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What’s Happening in Baseball Today
The First Pitch: November 26, 2025
The St. Louis Cardinals trade veteran pitcher Sonny Gray—who earned the team’s “Best of Show” honors in our recently posted 2025 season review—to the Boston Red Sox. In exchange, the Cardinals will receive two pitchers: Dick Fitts (2-4, 5.00 ERA in 11 appearances this past year) and hard-throwing, raw minor leaguer Brandon Clarke.
Having just turned 36 years of age, Gray looks to be aging like fine wine. Over the past two seasons, he’s posted a 27-17 record and struck out over 400 batters; his 14 wins this past year tied a career mark, while his 5.29 K/BB ratio led all National Leaguers.
Pittsburgh ace and 2025 NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes will see his 2026 salary quadruple to $3.4 million from the past year, thanks to his record share of the annual $50 million pot set aside for deserving major leaguers who have yet to qualify for arbitration. The payout breaks the old record of $3.07 million awarded late in 2023 to Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., before the Royals gave him an 11-year, $288 million contract extension. One wonders if Skenes is closing in on something similar—and if the notoriously penny-pinching Pirates will be up for it.
It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today
1944: Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the game’s first commissioner who served since 1920, dies at the age of 78. He’ll be replaced by Happy Chandler. Landis’ death opens the door wider for the possible inclusion of American-American ballplayers in the majors.
2002: The Red Sox hire Theo Epstein, 28, as their new general manager. He will be the youngest GM in major league history—and just two years later, under his watch, the Red Sox will win their first World Series since 1918.
You Say It’s Your Birthday
Happy birthday to:
Seattle catcher/slugger Cal Raleigh (29), masher of 60 home runs in 2025
San Francisco reliever Ryan Walker (30)
Matt Carpenter (40), three-time All-Star infielder; led league twice in doubles, including MLB-high 55 in 2013; three-time collector of 100+ runs
Matt Garza (42), 12-year pitcher who threw Rays’ only no-hitter to date
Chuck Finley (63) five-time All-Star pitcher with 200 career wins; 1993 MLB leader with 13 complete games; endured stormy marriage with actress Tawny Kitaen
Harold Reynolds (65), three-time Gold Glove-winning second baseman; enjoyed extended post-playing career as national broadcast analyst
Mike Moore (66), quiet but occasionally effective pitcher of 14 seasons; career 161-176 record; two-time league leader in losses
Bob Walk (69), ironically-named pitcher of 105-81 record; 1988 All-Star
Jay Howell (69), three-time All-Star reliever; 155 career saves
Larry Gura (78), southpaw pitcher of 16 years who featured with Royals; career 126-97 record
Richie Hebner (78), 18-year infielder with 1,694 career hits including 203 home runs
Born on this date:
Jeff Torborg (1941), nine-year catcher and manager of five teams over 11 seasons
Eddie Miller (1916), superior shortstop of 14 years; seven All-Star roster spots
Bob Elliott (1916), third baseman/outfielder from 1939-53; 1947 NL MVP; six-time All-Star; knocked in 100+ runs six times
Lefty Gomez (1908), witty Hall-of-Fame pitcher for Yankees with career 189-102 record; two-time AL ERA champ; three-time league leader in both shutouts and strikeouts; seven-time All-Star, all in succession; 6-0 record, 2.86 ERA in seven World Series starts
Bob Johnson (1905), underrated slugger of 1930s; 288 career home runs; eight-time accumulator of 100+ RBIs; seven-time All-Star
Fred Tenney (1871), turn-of-the-century first baseman of 2,231 hits and 285 steals
Hugh Duffy (1866), Hall-of-Fame outfielder who hit major league-record .440 in 1894; won additional batting title in 1893; career .326 batting average; two-time league leader in home runs; 10-time collector of 100+ runs, eight times over 100 RBIs
Shameless Link of the Day
What do Tarik Skubal, Dutch Leonard, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Corbin Carroll and Freddy Peralta all have in common? They’re all new members within our lists of each MLB ballclub’s best hitters and pitchers in our Teams section. Check it out!
Book Review: “Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame: A Collection of Biographical Essays”
Edited by Louis H. Schiff and Robert M. Jarvis
One of the things I’ve always loved about baseball literature is its expansive and diverse nature of subjects. For every book that focuses on, say, the storied but familiar history of the New York Yankees, there’s another that digs deeper into the weeds and nudges you with a subject that leaves you thinking, “Huh—I didn’t know that.”
Such a book is Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame: A Collection of Biographical Essays. Published by MacFarland Books—the North Carolina-based baseball book factory—this collection of articles overseen by retired judge Louis Schiff and law professor Robert Jarvis is a meticulously researched book that focuses on a fascinating collection of 11 people who played, managed or ran the game of baseball and, at some point in their lives, took up law. Fun fact, as revealed in this book: Eight managers in the history of major league baseball acquired law degrees—and six of them are in the Hall of Fame. All six are profiled in this book.
What makes Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame such an intriguing read is how these 11 people used their law experience to great benefit during their time in baseball. Branch Rickey, almost overqualified for a life in law school, used his lawyerly instincts to trailblaze his way through baseball history, perfecting the art of the farm system, overhauling failing franchises and, of course, shattering baseball’s race barrier by bringing Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Larry MacPhail, less the law prodigy than Rickey, nevertheless leveraged what he learned into a far more successful calling as a businessman known for turning companies (and major league teams) around. Walter O’Malley fused his knowledge of the law with his father’s past as a corrupt New York City politician to become the man that tactfully stole the Dodgers from Brooklyn. And Tony La Russa, failed major league ballplayer, eagerly pursued a law degree to empower his stature as a rising manager—first in the minors, then at the major league level where he collected more wins than anyone not named Connie Mack.
Some of those featured in the book are not surprising for their inclusion, like O’Malley or Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Federal judge turned baseball’s first commissioner. One unexpected subject is Hughie Jennings, who from past reading always struck me as the whoop-it-up baseball character who would have least thought of a career in law. Less ironic but still surprising is Miller Huggins, manager of the Yankees during the 1920s who, as a child, was encouraged by his working-class father-in-law to get a law degree because of his penchant for arguing—and was fortunate enough to be taught by, among others, future President William Howard Taft. There’s also Jim O’Rourke, the man who struck the first-ever hit in National League history whose lofty use of “five-syllable words”—which would have made even George Will blush—gained him the nickname “Orator,” lending himself all too naturally to a post-baseball career in law.
The 10 writers who contribute to Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame are not lightweights; they’re highly experienced lawyers, professors and judges who know their craft—and they know their baseball, too. This double-barreled knowledge results in a smooth, self-assured narrative, not delving too deep into law linguistics that might wear down the many laymen among us (to which I count myself as one). And while most of the authors play it buttoned up and refrain from overt opinion, Elizabeth Marquez’s write-up on Bowie Kuhn stands out for her critical views of the former commissioner, writing that he “often…turned out to be on the wrong side of history” with his rulings and opinions.
Some readers adverse to long books may feel compelled to back away from the 253 pages offered in Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but nearly half of the content consists of footnotes and addenda, greatly shortening the core writing while being made available as an option for further digestion of the facts. The book can be useful for reference, or simply enjoyed as 11 well-written bios on some of baseball’s most influential men, and how their appetite for the law helped mold their place in the game.
Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame can be purchased from MacFarland Books, Amazon, and other online book sellers.
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