Ah, America’s Pastime. It would be a mistake for today’s under-35 baseball fans to believe that baseball before 1973 (the first year of the Designated Hitter,) was baseball in the stone age…
THE “PHENOMENAL” GAME OF BASEBALL
In today’s essay, Paul Doyle returns with an interesting account of one of the true eccentrics from the nineteenth century,
AN IMPORTANT FIFTH ANNIVERSAY MESSAGE FROM BASEBALL HISTORY COMES ALIVE
As Baseball History Comes Alive celebrates its fifth anniversary, we not only wanted to thank you, our subscribers, for your continued support, but also to bring you up to date on the ways we’re trying to build and improve our website…
We’re Contacted by Family Relations of Hall-of-Famer Heinie Manush!
“He always went to Cooperstown every year and to old-timers’ games. He went to everything he was invited to. He loved it because baseball was his life…”
New Blog Topic: My All-Time Favorite Dead Ball Era Players!
Since many of you know of my love for the Dead Ball Era, I’ve decided to start a new series highlighting the careers of some of my favorite players from that long-ago era…
“Claire Ruth: The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Babe Ruth,” and “Was Claire the Cause of the Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig Feud?”
“But she had to be to keep Daddy in tow. And she did it in a way that Daddy didn’t mind. -Julia Ruth Stevens, speaking of her mother, Claire…
Enos Slaughter’s “Mad Dash” Wins The 1946 World Series
In the photo above, we see Enos Slaughter crossing home plate in a cloud of dust as he scores what proved to be the winning run in Game Seven of the 1946 World Series…
We’re Contacted by Long-Time Friend of Dick Allen!
“I’ve been around the game a long time, and Dick Allen is the greatest player I’ve ever seen play in my life. –Hall-of-Famer Rich Gossage…
Tony Lazzeri, Part II
Some of you will remember my post from a couple weeks ago in which I mentioned I was reading the new book on Tony Lazzeri written by one of our regular readers, Larry Baldassaro.
New Blog Topic: There’s No Crying—Or Sleeping!—In Baseball! Just Ask HOFer Edd Rousch!
A recent article in Baseball Digest had some interesting information about baseball ejections…
Should Ernie Lombardi Still Be Considered The “Goat” Of The 1939 World Series?
As we all know postseason errors can become magnified and can even overshadow the career of the fine ballplayer. Just think about the late Bill Buckner. ..
New Blog Topic: White Sox’ Yermin Mercedes Breaks 110-Year-Old Team Record Set by Ping Bodie!
And just wait until you hear about Ping Bodie’s 1919 “Spaghetti Eating Contest” against “Percy the Ostrich” And no, I’m not making this up…
The Demise of a Great Franchise: The Boston Braves
Sixty-eight years ago, March 13, 1953, on the day that will become known as “Black Friday” in Boston…
Reflections on the 1920 Baseball Season
People no longer need to try to imagine playing baseball during a worldwide pandemic since here we are in 2021 and that’s exactly what happened last year.
New Blog Topic: “Words of Regret” The Story of Giants’ Manager, Bill Terry
Did you ever say something off-handedly and regretted it almost before the words were out of your mouth? I know I have…
New Blog Topic: The Philadelphia Athletics “White Elephant”
Have you ever wondered why the Philadelphia Athletics had a “white elephant” as their mascot?…
BASEBALL APPETIZERS FOR THE ’21 SEASON
We love to think about baseball and talk baseball and figure out how our favorite team is going to do this year…
Tony Lazzeri Has One of the Greatest Days in Major League History!
