In today’s episode of “Baseball Shorts,” we pay attention to the double squeeze. A rare form of offense that was mainly used by the 1913 Philadelphia Athletics. We all know what a squeeze play is: With a runner on third, the batter is laying down a bunt with the expectation to be thrown out at…
For those Dutch baseball fans who thought, the curfew rule in the Dutch hoofdklasse is unique, forget about it. There was a time in MLB when curfews happened more often. But it wasn’t a rule, it was merely an agreement between two teams. The curfew rule in the Dutch hoofdklasse prohibits to start a new…
Nowadays, we don’t know any better. A baseball game lasts nine innings. Except in Europe and during international tournaments where games can last only seven innings due to the mercy-rule (with a ten-run difference). But there was a time in which there was no rule that baseball games had to last nine innings. Read on…
Quite a long title for an item called baseball shorts… Anyhow, in this episode of baseball shorts, we will talk about a player who hit a home run in his first MLB at-bat, but never hit one afterward. We are talking about Hoyt Wilhelm, a famed knuckleballer. Old Sarge, as he was nicknamed, Made his…
Most of the time, this item is about things that happened in a far past. Not this time. Today’s subject happened in a very recent past: A player to be named later trade. In independent baseball, silly things happen sometimes. Decades ago, a player was traded for a bag of baseballs and a couple of…
Well, the title of this blog post ain’t short but in this episode of “Baseball Shorts” we will talk about how the baseball cap got introduced and how it became popular. In the early days of baseball, it was the player’s responsibility to wear something to keep the sun from blinding them. For sure there…
In today’s episode of “Baseball Shorts,” we pay attention to the term Emerald Age. Yours truly wasn’t familiar with the term until he bumped into it on a search for the item of today’s episode. The true baseball lover may think of the Eugene Emeralds, when hearing the term Emerald Age. The Emeralds are named…
In Boston they had their Curse of the Bambino. In Chicago they had their Curse of the Goat. But also in Japan, baseball fans believe in curses. In Osaka, they have the curse of the Colonel. Colonel Sanders that is. Yes the one of Kentucky Fried Chicken. When in 1985, the Hanshin Tigers won their…
In today’s episode of Baseball Shorts, we pay attention to the term Framing. Where does it come from? Read on and you will find out. Framing is the art of making a borderline pitch look like a strike. The intention is that the catcher moves his hand a few inches towards the strike zone to…
In today’s episode of Baseball Shorts, we pay attention to the term Dugout Diplomacy. The term refers to baseball being used as a tool to bridge a gap between two countries. A good example of this was the 1999 series that was played between the Baltimore Orioles and the Cuban national team. Orioles’ owner Peter Angelos lobbied…
