David Laurila covers Jon Matlack telling the story of allowing Roberto Clemente‘s 3000th (and last) hit. As always, there’s plenty of other interesting tidbits in Laurila’s weekly notes column ..read more

The Jose Altuve contract inspires Cybermetrics to look at the history of second basemen hitting home runs and stealing bases. Joe Morgan unsurprisingly served as the trailblazer. The Day by Day Database holds 50 years of situational hitting data, including by defensive position. You can see how the home run profile of second baseman changed over that period: Decade Second Basemen HR Percentage (per PA) 1974-1983 1.00% 1984-1993 1.25% 1994-2003 1.72% 2004-2013 2.03% 2014-2023 2.47% Powe increase by second basemen While part of that is just that batters hit more home runs overall ..read more

On this day in 1949, Joe DiMaggio became the first MLB player to receive a $100,000 contract (video at the link). Note that at the time, there was no free agency, and the only way to try to negotiate a better deal was to “hold out,” basically refusing to play. DiMaggio’s $100,000 would be worth about $1.28 million today. Note that as a five WAR player, DiMaggio might be worth $40 to $50 million a year today. That demonstrates both the value of free agency and the growth of the game. The two go hand in had ..read more

I got the right answer to the quiz in David Laurila’s weekly notes column. My first thought was the person traded for, but that could not have been right, so I reversed it ..read more

The Royals will once again provide the price of admission to the Negro League Baseball Museum in February: “We are excited to help Kansas Citians learn about the incredible story of the Negro Leagues,” Luis Maes, Royals Vice President of Community Impact, said in a news release. “It’s a story about baseball as well as American history and our struggles and progress in civil rights. The NLBM is the only museum in the world dedicated to bringing this incredible story to life and we are fortunate to have it in our backyard.” The Kansas City Royals Foundation (formerly Royals Charities) paid $120 ..read more

Andrew McCutchen proves to be an astute observer of Pittsburgh sports history a the Pirates Fan Fest. “There have been a lot of fans who have been part of it, fans who are older who have seen the ’79 and ’71 World Series teams. They know what that’s like. I truly believe this was a baseball city before it was a hockey or football city. Nothing against the Pens or the Steelers. Great teams. Great franchises. But history has it. I believe that everyone looked at the Pirates at one point. It would be nice for us to be able to build that back up again.” … “I’ve said it before: There are bad ..read more

Cy Morong looks at pitchers who led the league in WAR at age 21 or younger. There are famous names there for various reasons, but the not famous name belongs to Britt Burns of the White Sox, who posted a seven rWAR in 1980: Burns is probably, by far, the least known. Mathewson, Feller and Drysdale are Hall of Famers. Gooden and Saberhagen won Cy Young awards.  Fydrich was famous in his rookie year for his mound antics like talking to the baseball. When he started, Tiger Stadium was usually packed. He started the All-Star game for the AL in 1976. He was also rookie of the year Burns m ..read more

Harry Lewis, one of the best reasons to go to Harvard, and Kasey Uhlenhuth discuss the life of Arthur Augustus Johnson in Harvard Magazine. “Fats” Johnson, as he was known, developed one of the best Negro League teams in the Boston area, the Tigers: As early as 1912, Johnson—an athletic 5’11”, 180 pounds before he earned his nickname—was playing baseball while off duty in Boston. The “Great Migration” of Southern blacks was bringing more African Americans to Roxbury, where several ball fields were available to all-black teams. A decade later, Johnson was managing and promoting Boston’s most s ..read more

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Pine Tar Game, in which George Brett temporarily lost a home run because the pine tar on his bat was too high toward the barrel. The announcers discussed this during the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, but they left out a reason the Yankees thought they could get Brett. Years before, Lou Piniella lost a hit (I believe it was in Minnesota) because the Twins complained he had too much pine tar on the bat. So there was precedent for taking away a hit, and the Yankees had suffered it. (I watched both games, so when they took away Brett’s homer, I was not surpr ..read more

Today marks 100 years since the opening of “The House that Ruth Built”, the original Yankee Stadium. Joe Guzzardi sends along this guest post: Opening Day, 1923, the ‘House that Ruth Built’ Begins the Golden Age Baseball Era Opening Day, 1923, a century ago, dawned cloudy and cold. Babe Ruth woke up in his plush Upper West Side Ansonia Hotel apartment and prepared to play the first-ever game in the brand-new edifice that would become known as the “House that Ruth Built.” Always a snappy dresser, Ruth donned his perfectly tailored suit, then around noon, hopped into his Pierce-Arrow automobile ..read more