Baseball Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-25-2022

Coaching baseball is hard but rewarding work that requires a variety of skills. You have to be organized enough to bring what your players need to practices and games, knowledgeable enough to make practice both effective and fun, versatile enough to be able to coach first and third base, and inspirational enough to give memorable pre-game and post-game talks as well as build your players’ confidence.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-10-2022

Think of this Cheat Sheet as your shortcut guide to baseball, America’s pastime, and a concise set of notes to consult about the basic rules and positions. You can quickly refer to it when you or a friend needs a quick explanation of why a certain play just happened, its circumstances, and consequences. In other words: the Situation. You’ll understand not just what the players on the field are doing, but why they’re doing it.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Ever since some sportswriter from the 1880s christened Chicago White Stockings superstar Mike “King” Kelly with his royal moniker, nicknames have been entrenched in the baseball lexicon. Following are ten memorable nicknames from the big leagues. Bob “Death to Flying Things” Ferguson Yes, this nickname is a tad wordy, but as nicknames go, you’ll rarely find one more evocative. Bob “Death to Flying Things” Ferguson played for a number of teams, including the Troy Trojans, from 1876 to 1884. Baseball historians credit him with being the first switch hitter ever to appear in a major-league box score, though his plate work won him little fame. You would think someone came up with Ferguson’s sobriquet as a tribute to his fielding prowess. Ferguson was, by all accounts, a slick glove, but he spent most of his career manning second base, a position that rarely required him to chase down difficult fly balls. Teammates hung the moniker on Ferguson after observing his deadly proficiency for swatting houseflies in a hotel lobby. Houseflies weren’t all he swatted. After retiring as a player, Ferguson became a professional umpire and once settled an on-field dispute by breaking a player’s arm with a baseball bat. That incident and several other confrontations won him another nickname: “Fighting Bob.” Walter “The Big Train” Johnson The Washington Senators signed this Hall of Fame pitcher after a traveling salesman sent them a letter lauding Walter Johnson’s power and control. “He knows where he’s throwing,” the peddler supposedly wrote, “because if he didn’t, there’d be dead bodies strewn all over Idaho.” From 1907 to 1927, “The Big Train” won 417 games, notched 3,509 strikeouts, and recorded big-league record 110 shutouts. The right-hander might also hold the Major-League record for most nicknames. Sportswriter Grantland Rice tagged him “The Big Train,” when he heard a batter describe Johnson’s fastball as “roaring like an express train as it passes by.” After Johnson treated some teammates to a few hair-raising spins in his new automobile, they took to calling their ace “Barney,” as homage to legendary racecar driver Barney Oldfield. Umpires paid tribute to Johnson’s integrity and sportsmanship by referring to him as “Sir Walter” and “The White Knight.” And sportswriters who watched Johnson pitch during his semi-pro career knew him as “The Coffeyville Express” (he called Coffeyville home for several years), “The Kansas Cyclone,” and “The Humboldt Thunderbolt” (Humboldt, Kansas being his birthplace). Al “The Mad Hungarian” Hrabosky The closer for the St. Louis Cardinals in the mid-1970s, Al Hrabosky, known as “The Mad Hungarian” would stalk in from the bullpen wearing a sinister Fu Manchu mustache, wild shoulder-length hair worthy of Rasputin, and an ornate silver ring he called The Gypsy Rose of Death (which he once described as “a family heirloom from Dracula”). Before throwing his first pitch, Hrabosky would stomp off the mound toward second base, turn his back to the hitter at home plate, and work himself into a rage. As soon as he was ready, the left-hander would pound his glove, whirl around, and toe the pitching rubber with lava seeping out of his ears. Then, more times than not, he’d pour a white-hot fastball past the hitter. The theatrics were meant to intimidate opposing players, who were never quite sure just how crazy Hrabosky really was. Mickey “The Commerce Comet” Mantle When Mickey Mantle joined the New York Yankees for rookie camp in 1951, several coaches asked him to participate in a footrace. As teammate Tom Sturdivant once said, “It was a joke for anyone to race against him; the guy could outrun Kentucky Derby racehorses. Why, he made us look like we were standing still. I’m not kidding. Mickey beat us by so much, the coaches were positive he was leaving early. So they had us race again. Same result. Okay, we’re going to go one more time. Man, they would have had us out there all day. I was running next to Mick and I finally told them, ‘He’s not jumping the gun. Mickey’s leaving when we’re on the first step. It’s just that he’s a half a block away on the second step.’ They didn’t have stopwatches fast enough to time him. I think that’s when they hung the nickname ‘The Commerce Comet’ on him, except he was faster than a comet. Fastest thing I ever saw.” Jim “The Toy Cannon” Wynn Jim Wynn was tagged “The Toy Cannon” because he generated so much power for his size (5-foot, ten-inch, 160-pound frame). Jim played with the Astros from 1963 to 1971. Pound-for-pound, he may have been the greatest slugger ever. Jim had hands as strong as any blacksmith’s. Though he swung a relatively heavy piece of lumber (36 ounces), he was able to snap it through the strike zone rather than push it. The ball exploded off his bat. Jim played most of his career in the Astrodome when it was the worst home-run hitters park in the majors. Had he played on any other home field, he would have hit 40 or more homers every year. In 1967, Henry Aaron nipped Jimmie for the National League home-run title by only two dingers. Afterwards, the ever-gracious Aaron said, “As far as I’m concerned, Jim Wynn is the home-run champion this season because of the place he plays in.” Tony “Doggie” Perez Tony Perez was one of the finest clutch hitters. The Big Red Machine players called him “Doggie” or “Big Dog” because any time he came to the plate with runners on base, you expected him to take a large bite out of the pitcher. He was able to do that because, unlike some sluggers, he understood what he faced in any given situation. With the bases loaded, if the pitcher gave him something to pull, Tony jacked it hard to the left, often for extra bases. But throw him a difficult outside pitch under the same circumstances, and Doggie would slash it to right field for a two-run base hit. He drove in 100 or more runs seven times and had five other seasons of 90 or more RBIs. Bill “Spaceman” Lee Before games with the Boston Red Sox, this wacky left-handed pitcher, Bill Lee, hit fungos (fly balls hit for fielding practice by a player tossing a ball in the air and hitting it as it comes down) to himself in the outfield. Lee once publicly admitted to throwing two spitballs to Tony Taylor, one of which Taylor belted for a homer. When a reporter asked him how a singles hitter like Taylor could jerk out a spitter, Bill replied, “I guess he hit the dry side.” If you asked him why he threw a certain pitch, Bill would do five minutes on Einstein’s theory of curved space. Lee earned his nickname when a visitor to the Red Sox clubhouse asked his teammate, utility infielder John Kennedy, if he had seen a NASA launch that afternoon. Pointing to Bill’s locker, Kennedy replied, “We don’t need to look at anyone going up in rockets on TV; we have our own spaceman right here.” Lee was a character, but he knew how to pitch. He had a funky moving sinker, a good slow curve, and pinpoint control. Rusty “Le Grande Orange” Staub Rusty Staub played with the Houston Astros. Rusty’s dedication to hard work made him a star. He wasn’t a good hitter when Houston first signed him; he was just a big guy who could handle only the high fastball. But he studied the pitchers and spent hundreds of hours in the batting cage honing his swing. Rusty became such a formidable player that he made the All-Star team six times. In 1967, his best season, he batted .333 to finish fifth in the NL batting race and had a league-leading 44 doubles. Almost every pitch he made contact with — including the outs — was hit hard. The six-foot-three, 210-pounder earned the nickname “Le Grande Orange” (meaning, of course, the big redhead) when the Astros traded him to the Montreal Expos in 1969. With his star presence and booming bat, Rusty became an instant fan favorite as he brought the expansion franchise some much needed on-field credibility. Frank “The Washington Monument” Howard When Frank Howard starred with the Washington Senators, the six-foot-seven, 255-pound player was called “The Washington Monument” not only because he appeared to be as big as that landmark, but because he also looked as if he could hit a baseball over it. Frank was one of the strongest men ever to play the game. After Ted Williams became manager for the Senators in 1969, he told Frank that he had seen only three men who could hit the ball harder than he could: Babe Ruth, Jimmy Foxx, and Mickey Mantle. Because Ruth once reportedly hit a ball 600 feet in an exhibition game and the Mick still holds the record for the longest regular season home run (565 feet), Frank’s in mighty august company. Nearly every pitcher who faced him was terrified that he might hit a line drive back through the box. Dick “The Monster” Radatz Facing Dick Radatz was a real horror show for a lot of batters. He was the original Terminator. When this six-foot-five, 250-pound behemoth stomped in from the Boston Red Sox bullpen, hitters started considering early retirement. He threw close to 100 miles per hour, and whenever he took his warm-up tosses, he’d throw the first pitch all the way to the backstop. The idea that a guy who threw pitches you can barely see might be a little wild that day got the hitter’s attention in a hurry. When Radatz pitched in the early 1960s, most relievers alternated good and bad years. “The Monster” was a rarity because he strung together four seasons of all-star quality (1962–1965). During that period, he registered 49 wins and 100 saves (when saves were much harder to come by than they are today) for Red Sox teams that never topped .500.