An Interview with the First DH Ever

Hey baseball fans! I was recently invited to cover the AJHS Baseball Night charity event by Marty Appel, writer of Pinstripe Empire, one of my all time favorite Yankees biographies and baseball books! He also used to be the PR Director for the Yanks, so that’s also really cool. I will be interviewing Marty soon […]

Clearing The Bases

When it comes to relief pitchers, I’m of the mind to wait.  Last season by the middle of May, 15 of the 30 closers that were slated to have that job for their team at the beginning of spring training lost that job due to one reason or another.  Injuries (Rivera, Wilson, Soria, Madson) took […]

Young Seamhead, Matt Nadel, Appears on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove”

Matt Nadel, a 14-year-old baseball blogger, who recently joined the Seamheads.com staff made an appearance on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove” with Greg Amsinger and Harold Reynolds last week and did a fantastic job.  Here’s the video:

Chipper Is an Old Braves Chap

Hey baseball fans!Today, you are about to hear about one of the greatest players in Braves history. He recently retired and is one of the greatest switch-hitting power hitters of all time. I think you can all guess who I’m talking about: Chipper Jones! Jones played his entire 19-year career with the Atlanta Braves from 1993-2012 […]

The Story of the Beanball Hat

I am sure that many educated baseball fans are familiar with the story of the batting helmet.  Although, the popular belief is that Branch Rickey was the its creator.  To be perfectly honest, Mr. Rickey’s part should be described as the first to successfully market and benefit by financially from it.  While, the first part […]

Catching Up With Bill Mueller

The impact of becoming a beloved player for the Boston Red Sox can’t be personified any better than Bill Mueller. Mueller, a switch-hitting third baseman, is a native of Missouri. He attended Southwest Missouri State and graduated as perhaps their best player of all time, leaving as the school leader in hits, runs and stolen […]

Good Guy Octavio Martinez Finally Gets Major League Job Seven Years After Initially Being Singled Out

We have charted more than 200 people from Independent leagues who have earned non-playing opportunities in major league organizations in recent years, and one of the most heart-warming of these stories is that of longtime minor league catcher Octavio Martinez. Although still more than a competent catcher last season with the new Sugar Land (TX) […]

Playing Baseball for the Cause

  “Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval forces of the Empire of Japan…” -President Franklin D. Roosevelt   Our nation entered a costly World War and the American people demonstrated their great patriotism and resolve to finance our […]

Would Korean War Casualty Carl Tumlinson Have Replaced the Ageing Pee Wee Reese as the Dodgers Shortstop?

The Dodgers Hall of Fame shortstop, Pee Wee Reese, played his last full season at that position in 1956, aged 37. Charlie Neal (1957) then Don Zimmer (1958) were his immediate replacements. Not until the emergence of Maury Wills in 1960 did the Dodgers have a shortstop who, in any way, resembled the great Pee […]

Taking a Look at Rick Reuschel

A few days ago I saw an article on High Heat Stats making one sabermetric case for Rick Reuschel as a viable Hall of Famer. So, I revisited a post I’d done on Reuschel a few years ago, and here is a reworking of the post. In July 1985, Sports Illustrated wrote: When the Yankees […]

Clearing The Bases

It’s that time of year again.  Players have reported to their respective spring training sites.  Games will begin later this week.  The boys of summer have returned.  This also means that it’s time to start to prepare for your fantasy drafts.  Today we will begin our series of player rankings.  Starting Pitchers are on tap.   […]

Off the Beaten Basepaths #5: Lefty Grove’s Home Town

Lefty Grove was born in the mountain town of Lonaconing, Maryland which is the focus of this installment of Off the Beaten Basepaths. Lefty was the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1931 and his trophy resides in the George’s Creek Library in Lonaconing. It’s the only MVP trophy not in private hands or at […]

Feel It! The Heart of a Good Baseball Town is Beating Once Again

Baseball is part of the historic and cultural mosaic. You cannot unwind it from the larger picture and in Washington, DC, the rebirth of baseball’s winning tradition here is intertwined with a larger transformation taking place all across the length and breadth of this city, our nation’s capital. There have always been tourists tramping around […]

Random Questions with Former Phillies Catcher Dave Watkins

Many baseball players have the singular goal of doing whatever it takes to reach the major leagues. Even after a lot of work and time, it only pays off for a small percentage. While it didn’t last long, Dave Watkins was one of the lucky few who got to reach baseball’s summit. Watkins, a catcher […]

Hope Springs Eternal

Maybe it is because I have lived in Florida for the last 25 years and have been a fan of baseball all my life going all the way back to before I can remember. I have the pictures to prove it! Or maybe it is because I have become a fan of Women’s Collegiate Softball […]

Kid Blogger Interviews the Gator, Ron Guidry

Hey baseball fans! I have another interview for you! This one is with New York Yankees pitching great: Ron Guidry! Some of you probably have no idea who he is, which is why I will tell you all about the “Gator” in the next paragraph. Ron Guidry played for the Yankees from 1975-1988. In those years, […]

One More Record Haul With 54 Independent Baseball Players Headed to Major League Camps

The numbers are staggering.  A record of at least 54 players who have played in one or more Independent leagues will be in major league spring training camps starting next week.  Seventeen of them started their professional journey in a non-affiliated league, and eight spent at least part of last season in one of the […]

NJBM Kids’ Hot Korner: New Jersey Baseball Hall of Famers

Hey baseball fans! I just wanted to inform you all that I have started guest-writing for a cool website: New Jersey Baseball Magazine! It’s an online magazine that serves New Jersey, but focuses on baseball all over the country. My first article is about the three Hall of Famers who were born in New Jersey. It’s […]

The Sam Crane Redemption

Many people assume that professional baseball players lead charmed lives because of the privilege they experienced of playing a game for a living. Unfortunately that is often far from the truth and many tragedies have been experienced and even caused by the hand of former players. One of the worst cases was Sam “Red” Crane, […]

What Kind of Word is “Poosh”?

