These two news press photographs of the Yankees star catcher Bill Dickey were released one day apart in late September 1938. The photos were almost certainly taken the same day.
The stadium appears to be Chicago’s Comiskey Park where the Yankees played the White Sox the previous week, September 20-22.
The first news Continue reading
This weekend the National Baseball Hall of Fame will honor this year’s inductees; Dick Allen, Dave Parker, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner.
The Baseball Hall of Fame began in 1936, but the first ceremony inducting former greats wasn’t until the museum first opened its doors on June 12, 1939. Continue reading
What is wrong with baseball telecasts today?
Just about everything.
Before cable television, baseball was usually televised only in your local broadcast area, if there was a major league team within your market. Otherwise you could tune into only one nationally broadcast game on Saturday, aptly named the “Game of the Week.” Continue reading
Johnny Vander Meer c. 1939
It’s debatable what baseball records will never be broken. I don’t bet on things that I have no control over. But I would be willing to gamble that no pitcher will ever pitch back to back no hitters like Johnny Vander Meer did.
On June 11, 1938 the 23-year-old Cincinnati Reds lefty threw a ho-hitter over the Boston Bees in a 3-0 victory. In Vander Meer’s next start on June 15, 1938, at the first night game at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, Vander Meer repeated his no hit performance in a 6-0 triumph over the Dodgers.
In the second no hitter, Vander Meer was wild walking eight Dodgers. Continue reading
Brooklyn, NY – The undefeated Brooklyn Dodgers tonight equaled the Major League record of nine consecutive games won at the start of a season, by defeating Philadelphia 3 to 2. The only remaining member of the 1940 Dodger team which also won its first nine games of the season, captain Pee Wee Reese, prepares to draw a line through number 146 after tonight’s win. Looking on is Walt Alston. The mark was first set by the Giants in 1918 and the St. Louis Browns also won their first nine in 1944. photo: International News Photo – Herb Scharfman 4/20/1955
The Brooklyn Dodgers would go on to set a new record winning their tenth consecutive game the following day, beating Philadelphia 14-4. The Dodgers finally lost a game on April 22 to The New York Giants. Continue reading
Newest Dodger
Vero Beach, FL – (L-R) Branch Rickey, Dodger President, Dick Shea, electronics engineer from General Electric, umpire Bill Stewart and Fresco Thompson scout for the Dodger system. They are looking over Rickey’s newest pet – a mechanical umpire that calls balls and strikes and gives speed of pitch over the plate.It is worked by means of a magic eye. It won’t replace the human umpire because it can’t operate at night. photo: Gunther-Keystone 3/15/1950
The machine pictured above was called the “cross-eyed electronic umpire.” It was claimed the machine “could call balls and strikes closer than any normally endowed arbiter.”
Always the innovator, Branch Rickey said, “I expect it to be of definite value in determining the abilities of young pitchers since the machine also will establish the velocity of a fast ball as well as to show beyond question whether the ball is in or outside the strike zone.”
But Rickey also emphasized that he machine was “not intended now or ever to replace manual umpiring in actual games.” Continue reading
Connie Shows His Men How The New Ball Works
Fort Myers, Fla: Connie Mack, veteran chief of the Philadelphia Athletics explains the new ball to Walberg, Grove, Rommel and Shores as spring training gets under way here. 3/5/1931 photo International Newsreel
With a new lively baseball introduced after 1920, it was no surprise that balls started to travel further. But as the 1920s progressed and hitters kept hitting more and more home runs, baseball writers, fans and those within the game felt that the hitters had achieved too much of an advantage. So after a decade of increasing run production, the National and American Leagues made the decision to try and curb the scoring by changing to a new baseball.
A 2026 free agent, Cousin Itt could now sign a Yankee contract. First he must clarify is that is facial or head hair.
After more than 50 years of enforcing a no long hair or beards policy, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said on February 21, 2025 they would discontinue the facial hair ban.
Seven years ago we told the complete fascinating, tangled story of how George Steinbrenner implemented his no long hair or beards rule and the controversies that erupted since then.
Some media outlets are saying the ban started in 1976. It did not. The ban began Continue reading
Yankee Stadium, N.Y.: Yankee slugger Roger Maris holds up the baseball that he hit for home run number 60 in the third inning of the game with the Baltimore orioles, Sept. 26. Maris hit his 60th homer of the season off pitcher Jack Fisher to tie Babe Ruth in home runs hit in a baseball season. But Maris’ 60th came in game number 158 and therefore doesn’t qualify to tie the record according to baseball commissioner Ford Frick’s ruling. credit: UPI 9/26/61
What the photo slug does not say is how Maris got the baseball back.
Unlike Maris’s 61st home run on October 1, which would set off a melee in the right field stands for the baseball, the retrieval of the 60th was relatively simple. Continue reading
Lou Brock Hits Home Run in Game 6 1967 World Series October 11, 1967 photo: Marvin Newman
Cardinals star Lou Brock did not just excel in regular season play but would shine in World Series action.
Brock, appearing in the 1964, 1967 and 1968 World Series hit .391, scored 16 runs and had a 1.079 OPS. Each of those World Series would go the distance – seven games – with the Cardinals winning in 1964 against the Yankees and in 1967 against the Red Sox, but losing in 1968 to the Tigers.
In 21 World Series games Brock would steal 14 bases, and hit 4 home runs with 13 RBIs. Continue reading