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Although many people may turn to the Internet and the slew of websites available online that focus on baseball, others may prefer flipping through a book devoted to America’s pastime. Here is a list of 13 books written about baseball. Pick up one, sit back, and enjoy. You can’t go wrong with any of them. The Summer Game by Roger Angell (Bison Books): The author is a stepson of Hall-of-Fame essayist E.B. White, and his smooth-as-silk prose style and ability to get players reveal “inside baseball” insights and explain why the game is part of the American mind set a new standard for baseball writing. Angell, who is still going strong in his 90s, has published numerous subsequent books on baseball (and other subjects), and he manages to extract quotes from his interview subjects that reveal the inner game and the inner man. You Know Me, Al by Ring Lardner(Book Jungle): This 1920s novel — in the form of a collection of letters from its fictional protagonist, bush-league pitcher Jack Keefe, to his hometown pal — is so plainspoken and understated that it took a literary genius like Virginia Woolf to recognize that Lardner was not only spinning a darkly comic look at the underside of the game, but also peering deep into the American soul. (Lardner’s pal, F. Scott Fitzgerald, shared Woolf’s sentiments.) You can read it and laugh at its first-person narrator’s self-delusion, and then you can re-read it and recognize your own — but the laughter may catch in your throat. This book is still the best piece of fiction ever written about the game — by a great writer who has been almost totally forgotten. *Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball by John Helyar (Ballantine Books): Absolutely essential reading for any fan who wants to understand the national pastime as ruthless business. Helyar spells out the ugly history of the owners’ exploitation of the source of their riches — the players. He concentrates on the era of collusion, the mid-1980s, to underscore the history of baseball’s labor relations, and it reads like a thriller. The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn (Harper Perennial Modern Classics): This book is a homage to a lost era and a mythical team, the Brooklyn Dodgers of the late 1940s and 1950s. Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Don Newcombe, and their teammates were more than a team — they were the collective identity of the borough of Brooklyn (itself shrouded in legend, part of that “old, weird America” described by critic Greil Marcus. Kahn, who knew them all, chronicles their incredible triumphs (including integrating baseball and finally beating their arch-rival Yankees in 1955) and tragedies (such as Campanella’s career-ending injury and Robinson’s bitterness at racism). Ball Four by Jim Bouton (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.): Although this book may or may not be the greatest baseball book, it certainly is the most important and influential. Bouton’s tell-all exposed big-league ballplayers as human beings, sins and all. Prior to that, sportswriters tended to treat the players much as fans did, holding them up as role models for the youth of America. Although Bouton was ostracized by the game, Ball Four was the unwitting progenitor of today’s scandal-seeking, 24/7 media hounds. The Wrong Stuff by Bill Lee and Richard Lally (Random House): This book is the autobiography of Bill Lee, as told to Richard Lally, who also collaborated with Lee on a sequel, Have Glove, Will Travel. The first chronicles the big-league career of one of its most eccentric participants (translation: original thinkers), which ended in 1982, when he went AWOL from the Montreal Expos after defending a teammate mistreated by management. The second book, subtitled, “Adventures of a Baseball Vagabond,” recounts Lee’s post big-league adventures, during which he became a nomadic, globe-trotting pitcher who played for teams from Canada to Russia. The Bill James Historical Abstract by Bill James (Free Press): Although James, the founding father of advanced statistics, had been publishing his annual abstracts since the late 1970s, this epic work of scholarship, theory, and opinion, first published in 1985, demonstrated that players from different eras could be accurately compared. James has revised it numerous times since, and in 2001 he introduced Win Shares, a fascinating new way to gauge talent. Plus, James was not only among the first sabermetricians (analysts who use advanced statistics), but he’s head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to writing sentences. Baseball’s Great Experiment by Jules Tygiel (Oxford University Press): This epic book documents the integration of baseball by placing it in a vast historical context ranging from the schemes of Brooklyn Dodgers’ general manager Branch Rickey, to the fate of the once-mighty Negro Leagues, which were left out to dry once their prime talent was accepted by the Major Leagues. Tygiel paints vivid portraits of Rickey, Jackie Robinson, and other African-American players — Campanella, Joe Black, Don Newcombe — and their white teammates and managers, as well as black sportswriters and civil rights activists. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton & Company): The word “moneyball” has become part of the baseball dictionary since this book’s publication in 2003. Lewis recounts how GM Billy Beane of the revenue-starved Oakland A’s used the principles of undervalued assets to compete against big-money clubs like the Yankees and Dodgers. It doesn’t sound like a page-turner, but Lewis’s ability to transform abstract concepts into a human drama of underdogs against top dogs — as well as his readily absorbable explanation of sabermetrics and business school concepts — makes it readable. It must’ve been, for it was a bestseller that later was made into a successful Hollywood film starring Brad Pitt. Weaver on Strategy by Earl Weaver (Potomac Books): Weaver put many of the most cherished sabermetrics principles to practical use as an extremely successful manager of the Baltimore Orioles in the 1970s and 1980s. Weaver on Strategy, the last of his three books, discusses his philosophy of winning baseball, which comprised “pitching, defense, and the three-run homer,” as well as his insistence on focusing on a limited player’s strengths instead of his weaknesses (which far too many baseball men still do). Babe: The Legend Comes to Life (Simon & Schuster) and Stengel: His Life and Times (University of Nebraska Press), both by Robert Creamer: These two books are magnificent baseball biographies. The former is considered the definitive accounting of Babe Ruth, and the latter reveals the man behind the clown’s makeup who was Casey Stengel, the greatest —and funniest — manager who ever lived. Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof (Holt Paperbacks): This book reconstructs the story of the Black Sox scandal and just who, what, when, where, and why eight members of the Chicago White Sox agreed with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series to the underdog Cincinnati Reds. Subsequently, director John Sayles made a fine film adaptation of the book.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Baseball drew its color line during the mid-1880s when all-white professional teams, such as the powerful Chicago White Stockings, refused to take the field against integrated clubs. By 1899, baseball owners did not allow a single African American to play in the major or minor leagues. But African Americans continued to play on independent teams, and in 1920 Rube Foster created the Negro National League. MLB’s unofficial policy of segregation (team owners never publicly acknowledged the color line’s existence) remained in effect until Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Up to that time, baseball’s deplorable shortsightedness not only deprived African Americans of the right to compete at baseball’s highest level, it also robbed major-league fans of the opportunity to see some of the game’s most amazing talents. Many Negro League players would have been starters in the Major Leagues had they been given the chance. One of them was Jackie Robinson — although his MLB debut was delayed, costing him numerous peak years. A number of them would have rewritten the game’s record books. The ten men listed here — all Hall of Famers — would have been all-stars in any league, during any era. Josh Gibson Many sportswriters and big leaguers who played against Gibson believe he was the greatest all-around catcher ever. Gibson, who played for the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, was a superb defensive receiver. Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson once said, “He catches so easily, he might as well be in a rocking chair, and he throws like a bullet.” Gibson was also a power hitter with few peers; Negro League and semi-pro box scores credit him with 75 home runs in 1931 and 69 in 1934. During a 17-season career, he batted .359 and topped .400 on three occasions. His career slugging percentage was an eye-popping .648. Gibson also was considered a leader, both on the field and off, of a powerful Homestead Grays team that won ten pennants during Gibson’s career, which lasted from 1930 to 1945. Johnson said Gibson would have fetched $200,000 in an open major-league market. Sadly, Gibson never found out what he would have earned in the white major leagues. The catcher died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 33 in January 1947, only months before Jackie Robinson broke the color line. Satchel Paige The color line lifted just in time for this 42-year-old pitching legend — Satchel Paige was the Negro League’s biggest drawing card — to join the Cleveland Indians in the midst of a grueling pennant race. All Paige did for the Indians was go 6–1 with a 2.47 ERA. He even pitched two shutouts. The rubber-armed Paige, who Joe DiMaggio called “the best and fastest pitcher I've ever faced,” is estimated to have won as many as 600 games during his 30-year Negro League and barnstorming career. During that career he played for many teams, including the Chattanooga Black Lookouts, Birmingham Black Barons, Cleveland Cubs, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Kansas City Monarchs, New York Black Yankees, Satchel Paige’s All-Stars, Philadelphia Stars, Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, and Kansas City A’s. A showman, Paige once reportedly made his entire outfield sit down while he pitched to Josh Gibson with the bases loaded. He struck Gibson out on four pitches. In 1952, 46-year-old Paige pitched out of the bullpen for the St. Louis Browns; he won 12 games and saved 10 more. The following season, he was among the league leaders in saves with 11. Satchel made one last major-league appearance when he pitched three innings for the Kansas City A’s in 1965. He struck out one while allowing only one base runner and no runs. He was 59 years old. One can only imagine the big-league records Satch would have set had only the owners let this baseball marvel play in his prime. Ted Williams and Robin Roberts, two Hall of Famers, said that Gibson and Paige were as talented as any players they had ever seen. Both of them should have been on baseball’s All-Century Team in 1999. Oscar Charleston Many of his contemporaries cite Oscar Charleston as the greatest player in Negro League history. At least one sportswriter, who saw both players in their prime, said he would rate Charleston over Willie Mays! Blessed with great speed, Charleston played a shallow center field because he was confident in his ability to race back to catch anything hit over his head. He had so much lateral range that his other two outfield mates usually played right next to the foul