May 20, 2013

THT Essentials:
Fangraphs Player Search:


And here's the full roster.

Now available


You can now purchase the Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2013, with 300 pages of great content. It's also available on Amazon and Kindle. Read more about it here.



Or you can search by:

THT E-book


Third Base: The Crossroads is THT's e-book, available for $3.99 from the Kindle store. The good news is that anyone can read a Kindle book, even on a PC. So enjoy the best from THT in a new format.



Get your very own THT merchandise from our CafePress store. We've got baseball caps, t-shirts, coffee mugs and even wall clocks with the classy THT logo prominently displayed. Also, check out the THT Bookstore. Please support your favorite baseball site by purchasing something today.


Creative Commons License
All content on this site (including text, graphs, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

About Steve Treder

Steve Treder has presented papers to the Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, and to the SABR Annual Convention. His articles have been published in Nine: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture, as well as in The National Pastime. A lifelong San Francisco Giants’ fan, he is Vice President for Strategic Development for Western Management Group, a compensation consulting firm headquartered in Los Gatos, California.


Note: This page displays up to 200 articles at a time. To view a subset of a writer's work, click on one of the following years:
  2013  2012  2011  2010  2009  2008  2007  2006  2005  2004

Steve Treder's Articles

Click here to view an RSS feed of this writer's articles.

2005

Franchises at Birth:  The Royals and the Brewers (Part Three: 1975-1980)

December 28, 2005
Join Steve as he completes his examination of the second generation of American League expansion teams. For fans of happy endings, this one should be a boat-floater.

Franchises at Birth:  The Royals and the Brewers (Part Two:  1971-1974)

December 20, 2005
At the end of their second seasons, the Royals and freshly relocated and renamed Brewers were dead even, near the bottom of the American League West. Let's see how they fared over the ensuing four years.

Franchises at Birth:  The Royals and the Pilots/Brewers (Part One)

December 13, 2005
It's time for another look at ball clubs fresh out of the expansion womb. Cutting the umbilical cord, making their way from the delivery room—all right, that's enough of that. It's time to pound that Budweiser, men!

Third Base:  The Crossroads, Part Five

December 06, 2005
In the final installment of the series, Steve contemplates the the long and varied list of prominent outfielders—a few of them, very, very prominent—who might have been third basemen instead. And he offers his thoughts on What It All Means for the future of The Crossroads.

Third Base:  The Crossroads, Part Four

November 29, 2005
This time Steve considers many on the long and diverse list of players who spent little or no major league time at The Crossroads, but might have, and perhaps even should have. We encounter a Beast, a Baby Bull, and a Boomer, as well as a Rajah, a Rino and a Rico.

Third Base:  The Crossroads, Part Three

November 22, 2005
This time, Steve considers the long list of partial-career third basemen. Including a Killer, a Pepper, and a Chipper. And, of course, Bill Tuttle.

Third Base:  The Crossroads, Part Two

November 15, 2005
In the second installment, Steve compares and contrasts all of the most prominent third-base-primary major leaguers since Jimmy Collins, including the Ken Keltner Line, as well as whoever it was who played third base for, you know, Pittsburgh in 1960.

Third Base:  The Crossroads, Part One

November 08, 2005
Let's go down to the crossroads. Fall down on our knees. And consider who treads upon the well-traveled dirt of The Hot Corner.

Pete Rose, the Ballplayer

October 26, 2005
Every once in a while, it's important to forget all the rest of that stuff for a minute, and remind ourselves what a terrific baseball player Pete Rose was.

The Windowbreakers

October 20, 2005
Steve explores one of the most unusual and unpredictable team performances in major league history. Board up those windows!

Player-Seasonal Notation, 1946-2005

October 13, 2005
Steve concludes his examination of batting history, as viewed through the conversion of team and league stats into an individualized form.

Player-Seasonal Notation:  1893-1945

September 27, 2005
Take a close look with Steve, using Player-Seasonal Notation as the lens through which to examine the ever-changing character of major league run production.

Player-Seasonal Notation:  Part One

September 20, 2005
Steve introduces us to his favorite method of converting team stats into a more understandable and useful form.

Minor League Workhorses:  1951-1955

September 13, 2005
In the second installment of a series, Steve examines the most-worked pitchers at all levels of the minor leagues, this time from 1951 through 1955. We discover two 30-game winners, numerous 300-strikeout seasons and even a couple of 400-hits-allowed seasons!

Not Just Any Bob Miller

September 06, 2005
Steve takes a close look at a career that intertwined itself with others to a degree that few have.

Sociology of the MLB Player:  1952

August 30, 2005
It's time for another up-close-and-personal look at the major league ballplayer, this time as of 1952.

Come On, Baby!  Let’s Do the Splits!

August 23, 2005
Strap on your miner's helmet and come along with Steve, exploring the priceless deposits of a marvelous baseball research website.

Franchises at Birth: The Colt .45s/Astros and the Mets (Part Two)

August 16, 2005
When we left them last week, the Colt .45s were slowly but steadily beginning their trek into the treacherous wilderness, in a well-planned and organized manner. The Mets hadn't yet figured out how to put on their hiking boots. Let's see how the intrepid adventurers fared from that point!

