2022 year marked the 30th anniversary of the highest grossing baseball film of all time, A League of Their Own. Countless screenings were held and other events were scheduled to celebrate this landmark film in the weeks before the release of the new Amazon television series of the same name. For me, a trip to Indiana that summer was both a figurative and literal homecoming to embrace the movie that has had a significant impact on my life for the past three decades.  I have been to Evansville’s Bosse Field and Huntingburg’s League Stadium many times. Both are about a 40-minute drive in dif ..read more

(than I expected to find in Streamwood, IL) From 2018 until about a month ago, I lived in Streamwood, Illinois. It’s about 35 miles from Chicago, with Elgin to the West and Schaumburg to the East. Coming from Chicago on I-90 West, I’d exit to Barrington Road heading South, and getting home, I’d cut across Old Church Road to get to Schaumburg Road, which led to my street. The Old Church for which the street is named is the Immanuel United Church of Christ. Originally built in 1853; a new building arrived in 1868, and behind it is a small cemetery, where many of the original German settlers of H ..read more

If you’re reading about SABR Landmarks research projects, you undoubtedly love seeing historical roadside markers. The more specific and local, the better. George Washington slept here. Teddy Roosevelt lived there. First Roman Catholic Church in the area. You get it. We see them when we’re least expecting and are probably driving too fast half the time to read every word, but we immediately appreciate that someone took the time to research and get that marker placed so that patrons of future generations know why that exact spot is special. Before we get to baseball history on Long Island, it’s ..read more

Along Route 20, right as you pass the sign for Udina (you-DINE-ah), an unincorporated community right past Elgin, you arrive at an intersection which raised my eyebrows. As I made the left onto Plank and drove around the bend(er), and continued past the next street on the left, Russell Road, I wondered if this could have been the work of some passionate fan of the early 1900s Philadelphia Mackmen, tasked with naming streets in northern Illinois. Plank was a lefty! Coombs was a righty! OK, it doesn’t work quite the same when approaching from the other direction, but play along with me here. Th ..read more

My wife and I are cruising along the rolling hills of eastern Ohio, some 50 miles south of Canton and a hundred miles east of Columbus. This is Amish country, the farmhouses close to the winding roadway, laundry drying on clotheslines, yellow signs reminding drivers to share the road with horses and buggies. Ohio Route 258 dips into a grove of trees, then rises again. As it bends to the right, the trees give way to a small brick church on a hilltop. “Peoli Cemetery / p.m.c. 1870-2018” is painted above the front door. A sign on the lawn next to the flagpole reads, “Peoli Church. Resting Place o ..read more

The Landmarks Committee held its inaugural election in 2023 to select three new sites to be added to the SABR Baseball Map. SABR members nominated over 30 sites that were not otherwise eligible for the Map, such as: Locations of former ballparks or other sites where there is no physical structure remaining or historical marker; Graves of individuals who are not in the Baseball Hall of Fame; Former ball players’ homes or businesses; and Baseball-themed restaurants. Committee member, Sean Kolodziej, even wrote an article for the Hardball Voyager blog in support of recognizing the grave of Eddi ..read more

I was fortunate enough to spend the start of July in one of the world’s great cities, Montreal, home to the Expos from 1969 to 2004. Of course the baseball history (and baseball card history!) of Montreal stretches back much further than that. The Montreal Royals joined the International League in 1897 and went on to win seven league titles, all between 1941 and 1958. A Montreal Royal, James “Doc” Casey, is even represented in the 1909-11 American Tobacco Company “White Borders” (T206) set affectionately dubbed “The Monster.” Of course, the most famous Royal of them all played for the 1946 Mo ..read more

Along with my son and a good friend from high school, I had some time to kill in Pasadena. Well, what does a SABR member do with time on his hands and a rental car? Consult the SABR Baseball Map of course! So yeah, I probably should have done that! Instead I went from memory that there was a Jackie Robinson statue at the Rose Bowl, which was only 3 miles from our Caltech starting point. Having grown up in Los Angeles, I knew that meant we were anywhere from 5 to 55 minutes away! Ten minutes later, there we were! Sculptor: Brian Hanlon The observant baseball fan will quickly notice that the sta ..read more

When it comes to baseball history, most fans will recognize the name “Eddie Gaedel.” He was the little person that Bill Veeck sent to the plate on August 19, 1952 for the St. Louis Browns. Paid $100 to entertain the crowd that day, Gaedel performed wonderfully- jumping out of a birthday cake, drawing a walk in his only career plate appearance, and tipping his cap to the crowd as he was replaced at first base with a pinch runner. On the surface, many may think this is a fun baseball story. While Gaedel seemed in good spirits during the game, his life was a hard one. Teased and bullied his whol ..read more

A recent work trip took me to Alabama…Prattville, specifically. If you don’t know exactly where that is, you’re much like I was when it was time to book my travel. About 15 minutes north on 65 from Montgomery, it turns out. “Schwartz,” I said, as I handed my license to the clerk at the rental car counter. I didn’t imagine it to be an everyday last name in this part of the country. “And you’re sure you have a car here?” Like all modern travelers these days I took out my phone to search frantically through emails for my confirmation. Relieved it have found it quickly, I handed my phone to the cl ..read more