lines. A powerful hitter, Oscar won at least four batting titles and several home-run crowns. He is among the top five Negro Leaguers in batting average (.339) and home runs, as well as the all-time leader in stolen bases. (Negro League records are sketchy and incomplete.) Writer/analyst Bill James named Charleston the fourth-greatest player of all time. Charleston, who also successfully managed in the Negro Leagues, was known as an astute judge of talent. When Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey wanted to break major-league baseball’s color line, he hired Charleston as a scout. Charleston brought both Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella to Rickey’s attention. In this career, he played for the Indianapolis ABCs, Lincoln Stars, Chicago American Giants, St. Louis Giants, Homestead Grays, Philadelphia Stars, Brooklyn Brown Dodgers, and other teams. John Henry Lloyd Many baseball historians cite Honus Wagner as the greatest shortstop — some even say the greatest player — of all time. Wagner considered John Henry Lloyd his equal. John Henry was in his early 30s when the Negro Leagues were founded; he spent his early career playing for independent black and Cuban teams. Yet he played in the Negro Leagues for a dozen years while compiling a career batting average of .344. (His all-time average was .337.) In 1929, the 45-year old shortstop batted .370. And to prove that was no fluke, the next season, hit .369. During his career, he played for the Macon Acmes, Cuban-X Giants, Philadelphia Giants, Columbus Buckeyes, New York Black Yankees, and other teams. Walter “Buck” Leonard This left-handed, power-hitting first baseman combined with Josh Gibson to give the Homestead Grays one of baseball’s great home-run tandems. Walter “Buck” Leonard helped Gibson power the Homestead Grays to nine pennants in 16 years. More than just a slugger, Buck won three batting titles. In 1939, he enjoyed his best season as he led the Negro Leagues in hitting with a 417 batting average. Over a 17-year career in the Negro National League, his lifetime stats show a .341 average in league play and a .382 average in exhibition games against big leaguers. Leonard was also considered a Gold Glove–quality first baseman, able to range far to his right to steal base hits headed for the hole. Monte Irvin When the New York Giants — undoubtedly motivated by the prospect of seeing their arch-rival Brooklyn Dodgers corner the market in Negro League players and establish a dynasty (which Brooklyn did anyway) — signed Monte Irvin as a free agent in 1949, he was already 30 years old and 12 years into his professional career — well past a ballplayer’s prime performance years. It didn’t stop Irvin from making an immediate and dramatic impact during his seven years in the National League. The leftfielder/first baseman smacked-down racism and mashed NL pitching, compiling a lifetime .283/.383/.475 triple slash line and an OPS+ of 125 (meaning he was 25 percent better than the average hitter, a remarkable achievement). Moreover, in 1951 he led the National League in RBIs and propelled the Giants team that came from 13½ games out of first place in mid-August to tie Brooklyn and set the stage for a three-game playoff that culminated in Bobby Thomson’s “shot heard round the world.” Although the Giants lost to the New York Yankees in the subsequent World Series (this was the era when New York City owned baseball), Irvin hit .458 — and stole home! The first act of his career, spent with the Newark Eagles, was almost as show stealing. “Mr. Murder” hit for both average and power, and provided a potent bat in a Newark Eagles lineup, starring on the 1942 club that also included legends Willie Wells, Biz Mackey, and Mule Suttles. He was considered one of the Negro League’s greatest hitters and won the 1946 batting title. Over his career, he played for the Newark Eagles, New York Giants, and the Chicago Cubs. Cool Papa Bell The story is as oft-told as it is apocryphal: Cool Papa Bell was so fast he could turn off a light switch and slip under the covers before the room got dark. That never happened, but there’s no doubt that Bell was one of the fastest men ever to play baseball. He was once clocked circling all four bases in an astounding 12 seconds. Cool Papa often went from first to third on bunts and scored from second on sacrifice flies. On at least three occasions, he stole two bases on a single pitch. A line-drive hitter who was an inside-the-park home-run threat any time the ball got past an outfielder, Bell hit .316 over a 21-season career. He played for the St. Louis Stars, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Kansas City Monarchs, Chicago American Giants, and Homestead Grays. Martin Dihigo The incomparable Martin Dihigo played all nine positions with such consummate skill and panache that both his contemporaries and historians have called him possibly the most versatile player in baseball history. “El Maestro,” as he was known, was a Pan-American legend, starting in his native Cuba but also in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and 12 seasons in the Negro Leagues. Playing in the Mexican League in 1938, he went 18–2 and led the league with 0.92 ERA (and a league-best 184 Ks), while also winning the batting crown with a .387 mark — and besting Satchel Paige in the final league playoff by hitting a walk-off home run off the exhausted Paige’s reliever. He was Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson combined, hidden behind the color line. Dihigo is also a member of the Cuban, Venezuelan, and Mexican