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All 33 articles from Baseball History Blog, newest first.
Ballpark design and spectator trade-offsSeating intimacy averages 0.37/2 for Multipurpose, versus 1.04 for Traditional and 1.09 for Modern venues. How Shibe Park Changed the Major-League BallparkThe history of Shibe Park, from its 1909 opening and Athletics dynasties to Negro League games, the spite fence and its final Phillies season. What a Squeeze Bunt Is—and Why Its Scorebook Result Can MisleadA squeeze bunt tries to score a runner from third. Here is how safety and suicide squeezes differ, how they are scored and how the play evolved. Three Steals Short: Where PCA’s Historic Chase Stood on September 15At the September 15 checkpoint, PCA stood at 42 home runs and 37 stolen bases—three steals short. A dated tracker traces the chase. How to Judge a Batting Average in Today’s GameModern MLB benchmarks put about .250 near average, around .275 as good and .300 as elite; era, sample size, OBP and power add context. How Chapman Passed Hoyt Wilhelm—and What the Record Actually CountsHe passed Hoyt Wilhelm with No. 1,364; the mark counts regular-season strikeouts recorded in relief, excluding postseason Ks and starts. The Day the Cubs and Phillies Combined for 49 RunsChicago won 26-23 on Aug. 25, 1922, as the teams combined for a record 49 runs in nine innings after the Cubs led 25-6. How Salvador Perez Became the Royals’ New Home Run LeaderHe tied George Brett at 317, passed him with No. 318 on July 25, and reached 322 by September 13, while separating career, season and playoff marks. What the Dodgers’ Record Run of 90-Win Seasons Actually MeansThe achievement is a run of season-level totals—not a 90-game winning streak—and postseason wins do not count. Slugging Percentage Is Total Bases per At-Bat, Not a PercentageHow SLG is calculated from singles, doubles, triples and home runs, why it can top 1.000, what it ignores, and Aaron Judge's 2024 line worked step by step. How to Read Baseball’s Alphabet SoupDecode batting, pitching, fielding, advanced and Statcast abbreviations, with formulas, context clues and ambiguous terms such as 1B, H and GS. Which MLB Team Truly Had the Worst Season?Different measures name different modern-era teams: the 2024 White Sox for losses and the 1916 Athletics for lowest winning percentage. Why the Catcher Stolen-Base Leader Depends on Your FiltersJohn Wathan leads a position-aware single-season finding, while Bresnahan, Kendall, and Realmuto lead different career categories. How Rare Was Baltimore’s 49-Win Climb?Baltimore posted a 49-win endpoint gain from 2021–2023 and improved in both annual steps—one of two sustained climbs in MLB’s selected 14-team sample. The Picked Nines That Played for New York and Brooklyn in 1858New York won the summer series between multi-club representative teams at Fashion Race Course—an early all-star model, though not an indisputable first. The Uneasy Truce That Reordered Major-League BaseballNegotiated January 9–10 in Cincinnati, it ended player and territory conflicts, kept two eight-club leagues and put disputes before a new National Commission. How Comiskey Brought the Future White Sox to ChicagoHe moved the St. Paul franchise, renamed it the White Stockings and served as owner-manager during an 82–53 pennant season. The Makeshift Tigers Who Took the Field for One Extraordinary GameThe lineup identifies all 12 men in the official 24-2 loss: nine emergency recruits, veteran coaches Joe Sugden and Deacon McGuire, and manager Hughie Jennings. Two Ballplayers, Two Murder Convictions, and a Fragmentary RecordAn archived account says Taylor played for the Nebraska Indians and was hanged in Missouri in 1903; its visible text cannot verify Slocum’s execution. How the Henriquez Brothers Built a Cuban Baseball Power in New JerseyFollows the club’s 1913 Class D championship, 1914 runner-up finish and independent years while clearly flagging disputed and incomplete records. How a 21-Year-Old Turned Pitching Into a DuelHis speed, command, deception and reported spin changed the pitch from a hittable delivery into a direct contest with the batter. How Fleischmann Wealth Built a Catskills Baseball PowerSeparates the supported story—purpose-built grounds and pro talent—from disputed claims about 56–4, Honus Wagner and the club’s final years. What Really Happened When Germany Schaefer Ran Back to FirstThe documented play came in 1911: Schaefer retreated from second to revive a scoring chance; the famous 1908 Detroit story remains unverified. The 1954 Rule That Cleared Baseball’s Gloves From the GrassA 1954 rule required the batting team to carry gloves to the dugout; interference, tripping hazards and field appearance were later explanations. Why a Seattle Pilot Still Tops the Brewers’ Record BookHarper’s 73 steals for the Seattle Pilots remain the franchise high; Scott Podsednik’s 70 is the record under the Milwaukee Brewers name. The Best NL Pennant-Winning Records—and Why 1969 Changed the QuestionThe 1906 Cubs lead at 116-36 (.763); the 1975 Reds and 1986 Mets share the Championship Series-era mark at 108-54. A Complete 1908 Dataset Is Not a Perfect TranscriptIt enables season-wide sequence research, while deduced game accounts mean encoded plays cannot prove every detail occurred exactly as shown. What Big-League Umpires Reportedly Earn at Each Career StageReported annual pay spans $150,000–$450,000, averaging about $300,000, with career-stage estimates and separate postseason bonuses explained. When the Batter Is Out but the Ball Is Still LiveThe call requires fewer than two outs, first and second occupied or bases loaded, a fair non-bunt fly, and an infielder’s ordinary effort. From a Batting Line to OPS, Step by StepFor a worked batting line, the OBP is .365 and SLG is .500; adding the two produces an OPS of approximately .865. How the Beavers Won Three College World Series TitlesThe Beavers won in 2006, 2007 and 2018. Their paths included elimination-game survival, an unbeaten Omaha run and a finals rally. How Baseball Credits a Batter for Driving In RunsA batter gets one RBI per qualifying run—not per plate appearance—so one swing can add several; examples also show when runs earn no RBI. Records That Outlived the Game That Set ThemCy Young's 511 wins, the 1899 Spiders' 20-134, Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-back no-hitters — baseball's oldest surviving records and why they'll never fall.