Clik here to view.
PIONEERS: Billy Bean
Twenty-third in a new seriesBilly Bean, 1964–2024Billy Bean’s recent death recalls his life and, for me, Major League Baseball’s continually evolving stance toward inclusion. He passed away at age 60...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Speed Kills
A guest column by Peter MorrisHerb Washington, Designated RunnerSpeed kills, or so the saying goes, and every baseball fan can think of a host of examples, whether it be a Jackie Robinson, a Rickey...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Matty & Merry
Christy Mathewson and Frank Merriwell … who inspired whom?Jacket image for the 1912 hardcover edition; graphic was first used for cover of Pearson’s, May 1911I wrote this story at the behest of a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
6X20 = 0
A guest column by Jamie SelkoStanding at NL’s 1926 Jubilee, Tommy Bond, who lived to 1941There have been thirty-five pitchers who have had at least six twenty-win seasons in Major League history...
View ArticleClik here to view.
World Series Centennial Review: 1924
An October tradition at Our GameWalter Johnson, 1911; photo by Paul Thompson SyndicateThis story first appeared in MLB’s 2024 World Series Media Guide.Every World Series has been great, matching the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fans Are Players, Too
The outcome of the game depends upon you. Remember that.Hilltop Park, home of the Yankees, 1912; note boy with glove, at rightIt looks easy. When you see a ballplayer at the stadium, or on television,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Dream of Baseball
Reflecting upon a lucky lifeDavid Freese, 2011 World SeriesIt is startling to think how few of the millions who play baseball competitively ever sign a pro contract — one in 40,000 — and how few of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
That Dastardly Dime Novel
Not baseball, but nearly soMalaeska (1860), identified as the first dime novel though published in 1836Originally published in my newspaper column “Wake the Echoes” in the Kingston Times, March 17,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
First Baseball Games, the World Over
Guest column by Bruce AllardiceThe Baseball WorldThis list — developed for Protoball.org by its estimable chief Bruce Allardice, who succeeded the site’s late founder, Larry McCray — provides links to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Baseball Life
It’s about love and workThe first of three Fashion Race Course games: a mile from Citi Field, July 20, 1858; from the New York ClipperEver since July 20, 1858, when an admission fee was first charged...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Fields of Play
A paean to the ballparkBefore it became known as Wrigley Field, it had been built in 1914 as Weeghman ParkWhy did Cubs management, nearly ninety years ago, plant vines on the brick walls of Wrigley...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Getting the Short (Season) Shrift
A guest column by Jamie SelkoThe Cincinnati Reds of 1896, with HOFers Ewing (center, left) and McPhee (at 10 o’clock)I am on the record for stating my belief that the Baseball Hall of Fame has enough...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Fringe of the Game
Dedicated to Rickey Henderson (1958–2024)Rickey HendersonMike Piazza: “Rickey was the most generous guy I ever played with, and whenever the discussion came around to what we should give one of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Conversation with Roger Angell
Conducted by Dick Johnson in 1988A Day in the Life of Roger Angell, 1967; illustration by Ed KorenRoger Angell’s office at The New Yorker, where he works as senior fiction editor and baseball reporter,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bits and Bytes and Bats and Balls
Snippets from long agoFrom 1988; my link to MLB’s logo would come 23 years laterI have been thinking lately of a book I wrote long ago, in 1988, which I titled The Game for All America, borrowing from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Deacon White Remembers
He was the unlikely inventor of the windupDeacon White with Detroit, 1887This is the first part (of three) of Gene Kessler’s story for The Sporting News in November 1930. At age 82, White told a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Deacon White Remembers, Part Two
The story behind the original Most Valuable Player AwardJim “Deacon” White in later yearsThis is the second part (of three) of Gene Kessler’s story for The Sporting News in November 1930. White’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Deacon White Remembers, Part Three
Lively Ball in Second Season of National League, 1877Deacon White with bats in 1930This is the final part of Gene Kessler’s story for The Sporting News in November 1930. The first part appeared at:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Baseball Is a Punny Game
From fair bawl to fowl, going back, back, backCain, the first base man; Ballou’s Monthly, June 1871Here is a squib by old pal Mikhail Horowitz who, more than a decade ago, gave us “Kessler at the Bat”;...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Norman Macht on the Deadball Era
An interview with John McMurrayThis Q&A first appeared last week in The Inside Game: The Official Journal of SABR’s Deadball Era Committee, ably edited by Donald Jensen. The interview was conducted...
View Article