Halls of Fame. He played for the Cuban Stars, Homestead Grays, Hilldale Daisies, Baltimore Black Sox, and New York Cubans during his illustrious career. Smokey Joe Williams Ty Cobb, not the most generous of men, once said that Smokey Joe Williams would have been a sure 30-game winner had he been allowed to pitch in the Major Leagues. Williams may have been the fastest pitcher of his time, regardless of league. Chicago Giants owner Frank Leland would boast, “If you’ve ever seen the speed of a pebble thrown in a storm, you have not yet seen speed the equal of this wonderful giant from Texas.” Before baseball integration, African-American all-star teams played Major League teams and Major League all-star teams often in exhibitions around the country. In 1912, while pitching against McGraw’s Giants, the National League champs, Williams crafted a 6–0 shutout. Three years later, against the pennant-winning Philadelphia Phillies, he outlasted Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander, 1–0, with a three-hitter. Then, in 1917, Williams is said to have no-hit the Giants and struck out 20 but lost on an error in another 1–0 finish (though there is no evidence that he allowed no hits). During his career, he played for the New York Lincoln Giants and the Homestead Grays. Rube Foster Every team Rube Foster played for was known as the Giants — the Chicago Union Giants, Cuban Giants, Cuban X Giants, Philadelphia Giants, Chicago Leland Giants, and the Chicago American Giants. That was appropriate because he was a giant personality, the most dominant figure in Negro League baseball for the first quarter of the 20th century. Foster didn’t throw nearly as hard as Satchel Paige or Smokey Joe Williams, but he won just as often. He was a crafty pitcher who kept hitters off-stride with the twisting, “fadeaway” screwball he later passed on to New York Giants ace Christy Mathewson. Foster joined the professional ranks in 1902 when he won 51 games, including 44 in a row, while pitching for the Cuban Giants. The following season he topped that performance by going 54–1. A shrewd baseball tactician, Foster assumed the role of pitcher-manager for the Chicago Leland Giants in 1907. He guided that team to a remarkable 110–10 record. Three years later, Foster’s Giants won national fame by winning 123 games and losing only six. He offered to match his squad against any white major-league club in a best-of-seven series for the “true baseball championship of the world.” No one responded to his challenge. In 1920, Foster founded the Negro National League, which is widely regarded as baseball’s first viable black major league.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Most baseball fans know successful pitchers can consistently put the ball where they want to — skills known as control (where they place each pitch) and command (the placement in a specific place in the strike zone). They also know that strikeouts are the best way to ensure outs, and that ground balls are preferable to fly balls, because only the latter can become home runs. But even some pitchers may not know just how much it pays to whiff hitters. That’s because groundbreaking — and controversial — research by an unknown sabermetrician (an analyst whether a writer, executive, or fan who uses advanced statistics to evaluate players) named Voros McCracken in 1999 revealed that a pitcher had little, if any, control over balls in play. McCracken’s work has been refined in the 15 subsequent years, but most statisticians now accept his primary thesis. Here are some more fascinating results about pitching that may surprise you: Strikeouts are good, even better than was thought. High strikeout pitchers generate weaker contact, which means they allow fewer hits and have lower home run rates. Also, pitchers with higher strikeout (also referred to as a K) rates seem to induce more ground balls when they need a double play. Pitchers with more strikeouts give up a lower percentage of home runs per fly ball. Pitchers who allow less contact also get weaker contact from hitters, meaning fewer balls hit on the bat’s sweet spot (a spot on the bat 5 to 7 inches from the end of the barrel that provides the most powerful swing) and leaving the yard. Pitchers with more strikeouts get more ground balls in double-play situations. Pitchers with more strikeouts allow opponents fewer hits on balls in play. Groundball pitchers allow their defense to turn those ground balls into outs more successfully than fly-ball pitchers. A pitcher with a 60-percent ground-ball rate will allow opponents’ a lower batting average on balls in play than a pitcher with a 40-percent ground-ball rate. This is true even if the first pitcher walks a lot of hitters. Ground balls become hits more often than fly balls. Relief pitchers allow fewer hits on balls in play, as well as fewer home runs per fly ball. The obvious reason is that most relievers are expected to throw only one or two innings — meaning that they can throw as hard as possible without having to worry about conserving energy that they’d need if they pitched longer. Also, unlike starters, they can show hitters their entire repertoire of pitches, knowing that they almost certainly won’t have to face the same hitters later in the game. (If they do, their team is in big trouble.) The more ground balls a pitcher allows, the easier they are to field. You may think that practice makes perfect — the more infielders are kept on their toes, the more prepared they are to field those grounders. But it’s more complicated than that. A pitcher like Brandon Webb, Tim