A Legendary Southpaw South of the Border

If you ever visit the Baseball Hall of Fame or spend any time reading about it, sooner or later you will probably hear the inductees referred to as immortals. It is, of course, an exaggeration. On the other hand, that bronze plaque in the hall might qualify as immortal, as it will surely be there […]

Retro Computer Baseball Game Review – Computer Statis Pro Baseball

This is the second entry in a series focusing on computer baseball simulations to supplement the chapter “Play Retro Baseball Video Games In Your Browser” from my Hardball Retroactive book along with the corresponding post at Baseball Analytics. The series focuses on baseball simulations – games in which the primary emphasis is on managerial strategy […]

When Walk-Up Music Walked Tall

The seeds were planted on the South Side of Chicago in 1913, when the White Sox installed a public address system. Only three years old at the time, Comiskey Park was renowned as “The Baseball Palace of the World.” The park was originally dubbed White Sox Park, so it might be that Charles Comiskey wanted […]

Promise Unfulfilled…But Why?

Some seamheads check the TRANSACTIONS web sites on a regular basis. Me, I check Baseball Almanac, not for transactions, but for obituaries. When a Hall of Famer (e.g, Rickey Henderson) dies, it makes the news. Lesser players receive less airtime or column space. Sometimes much less. Yet Baseball Almanac dutifully records the death of anyone […]

Minor League Ball; Major League Brawl

Two-team MLB markets have built-in rivalries. Even before inter-league play, the Yankees were, in a sense, competing against the Mets, and before 1958, against the Dodgers and the Giants, though the Yanks never played them in a regular season game. The same had been true for the Cubs and the White Sox since 1901, as […]

Tommy Lasorda: Magnifique Moundsman Of Montreal

There is not much one can say or write about Tommy Lasorda that hasn’t already been said or written…raconteur, comedian, linguini lover, show biz schmoozer, coach, manager, goodwill ambassador for baseball…and the game’s greatest bullshit artist, though I don’t believe Sabermetrics has advanced to the point where any statistics can be adduced to bolster that […]

Do You Feel Lucky?

In 1995 Nicolas Cage won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of a man committing incremental suicide by alcohol in Leaving Las Vegas. Today a more appropriate remake might be titled Leaving Oakland, which is lacking in alliteration but an accurate description of the professional sports scene in the East Bay. Unlike Nicolas Cage, […]

Square Pegs, Round Holes, and Concrete Doughnuts

Eighteen-year veteran Richie Hebner once opined “I can stand at the plate at the Vet in Philadelphia, and I don’t honestly know whether I’m in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis or Philly.”  Having spent his 1969 rookie year at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field, he couldn’t help but notice the difference between that storied structure and its successor, […]

Barry Shetrone: O’s Bright Prospect Whose Promise Was Unfulfilled

Speedy outfielder was once compared to Vada Pinson Barry Shetrone was one of the Baltimore Orioles’ brightest prospects when they signed him for $4,000 after he graduated from Southern High School in 1956. Although he became the first Baltimorean to play for the modern-day Orioles (1954 to present), he never fulfilled his promise.  He played […]

Baseball’s First Phenom

Nary a season goes by without the chattering classes of our national pastime heralding the arrival of one or more phenoms. The phrase “can’t miss” is bandied about with the self-assurance of racetrack touts. If you’re keeping score at home, however, you have probably noted how many can’t-miss players fail to live up to their […]

Celebrating the Greatness of Willie Mays

Yesterday, we all lost number 24, fittingly (albeit sadly) in the year 2024.  Now, the last all-time great who debuted in the Negro Leagues is gone.  Willie Mays will perpetually reside in “the green fields of the mind”– living on in the memories of all of us who were lucky enough to witness his transcendent […]

Mr. Rickey’s Plantation

Volumes have been written about Jackie Robinson, his career, and the social ramifications of his appearance on a major league baseball field on April 15, 1947. A question worth asking is why this point in time was so propitious for breaking baseball’s color line. As always, following the money is instructive, so let’s look at […]

The Vanishing Pinch-Hitter

Let’s start this essay with a FUN FACT: the Spanish term for pinch-hitter is bateador emergente, or emergency batter. Now there’s a phrase I’d like to see catch on in anglophone play-by-play accounts. It enhances the drama of the situation. I don’t think there are fewer emergencies in contemporary baseball than in ye olden times, […]

Uni-Cycling, Bi-Cycling, Tri-Cycling…And Beyond?

At some point during the 2024 season, you might hear your hometown play-by-play announcer say, “He’s only a (single/double/triple/homer) away from the cycle.”  More than likely, it will be a triple, since that it is the least likely result of any plate appearance that results in a hit. If said hitter does complete the cycle, […]

Magical History Tour: Of Beatles And Ballparks

A common Seamhead quest is to see a ballgame at every major league ballpark. Some attempt to do it in one season; others (myself included) take their time. And some aficionados sign up for those bus tours that promise eight ballparks in eight days; in other words, if it’s Tuesday, this must be Detroit. That’s […]

The 400 K Club

At the end of the 1965 season, Sandy Koufax, though just one year away from retirement, was riding high.  He led the National League in wins (26), ERA (2.04), and complete games (27) while setting a major league record with 382 strikeouts.  Less than a decade later (1973), Nolan Ryan astounded the baseball world by […]

Major Managers in Minor League History

Every now and then we read about a scout, coach, or manager who is described as a baseball “lifer.”  Well, that word also applies to someone serving a life sentence in prison.  Read into that what you will. Being a lifer is better than being on death row, I guess.  Of course, organized baseball does […]

Texas League Spitballin’

Chances are you knew about spitballs long before you learned about baseball history.  Somewhere in elementary school – or maybe in preschool if you were a prodigy – you learned how to chew up wads of paper into soggy little balls which you could throw at someone else or the blackboard.  Eventually, you learned that […]

