Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Wikipedia - "Kenesaw Mountain Landis (... November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his handling of the Black Sox scandal, in which he expelled eight members of the Chicago White Sox from organized baseball for conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series and repeatedly refused their reinstatement requests. His firm actions and iron rule over baseball in the near quarter-century of his commissionership are generally credited with restoring public confidence in the game."
Wikipedia
MLB: Kenesaw Mountain Landis
ESPN: The Chicago Black Sox banned from baseball
ESPN: The Black Sox scandal is forever
W - List of people banned from Major League Baseball
YouTube: Mountain Landis named commissioner to clean up baseball

2010 December: 1919 World Series - Black Sox Scandal
2011 May: The Black Sox Trial - 1921
2011 September: Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series

Howie Pollet

Wikipedia - "Howard Joseph Pollet (June 26, 1921 – August 8, 1974) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball during the 1940s and 1950s. A three-time All-Star in 1943, 1946 and 1949, he twice he led the National League in earned run average (1.75 in 1943 and 2.10 in 1946). Born in New Orleans, Pollet signed his first professional contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, and it was as a Cardinal that he achieved his greatest success. In 1941, he won 20 of 23 decisions and led the A1 Texas League in ERA (1.16) and strikeouts (151) as a member of the Houston Buffaloes. This performance earned Pollet a promotion to the Cards that season: as a rookie, he won 5 and lost 2, with an ERA of 1.93. Pollet twice won 20 games for St. Louis: in 1946, when he was 21–10, and in 1949, when he posted a 20–9 mark and led the NL in shutouts with five."
Wikipedia
SABR: Howie Pollet
HOVG Heroes: Howie Pollet
Baseball Library

Bill Davis - "Ballplayers"

Ballplayers are usually around
for five or six years,
at least two of them in the minors,
and some of them back and forth
the whole time.

The Spanish guys stick together,
and the married guys
and the older guys
and the pitchers.
It's important to make friends.

They play regular maybe two years or so
and sometimes get sent down suddenly
every time a hot kid comes along.
When they get sent down they take a bus.
They play in medium-sized cities
to small crowds, industrial cities:
Tidewater, Syracuse, Montgomery,
Winston-Salem, Pawtucket.

Sooner or later
they look around for a car dealership,
or a bar, or a job selling insurance.
They ask to stay up
until a loan comes through,
and sometimes
they ask to be traded.
A fresh start.

Ballplayers only talk
about baseball
if they're hitting well
or threw hard
the last time out.


Local 254, 1976

1972 World Series

Wikipedia - "The 1972 World Series matched the American League champion Oakland A's against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds, with the A's winning in seven games. These two teams would meet again in the fall classic 18 years later. Their managers would meet again in the fall classic 12 years later, this time on different teams."
Wikipedia
Baseball Almanac
SI: Mustaches All the Way
CSN: A's celebration of 1972 World Series championship team (Video)

Middle Relief: Who Is the Best Pitcher in Baseball?

"Seems like a straightforward question, right? Flip through the stats to find the league leaders. Use your eyes if you're someone who does that well. Turns out it's not that easy. Sifting through all the available stats (basic or advanced) and trying to pick out one guy can be an enormous challenge. So can the eyeball test: Even highly trained scouts are subject to human biases … imagine how tough it is for the rest of us to get it right. So many people holding so many different opinions on the subject underscores how tough it still is to evaluate pitching, even with a million tools at our disposal. It's also a nod toward the fleeting nature of pitching success, and how quickly opinions can change. Sometimes radically."
Grantland

All Star Baseball

Wikipedia - "All Star Baseball is one of the two most popular baseball board games of the last sixty years, and has been honored as one of the fifty most influential American board games of all time. It was manufactured by Cadaco-Ellis and designed by baseball player Ethan Allen. The game first appeared in 1941 and a special version is still sold today. It was the best-selling baseball board game of all time, and is the only such game to have been distributed through mass market channels and toy stores for any extended period of time."
Wikipedia
Ethan Allen, Cadaco-Ellis, and All-Star Baseball
Baseball's Ethan Allen: The Original Spin Doctor
All Star Baseball DISCS

The 30, Week 12: MLB's Equilibrium Problem

Kevin Youkilis
"If there's one aspect of baseball that should cause cries of unfairness — beyond vast gaps in market and revenue size, frequent umpire error, and Mike Trout being this good this soon — it's the schedule. Unbalanced schedules might make sense if the only way into the playoffs was to win your own division. But with baseball adopting wild cards nearly two decades ago, then adding more this year, you've got teams like the Jays competing for postseason spots with teams like the Angels, while playing far more games against beastly competition."
Grantland

Ed McCafferty - "Casey Park"

There are youngsters playing pick-up baseball
on a hardscrabble field
in the Heights section of Wilkes-Barre, PA.
We are not a real team,
we have no uniforms,
and our parents don’t watch us play.
To settle first pick
in choosing sides we spit
on a smooth flat stone
and toss it in the air-
one side wet
one side dry.

