John Thorn
@johnthorn.bsky.social
Official Historian, Major League Baseball. Since 2011, I have posted a story a week at ourgame.mlblogs.com. Views are my own, not those of MLB.
Base Tender, from The Base Ball Player’s Pocket Companion. Published by Mayhew & Baker, Boston, 1859. In the Massachusetts Game of Base Ball, bases were marked by stakes. I once umpired a Massachusetts Game; note the base tender (and the smallish top hat provided by costume supply).
January 2, 2026 at 8:23 PM
Base Tender, from The Base Ball Player’s Pocket Companion. Published by Mayhew & Baker, Boston, 1859. In the Massachusetts Game of Base Ball, bases were marked by stakes. I once umpired a Massachusetts Game; note the base tender (and the smallish top hat provided by costume supply).
Happy New Year. The Pictorial Clipper, here from the last days of 1855 and the first of 1856, was an occasionally issued edition of The New York Clipper. I was lucky to snag a copy.
December 31, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Happy New Year. The Pictorial Clipper, here from the last days of 1855 and the first of 1856, was an occasionally issued edition of The New York Clipper. I was lucky to snag a copy.
The Rise of Professionalism and other postwar innovations in a newly national pastime; the latest entry in a continuing series. ourgame.mlblogs.com/a-pictorial-...
A Pictorial Retrospective of Baseball: Part 3, 1866
A new series that goes back, back, back
ourgame.mlblogs.com
December 29, 2025 at 1:42 PM
The Rise of Professionalism and other postwar innovations in a newly national pastime; the latest entry in a continuing series. ourgame.mlblogs.com/a-pictorial-...
Reposted by John Thorn
If anyone is looking to close out the year with a great read about 19th century women’s baseball, I finally read this, and LOVED it.
Obviously for the women’s baseball aspect, but also because it’s everything I want in a baseball history book. Give me all the social context!
Obviously for the women’s baseball aspect, but also because it’s everything I want in a baseball history book. Give me all the social context!
December 28, 2025 at 10:22 PM
If anyone is looking to close out the year with a great read about 19th century women’s baseball, I finally read this, and LOVED it.
Obviously for the women’s baseball aspect, but also because it’s everything I want in a baseball history book. Give me all the social context!
Obviously for the women’s baseball aspect, but also because it’s everything I want in a baseball history book. Give me all the social context!
Satchel Paige learning his lines. "Wonderful Country" (1959) starred Robert Mitchum and Julie London.
December 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Satchel Paige learning his lines. "Wonderful Country" (1959) starred Robert Mitchum and Julie London.
Merry Christmas to bookish baseball fans.
December 24, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Merry Christmas to bookish baseball fans.
After the Civil War, race continued to be the ruling question in baseball as in American life. Recalling 1867 in the second part of this series. ourgame.mlblogs.com/a-pictorial-...
A Pictorial Retrospective of Baseball: Part 2, 1867
A new series that goes back, back, back
ourgame.mlblogs.com
December 22, 2025 at 1:52 PM
After the Civil War, race continued to be the ruling question in baseball as in American life. Recalling 1867 in the second part of this series. ourgame.mlblogs.com/a-pictorial-...
Reposted by John Thorn
Absolutely right.
AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.
Let me illustrate …
AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.
Let me illustrate …
Not a historian but like to research. The AI might summarize what I'm looking for, but it doesn't find what I'm *not* looking for. The book on the shelf next to the one I wanted. The insight in chapter 6 based on the quote I needed from chapter 4.
December 21, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Absolutely right.
AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.
Let me illustrate …
AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.
Let me illustrate …
Merry Solstice, baseball fans. This occurred today at 10:03 AM, thus ... longer days from here on out. Put red stitches on those snowballs!
December 21, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Merry Solstice, baseball fans. This occurred today at 10:03 AM, thus ... longer days from here on out. Put red stitches on those snowballs!
1943 Kansas City vs. St. Paul minor league program--dig the background.
December 19, 2025 at 5:27 PM
1943 Kansas City vs. St. Paul minor league program--dig the background.
A Pictorial Retrospective of Baseball: Part 1, 1868. The launch of a new series that goes back, back, back to the game's primordial days. ourgame.mlblogs.com/a-pictorial-...
A Pictorial Retrospective of Baseball: Part 1, 1868
A new series that goes back, back, back
ourgame.mlblogs.com
December 15, 2025 at 2:05 PM
A Pictorial Retrospective of Baseball: Part 1, 1868. The launch of a new series that goes back, back, back to the game's primordial days. ourgame.mlblogs.com/a-pictorial-...
Merry Winter Solstice to all baseball fans, whatever holiday they may mark. A Facebook post from a decade ago. ourgame.mlblogs.com/merry-winter...
Medium
ourgame.mlblogs.com
December 14, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Merry Winter Solstice to all baseball fans, whatever holiday they may mark. A Facebook post from a decade ago. ourgame.mlblogs.com/merry-winter...
