The Standard Player Contract, 1881
If you have ever wondered why baseball players have such a strong union, it is because before they had the union they had this shit: The new document places the period of engagement from April 1 to...
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Breaking historical-profanity news!
In breaking historical profanity news, Dr. Paul Booth of Keele University has announced the earliest known use of “fuck.” The previous earliest cite was from c. 1475. Dr. Booth has antedated this by...
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The Flying Wedge: The Greatest Play in Football
In honor of the new NFL season I am taking a break from writing about obscure points of baseball history and instead writing about an obscure point of football history. Specifically, the flying wedge,...
View ArticleYour antiquated lurid, vaguely baseball-related scandal of the day
No man was better known among the lovers of base ball than Joe Sprague, in the palmy days of the old Atlantic Club. His fame as a pitcher was great, and he was left out of few of the famous matches, at...
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Yogi Berra, RIP
Yogi Berra died yesterday. As the site’s designated baseball guy, I feel I should address this. Berra is known for three things. First he was a baseball player, but for those not conversant with...
View ArticleThis weekend in kids’ science
I had the kids most of the weekend [Edit: upon reflection, that is worded poorly, as it makes it sound as if they normally are with my ex. I am in fact still on my first wife, though she inexplicably...
View ArticleThe Joe Borden Story
Joe Borden pitched the first no-hitter in baseball history. You would think that this is what he would be known for. Instead, he is known as the beneficiary of baseball’s first terrible contract. First...
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A Grave Disappointment
Well, that is a lot of excitement before a bust. Here is the track forecast for Hurricane Joaquin from two days ago: Here is this morning’s version: What a disappointment. We were teased with the...
View ArticleA Crank Theory Challenge
Who doesn’t enjoy a good crank theory? Jesus married Mary Magdalene? I’m in! The earth is hollow and/or flat? Yowza! A perpetual motion machine? Bring it! Can you distinguish a real crank theory from a...
View ArticleSports Gambling, 1877 style
The subject of sport gambling arose on another post, and the opinion stated that it is fine so long as it is not rigged. Here is how they rolled back in 1877. By way of background, mentions of “pool”...
View ArticleMy current favorite interrogatory
“Just what,” none of you have asked, “does a paralegal do?” I have no idea. I know what I do, but “paralegal” is a gloriously underspecified job title. I can make a stab a what a paralegal working in...
View ArticleReal Fake or Fake Fake?
Here with another real fake or fake fake challenge, this time with America’s favorite heresy, the prosperity gospel. Three names are listed. Two are genuine names (or at least genuine stage names) of...
View ArticleThe Tommy Barlow Story
This is the Tommy Barlow Story. Spoiler alert: it is not a rollicking good time. It is just sad. Many of you have heard part of this story before (more on that below) but probably not the full story....
View ArticleChild Protective Services, 1877 edition
About 10 o’clock last night Officer Andrew Brown saw a middle-aged colored man near Sixth and Morgan streets, with a suspicious looking bundle in his arms. The officer hailed him and wanted to know...
View ArticleThe Curse of Anson
The World Series begins this evening. The Cubs will not win it for the 107th year in a row. For the 70th year in a row they won’t even be in it. The planets remain in their orbits, the earth rotates on...
View ArticleSXSW and the Segregation of Baseball
Everything relates in some way to baseball. I take this as a fundamental organizing principle of my world view. (This is why “42” is retired as a uniform number by every Major League team.) I might, in...
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Why American Sports Don’t Have Promotion and Relegation
“Promotion-and-relegation” is a topic that a few American sports fans have begun to talk about. The term refers to a system that comes out of English football, in which a club that ends its season at...
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The Five Best Minor League Baseball Team Names
What makes a good minor league team name? First off, it shouldn’t be generic. This is the problem with all those cats, dogs, and birds of prey. And no, adding “River” to it doesn’t make it better...
View ArticleLying with numbers
I am behind on my essays on obscure points of baseball history. I’m working on a piece on why baseball treats tie games the way it does, but time is short right now. So here is something to tide you...
View ArticleTalk to me like I’m stupid
I have gone through nearly my entire life with absolutely no impression one way or the other about Dunkin’ Donuts. Until recently, I had never set foot in one, not because of any negative opinion but...
View ArticleTie Games in Baseball
One of the little peculiarities about baseball was, until recently, how it traditionally treated tie games. This essay has, by necessity, a dual nature. Before I can get to how tie games were treated,...
View ArticleSeeing Star Wars with an Eight-Year-Old
I finally got to Star Wars over the weekend, taking my eight-year-old daughter. She has seen Episodes IV and V, and was eager to see VII. I had read enough to be pretty sure that her not having yet...
View ArticleThe annual Hall of Fame post
Honestly, I’m not a big Hall of Fame guy, though the museum part is nice and the research library is a gem. My eyes tend to glaze over when the perennial HoF bar argument arises. (I could make your...
View ArticleThe Inevitability of the Singular ‘They’
The singular ‘they’ has been a hot topic of late. Last month the Washington Post style guide threw in the towel and accepted it, however tentatively. Then the American Dialect Society voted it the Word...
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The Shipwreck and Eventual Rescue of the Crew of the Bark Trinity
The whaling bark Trinity set sail from New London, Connecticut, on June 1, 1880, under Captain John Williams. It was doomed to founder on a lee shore and its crew to be marooned for fifteen months. The...
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