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What Became of the Trophy Balls?
In the amateur era, a losing team provided the victors with the game ball, which then might be placed in a display caseTrophy case of the Brooklyn Atlantics, once housed at Mike Henry’s saloon, later...
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Cleveland Browns 30, L.A. Rams 28
You Are There: what may be the NFL’s greatest gameThe NFL championship game of 1950I wrote this story a long time ago, 15 years before the Cleveland Browns relocated to Baltimore, where they became the...
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Walt Whitman, Plagiarist?
“Let us leave our close rooms.… The game of ball is glorious”Brooklyn from the Bridge Tower ca. 1872; the opening shot of the film “Baseball”In our sun-down perambulations of late, through the outer...
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The National Pastime, Pictorial Issue
Peephole to the past; an editorial adventure of the 1980sThe National Pastime, №6 (1986)In 2009, SABR shifted the mission of one of its two annuals, The National Pastime, from a literary and cultural...
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Archie Bush: Amateur Era Superstar
The best baseball player you don’t knowArchie Bush (left) and James McClureThis story is by my friend Bruce Garland, a baseball aficionado of the first rank.Who are the players depicted in this...
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Baseball from the Newspaper Accounts, 1882–1891
A rare 1960s classic by Preston D. Orem, revivedThe cover of SABR’s conjoined file, newly availableBelow, my foreword to this newly compiled volume, followed by Bob Bailey’s preface. The invaluable...
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The Great Flu Epidemic of 1918–19 and Its Effects on Baseball Necrology
No active big leaguer died from the pandemic but ex-players didMajor Leaguers wearing masks, exhibition game, Pasadena, CA, January 26, 1919This valuable study is by friend Jamie Selko. It represents...
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The House that Ruth Built and Pop Opened
Negro League Baseball at Yankee StadiumBy Dr. Lawrence D. HoganThe House that Ruth BuiltThe Negro League’s like a light somewhere. Back over your shoulder. As you go away. A warmth still, connected to...
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The Consolations of Baseball
“It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us.” — WhitmanDetail of Elysian Fields, Hoboken; from Panorama of New York and Vicinity, litho by John Bachmann 1866The essay below derives from a talk I...
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Better than a World Series?
Proposing a midseason All-Star Game and its squads … in 1915Ty Cobb, the greatest player of 1915, without dissentFerdinand Cole Lane (1896–1984) pitched this idea to American and National League...
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Experiment in Identification
Baseball at Candlestick Park in a 1962 Film NoirExperiment in Terror, 1962This fine bit of film sleuthery (with plenty of baseball, natch) is by my estimable friend Jamie Selko.In late April, 1962,...
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Baseball Guides Galore
Fabulous research sourcesBeadle’s Dime Base Ball Player for 1860This story by Ralph Elliott LinWeber appeared in SABR’s Baseball Research Journal in 1982. He was an authority on Toledo baseball...
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Old Morrisania Town
A WPA interview of 1938, about the Bronx Bombers of the 1860sWhen baseball was all the rage in Morrisania; this image, from The Sporting Times of August 1, 1868, is the only one known of the Tremont...
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1904, a Review
Tom Ruane’s most recent Retrosheet roundupOpening Day at Boston (AL), 1904Stats are signposts to stories, I have said lately, in connection with MLB’s newly embraced Negro Leagues records, but my...
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Mister Muggsy
The paradoxical John J. McGrawMagisterial Mister McGraw or tough guy Muggsy; you could love or hate one or the other or both. In this neglected profile from March 28, 1925, the New Yorker’s first year,...
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How We Got Here
19th century baseball and why it mattersBase-Ball; painting by Henry Sandham; proof of aquarelle print by L. Prang & Co, 1887I delivered this talk via Zoom at “The Fred,” an annual conference of...
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Five Stars
Not a story about the Michelin GuideGlorious cover for sheet music of 1909This week’s reverie is about the game’s eternal question: Who was the greatest player in baseball history? Today’s fans will...
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Five Pitchers
From underhand, at 45 feet, to the K-mania of todayDon Newcombe’s 1956 Cy Young Award, the first of eleven granted to one pitcher for both leagues before 1967Who were the greatest pitchers in baseball...
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Five Games
Great contests … not mere showcases for individual heroicsBobby Thomson, elation; Ralph Branca, dejection; Jackie Robinson, deflationOnce upon a time (40 years ago), I wrote a book titled Baseball’s...
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Five Fielders
The best by era, regardless of position playedTris Speaker’s glove: where triples went to dieThis week’s FIVES entry is an attempt to provide some perspective on this question: Who was the greatest...
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