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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn
@johnthorn.bsky.social
5.6K followers 620 following 630 posts
Official Historian, Major League Baseball. Since 2011, I have posted a story a week at ourgame.mlblogs.com. Past though timeless tales available at https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/archive. Views are my own, not those of MLB. Nerdy badinage a specialty.
ourgame.mlblogs.com
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 9h
Yep! It's a good one.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 10h
JACKIE ROBINSON HALL OF FAME INDUCTION RING, at auction at Christie's; opening bid $250K.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 10h
Charlie Sweeney at San Quentin.
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Reposted by John Thorn
justmckinney.bsky.social
BaseballObscura @justmckinney.bsky.social · 10h
Vadeboncoeur's final Phillies' appearance was on July 22, 1884. This is the game where Charlie Sweeney, Providence's ace hurler refused to leave the pitcher's box, quit the team and watched rest of game in the stands with 2 prostitutes. Providence finished the game with only 8 players and lost 10-6.
July 23, 1884 Philadelphia Times box score
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 3d
On October 10 (yesterday) in 1845, was played the first baseball game that would hit the newspapers. Brooklyn beats NY, 22-1. Reported three days later, in True Sun, October 13, 1845.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 3d
Acquired last year from Ebay: 1908 Magic Moving Picture Card advertised as "Person Bear Or Dog Mechanical PC [postcard]." It was instantly recognizable to me as R.F. Outcault's Buster Brown and Tige. I used to wear "his" shoes; fit was checked in store by X-Ray (a fluoroscope).
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Reposted by John Thorn
davidlaurila.bsky.social
David Laurila FanGraphs @davidlaurila.bsky.social · 4d
Tigers pitchers have thrown 247 pitches. Six of them have resulted in hits.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 4d
What a game! Despite heavy eyelids, I have watched every pitch of the ALDS from Seattle.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 5d
Hail and farewell, Mike Greenwell.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 5d
Really good story by Luke Epplin about this famous photograph. lepplin.substack.com/p/the-stagin...
The Staging of One of Baseball’s Most Famous Images
The Steve Gromek/Larry Doby Photo Revisited
lepplin.substack.com
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 6d
BTW, this is from a Gillette ad for 1910.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 6d
Shave and a haircut, two bits. (Don't get me started on the origin of "a bit" ... suffice to say, 12.5 cents.)
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 7d
My stories have been published to Our Game, but Medium sets its own url. Thus, last night's talk at the New York State Museum:
medium.com/@thorn_john_...
MLB & NYC: A Love Story
Delivered at the the New York State Museum on October 6
medium.com
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 8d
Did you miss tonight's talk (MLB & NYC: A Love Story) at the New York State Museum? www.youtube.com/live/hOws9GT...
MLB & NYC: A Love Story: An evening with Major League Baseball Historian, John Thorn
YouTube video by nysmuseum
www.youtube.com
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 8d
Whatever happened to Eddie Waitkus? The rest of the story: www.timesunion.com/history/arti...
Lives Well Lived: Carol Webel Waitkus Hausen
Carol Webel’s marriage to Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus captivated Albany in 1951. Webel died in August at 96.
www.timesunion.com
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 9d
Simply wonderful: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/o...
Opinion | Ken Burns: For America’s Next Story, Look Back to the Revolution
www.nytimes.com
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Reposted by John Thorn
jjcoop36.bsky.social
JJ Cooper @jjcoop36.bsky.social · 9d
I watched four MLB playoff games in a day just like I do every October.

IMO the massively improved pace of baseball as seen on Saturday makes the entire experience significantly more pleasurable than it was 5-10 years ago.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 10d
You're right, Cecilia. Maybe you? I have a fat file of research notes that I'd be happy to provide.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 10d
Lost since the 1890s. ourgame.mlblogs.com/baseballs-lo...
Baseball’s Lost Chalice
Baseball’s Lost Chalice This article from the forthcoming Fall 2011 number of Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game appears here with the courtesy of the publisher. For more information about …
ourgame.mlblogs.com
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 10d
Piling on, I know, for 1886 and 1887:
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 10d
Bob Caruthers of the St. Louis Browns pitched in Game One and Two of the 1885 World Series, then played right field in Games Four and Five. I know that folks like to date the World Series to 1903, or even to 1905, but rival leagues played what was called a World's Championship Series in 1884-90.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 10d
Big baseball day ahead. BTW, the quotation above is from Walt Whitman.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 10d
“Well — it’s our game; that’s the chief fact in connection with it; America’s game; it has the snap, go, fling of the American atmosphere; it belongs as much to our institutions; fits into them as significantly as our Constitution’s laws; is just as important in the sum total of our historic life.”
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 12d
The Massachusetts Game diagram was published in Porter's Spirit on Dec. 20, 1856; the diagram for the New York Game on Dec. 6. Not until February 1857 were "paces" replaced by yards, with the distance between first and second base (30 yds) governing, not that between first and third.
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johnthorn.bsky.social
John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 12d
The Massachusetts Game had four bases PLUS a striker's point. The fourth base was home, which a runner had to touch to score. Below is the New York Game (same story), with a distance between first and third base of "42 paces OR yds." [Emphasis mine; see: ourgame.mlblogs.com/the-making-o... ]
The Making of Baseball’s Magna Carta
The Making of Baseball’s Magna Carta Something odd, unusual, unexpected, even — to one not inclined to superlatives — utterly amazing has just now turned up, some 160 years since it vanished …
ourgame.mlblogs.com
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