The Yearly Reader

1900s  •  1910s •  1920s  •  1930s  •  1940s  •  1950s  •  1960s  •  1970s  •  1980s  •  1990s  •  2000s  •  2010s  •  2020s

Select from any of the decades below to start your journey through the most comprehensive online oral history of baseball’s modern era.
The 1900s: Birth of the Modern Age
The 1910s: The Feds, the Fight and the Fix
The 1920s: ...And Along Came Babe
The 1930s: Dog Days of the Depression
The 1940s: Of Rations and Spoils
The 1950s: A Monopoly of Success
The 1960s: Welcome to My Strike Zone
The 1970s: Power to the Player
The 1980s: Corporate Makeover
The 1990s: To Hell and Back
The 2000s: Driven Depp to Disgrace
The 2010s: A Call to Arms
The 2020s: The Turbulent Twenties

The Top Ten

As determined by you, here are the most popular pages within the Yearly Reader section:

1969 The Amazin’ Mets

1969 Baseball HistoryThe New York Mets, perennial laughingstocks of the 1960s, perform a stunning about-face to end the decade.

1903 The First World Series

1903 Baseball HistoryBoth the American and National Leagues finally agree to co-exist in peace, leading to an inaugural “world’s championship” between the two pennant winners.

1925 An Intestinal Excess

1925 Baseball HistoryThe good life—or too much of it—finally catches up with a bloated Babe Ruth.

1918 All Work or Fight and No Play

1918 Baseball HistoryBaseball scratches and claws to stay intact as World War I reaches its brutal apex.

1958 And Now, From Coast to Coast

1958 Baseball HistoryThe Dodgers and Giants break the hearts of New Yorkers everywhere and head west to California.

1934 Dizzy, Daffy and Ducky

1934 Baseball HistoryThe Cardinals’ Gashouse Gang goes into full bully mode behind the dazzling Dean brothers.

1993 The Last Great Pennant Race

1993 Baseball HistoryOn the eve of the wild card era, 100-game winners San Francisco and Atlanta fight it out for a single postseason spot.

1947 The Arrival of Jackie Robinson

1947 Baseball HistoryBaseball’s color barrier is knocked down, but not without intense prejudicial resistance.

1930 The Big Blastcast of 1930

1930 Baseball HistoryOutrageous feats of offense abound as the live ball era reaches its peak in eye-opening fashion.

1900 On the Brink of Adulthood

1900 Baseball HistoryThe monopolistic National League lumbers into the 20th Century by continuing its self-served sleepwalk a year before the American League is forced to wake it up.