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Base Ball Patents
Searching for the first, in the 1860sFrancis C. Sebring’s new and beautiful parlor divertissement of base-ballWho invented the game? And why didn’t he apply for a patent, a service available since...
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The World of Baseball
A Model Institution for All of UsBeattie-Powers Place; its rolling lawn, looking onto the Hudson River, forms my neighborhood’s “backyard”I delivered this talk on Saturday, via Zoom, to friends of...
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Baseball in New York, in 1805
“Bace” and “Basse” confirmed … only yesterdayThe Bridges-Maverick map of 1807: corner of Spring and Hudson streets, where baseball was played in 1805I unearthed this item on a Sunday morning traipse...
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William Edward White
Baseball PioneerBrown University team 1879, with White seated second from right; Lee Richmond stands at left, holding ballBruce Allardice, the author of this comprehensive biographical piece, first...
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PIONEERS, Season Two: Bill James
First in a new series, with new criteriaBill JamesLast year I offered at Our Game a series of 20 essays about baseball pioneers — largely ethnic, racial, gender, and disability heroes...
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PIONEERS, Season Two: David Block
Second in a new series, with new criteriaDavid BlockAmong those who changed things in how, forever after, we looked at the world and ourselves, Charles Darwin might lead the pack, though Newton and...
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PIONEERS: Jefferson Burdick
Third in a new seriesJefferson R. BurdickWhy do people collect? And in baseball, particularly, how are they different, if at all, from fans? This is the question I ask about Jefferson R. Burdick, about...
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PIONEERS: Larry Lester
Fourth in a new seriesLarry LesterIn 1970 Robert W. Peterson wrote a pioneering book, Only the Ball Was White, that brought attention to Black Baseball in the years before Jackie Robinson broke the...
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Roger Bresnahan
My foreword to John R. Husman’s new bookJohn R. Husman’s Roger Bresnahan: A Baseball Life will soon be published by McFarland Books. I commend it to your attention (https://amzn.to/3UrWZJY).Roger...
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PIONEERS: The Seymours
Fifth in a new seriesHarold and Dorothy Seymour, posed emblematicallyGeoffrey C. Ward, with whom I worked happily on Ken Burns’s 1994 documentary Baseball, said in later years that “Working on the film...
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PIONEERS: Dave Smith
Sixth in a new seriesDave SmithWhat is Retrosheet? Today, 35 years after its founding, no hardened baseball fan would be pressed to answer. But maybe you are new to the world of baseball statistics —...
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PIONEERS: Larry McCray
Seventh in a new seriesLarry McCrayLike Dave Smith in last week’s entry, Larry McCray’s life (1952–2023) was about the work … and family. Like Larry Ritter, another departed friend who won laurels in...
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PIONEERS: Jerome Holtzman
Eighth in a new seriesJerome Holtzman, ca. 1990As a matter of policy for this series, I have chosen not to profile MLB colleagues, current and former, but Jerome Holtzman is the notable exception. His...
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The Way to Fame
An essay by Jerome Holtzman, from Hank Aaron’s “Home Run”Home Run: My Life in Pictures (1999)Last week the Baseball Hall of Fame unveiled a fine statue of Hank Aaron. This essay by Jerome Holtzman,...
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The Way to Fame, Part 2
An essay by Jerome Holtzman, from Hank Aaron’s “Home Run”Hank Aaron with Indianapolis, 1952Aaron first came to the attention of the Boston Braves early in the 1952 season through a postscript in a...
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The Way to Fame, Part 3
An essay by Jerome Holtzman, from Hank Aaron’s “Home Run”Aaron batting in Milwaukee, 1957; photo by Hy PeskinThe next year, 1958, the Braves won their second successive pennant. After a hot second...
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The Way to Fame, Part 4
An essay by Jerome Holtzman, from Hank Aaron’s “Home Run”On April 4, 1974, at Cincinnati, Aaron ties RuthBartholomay had some scattered support. Tom Callahan of the Cincinnati Enquirer insisted, “The...
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PIONEERS: Pete Palmer
Ninth in a new seriesPete PalmerI sat in Pete’s living room some 42 years ago, talking about his wish to break down discrete offensive events into their respective run values (what is the run value of...
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PIONEERS: John B. Holway
Tenth in a new seriesJohn B. HolwayThis week many of us will go to Birmingham, Alabama for the events of “MLB at Rickwood: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues.” The St. Louis Cardinals will play the San...
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Macmillan: A researcher’s fond, tough look at The Baseball Encyclopedia
This article was written by Frank V. PhelpsThe Baseball Encyclopedia, 1969 (Macmillan, ICI)Editor’s note: This article first appeared in SABR’s The National Pastime, Vol. 6, №1, Winter 1987. I was that...
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