Hey baseball fans! Today is Babe Ruth‘s birthday! To be specific, he was born on February 6, 1895. So, if the Sultan of Swat were alive today, he would be 118 years old. Anyway, in honor of the Babe’s birthday, I’m going to tell you about one of his teammates who is in the Hall of […]

Charles Dexter–The Pretty, The Pretty Bad, and The Pretty Darn Heroic

When I first started work on this article I envisioned its title as “Charles Dexter—The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, focusing on the events of August 23, 1904 and October 2, 1905. But when further research brought to light the events of December 30, 1903, I decided to change that title. Readers will see […]

Texas Rangers Pitching Prospect Jimmy Reyes Will Find Making the Majors a Relief

Earlier this year Baseball America named the Texas Rangers as having the best minor league system in baseball. Their impressive ranking comes in part because of the prospect depth they have across various positions, particularly pitching. Reliever Jimmy Reyes is one of the of those pitchers, and if he continues performing the way he has […]

Who Were the Most Productive Offensive Players in 2012?

Numerous methods have been devised to measure offensive performance.  The most common are batting average, on-base percentage and slugging average.  Since none of these averages provides a complete picture by itself, a more comprehensive measure of offensive performance is useful.  Such a measure would include the following elements: 1. The ability to get on base. […]

My Top Five Fall Classics In MLB History

Hey baseball fans! Today, I want to tell you about my favorite Fall Classics in baseball history!! My only rule is this: no World Series will be in this list that happened in the last ten years. So, let’s get it started with Number Five. Number Five: The 1954 World Series Matchup: Giants vs. Indians […]

Negro Leagues DB Update: Florida Hotel League, Cuban League, 1899 & 1900 Negro Leagues

We’ve just added the following to the DB: the 1916/17 Cuban Winter League, the 1917 and 1918 Florida Hotel League, and a handful of games from the 1899 and 1900 seasons, as well as new games for 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, and 1912. In 1899 the Cuban X Giants came west to play the […]

Bruce Maxwell: The Oakland A’s Next Big Catching Prospect

The Oakland A’s have a veritable collection of young catching prospects (Max Stassi, Petey Paramore, Nick Rickles and Derek Norris among others). However, the organization added another young backstop they are excited about to the fold last year, when they made Bruce Maxwell one of their top draft picks. Maxwell is the rare left-handed hitting […]

Paul Molitor – The Ignitor

Hey baseball fans! I have no idea why I haven’t blogged about this guy in the past. Why do I say that? Only because he is my favorite American League player in the history of baseball! I’ll give you a hint: he hit for average, was named 1993 World Series MVP, and “ignited” his team […]

Heart and Soul

Nick Johnson finally hung up the spikes today, according to MLB Rumors. Only 34 years old, Johnson will be remembered as the backbone of the first Washington Nationals team in 2005, and to those of us who wore his name proudly on the back of our first Nationals jerseys, he was the heart and soul […]

Meeting Bobby Thomson

Bobby Thomson is a baseball icon.  Even if the only thing he did in his career was hit a homerun to win the 1951 playoff game, it would be enough to insure his place in baseball history.   Red Smith described the aftermath of Thomson’s home run in a New York Herald Tribune column, “Now […]

Kid Blogger Interviews Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio

Hey baseball fans! I have yet another interview for you! This time, it is with Milwaukee Brewers owner, Mark Attanasio! He was a really interesting guy and a fun person to interview. We spoke for over an hour!! And the Brewers happen to be my favorite National League team!! Anyway, in case you didn’t know much about […]

How Impressive Is This for Independent Baseball? Two Stars Earn Top Pitcher Awards in Winter Leagues

It seems amazing—and likely a first—that Independent Baseball veterans earned Pitcher of the Year honors in two of the four major winter leagues, which are bearing down on starting the Caribbean World Series.  Dwayne Pollok, who spent two years in the American Association (Fort Worth, TX) and last summer with Lancaster, PA (Atlantic League) earned […]

The Sophomore of the Year Award

Hey baseball fans! Today’s blog is about a very interesting award that was only around in the 1950s. It isn’t really that well-known, but if you read my Frank Malzone interview, you should know that he won the Sophomore of the Year Award. The Sophomore of the Year Award was created in 1953. It was awarded […]

Baseball Notes for January 21, 2013

With just three weeks until pitchers and catchers start reporting to spring training locations, the baseball offseason is winding down, but it’s not ending with a whimper. This has been one of the more eventful offseasons in recent memory, with constant activity, surprises, and even some quality free agents like Kyle Lohse and Michael Bourn […]

Vamos: Let’s Play Beisbol

Hey baseball fans! I decided to put up a blog in tribute to when baseball used to be played in the Olympics. Baseball is currently not an Olympic sport (it was last played in 2008), but I wanted to tell you guys about a pitcher from Cuba who dominated the Olympics every time he was […]

Hall of Doubt

In light of the recent Hall of Fame voting and the questions raised regarding a number of the candidates, perhaps the following poem is timely The Hall of Doubt? Michael Hoban I Baseball is our greatest game – I think it is quite clear Its wondrous past and following, it really has no peer.  The […]

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