Hudson, or Chien-Ming Wang throw heavy sinkers, which make it hard for the hitter to hit the ball hard. Thus, the ground balls aren’t as well hit and easier to catch. Pitchers who have higher fly-ball rates allow fewer home runs per fly ball. The reason: The fly balls they give up are disproportionately infield flies and lazy fly balls to the outfield. Anybody involved in baseball can use this information to acquire a keener grasp of the game. General managers — who are always seeking more information before making decisions that cost millions of dollars — already have incorporated it into the way they evaluate players and construct a certain kind of team (for example, one that stresses strong infield defense). Managers and coaches can use it to define certain pitchers’ roles, align their team’s defense, and decide which pitcher to bring in to face an opposition hitter. Pitchers can look at this research and decide to alter their repertoire or approach; for example, a pitcher who throws his fastball up in the zone might try to come up with a split-finger fastball to induce more ground balls. Another may work on developing a strikeout pitch. Hitters will want to know the tendencies of pitchers so they can figure out a way to neutralize them. And fans who can’t enough inside info will eat it up because it gives them more ways to study the game — and win barroom arguments.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Most people associated with baseball, especially scouts, coaches, managers, and general managers, emphasize such elements as a player’s stance, hitting mechanics, bat speed, and natural power. But even if a player possesses all these skills, his career success will hinge more on several even more important — and less-discussed — attributes. The following skills can take you from being an average hitter to being a threat every time you come to bat. Plate discipline: The knowledge of which pitches to swing at and which to let go. A key component of plate discipline is knowledge of the limits of your plate coverage (the ability to cover both sides of the plate, both horizontally and vertically). The ability to develop your plate coverage depends on the next two skills to develop to become a good hitter. Pitch recognition: A hitter’s ability to recognize the oncoming pitch. Being able to recognize the pitch enabless him to predict the pitch’s probable speed, movement, and location. Because the hitter has a fraction of a second to recognize the pitch, he should develop this awareness by utilizing his knowledge of a pitcher’s repertoire acquired by watching video, reading scouting reports, observing the pitcher from the dugout, and asking teammates to evaluate the pitcher’s stuff on any given day. If the hitter fails at pitch recognition, he won’t be able to exploit count leverage (a measure of the degree to which the hitter has an advantage in the count over the pitcher), which provides a huge advantage. Batters have a .957 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging average) when ahead in the count and .509 when behind. (This is approximately the difference between Miguel Cabrera and a replacement level player in the Mexican League.) But what good is a 3–0 count if the next pitch is a curveball in the dirt and you swing at it? Or if you fail to swing at a 3–0 mediocre fastball that may as well have “hit me” written on it? Identifying the pitch correctly won’t help much if you don’t know which pitches you hit well and which give you trouble. For example, are you a low ball hitter, or do you kill pitches high in the strike zone? Do you like pitches inside or outside? Bat control: Good hitting doesn’t depend merely on how fast you can get your bat through the hitting zone. You must be able to adjust your approach at the plate, so you can take outside pitches to the opposite field, pull inside pitches, and check your swing at a pitch that looks initially tempting but swiftly fades away from your hot zone (the area in the strike zone that gives you the best chance to hit the ball hard). For slower pitches, like a changeup, you slow down your body — not your bat — and wait longer.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Baseball is played everywhere a diamond can be forged from a semblance of a field — from mud huts, to driveways, to sugar cane grasslands, to billion-dollar state-of-the-art stadiums. And you can watch it and its myriad variations played by inventive children, high school hopefuls, and elite professionals. The ultimate dream for many aspiring players is Major League Baseball (MLB). The following takes a closer look at the MLB and explains how the league works and how you can watch and evaluate the game at the professional level: Major League Baseball consists of two leagues — the American and the National. Each league has 15 teams and three divisions. A commissioner elected by the owners of the 30 teams runs the league. Each team has a farm system — a series of minor-league teams whose players are at various stages of development and which form the breeding ground for big-league players. Teams employ scouts to evaluate amateur talent, from US high school and college programs, to Latin America and Asia, which have emerged as baseball hotbeds. The regular MLB season lasts 162 games. Most of these games are played within a given team’s league — although there are stretches of interleague play (usually two stretches of games, during the middle third of the season) (The MLB has at least one interleague game every day.) Interleague play involves teams from the American League playing