Franchises at Birth:  The Colt .45s and the Mets (Part One)

August 08, 2005
In the second installment of a recurring series, Steve examines the creation of the National League's expansion teams of 1962. They may not have been successful, but they sure weren't dull.

Book Review:  Juicing the Game

August 03, 2005
Steve reviews this summer's blockbuster chronicle of "drugs, power, and the fight for the soul of major league baseball."

Business of Baseball Report ... as of 1954

July 26, 2005
Steve examines a frank description of the structure of the professional baseball business ... from half a century ago.

Minor League Workhorses:  1946-1950

July 20, 2005
In the opener of a recurring series, Steve examines the workloads of minor league ace pitchers. Health advisory: those who are inclined to recoil in horror at the sight of high pitch counts and young arms should not view the following without medical supervision.

Sociology of the MLB Player:  1940

July 12, 2005
Just how different from today's was the profile of the major-league ballplayer in 1940? Come along with Steve as he explores a treasure trove of data he excavated from a musty little used book shop in Cooperstown.

Two True Outcomes

July 05, 2005
Three True Outcomes? Forget it. Real Men know that the only important things in the world are the Two True Outcomes. We don't need no stinkin' walks.

Franchises at Birth:  The Angels and the Senators

June 28, 2005
In the first of an occasional series, Steve examines each of MLB's expansion franchises: how did they approach the challenge of constucting a roster, and how well or poorly did they pull it off? This time we look at the true pioneers, the Los Angeles Angels and the (new) Washington Senators.

Casey at the Oaks

June 21, 2005
What in the world was George Weiss thinking when he hired Casey Stengel, that clown who had never achieved anything as a manager, to pilot the New York Yankees? This is what ...

Me My Mo Mudcat

May 19, 2005
In response to a flurry of e-mailed suggestions of worthy names left out of our first pass ...

Banana Fana Fo Fudcat

May 17, 2005
What's in a name? That which we call a Rosen by any other name would still be a Goody.

Whither the Closer?  Part Two

May 10, 2005
Steve, er, closes his four-part series focusing on modern bullpen usage -- how it came to be, and where it might be headed. And he (finally!) gets around to offering answers to those questions he's been dragging around for three weeks!

Whither the Closer?  Part One

May 03, 2005
Steve's examination of the modern bullpen has been through the LOOGYs: we're ready to bring on the Closer.

THT Live: Tune In to THT

April 26, 2005

A History of the LOOGY:  Part Two

April 26, 2005
The skipper has called time, and is heading out to the mound. He's pointing to his left arm -- that's right, it's time for yet another LOOGY appearance. And this time, we'll be seeing not just the Hard-Core stuff, but the Really Hard-Core version!

A History of the LOOGY:  Part One

April 19, 2005
So you think you know your LOOGYs, do ya? Have you explored the Primordial LOOGY Ooze? Didn't think so. Come on, gear up. We're goin' in.

THT Live: On the Air Again

April 14, 2005

The 1957 Kansas City Athletics

April 12, 2005
Okay, so they weren't very good. But they were, almost certainly, the most peculiar team of all time.

Where Did Kong Go Wrong?

April 05, 2005
Steve finds that fateful fork in the road, at which Dave Kingman missed the sign to Cooperstown, and headed off for Mudville instead.

Five Questions: San Francisco Giants

March 29, 2005
Steve boldly projects the Giants' 2005 finish -- within, you know, a 40-win range, give or take.

War Begone

March 08, 2005
What if Teddy Ballgame had never missed a game due to military service? Or Joe DiMaggio? Or Hank Greenberg or Johnny Mize? Or anyone else? Find out here, in exquisite detail!

The Williams-Santo Cubs: 1970-1973

February 22, 2005
We complete the saga of what might have been the most talented team ever to win nothing. If Hemingway had concocted a baseball story, it probably would have gone something like this.

The Williams-Santo Cubs:  1966-1969

February 15, 2005
It's Chapter Two in the three-part tale of the team that rode quite a roller coaster. Leo the Lip is now at the controls: hang on tight!

The Williams-Santo Cubs:  1961-1965

February 08, 2005
In the first installment of a three-parter, Steve chronicles the saga of the Chicago Cubs in one of the most interesting (though not ultimately successful) periods of their long history. Extra bonus points if you can keep track of all of the "head coaches."

Drying Off the Spitty 1910s, Part 2:  The Careers

February 01, 2005
Del Pratt and Larry Doyle. Tilly Walker and Cy Williams. George Burns and George Burns. (No, not that George Burns.) They're all here! Check your spitter at the door and come on in.

Drying Off the Spitty 1910s, Part 1:  The Seasons

January 25, 2005
Steve takes a close look at the decade of the 1910s, and the transition between the Deadball and live ball eras. We see that there were quite a number of dazzling hitting performances obscured by spit, slime, scratches, and stains.

The THT Interview:  George Brunet’s Left Arm

January 18, 2005
A Hardball Times exclusive. We catch up with a friendly old arm that's got quite a story to tell.

The 1952 American League

January 11, 2005
Steve shines a light on a year that is little remembered today, but was chock full of odd and interesting events.

Leveling the 1930s Playing Field, Part 2:  The Careers

January 04, 2005
Steve wraps up his adjusted-stat virtual history of 1931 through 1941, this time examining things from the perspective of the career achievements of the best players of the era. He encounters a few surprises along the way.

Click here to return to the home page.