Fifty years ago today, the White Sox sent one of their greatest and most successful pitchers packing when they traded away veteran ace Billy Pierce to the Giants. To be exact, on Nov. 30, 1961, the Sox traded Pierce and Don Larsen to San Francisco for pitchers Eddie Fisher and Dom Zanni, first baseman Bob […]

THT Forecasts is now ready for the 2012 season, with Brian Cartwright’s Oliver database providing over 9000 projections for major and minor leaguers. Visit Forecasts today to learn more and sign up for only $14.95! Throughout the 2011-2012 offseason, THT Forecasts will be at least (1) adding more data (fielding stats!) to the player pages, […]

Forty years ago today must have been during the height of the game’s annual winter meetings. That is the only way to explain the three impressive trades that sent big name players in both directions. It’s rare for one day to feature such a collection of All-Stars and Hall of Famers swapping teams, but that’s […]

Under ordinary circumstances, the hiring and firing of hitting coaches doesn’t generate much in the way of headlines or analysis. In the case of the Oakland A’s, however, the hiring of Chili Davis creates some legitimate interest. It marks the return of a hitter who enjoyed a successful 19-year career to the ranks of the […]

30,000 days ago, one of the greatest short World Series of all time began—and it began with a bang. Today is the 30,000 “day-versary” of Game One of the 1929 World Series. On the face of it, this contest was a clear win for an A’s juggernaut, as they crushed the Cubs four games to […]

Today is the 40th birthday for a baseball team, or rather, for a baseball team’s nickname. On Nov. 23, 1971, Bob Short, until now the owner of the Washington Senators, announced a switch in his team’s name. That he would announce a chance was hardly surprising. Late in the season, he announced the Senators would […]

By the time June of 1993 came around, I thought I had experienced every kind of loss that a 21-year old kid can be hit with. For two long years the war in my home country of Croatia kept finding new ways to take away most everything that I held dear and I had reached […]

Ever since I collected this card as part of the 1983 Donruss set, this has been a question that has burned without resolution. Actually, I know who Matt Guante is supposed to be; it is Cecilio Guante, a tall, hard-throwing reliever for the Pirates in the early 1980s. The real question is this: How did […]

The Hardball Times Annual 2012 started shipping from ACTA last week. If you ordered yours from ACTA, you should have it now. If you ordered it from Amazon, you’ll get it soon. If you don’t like to order stuff online, it will be in bookstores (at least, the ones still open) pretty soon. So, what […]

Today marks a big anniversary for the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was 125 years ago today, on Nov. 18, 1886, that they entered the National League, where they have been ever since. This move would be a turning point not just for Pittsburgh, but for the National League itself. (Well, if you want to get technical, […]