Today the entire Heights
is the stone come down
on its wet side.
The Asphalt on Empire Street
lucent lavender,
the infield at Casey Park
rainwet orange,
the woods beyond
deep blue and
heavy with rain.
The sand quarry
is a sienna pit,
and the coal-company houses
edging the woods
are slaked a corrugated gray.
A cool breeze blows
in from the highway,
and blows into my memory.

Twenty years later I return.
The woods, the sand pit, the company houses
are paved over into an industrial park.
But Casey Field thrives,
now edged with an outfield fence,
and now a Little League field
where real teams play.


Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine

Municipal Stadium

Kansas City Municipal Stadium 1955
Wikipedia - "Kansas City Municipal Stadium was a baseball and football stadium that formerly stood in Kansas City, Missouri. It hosted the minor league Kansas City Blues of the American Association from 1923 to 1954 and the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues during the same period. ... Municipal Stadium was home to many of the shenanigans of Charlie Finley, who bought the A's after Johnson's death in 1960. Most notably, he tried to shorten the rather distant fences by creating a 296-foot (90 m) Pennant Porch in right-field, fronting a tiny bleacher section, to mock the famed short fence in right field at Yankee Stadium, home of the powerful Yankees. The move was quickly vetoed by the league. So Finley rebuilt the fence to the bare legal minimum of 325 feet (99 m), and repainted the fence to say One-Half Pennant Porch."
Wikipedia
ballparksofbaseball
Photograph Courtesy, Rare Sports Films
Clem's Baseball Blog
BallparkTour
Kansas City Municipal Stadium
Baseball Reference

Bleacher Creatures

Wikipedia - "The Bleacher Creatures are a group of fans of the New York Yankees who are known for their strict allegiance to the team and their merciless attitude to opposing fans. The group's nickname was used by New York Daily News columnist Filip 'Flip' Bondy, who spent the 2004 season sitting with the Creatures for research on his book about the group, Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season with the Bleacher Creatures of Yankee Stadium, which was published in 2005. A prominent aspect of the Bleacher Creatures is their use of chants and songs. The most distinguished of these is the Roll Call, which is done at the beginning of every home game. Often, the opposing team's right fielder, who stands right in front of the Creatures, is a victim of their jeers and insults."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Legacy of Yankee Stadium Bleacher Creatures
Bleacher Creatures:
2012.06.18 Roll Call (Video)
Brian Cashman joins bleacher bunch
gothamist - Video: Yankees Bleacher Creatures' "Gay Man" Song (Video)
Talking Baseball With Die-Hard Yankee Fan & Bleacher Creature Bald Vinny
New York Yankees: Bleacher Creatures Force Play on Empire State of Mind

Stan Musial

Wikipedia - "Stanley Frank 'Stan' Musial (... born November 21, 1920) is a retired professional baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1941–1963). Nicknamed 'Stan the Man', Musial was a record 24-time All-Star selection (tied with Willie Mays), and is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. He compiled 3,630 hits (ranking fourth all-time and most in a career spent with only one team). With 1,815 hits at home and 1,815 on the road, he is also considered to be the most consistent hitter of his era. He also compiled 475 home runs during his career, was named the National League's (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times, and won three World Series championship titles. Musial was a first-ballot inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969 and is currently the longest tenured living Hall of Famer."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference
SABR: Stan Musial
amazon: Stan Musial: An American Life
YouTube: Stan Musial, Stan Musial: Stan The Man (St. Louis Stan), What's my Line? Stan Musial

The 30, Week 11: Seeing Red

Joey Votto
"If you ever want to see a 37-year-old man cry, send him to a reunion of the first team he rooted for as a kid, play a killer tribute for the Hall of Fame player who recently left us way too soon (digging up cherished childhood memories), then double down with one of the best baseball-themed songs anyone's recorded in years. Fortunately, we've pulled ourselves together since then. It's Week 11 of The 30."
Grantland

Mark Hinton - "Roberto Clemente (Topps 1972)"

The first thing you notice is the ball
stopped in mid-air. Playfully tossed just
before the picture was taken. Right
hand already waiting for the ball
to come down. His tongue stuck out in mock
concentration. The red pickup truck
just beyond his right shoulder, the half-
empty stands, the fans standing along
the fence, even his shiny batting helmet
tell the story: another batting
practice before another game. Perhaps,
the World Series. The long black sleeves
would be right. The gesture too. A simple
act of easy grace declaring much:
certain knowledge of his own greatness.
Perhaps I read too much into this card.
But how can I not. The ball hanging
there when his plane could not.


Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine

2010 August: Roberto Clemente

Midsummer Classics

"Babe Ruth hits the first home run in All-Star Game history during the inaugural game at Chicago's Comiskey Park."
YouTube: Midsummer Classics - 1933, 1934, 1941, 1955, 1964, 1970, 1971, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2008

Rare Color Footage of the 1939 World Series: Yankees v. Reds

"The 1939 World Series wasn’t much of a contest. The Yankees, led by Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio in center field, had won the last three championships. And they won this contest rather easily too, sweeping the Cincinnati Reds in four straight games. Yesterday, members of the Reddit community unearthed some rare color footage of the ’39 Series. In it, we catch glimpses of the Old Yankee Stadium, the actual House That Ruth Built; pitchers doing a different kind of windup; and a reminder that you could once buy five razors for 25 cents. Find more information on those at the Internet Museum of Safety Razors."
Open Culture (Video)

1925 Colored World Series

"The 1925 Colored World Series was a rematch of the 1924 Negro World Series but this time, the upstart Eastern Colored League champions walked away with the win. Financially, it was a failure - only $21,000 was brought in and the share for the losers was just $57.64 per player, less than they felt they could earn barnstorming against white major leaguers."
Baseball Reference
1925 Kansas City vs. Hilldale 2nd Colored World Series Panorama
W - Hilldale Club
W - Kansas City Monarchs
The Negro Leagues Database: 1921 Season

Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?: Baseball, Cooperstown, and the Politics of Glory - Bill James

Wikipedia - "Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?: Baseball, Cooperstown, and the Politics of Glory is a book by famed baseball sabermetrician and author Bill James. Originally published in 1994 as The Politics of Glory, the book covers the unique history of the Baseball Hall of Fame, the evolution of its standards, and arguments for individual players in a typically Jamesian, stat-driven manner. James drives home early on the heated and biased nature of Hall of Fame arguments between fans and writers alike. He states that his goal is not to serve individual players or candidates but to 'reinforce the truth in what other people say' and to 'serve the argument itself.'"
Wikipedia
amazon
Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?: DRYSDALE AND PAPPAS, Chapter 8
W - Keltner list
Put Them in the Hall of Fame, 2012: Part 1, 19th Century, Part 2, BBWAA Ballot Holdovers, Part 3, Kevin Brown, Part 4, Lou Whitaker, Part 5, Ted Simmons, Part 6, Bobby Grich, Part 7, Dick Allen (and a Recap)

Marvin Miller

Wikipedia - "Marvin Julian Miller (born April 14, 1917, in The Bronx, New York City) is a former executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players' union was transformed into one of the strongest unions in the United States. In 1992, Red Barber said, 'Marvin Miller, along with Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson, is one of the two or three most important men in baseball history.' Miller, a labor economist, started his work career at the National War Labor Relations Board, and then moved on to the Machinist Union and the United Auto Workers. Finally, he worked his way up the United Steelworkers union to become its leading economist and negotiator. In the spring of 1966, Miller visited Spring Training camps in an effort to get selected as executive director of the MLBPA. He closely followed the joint holdout of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale."
Wikipedia
Thanks, Marvin (Video)
MARVIN MILLER, Interviewed by David Davis, July 2003
amazon: A Whole Different Ball Game: The Inside Story of the Baseball Revolution
YouTube: Marvin Miller on the MLBPA, The Game 365 with Fran Healy - Marvin Miller

Larry Granger - "A Broken Window"

Up the hill next to the
field is a house with an
inviting window just out
of range of our size batters
even on our best days.

Who will be first?
That’s why we had a fungo
contest with a crash being
the ultimate prize.

Finally we moved from home
plate to third base.
And it happened by one
of us.
I won’t say who.

Usually only the American
Legion team batters could
come anywhere close.
Parental pride replaced
the window and saved ball.
Full story not disclosed
until much later family
reunion.


Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine

The 30, Week 10: Trading Places

"Our Poignant Tweet of the Week comes from @dbk301, who writes: 'As a Royals fan this draft was depressing. The Yankees can spend $200 mil on team, but Royals can't spend $12 mil on draft.' Yup, pretty much. Teams can't help themselves (and the players union rightly won't budge) when it comes to sky-high salaries handed out to free agents. So the owners, led by John Schuerholz and other hold-the-line hawks, figured why not save a couple million on the draft and international spending if they can't pocket money elsewhere. Last week's amateur draft revealed the early consequences: A compelling event if you're a game theorist, but also one that restricts lower-revenue teams from investing heavily in the draft and has the net effect of widening the gap between haves and have-nots even more. Profits are wonderful, of course. Just remember that it's a bigger share of those profits, not any semblance of "competitive balance," that drives the Lords of the Realm. Fortunately for the rest of us, this season has been both competitive and — at least near the top — balanced. It's Week 10 of The 30."
Grantland

Greenlee Field

Wikipedia - "Greenlee Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, was the first black-built and black-owned major league baseball field in the United States. The field was the dream of Gus Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In 1931, construction started on Bedford Avenue between Chauncy and Duff in Pittsburgh's Hill District. The park opened on April 29, 1932, and reportedly cost $100,000 ($1.5 million today). The first game was the next day, April 30, 1932 and had hall of famers Satchel Paige pitching to catcher Josh Gibson. Greenlee Field held 7500 spectators and it was the home field for the Crawfords throughout the Depression era. The Homestead Grays also played there for a time. It was located a few blocks up Bedford Avenue from Ammon Field, home to the Pittsburgh Keystones."
Wikipedia
W - Gus Greenlee
W - Pittsburgh Crawfords
W - Homestead Grays
Gus Greenlee and Greenlee Field
What Did Greenlee Field Look Like?
Project Ballpark
SABR: Gus Greenlee
Owner of the Legendary Crawford Grill and the Pittsburgh Crawfords
Louis Bellinger and Central Baseball Park

Tom Clark - "A Difference"

Something fallen out of the air, some
thing that was breathing there before
stopped: or say it is a difference

felt quickly on turning from one's work
to the window, and seeing there the same
trees the same color, the sky still without,

changed only in reference to the
which also seem to have turned away.
The world still external but less distinct

at its center. For a few
seconds. Fall. The centerfielder drifts under
the last fly ball of the summer, and puts it away.


Baseball I gave you all the best years of my life

Curt Flood

Wikipedia - "Curtis Charles Flood (January 18, 1938 – January 20, 1997) was a Major League Baseball player who spent most of his career as a center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. A defensive standout, he led the National League in putouts four times and in fielding percentage twice, winning Gold Glove Awards in his last seven full seasons from 1963 to 1969. He also batted over .300 six times and led the NL in hits (211) in 1964. He retired with the third most games in center field (1683) in NL history, trailing only Willie Mays and Richie Ashburn. Flood became one of the pivotal figures in the sport's labor history when he refused to accept a trade following the 1969 season, ultimately appealing his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although his legal challenge was unsuccessful, it brought about additional solidarity among players as they fought against baseball's reserve clause and sought free agency."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference
W - Flood v. Kuhn
The Atlantic: How Curt Flood Changed Baseball and Killed His Career in the Process
HBO: The Curious Case of Curt Flood (Video)
Blasphemy! Curt Flood's Suit of Baseball
Curt Flood and Free Agency: No Reservations
YouTube: Curt Flood, Curt Flood & Fall of the Reserve Clause Sportscenter 1970s, Curt Flood: A Revolutionary Activist in American Sports
Bleacher Report
ESPN: Flood of free agency
SI Vault: Curt Flood
NYT: Not Ready to Change Baseball History?

Misc. Baseball

1876: The Cubs’ First Game Ever
"This blog is a simple project of collecting some wayward items of baseball’s past from old newspaper stories and presenting them here for the enjoyment and edification of baseball fans everywhere. Not all these stories and anecdotes are pleasant; in fact, most of the most popular ones have involved death and/or violence. But browsing around the blog will unearth some worthy nuggets of information about players both great and obscure: from the troika of Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams to David Palmer, Lena Blackburne, and Cliff Young. There’s a bit of a focus on baseball in the ’80s and early ’90s, but the pictures and excerpts from old newspaper articles date to the Cubs in 1908 and on back into the 1800s."
Misc. Baseball

