This Week In Baseball History

It's hard to believe that it's been 50 years since the Cincinnati Reds swept the Yankees to loudly and clearly declare themselves a dynasty. Perhaps the strongest lineup in baseball history, the Big Red Machine steamrolled through the postseason without a loss that year to claim its second straight title. Mike and Bill look back on how the Machine was built and then how it ground up the rest of baseball over the course of two summers, and two Octobers. Plus, happy birthday to George Hendrick and Burt Shotten! And farewell to Walpole Joe Morgan and...

The World Series was seemingly made to create heroes, and Enos Slaughter became one 80 years ago this week when he made his mad dash from first base, scoring the winning run of Game 7 of the 1946 World Series for the Cardinals on a weak double (or perhaps a single) . Slaughter's baserunning immediately became a legend, and he seemingly immediately began undermining his own legacy. On the anniversary of his daring dash, Mike and Bill look back at a Hall of Fame ballplayer, who was perhaps not a Hall of Fame person. Plus, happy birthday to Buttercup Dickerson! <...

It takes a career to make it into the Hall of Fame. But sometimes it just takes one swing or one pitch or one game to become a legend. That happened to the otherwise unremarkable Don Larsen 70 years ago this week, when Don pitched a perfect game against the Dodgers in the World Series. Mike and Bill look back at one of the more imperfect men to achieve baseball perfection, and the self-imposed struggles that may have prevented him from becoming something more. Plus, happy birthday to Sam West and Charlie Liebrandt! And farewell to...

If you think it's tough spending the Holidays with your siblings, you should try being in the same lineup. That's what happened 28 years ago this week to two sets of brothers: David and Aaron Boone, and Barry and Stephen Larkin. They were all in the same lineup. In the same infield, in fact. It was the kind of forced family therapy that only the Cincinnati Reds could pull together. It's also a great excuse for Mike and Bill to roll out their latest installment in their big league brothers series. So strap in, and let's learn about the Larkins...

At times, it seemed like Cy Young might just pitch forever. But everything, eventually, meets its end. And Cy won his last big league game 115 years ago this week. In honor of one of the game's true giants, Mike and Bill look back at his long and incredible career that spanned MLB's early and modern history, to discover a pretty decent man who happened to be an amazing hurler, and also that that final win may not have actually been his 511th. Plus, happy birthday to Zeke Bonura and Jeff Cirillo! And farewell to Ossie...

They don't really make players like George Sisler these days. A slick fielding, average dependent first baseman who demonstrated incredible bat control but almost no power, leading to two .400 seasons. But, before that, the St. Louis Browns tried to use him as a pitcher as well, culminating in a fantastic performance 110 years ago this week, when he beat Walter Johnson, 1-0. Mike and Bill look back at Sisler's bifurcated career and the random illness that radically altered it. Plus, happy birthday to Eddie Rommel and Thornton Lee! And farewell to Héctor Valle and Duane W...

Like the rest of the United States, the baseball world stopped 25 years ago this week when the country suffered the most devastating terrorist attack in its history. There aren't words to adequately describe the sum of the national trauma that still resonates today, but maybe there are words to describe baseball's response. Mike and Bill look back on the 2001 season as a whole, and the first World Series to bleed into November that followed as the sport and its players struggled to adapt to the new reality and traditional villains were embraced by (most) of the nation as heroes.<...

The Pirates proved themselves the best team in baseball in 1971, winning the NL East, the pennant, and the World Series against the Orioles. But they are celebrated these days for another accomplishment, fielding the first all-black and brown lineup in baseball history 55 years ago this week against the Phillies. It was an accidental accomplishment, the result not of social engineering, but of good scouting and good organizational philosophy, and was one of the reasons this team was so great. Mike and Bill look back on this charismatic club, their championship season, and the game that should not overshadow just...

Editor's Note: Bill's audio goes crazy about two-thirds of the way into this episode. We have cleaned it up as much as we're able and apologize in advance. When Tom Yawkey signed his name to the MacPhail Report, delivered 80 years ago this week to new Commissioner Happy Chandler and which argued against integration, he cemented his reputation as one of baseball's hardline racists and helped direct the Red Sox down the path toward a decade and a half of mediocrity and an eternity of shame as the final team to roster a black ballplayer. On this disappointing...

Mike is still on vacation this week, so Bill talks to two of our friends who also presented really interesting information at the most recent SABR convention: Adam Daroski, on his quest to identify members of the elusive 400-win club, and Dan Cichalski, on Bruce Springsteen and whether or not you can call a fastball a "speedball" and still know ball (you can). 

With Mike away, cruising around the Pacific Northwest, the podcast is on the briefest of hiatuses. But all of baseball was on hiatus until this week, 45 years ago, when the owners and the players finally agreed to resume the 1981 season after missing almost 40 percent of the regular season. Mike and Bill look at the reasons behind the strike, who was at fault, how it got resolved, what effect it had on a deeply weird season, and the uncanny parallels to 2020, when they originally recorded this episode. Plus, happy birthday to Tommie Agee and Bill Monbouquette!  

Today, you can follow baseball on the radio, tv, laptops and phones. But that wasn't the case until 105 years ago this week, when the Pirates and Phillies game was sent out over the airwaves to the greater Pittsburgh area. It was the start of a surprisingly slow process that brought us to where we are today due to the owners' intransigence. In honor of this anniversary, Mike and Bill look back at the various ways that baseball broadcasting has changed over the years, from the telegraph to streaming. Plus, happy birthday to Dolf Luque and Red Ames!<...

With Mike and Bill at the 2026 SABR convention this week, they're reaching into the past to pull out one of their favorite SABR memories, when they got to speak to the great Mike Veeck, with their good friend, Mike Duncan. This was a special epsiode. Mike Veeck is, of course, the son of Bill Veeck, owner of the St. Paul Saints and Charleston River Dogs, business doer, book writer, fun haver, and family man. And there is a fantastic documentary about him and his family on Netflix, The Saint of Second Chances. But, before you watch that, listen to h...

Though not talked about much today, there was a time when Joe Medwick seemed like he might become an inner circle Hall of Famer. And never more than 90 years ago this week, when he collected 10 straight hits over the course of three games. Mike and Bill look back at the man they called Ducky (very much against his wishes), and are surprised by his rapid decline after turning himself into one of the most dominant players in the game's history. Plus, happy birthday to Bob Meusel and Denis Menke! And farewell to Eddie Haas and...

Beat writers and ballplayers have all the best stories, but it's the writers who tell them best. Mike and Bill are reminded of that this week when they talk with legendary Rangers beat writer T.R. Sullivan about his fantastic new memoir, The Texas Rangers and Me: A Baseball Writer's Thirty-Two Years in Arlington about his time covering the ballclub from 1989 through the 2020. T.R.'s candid and funny and his memory for details is incredible almost four decades after getting his start. You're gonna love this. Plus, happy birthday to Johnny Wyrostek! And farewell t...

With Bill still on the mend this week, we're happy to revisit the crazily still relevent story of how and why Arky Vaughn walked away from baseball for three years. Vaughan was one of the most underappreciated superstars in history until his reputation was restored by Bill James. His disappearance has always been linked with an attempted players' strike with the Dodgers in 1943 that occurred 83 years ago this week. But that's not the whole story, as Mike and Bill discovered in talking to Steven Goldman, of Baseball Prospectus and The Infinite Inning. Plus, happy birthday to Tim Teufel and...

Some stories are just to strange to be fiction, and that was the case 100 years ago LAST week when Sister Aimee McPherson held an impromptu rivival at the ballpark in Douglas, Arizona, days after her miraculous reappearance following six weeks of...something. Was she kidnapped? Did she run away? Was she just really, really lost? With Bill out recovering from surgery, our buddy Jacob Pomrenke joins us this week to talk about his recent article about McPherson's disappearance and reemergence, and how Hal Chase and the Black Sox of all people wound up wrapped up in the scandal. <...

In truth, the boys could have picked an actual topic this week, but the randomizer was just sitting there in the office, looking so tempting. So Mike and Bill pushed it and came up with this September 16, 1914 contest between the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Giants. In their research, they uncovered a bunch of cool facts about Cuban baseball and the origin of the phrase "good field, no hit," some incredible pigeon facts, a bunch of uber-Reds, a cartoonist, a ballplayer/lawyer, and a couple unknown baseball lifers. Plus, happy birthday to Doug Jones and Ed...

Few men can boast the breadth of career that Joe Cronin can (or could; he's dead now). He went from being a Hall of Fame caliber shortstop to a manager to a GM to a league president in an almost 50 year career in Major League Baseball somehow without making any enemies. Rarer still, as Mike and Bill found out, he left each job on his own terms perhaps becoming the only person in baseball history who has never had to be told when it was his time to go. This week, on the 83rd anniversary of Cronin calling on...

On the 30th anniversary of Major League Baseball suspending Marge Schott for two years over her comically stupid and wrongheaded comments about a certain German chancellor, Mike and Bill debut a new series of episodes, tracing the ownership history of every original MLB franchise from their origins. While Schott and her tenure would prove to be the most embarassing in the history of the team, there are plenty of other interesting characters and stories about the Reds' evolution over their 144 year history. Plus, happy birthday to Don Money and Del Ennis! And farewell to Ellie...