teams from the National League during the regular season. (Before its introduction in 1997, this only occurred during the postseason.) For the first five years, teams in each division played against teams from the same division in the other league (NL West vs. AL West, NL Central vs. AL Central, and so on). Starting in 2002, MLB instituted a new format whereby teams rotated playing interleague games against teams in various divisions in any given year. Exceptions were made for hometown rivalries; for example, the New York Yankees play the New York Mets every year, apart from their scheduled divisional opponents. The winners of each division advance to their league’s division championship playoff round, along with the wild card team (the team with the best record among the nondivision winners). The winners of the two divisional series meet in the league championship series. The winners of that series in each league play in the World Series. Each team carries 25 players on its active roster and is led by an on-field manager and coaching staff. Its general manager (GM) is in charge of the baseball and business sides of the organization. He is in charge of assembling the team, drafting and trading players, negotiating their contracts, and many other duties. The on-field arbiters are four umpires at every MLB game: one behind the plate who calls balls and strikes (among other things), and one each at first, second, and third base. At the stadium, the best seat in the house depends on personal preferences. For example, if you want to see the chess game between the pitcher and hitter, while also taking in the entire field, choose a seat directly behind home plate. Players are evaluated by statistics — the numbers they accumulate during a season. The most commonly accepted stats are as follows: Batting average: It measures what percentage of a player’s at-bats result in base hits. Runs Batted In (RBIs): This stat measures the total number of runs a hitter generates from his at-bats with exception to runs scored due to errors by the fielding team. A batter is awarded an RBI when he gets a hit (including home runs), a sacrifice bunt, sacrifice fly, infield out, or fielder’s choice that leads to runners scoring. Additionally, if the batter is walked (base on balls), hit by a pitch, or interfered with, and gets on base where the bases are full leading to a run, the batter receives an RBI. Home run: When a batter reaches home safely with one swing of the bat. Most home runs are hit over the outfield fence, but occasionally a player will hit an inside-the-park home run, which occurs when the batter hits the ball into the field of play but is able to round all of the bases safely without being tagged out or an error being made. On-base percentage (OBP): This stat measures how often a batter reaches base. It’s approximately equal to times on base divided by plate appearances. Slugging average: The number of total bases divided by the number of at-bats. This stat measures a batter’s true power. OBP is added to slugging average to determine on-base plus slugging (OPS).

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

After a baseball player reaches base, a million things can happen to him — and the worst of them is getting put out. The following is a short list of the most common ways base runners suffer that fate. You should refer to it if you want to make sure why an out was made, or anticipate how one could be made — or avoided. You’re on the same base with a teammate when the ball is alive (the second runner is out). You pass a preceding runner on the base paths. You miss a base and the defense notices it and gets the ball to the fielder closest to that base, which he must tag. A fielder tags you with a ball that is alive while you’re off the base. (However, no one can tag you out if you overrun first base provided you return immediately to that bag without making an attempt toward second.) Your teammate hits a ball that touches you in fair territory without it first touching or passing any fielder except the pitcher. In the judgment of the umpire, you hinder a fielder from making a play. A batted ball forces you to advance to another base, and the fielder possessing the ball tags that base before you reach it.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Outs are one of the fundamental elements of the game — they’re baseball’s currency, its equivalent of time. You only get 27 of them in a game, so the team on offense strives to avoid them while the defending team craves them. Refer to this list at a glance to find the most common ways a hitter can make an out in baseball. This list can help you follow the action and grasp why a hitter who just made one is bashing the dugout’s water cooler in frustration and why the pitcher is doing a fist pump. A fielder catches your fair or foul ball before it touches the ground (unless it’s a foul tip to the catcher with less than two strikes). You hit a foul tip (a ball caught by the catcher off your bat) for strike three. After hitting the ball, you or first base is tagged before you touch the base. The umpire calls three strikes during your at-bat (whether you swing or not). A ball that you hit fair hits your bat a second time while you’re in fair territory. While running outside the foul lines, you obstruct a fielder’s throw. You hit the ball with one or both feet outside the batter’s box or step from one batter’s box to another while the pitcher winds up. You obstruct the catcher from fielding or throwing. You run into your own fairly batted ball while running from home to first base.