“Tony Lazzeri was a money player almost without equal and one of the smartest athletics ever to patrol the diamond”…
Protecting Pitchers From Line Drives
The sound of the crack of the bat. It’s a sound like no other in sports. When winter turns to spring it’s one of the harbingers of the summer game in the United States and wherever baseball is played around the world!…
Great Baseball Photo Collections: The Charles Conlon Collection, Part One
Today, we’ll continue our tour through some of greatest baseball photo collections. We’ll take a look into the Charles Conlon collection, probably the most famous collection from the early decades of the 20th century…
New Blog Topic: Some Thoughts About Infield Shifts
My friend Bill Gutman and I are both old-school baseball purists, so you can imagine how we feel about some of the new analytics such as “launch angle,” WAR, Win Shares, and others we can’t even pronounce…
Great Baseball Photo Collections, Part I: The George Brace Collection
I think it’s a safe assumption to say most of us enjoy looking at old baseball photos, especially those old black-and white collections from the first half of the twentieth century…
New Blog Topic: Time for Another Quiz!
My quiz from last week about the “Mystery Person” in the Polo rounds Clubhouse while Willie Mays made his famous catch (it was Jeo Garagiola), that I’m back for more this week!
STAN MUSIAL: THE BEGINNING-THE CRISES- THE THIRD MVP
“Whaddya say, whaddya say!” was Stan Musial’s standard, smiling greeting…
The Philadelphia Athletics Complete A “Double Triple Steal”!
You may be wondering what the heck a “double triple steal” is. You’re not alone.
Ballplayers and Children, Part Four: Lou Gehrig
My ongoing series: Ballplayers and Their Sons got me thinking about the Iron Horse and his well-known interaction with kids, so I thought I’d give him some overlooked attention…
Ballplayers and Their Children, Part Three: Hack Wilson and Son Bobby.
The diminutive Hack Wilson was one of the most accomplished power hitters in the game during the late 1920s and early 1930s…
New Blog Topic: The Best Catchers Of All Time – In Terms of Throwing Out Base Stealers
While doing the research about great catchers, one of the interesting stats I uncovered was that Roy Campanella has the highest “caught stealing” percentage in major league history…
Ballplayers and Their Children, Part Two: “Sad” Sam Jones
In the featured photo from the George Brace collection with his two son, George and Paul,
Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe: A Great Negro League Ballplayer NOT in the Hall of Fame
As we near the close of this year’s Black History Month, I thought this might be a good time to salute Ted “Double-Duty” Radcliffe…
New Blog Topic: “Who is the Mystery Person”?
Check out this neat color photo of Willie Mays’ great catch in the 1954 World Series off the bat of Vic Wertz. It’s from Game One, played at the Polo Grounds on September 28, 1954…
Stan Williams, RIP
“I don’t like the Dodgers, and they don’t like me. They have completely divorced me over the years, and I pull against them every night.’’ –Ex-Dodger, Stan Williams…
The Original Wrigley Field Scoreboard, October 4, 1935
The featured photo above was taken during the 1935 World Series between the Tigers and Cubs.
THE AMAZING STORY OF REX BARNEY
“I should have been up there with the greats. I should have gone right up the ladder, but too many rungs were missing.” -Rex Barney
“Owners Aren’t Angels”: The Story of the 1943 Phillies
“If there is a ‘jerk’ connected with the Phillies, it is William D. Cox, president of the baseball club…and he’s an all-American jerk!”…
New Blog Topic: Let’s Have Some Fun on President’s Day, 2021
Since I’m always looking for ways to connect baseball history with national holidays, the thought occurred to me that maybe we could have some fun even with Presidents’ day…
The Confusing History of Baseball In Washington, D.C.!
My post the other day about Hall-of-Famer Bucky Harris led to the usual confusion about the Washington franchise…
Let’s Remember the “Boy Wonder,” Hall-of-Famer Bucky Harris
“If you can’t play for Bucky Harris, you don’t belong in the major leagues.” -Joe DiMaggio…
New Blog Topic: Thoughts About Leo, Jackie, and Willie
It’s really a shame Leo Durocher wasn’t around to run interference for Jackie Robinson in 1947…
Ballplayers and Their Children, Part I
Today, I’m reintroducing a series I started a few years ago, which at the time I called Ballplayers and their Children.