As Bob Timmermann reported earlier today on The Griddle, historian Jules Tygiel died yesterday.  The cause was cancer.  He was only 59.  I got to know Tygiel a little bit over the past five years–he was helpful when I was researching a book about Curt Flood.  Later, he continued to be generous and forthcoming with whatever questions I lobbed his way.  I am so sad to hear of his passing. 

His most enduring work, Baseball’s Great Experiment, is seminal, academic in its approach, thorough, rich, exacting and an amazing reference book.  It belongs on the short list of great baseball histories.