The 1912 World Series by telegraph, to a theater scoreboard in Dallas, TX.
December 13, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The 1912 World Series by telegraph, to a theater scoreboard in Dallas, TX.
"A Revery of the Game," a poem that I had never seen, by Clarence Deming, who played baseball for the Yale nine once upon a time. ourgame.mlblogs.com/a-revery-of-...
A Revery of the Game
By Clarence Deming, who played baseball for Yale
ourgame.mlblogs.com
December 12, 2025 at 10:05 PM
"A Revery of the Game," a poem that I had never seen, by Clarence Deming, who played baseball for the Yale nine once upon a time. ourgame.mlblogs.com/a-revery-of-...
Lou Gehrig's locker remained in Yankee Stadium until the late 1940s. It has been on display @baseballhall for decades since.
December 9, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Lou Gehrig's locker remained in Yankee Stadium until the late 1940s. It has been on display @baseballhall for decades since.
A Green Bay Packers bobblehead fetched $36,404.
December 8, 2025 at 8:59 PM
A Green Bay Packers bobblehead fetched $36,404.
New today: Latest Baseball Research Journal, free to members of SABR. Great cover by Gary Cieradkowski showing Lou Gehrig at Columbia, where he was coached by Paul Robeson.
December 8, 2025 at 4:54 PM
New today: Latest Baseball Research Journal, free to members of SABR. Great cover by Gary Cieradkowski showing Lou Gehrig at Columbia, where he was coached by Paul Robeson.
Reposted by John Thorn
One of my readers observed that baseball is the only sport where the enjoyment of the game decreases as the athleticism of the players increases. I don't know if I totally agree, but it's striking that so much of what we don't care for in the game these days is a function of guys being too good.
This is a good dive into something we've been talking about for a while and which many people refuse to admit:
fielders are too good, low BA is not just hitters wanting launch angle or whatever
More hits? Make it harder on fielders.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/685...
fielders are too good, low BA is not just hitters wanting launch angle or whatever
More hits? Make it harder on fielders.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/685...
The gapper is dead: Who killed the double and triple — and what can MLB do about it?
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM
One of my readers observed that baseball is the only sport where the enjoyment of the game decreases as the athleticism of the players increases. I don't know if I totally agree, but it's striking that so much of what we don't care for in the game these days is a function of guys being too good.
The Negro Leagues stats (1920-1948) have been updated.
MLB's announcement of the slight changes to the data is included herein: ourgame.mlblogs.com/negro-league....
MLB's announcement of the slight changes to the data is included herein: ourgame.mlblogs.com/negro-league....
Negro Leagues Stats Update
MLB’s ever so slightly revised Blackball numbers
ourgame.mlblogs.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:06 PM
The Negro Leagues stats (1920-1948) have been updated.
MLB's announcement of the slight changes to the data is included herein: ourgame.mlblogs.com/negro-league....
MLB's announcement of the slight changes to the data is included herein: ourgame.mlblogs.com/negro-league....
Spurred in part by my sharing image files tagged with dates from my decades-old collection, Bruce Allardice has been posting antique (pre-1871) images to Protoball. Others have shared their research, too. protoball.org/ProtoPix
ProtoPix - Protoball
protoball.org
November 29, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Spurred in part by my sharing image files tagged with dates from my decades-old collection, Bruce Allardice has been posting antique (pre-1871) images to Protoball. Others have shared their research, too. protoball.org/ProtoPix
First American Basketball League game of 1929 between New York Celtics and Rochester Centrals, November 16 at Madison Square Garden. The Rochester cagers lost the championship to the Cleveland Rosenblums. digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/coll...
November 26, 2025 at 1:06 PM
First American Basketball League game of 1929 between New York Celtics and Rochester Centrals, November 16 at Madison Square Garden. The Rochester cagers lost the championship to the Cleveland Rosenblums. digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/coll...
Hail and farewell, Jimmy Cliff.
November 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Hail and farewell, Jimmy Cliff.
Willy Wonka's "golden ticket": a comprehensive view of MLB's lifetime pass. ourgame.mlblogs.com/the-golden-t...
The Golden Ticket
Not that of Willy Wonka but MLB’s lifetime pass
ourgame.mlblogs.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Willy Wonka's "golden ticket": a comprehensive view of MLB's lifetime pass. ourgame.mlblogs.com/the-golden-t...
The Hanlon Brothers, a long-lived vaudeville and acrobatic troupe, put on a wildly successful show called "Superba" in 1890. When veteran Baltimore manager Ned Hanlon (unrelated to the theatrical Hanlons) managed the Dodgers in 1899, the club took the name of "Hanlon's Superbas."
November 23, 2025 at 3:52 PM
The Hanlon Brothers, a long-lived vaudeville and acrobatic troupe, put on a wildly successful show called "Superba" in 1890. When veteran Baltimore manager Ned Hanlon (unrelated to the theatrical Hanlons) managed the Dodgers in 1899, the club took the name of "Hanlon's Superbas."