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John Thorn

@johnthorn.bsky.social
6.5K followers 623 following 1K posts

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.

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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 18h
In fact, this issue of Sports Illustrated ANTICIPATED the Cubs' victory rather than reflecting it.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 18h
Bankruptcy declared in September.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 18h
The Chisox had won in 1917 but Sporting Life, on its last legs, ceased to publish that year.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 19h
Ten years ago, after the Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years, Sports Illustrated imitated Sporting Life.
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Sarah Langs @slangsonsports.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Chris Sale vs Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be the 3rd SP matchup in postseason history between pitchers who had previously gotten the final out of a World Series, joining: 1938 WS G2 Dizzy Dean, Lefty Gomez 1911 WS G3 Christy Mathewson, Jack Coombs h/t @EliasSports
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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
temporary scoreboards: so awesome. Pull up your flivver and watch the World Serious with all your neighbors
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Is this THE golden era of Dodgers baseball, or do we look to the Boys of Summer? Bill Shaikin addresses the question, in the LA Times today. (I make a cameo appearance.) www.latimes.com/sports/dodge...
latimes.com
Commentary: Are we living in the Dodgers' golden era? The answer may not be so simple
Do the Dodgers need to win a third consecutive World Series to clinch this time as the golden era of Dodger baseball? Bill Shaikin asked a couple of baseball historians.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yes. Baseball history is forever.
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Todd Radom @toddradom.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A delightful review of "The Ballpark and Beyond," from PRINT www.printmag.com/publication-...
printmag.com
Todd Radom Turns his Life-Long Passion for Baseball into New Book, 'The Ballpark and Beyond' – PRINT Magazine
The graphic designer, sports branding expert, podcaster, writer, and baseball historian tells us about his new illustrated love letter to baseball.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
On this date in 1845: first baseball game to be recorded in scorebook of Knickerbocker Ball Club, played at Elysian Fields of Hoboken. Alex Cartwright plays, William R. Wheaton umps.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Hail and farewell, Sam McDowell.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yeah, but Ruth hit three, twice (1926, plus a fourth; and 1928) and Reggie hit three in a WS game in 1977 (I was there!) plus two others.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The Mets open in New York--not in 1962 but in 1880, launching the first version of the Polo Grounds. ourgame.mlblogs.com/the-mets-ope...
ourgame.mlblogs.com
The Mets Open in New York
Not in 1962 but in 1880 (!); by John J. O’Malley
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Recently acquired: Skating at Forest Park, St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Sunday, Jan 17, 1904. Artist: Alfred Russell. ("Meet Me in St. Louis, Looie")
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Thomson at the Ferry, by Kevin Baker. From "The Glory Days: New York Baseball, 1947–1957" (Collins, 2007). ourgame.mlblogs.com/thomson-at-t...
ourgame.mlblogs.com
Thomson at the Ferry
by Kevin Baker
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This turned up on the web. Not the most brilliant thought ever thunk, but not bad. As my son Jed, a scholar of ancient Greece, pointed out, "nostos" = coming home, "algia" = pain. Not the treacly stuff served up by greeting-card vendors, and regarded as history by the credulous.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hands of Doug Allison, former catcher withe Cincinnati Red Stockings, showing results of baseball playing, Palmar and Dorsal surfaces. Feb. 12, 1889.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Statcast provides data which others may use as they see fit.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
An email request from an MLB colleague regarding the public-domain status of the term "Murderers' Row" has prompted me to re-read a (rather good) story dating to 2004, when I wrote it for The Woodstock Times. ourgame.mlblogs.com/bees-knees-a...
ourgame.mlblogs.com
Bee’s Knees and Cat’s Whiskers
Bee’s Knees and Cat’s Whiskers When language was called lingo Just the other day, a writer for Men’s Health requested an interview with me about the origin and evolution of the jock strap …
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Written ten years ago #OTD, Facebook tells me. "Today MLB gathers more data points in a single game than were available to Pete Palmer and I for the whole of baseball history when we wrote The Hidden Game of Baseball in 1984." www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/m...
nytimes.com
Can New Technology Bring Baseball’s Data Revolution to Fielding? (Published 2016)
For years, players have been valued for their hitting. Now a groundbreaking tool makes it possible to measure how much their defense contributes to a team’s success.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Or "the MLB."
