It was 25,000 days ago today that one of the Boys of Summer made his major-league debut on a fall afternoon. On Oct. 4, 1943, Gil Hodges made his big-league debut, entering the game midway through. He was 0-for-2 but drew a walk and stole a base while playing third base. Yes, that’s right, third […]

It’s virtually impossible for a hitter to guide a batted ball, to place it on a target on the playing field. A hitter can try to hit the ball hard and can try to pull a pitch or take it to the opposite field, but he cannot be expected to hit a ball to a […]

Last week, former umpire Harry Wendlestedt died at age 73. He was one of the longest-serving umpires in baseball history, arriving in the majors in 1966 and staying until the end of 1998. Along the way, he served in exactly 4,500 regular season games, 74 postseason ones, and a quartet of All-Star contests. When someone […]

Thirty years ago today, baseball experienced one of its most unexpected, but also important, seismographic shifts. For it was on March 12, 1982, that Ballantine Books published their first of seven annual “Bill James Abstracts.” It wasn’t the first Abstract overall. As any good baseball sabermetrician knows, James initially self-published a series of Abstracts in […]

The THT Forecasts have been as good or better than any at projecting the rates of home runs, walks and strikeouts allowed by pitchers. However, recent third-party tests have shown that we have fallen short in projecting pitcher’s runs allowed, which is the most important number. After conducting a THT roundtable discussing possible solutions, and […]

A hundred years ago today, one of the greatest and most underrated infielders of all-time was born: former Pirates shortstop Arky Vaughan. He was a terrific player who could hit for average and draw walks, had some decent mid-ranger power, and even once led the league in stolen bases. Oh, and he did it all […]

Today marks the 70th birthday for one of the most iconic and controversial players of the 1960s: Dick Allen. Few players have had as much talent, and even fewer found themselves in as much controversy. I have neither the time nor inclination to recount all of Allen’s episodes. He just had the knack for getting […]

On Tuesday, veteran major leaguer Carlos Guillen retired after 14 seasons. When a player retires, it makes sense to look back on his career, so let’s do that now. Below is a list of his career highlights, presented in chronological order. They include the greatest and most important games he played in, his personal highs […]

For this writer, Don Mincher will always hold an important place. Mincher, who died on Sunday at the age of 73, was the first player I interviewed for my first book, “A Baseball Dynasty: Charlie Finley’s Swingin’ A’s.” Not only was Mincher the first, but he might have been the best of the interviews I […]

The other day, the baseball world lost another one of its veterans, as Don Mincher passed away at age 73. The first baseman enjoyed a 13-year career mainly with the Twins, but he also played with the Angels, Pilots, Rangers and A’s, and he played with both Senators squads—he was on the clubs that moved […]