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Most high-school or college pitchers with dreams of a major-league career think about pitching in the World Series, an All-Star Game, hurling a no-hitter, or getting a strikeout to end a big game. Besides these, Mark Wohlers had something else on his mind while growing up — throwing a pitch 100 miles an hour in […]

Any conversation about the greatest hitter in baseball history must include Rogers Hornsby in the opening gambit.1 His .358 lifetime batting average in 23 big-league seasons is second all-time to Ty Cobb’s .367 and well ahead of such all-time greats as Tris Speaker (.345), Ted Williams (.344), Babe Ruth (.342), Lou Gehrig (.340), and Stan […]

Controversial, flamboyant, excitable, volatile, hot-headed, crazy, wild, and emotional are among the many adjectives used to describe Julián Tavárez during his 17-year major-league career spent with 11 teams. Over the course of his career, Tavárez developed a reputation as an unpredictable pitcher who was not afraid to pitch inside. The 6-foot-2, 165-pound right-handed hurler hit […]

“Pretty as the first flush of a June morn and as shapely as a peachblow vase filled with violets and many-hued pansies.” That’s how the Chicago Tribune described a tall, blond, and strikingly handsome 21-year-old Harley Parker in his 1893 debut for the Chicago Colts.1 Thirteen years later, when the right arm of the less […]

After World War II, Frank Jobe followed the proverbial American dream: college, medical school, marriage, and a family. Even though he said he never planned it that way, he pursued a career that helped make the world a better place — particularly the world of baseball, as the developer of the procedure known as Tommy […]

The last-place Detroit Tigers went to New York to meet the reigning World Series champion Yankees in August 1952. After Detroit lost the first game of the series, Virgil Trucks started Game Two. The veteran right-hander came in with a 4-15 record, but he had pitched a no-hitter and a one-hitter for two of his […]

Dave Robinson was the first player signed by the San Diego Padres in 1968. The National League expansion team’s press conference on July 31 featured Hall of Famer Duke Snider, a fellow Southern Californian who had inadvertently discovered Robinson at San Diego State College.1 “He told me he went out to see [outfielder] Jim Nettles […]

Right-hander Chuck Rainey was a first-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox, the 19th pick overall in the January 1974 draft. A little more than five years later, he broke into the big leagues with Boston, pitching for the Red Sox, Cubs, and Oakland Athletics in a major-league career that lasted six seasons. Red […]

Terrence Jon Francona, colloquially Terry, has seen baseball from just about all of its vantage points. From that of a highly touted first-round pick. As the last man to make a 25-man roster. And then during a lengthy but mostly successful managerial career, including two championships in Boston. It has not come easy for Tito, […]

When Jess Barnes was at the top of his game, the right-handed pitcher from Circleville, Kansas, held his own with the elite of his day. Named to Baseball Magazine’s All-American team following the 1919 season, Barnes shared the honor with such luminaries as Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, George Sisler, and Joe […]

Coming from the dirt fields of Puerto Rico to the heights of the major leagues, Pudge Rodríguez had a long and storied career as perhaps the greatest all-round catcher ever. Revered by Texas Rangers fans for his decade in Arlington, he led the Florida Marlins to a World Series title and was instrumental in re-energizing […]

Upon arriving in the United States in the spring of 1956, without knowing a single person, ignorant of the native language, customs, and food, and unaware of racism, Felipe Alou was armed with nothing but his mind, courage, determination and talent. No Dominican had ever played in the major leagues, and there were as yet […]

One of baseball’s eternal debates is naming the hardest-throwing pitcher of all time. A dark horse in the field is Harry “The Flame Thrower” Fanok. Harry appeared in just 16 big-league games for St. Louis in 1963-64 — but his fastball branded the memories of those who saw him. Just ask Joe Morgan. The former […]

Joe Black helped lead the Brooklyn Dodgers to the 1952 pennant, going 15-4 with 15 saves, and a 2.15 ERA. He won the NL’s Rookie of the Year Award and became the first African American pitcher to win a World Series game. “Let’s put it this way,” Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen told reporters, “Where would […]

Determined to make the major leagues since he was a young boy, Jim Umbricht paid his way to a minor-league tryout camp and, after making the team, was converted from shortstop to pitcher. After he returned from serving two years in the military, Umbricht worked his way up to the majors and then spent three […]

Jim “Rawhide” Tabor was a five-tool player before that phrase became part of the baseball vernacular. He was 6-feet-2 and played at 175 to 185 pounds. Often described as raw-boned and rangy, he hit from the right side for average and with power. He had great speed, was Mercury-quick, and had a terrific throwing arm. Tabor’s arm […]

Early in his career on the baseball diamond he was a man without a position. Luckily for him, the power emanating from his bat allowed him to hang around the major leagues long enough to settle into the only position he could play reasonably well. He came from Native American – or, in the common […]

Editor’s note: During our Stay Home With SABR initiative, enjoy these light-hearted Dispatches From the Mudville Bureau by Joanne Hulbert of SABR’s Boston Chapter to stay engaged with baseball until the games return. Check out what’s new and keep up with all the news in the Boston Chapter on Facebook at BostonSABR or on Instagram […]

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in SABR’s The National Pastime, Vol. 18, in 1998. For additional commentary about this story, read “The Veracity of Veeck,” by Robert D. Warrington and Norman Macht in the Fall 2013 Baseball Research Journal and Warren Corbett’s SABR biography of Bill Veeck.   Baseball is a game in […]

  High and Inside The Newsletter of the BioProject Committee Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) May 2016, Volume 1, Number 5 Past newsletters Editor: Stew Thornley SABR 46 committee meeting From the Editor From the Director Guest Columns: Rory Costello and Warren Corbett Interview with Bill Nowlin Project Profile: Tom Schott Project Poobahs   […]

As a founding franchise of the American League, at least in its major-league incarnation, the Boston club has had its share of colorful and fascinating owners. Though the club enjoyed considerable on-field success at the beginning of each century, it is perhaps most famous for its 86-year championship drought, a period dominated by its most […]