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tonight the Red Sox play the Yankees in ... the Bronx, named for the Broncks (and the only one of NYC's five boroughs still using the definite article).
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Just up the road from my home. www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley...
timesunion.com
Upstate New York’s oldest home is older than New York itself
Built in 1663, the Bronck House predates Albany’s oldest building by 65 years and offers a glimpse into early Dutch life in the Hudson Valley.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
nope.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I'm rooting for Chicago vs. Chicago. BTW, this first attempt to film the World Series (1906) is lost.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For this last essay in the series ("America's National Game"), it's about Comebacks and Coleridge--the fan's willing suspension of disbelief. ourgame.mlblogs.com/americas-nat...
ourgame.mlblogs.com
America’s National Game: 2004
Comebacks; thinking about the Red Sox (and the 1901 Tigers)
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This may help.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Sold at Heritage earlier this year for $30. sports.ha.com/itm/basketba...
sports.ha.com
Circa 1949 Ralph Beard Sports Illustrated Issue. ... Basketball | Lot #43450 | Heritage Auctions
World's Largest Collectibles Auctioneer
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I have reached out for help.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Hail and farewell, Bob Pettit.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Not in majors, though.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Of course, playing in only one inning he did not have to throw.
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Adam Darowski @adarowski.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I somehow missed this other example. 🤯 www.mlb.com/news/willie-...
mlb.com
One-of-a-kind change: Cortes plays RF left-handed ... then 3B right-handed!
BALTIMORE -- Athletics outfielder Carlos Cortes being listed as a switch-thrower on his player page is no mistake. Born a natural left-hander, Cortes learned how to throw right-handed when he was eigh...
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Can't say.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The photo is from the late 1880s, when he played shortstop for the Giants.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
@adarowski.bsky.social
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
2/2 I then played in centerfield, learning how to throw lefthanded. My arm improved somewhat and I went to second base in 1885." Is Ward the only position player to throw righty and lefty in MLB history?
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
1/2 In a letter to The Sporting News, dated March 10, 1909, John Ward explained how he threw lefthanded in the 1884 season: "...in 1884 I injured my shoulder so badly in sliding in Cleveland that I was never able to do much pitching afterwards, and it is painful to this day ...
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Now she tells me.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
On this date, natch.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Bonehead Play, in 1908: ourgame.mlblogs.com/the-merkle-b...
ourgame.mlblogs.com
The Merkle Blunder: A Kaleidoscopic View
What really happened?
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
America's National Game: In 2020, MLB redefined the Negro Leagues of 1920-1948 as major leagues. ourgame.mlblogs.com/americas-nat...
ourgame.mlblogs.com
America’s National Game: 2020
The Negro Leagues are designated as majors
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Edison's baseball films of 1898 survive; one of them depicts Zane Grey, Newark outfielder, running to first base! Lubin's, however, do not.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The first baseball film between MLB contestants was made by Siegmund Lubin of Philadelphia in 1902, starring Rube Waddell. All of his films blew up in a fire of 1914 but this, from 1903, survives.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Peter Max (Finkelstein), who died on September 14 at age 88, was a classmate of Sandy Koufax at Lafayette High School in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
A portion of my "bat cave."
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
America's National Game, 1901: The founding of the American League, and other "rival leagues." ourgame.mlblogs.com/americas-nat...
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Lascaux Mets!
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John Thorn @johnthorn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Headin' Home, the 1920 Lawrence C. Windom silent baseball biographical comedy starring Babe Ruth (playing himself in his first movie), Ruth Taylor, William Sheer, Margaret Seddon, and Frances Victory. These eight lobby cards sold for nearly $21,000 31 years ago.
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#BaseballandtheLaw⚾️🏛️ @baseballandlaw.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
“[F]or the first time in the history of baseball the color line has been drawn...The Browns were in open revolt last night" p 1 ny times 9/12/1887 The St Louis Browns staged a mutiny refusing to play against the NY Cuban Giants, a prominent negro team #BaseballandtheLaw 627-2
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