it. He was referring to the six-month world tour by the Chicago White Stockings and […]

Is there widespread racial bias among umpires? In August 2007, a widely publicized academic study said the answer is yes. The truth might be more complicated.Is there widespread racial bias among umpires? In August 2007, a widely publicized academic study said the answer is yes. After taking a close look at the study, I’m not […]

On April 24, 1943, Brooklyn Dodger president Branch Rickey sent a confidential memo to his top scout with instructions to begin searching for “colored” ballplayers, thus setting the wheels in motion that would result in the signing of Jackie Robinson. This document, and those that followed shortly thereafter, are historically significant yet have remained a […]

Since 1947 I have been researching and collecting baseball photographs, writing captions and reassembling the facts that surround them. My specialty is action photos of players sliding. Over the years I have learned that when all research tools have been exhausted, it is time for fresh eyes to view the photo; there are none better […]

“Don’t tell me about Ruth; I’ve seen what he did to people. … I’ve seen them: kids, men, women, worshipers all, hoping to get his famous name on a torn, dirty piece of paper, or hoping to get a grunt of recognition when they said, ‘H’ya, Babe.’ He never let them down; not once! He […]

Jackie Robinson in his UCLA track uniform. (UCLA LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS)   Once he got to the major leagues, it didn’t take long for Jackie Robinson to establish his credentials as a Hall of Fame baseball player. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1947, and MVP two years later. His skill at baseball […]

Before King George took over the Bronx, Before the Dodgers and Giants flew west; Baseball stars sparkled in New York During seasons that ranked with the best. Terry Cashman recited many of their names While singing Willie, Mickey and the Duke; Players who excelled on lustrous green grass, Gaining glory, but few piles of loot. […]

The National League and the American Association entered their respective winter meetings — hereafter called the annual meetings1 — buoyed by the growing popularity and profits of the past 1886 season.2 The owners recognized that to further expand the popularity of baseball and, with the consequent rise in attendance, increase their profits, they had to […]

As the 1875 baseball season approached, William Hulbert, the president of the Chicago White Stockings, was livid. Chicago’s entry in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP) had attempted, prior to the end of the 1874 season, to sign their star shortstop, Davy Force, for the next year. Such a move violated the […]

Gardner Park, Dallas Texas (Dallas Morning News)   The Armistice of November 11, 1918, ended the fighting in World War I, but for Black soldiers like O’Neal Pullen—a professional baseball player from Texas who served in the segregated 509th Engineer unit in France—the fight for freedom continued at home.1 Returning to a nation gripped by […]

Winning percentages represent the fundamental metric of team success. Regardless of a team’s specific strengths and weaknesses, its winning percentage—or equivalently, its won-lost record in a fixed-length season—is the ultimate distillation of all other individual and team statistics into a single measure of success or failure. Winning percentages determine which teams advance to the postseason […]

U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax at the Jewish American Heritage Month reception at the White House. Next to Koufax are his wife Jane Clarke Koufax and entertainer Theodore Bikel. May 27, 2010. (Photograph by White House photographer Alex Wong.)   On May 27, 2010, President Barack […]

In 2001, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants had arguably the greatest individual season in the history of major league baseball. He set the record for home runs in a season with 73. He hit for the highest slugging percentage ever at .863, breaking Babe Ruth’s 1920 mark of.847. He knocked in 137 runs, good […]

DAVID W. SMITH had a dream when he founded Retrosheet in 1989. It was to collect play-by-play data for every game in Major League Baseball history. It seemed an impossible task and the naysayers were many, but as of 2012 more than 120,000 play-by-play accounts have been posted on Retrosheet’s website. Now it seems impossible […]

Many Blue Jays fans will forever remember the television play-by-play call after the final out of the 1992 World Series: “For the first time in history, the World Championship banner will fly north of the border. The Toronto Blue Jays are baseball’s best in 1992.”1 In defeating the Atlanta Braves and becoming the first Canada- […]

Ever since the Society for American Baseball Research was formed in 1971, it has noted on an annual basis the baseball personality born 100 years before who made the greatest contribution to the “national game.” In 1971 it was Joe McGinnity, born March 19, 1871 In 1972 it was Willie Keeler, born March 13, 1872 […]

This article was selected for inclusion in SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game. Who has the highest single season batting average in major league history? The modern fan would probably say that Rogers Hornsby’s .424 in 1924 is the highest. Old timers would point […]

From the mid-1970s until the Angels won the World Series in 2002, frequent stories of an Angels “curse” or “jinx” appeared in the local and national media. Typically blamed on a rumor that Anaheim Stadium was built on a Native American burial ground, the curse persists to the present day despite the fact that several […]