20,000 days ago, the Tigers made a historic change to their franchise. On that day, June 6, 1958, the Tigers started Ozzie Virgil at third base. In and of itself, that wasn’t especially important. Virgil didn’t have much of a career, and the Tigers were one of five teams he played for, mostly as a […]

I’m down here at the SABR Analytics Conference, having a blast and learning some cool new things. There was a really nice presentation yesterday on how batters and pitchers perform based on how deep in the strike zone a pitch travels before the bat makes contact. Based on what I saw, we may have found […]

Forty years ago, news of one of baseball’s stranger and more bizarre off-field stories first broke. There’s never been another story quite like it. On March 5, 1973, reports came out that Yankee pitchers Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson had swapped wives. Heck, they swapped entire families—wives, children, and even family dogs went in the […]

As the crowd filed into Arizona’s Bank One Ballpark on June 25, 1999, many likely hoped that they’d see a great pitching performance. Why shouldn’t they? After all, on the mound that day was one of the most dominating hurlers in history. Randy Johnson was in his first year in the desert, but everyone knew […]

Wondering about the World Baseball Classic and what it’s all about? Check out this cool graphic, courtesy of the Major League Baseball Player’s Association.

10,000 days ago, one of the most memorable postseason homers of all time took place. Certainly, it was one of the least likely postseason homers of all time. It was 10,000 days ago that the Cardinals won a game over the Dodgers in the NLCS on a walk-off homer by, of all people, Ozzie Smith. […]

The Cleveland Indians have a job opening for an Executive Development Fellow (EDF), Baseball Analytics. Not sure if you’re one of those? Here is the job description, direct from Cleveland’s front office: The Executive Development Fellow (EDF) for Baseball Analytics will be exposed to all facets of the Indians baseball operations during this intensive, structured […]

Felix Millan will always be remembered for choking up higher on the bat than anybody of his era, or for the last 50 years for that matter. I was always amazed that Millan never poked himself in the stomach while trying to complete a swing. Yet, he never did. By choking up a good seven […]

10,000 days ago, one of the most bizarre injuries in baseball history happened. It was Oct. 13, 1985, when a tarp machine ran over Cardinals star basestealer Vince Coleman. Weird, huh? Making it even more memorable, it happened in the postseason, just when the team could least afford to lose its leadoff hitter. Coleman was […]

Kent Tekulve was easily the skinniest player I’ve ever seen play in a major league game. He was listed at 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, but in reality, he could not have weighed an ounce over 165 pounds, perhaps even 160 pounds. He looked like a scarecrow on the mound. Taken a step further, I’d be […]