1965 World Series

Wikipedia - "The 1965 World Series featured the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the American League champion Minnesota Twins, who had won their first pennant since 1933 when the team was known as the Washington Senators. The Twins would not reach the fall classic again until their championship season of 1987."
Wikipedia
Baseball Almanac
Baseball Analysts: Sandy Koufax and the 1965 World Series
1965 World Series or "only losers use relievers"
1965 World Series | Game 7; Koufax' Gutsy Performanc
Classic Scorecards: 1965 World Series Game 7
SI: The Final Strength Was Sandy
MLB: Recalling the 1965 World Series (Video), Koufax's Game 7 gem, Scully chats with Koufax

Mike Shannon - "Joe Morgan in Position"

You ain't seen nothing on a ballfield
If you ain't seen
Joe Morgan play first at second base.
He's there when the throw is
(stretching out like big McCovey,
his back foot on the corner of the bag,
his kid glove straining forward for the ball)
And no longer.

You can't blink, or you'll miss him.


The Mantle-Mays Controversy Solved
The Day Satchel Paige and the Pittsburgh Crawfords Came to Hertford, N.C.

Hauls of Shame

These four balls are believed to feature forged signatures of Christy Mathewson. Hauls of Shame
"This site is dedicated to investigative reporting related to the soon-to-be published book, Hauls of Shame. While the book deals with the wide ranging problems of fraud and corruption in the baseball collectibles and auction industries, its primary focus is on the mysteries of the considerable thefts of rare, historical baseball artifacts from the collections of the New York Public Library, Boston Public Library and the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Hauls of Shame publishes breaking news, book excerpts, original essays and interviews with historians and those familiar with the investigations that have spurred earnest recovery efforts by the FBI, individual collectors and institutions."
Hauls of Shame

The 30, Week 9: A League Up for Grabs

"The no. 1 team stays the same. After that … it's a mess. Hot-starting surprise teams have cooled off. Big-name teams are finally starting to win. Weird run differentials, huge gulfs in schedule strength, and head-to-head battles throw everything off. This week, teams two through 16 are nearly interchangeable, one short streak or key injury away from flipping several spots in either direction. The best we can do is hop in the BABIPmobile and try to make sense of it all. It's Week 9 of The 30."
Grantland

1933 All-Star Game

All-Star Game: Babe Ruth, Al Simmons, Earl Averill
Wikipedia - "The 1933 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the first playing of the midseason exhibition baseball game between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 6, 1933 at Comiskey Park in Chicago, the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League. The game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 4-2."
Wikipedia
Baseball-Almanac
baseball-cards-and-collectibles
YouTube - Midsummer Classics: 1933, Babe Ruth hits first All Star Homerun
CriticalPast: George Herman "Babe" Ruth smashes a 4-sack drive in All Star game in Chicago, Illinois (Video)

The Cup Of Coffee Club: The Ballplayers Who Got Only One Game

"Of the 17,808 players (and counting) who’ve run up the dugout steps and onto a Major League field, only 974 have had one-game careers. In baseball parlance, these single-gamers are known as 'Cup of Coffee' players. The number fluctuates slightly throughout each season as new prospects get called up to fill in for injured veterans, or when roster size expands in September. (Last year, for example, Braves rookie Julio Teheran was a Cup of Coffee player for the eleven days between his MLB debut and a spot start.) But staying on the list for an extended period of time is generally not a good sign. It's an ominous one, an indication that something's gone horribly wrong, that however long a person has worked to attain his dreams, all he was allowed was a brief glimpse before the curtain was yanked shut in front of him. The Cup of Coffee club is filled exclusively with people who do not want to be members."
The Awl - The Cup Of Coffee Club: The Ballplayers Who Got Only One Game
Baseball Reference: 975 Players With Only One Career Game
YouTube: Adam Greenberg "Outside The Lines"

Robert Manaster - "Rosemont Conventions"

I used to lounge around the inn's lobby
By the Bering Room. While standing near a wobbly
Table— my pockets stuffed with change— I'd agree
To buy the best from those sorry boys, who trusted
Me after trading for their cards. Sorry,
It didn't matter much to them since they lusted

For quarters anyway— they didn't know
The deals those days. How could I let them go?
A quarter for Fisk— or any great name—
They took without a struggle in their eyes.
They never knew, they never worked the game,
And I wasn't about to hint or compromise.

They themselves played it big: They'd plead and trade
For what they saw were players a good grade
Above the rest—Rose, Ripkin, Jackson, Hough—
Then laugh behind some backs when done. My take
Was to fish out nibblers not smart enough
To know a real worm from the rubbery fake.


Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine