MLB History

Baseball dorks finally have made it to the Hall of Fame. Yes, they had to create their own: the Baseball Historian Hall of Fame, with an award named after Henry Chadwick.

The Hall was created by the good folks over at the Society of Baseball Research or SABR.  For those not in the know, SABR stats are the basis of sabermetrics. Without sabermetrics Billy Beane would only be recognized by a handful of people.

Without Billy Beane, Michael Lewis would, in 2003, have never written the best seller Moneyball . 

The Arizona Diamondbacks have a fascinating history, however short it may be.

When they played their inaugural season in 1998, owner Jerry Colangelo had a sole purpose, to win the World Series, and he wanted it soon.

Unlike their fellow expansion team, the Tampa Bay Rays, who were owned by Vince Naimoli and struggled for most of their existence, Colangelo financially supported the team from the beginning and his dedication led them to their eventual championship in the 2001 season.

On Aug. 31, 1961, the Detroit Tigers trailed the first-place New York Yankees by a mere one and one-half games, but by just a single game in the all-important loss column.

With the passage of time, it is often forgotten that the great 1961 Yankees were in a torrid pennant race with the Tigers most of the season.

Over the next couple of weeks or so, I plan to write up a full report on my all-time favorite Mets team. Pulling from players across generations, I plan to build a 25-man squad that, well, makes me happy. You'll notice the list is light on pre-1985 Mets which is mostly because I haven't been a fan of the team for much longer than that. Even learning the history of the team cannot give me the proper appreciation of those guys that's needed to make them my favorite players.

Cameron Drew. Robbie Wine. Tommy Nevers.

Don't remember them? That's fine. The Houston Astros thank you for not reminding them of three of the biggest draft misses in franchise history.

Not all of the Astros' picks have been flops. Houston has delivered its fair share of All-Star talent on draft day, including a future Hall of Famer, one of the most dominant pitchers of the last 40 years and two players who were among the premier standouts of the past decade.

So sit down and enjoy as we count down the ten best draft picks in Houston Astros history.

The playoffs, whether fair or not, determine a lot in terms of historical value for both baseball fans and writers alike. Why should it not? It is obviously the most important games a player can play in, the nation is watching, and a great performance can turn any mediocre player like David Eckstein or Don Larsen into a folk hero.

Sandy Koufax won the Cy Young Award for the third time in 1966.

He won 27 games for a Los Angeles team that was offensively challenged, and compiled a 1.90 ERA+, which was the best of his career. Koufax was at his peak.

Los Angeles, led by Koufax and Don Drysdale, won the pennant, but the underdog Baltimore Orioles swept the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series.

It was a tremendous upset that only Frank Robinson and Orioles' manager Hank Bauer thought could happen.

Since 1980, there have been 53 pitchers who mastered a no-hitter.

Many of these pitchers were top of the rotation throwers like Nolan Ryan, Jack Morris, Mike Witt, Dave Stewart, Mike Scott, Randy Johnson, and Dwight Gooden. 

Some were solid pitchers like Terry Mulholland, Wilson Alvarez, Mark Buehrle, Derek Lowe, and Kevin Millwood.

There were nine pitchers who surprised the world and accomplished this feat. Listed below we will rank these lucky fortunate throwers who made it to the record books.

The Associated Press has reported that Liz Watson, the estranged wife of former Major League Baseball player Barry Bonds, has filed for divorce.

Although he was born in the Bronx, right in the shadow of Yankee Stadium, Rich Chaynee never liked the New York Yankees. He complained that the crowds disrupted his life.