MLB Works to Incorporate Negro League Stats Into Record

“A committee of researchers and historians is working to ensure more than 3,400 Negro Leagues players from the relevant years and leagues receives that recognition in the official MLB statistical database maintained by the Elias Sports Bureau. It’s a detailed, demanding and difficult process — but one that recently received the organization and cohesion it […]

The Grand Strand

Centennial years are a big deal.  When I was a teenager, they made a big deal about the Civil War Centennial.  The same was true several years ago when World War I “celebrated” its centennial.  And if we make it to 2041, I have no doubts that the 100th anniversary of Pearl Harbor will kick […]

Cheap and Ugly in the Capitol

  Upon Googling: “Cheapest Baseball Owners,” the first article led with the following description: “cheap, greedy, tight-fisted, miserly, penurious. A discussion of the penny-pinching figures who historically have ruled the game of baseball includes Charlie Comiskey—of Black Sox fame, Harry Frazee—who sold off Babe Ruth, and Calvin Griffith, who infamously told a crowd in the […]

Steve Stone’s Dream-Like 25-7 Season

When the Baltimore Orioles signed Steve Stone, 31, as a free agent in November 1978, they expected he would be the No. 5 starter in a four-man rotation that consisted of Jim Palmer, Mike Flanagan, Scott McGregor and Dennis Martinez. The 5-foot-10 right-hander had compiled an unimpressive 78-79 career record after nine seasons with the […]

Weird, Weirder, Weirdest

The independent minor leagues are not as independent as they used to be.  A number of them (namely, the Atlantic League, the Pioneer League, the American Association, and the Frontier League) are listed as Major League “Partner” leagues.  According to MLB, “These leagues will collaborate with MLB on initiatives to provide organized baseball to communities […]

When Cash Was King of Comedy

Nolan Ryan debuted with the Mets in 1966 but he didn’t make a name for himself till he was traded to the Angels after the 1971 season.  He pitched his first no-hitter on May 15, 1973 against the Royals.  Two months later, he followed up with another one against Detroit.  It was not quite as […]

Oh, Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz

For many years the gold standard of baseball writing was Roger Angell. Simple prose and honest story-telling, he left indelible images about a minor league pitcher who could not quit the game, begging his wife for just one last season of traveling small town America in search of some lost chalice. But my favorite was […]

Users, Cheaters, Six-Time Losers, and the Search for Dignity

(Author’s Note: This story is the sequel to “Hank Aaron and Bob Dylan: Searchin’ High, Searchin’ Low For Dignity,” posted 4/16/23) In the spring of 2005, Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts held a fundraiser in a posh Buckhead home, not far from the Georgia Governor’s Mansion. Since the Center for Puppetry Arts was an advertising […]

Williams Failed to Work His Magic with Rick Reichardt

Editor’s Note: Rick Reichardt is one of 16 players featured in Barry Sparks’ book, The Search for the Next Mickey Mantle: From Tom Tresh to Bryce Harper, published by Sunbury Press. Rick Reichardt was coming off a disappointing 1969 season. The 6-3, 210-pound outfielder for the California Angels batted .254 with 13 homers and 68 […]

Hank Aaron And Bob Dylan: Searchin’ High, Searchin’ Low For Dignity

Someone showed me a picture and I just laughed Dignity never been photographed Or so Bob Dylan says in “Dignity,” a song he wrote in 1988 after learning of the death of basketball great Pete Maravich. Dylan has a point. Dignity isn’t an item or commodity that can be replicated and mass-produced. It’s a quality […]

A Salute to the Senior Class

I recently came across an article about Art Schallock, the oldest MLB veteran still living.  Art debuted in 1951 with the Yankees and just turned 99 years old.  Perhaps a rousing rendition of “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” should accompany “Happy Birthday.” MLB has not had a centenarian alumnus since Eddie Robinson died […]

Cleveland’s Brookside Park: Not a Mistake and Not on the Lake

An old saying pertaining to Detroit is, “It’s like Cleveland without the glitter.” When it comes to economy of language, this quote is a gem, as it puts down two Rust Belt cities in one six-word sentence. For the purpose of this essay, however, let’s park Detroit and take Cleveland out for a spin. In […]

Retro World Baseball Classic, Revisited

The World Baseball Classic features ballplayers from various geographical regions competing in a tournament which culminates in bragging rights for the winning team and the country that they represent. I devised a slight twist on this theme back in 2017 to retroactively create a computer-based simulation of the best baseball players in the World based […]

Out Of The Park 24 Available Now!

NEW FOR THIS SEASON Huge visual improvements! Get deeper into the action with new 3D animations and visual improvements that bring the game to life! A new audience model will react to the action on the field, while new fielding, pitching, running, and batting animations make OOTP 24 the smoothest and most visually pleasing version […]

Making Singles Sexy

Do you know who led the majors in singles in 2022?  If so, go to the head of the class: you are the ultimate stat geek. If not, don’t feel bad. The one-base hit is the least sexy safety. Just check the stat sheets. Go to the Baseball Reference web site and dial up the […]

Shedding Light on a Sunshine State Curse

The phrase “pitchers and catchers report” resounds throughout the land in the middle of February. All well and good, particularly if you live in Arizona or Florida, but if you are a college baseball fan, the simultaneous opening of the Division I season may be more meaningful. Some of the less heralded divisions start playing […]

From Chumps to Champs: Book Review

From 1989-1992, the New York Yankees compiled their worst 4-year record (288-357) since 1913. Yet, they won the 1996 World Series and won 4 of 5 World Series from 1996-2000. From 1996 to 2012, the club played in every post-season but one. Author Bill Pennington explains how the Yankees made the dramatic transformation in Chumps […]

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