A League of Their Own is one of my favorite baseball movies. I’ve watched it dozens of time–mostly with my daughters. “Marla Hooch–what a hitter!”: If I get some free time I want to read Erin Carlson’s NO CRYING IN […]
baseball
Alone at home plate with the winning run
Over at The New York Times, David Waldstein writes about a new development in the culture of Major League Baseball. In the old days walk-off wins were “celebrated at home plate with the player who scored.” But at some point […]
Remembering Jim Abbott’s no-hitter
Thirty years ago today a one-handed baseball player named Jim Abbott pitched a no-hitter. Watch:
Mets announcer Gary Cohen slams Baltimore Orioles management for suspending announcer Kevin Brown
Orioles management suspended its play-by-play announcer, Kevin Brown, for this: Here is Mets announcer Gary Cohen: I agree with Cohen’s comment about the Orioles this year. On Saturday night I was at Camden Yards for the celebration of the Orioles […]
Why did the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals lose the World Series?
Don Denkinger, the umpire who blew a call at first base in game six of the 1985 World Series, died on May 12, 2023. Watch: Here is Cardinals fan Will Leitch at The Washington Post: The reason the Cardinals lost […]
Canada’s last minor league baseball team
The people of Vancouver love their Canadians, the Toronto Blue Jay’s Class A baseball club and Major League Baseball’s last minor league team. Here is a taste of Kurt Streeter’s The New York Times piece, “Is This Heaven? No It’s […]
Pitch-clocks, pizza boxes, and infielders playing where they are supposed to be playing. Welcome to the 2023 baseball season!
I’ll let veteran sportswriter Rick Reilly take it from here: I used to love baseball, but I stopped watching when games got slower than sloth races. Last year, the average game was 3 hours and 3 minutes. No, thank you. I […]
“That’s September baseball when you’re in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization right now.”
I’ve been watching baseball for half a century and have never seen anything like this. It happened in the Mets-Pirates game last night. I watched the entire game and never noticed this. The Pirates are 55-90 and are currently in […]
Vin Scully on how he fell in love with broadcasting
Watch this 2013 interview with Mets announcer Gary Cohen. “God has been so good to me.” Cohen, in my opinion, is now the best baseball announcer alive.
Vin Scully, RIP
Scully was a native New Yorker and grew-up at New York Giants (baseball) fan: Scully was silent for more than 1 minute and 47 seconds at the end of this “call.”
Facing Nolan
This documentary is a must see for any baseball fan:
AMAZING! (1969 edition)
Here’s Curt Gowdy: People I recognize in this video: Joe Garagiola, Lindsey Nelson, Joe DiMaggio, and Pearl Bailey. Do you recognize anyone else?
Mets retire Keith Hernandez’s number
Number 17 goes up in the rafters alongside the numbers of Jackie Robinson (42), Casey Stengel (37), Gil Hodges (14), Tom Seaver (41), Jerry Koosman (36), and Mike Piazza (31). You know this is a big moment in the New […]
The enchantment of baseball
My Mets open-up tonight against the Nationals. I love opening day. Hope springs eternal! Here is a taste of Jacob Lupfer’s piece at Religion News Service: From any accounting of popularity, market share or American cultural dominance, baseball seems to […]
Joe Biden told Pope Francis a story about Satchel Paige
Check out Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández‘s great piece at Commonweal on the importance of story-telling. Here is a taste: Lost in threads of contested interpretations on social media was the fact that Biden was speaking to Pope Francis in one of […]
Introducing the Cleveland Guardians
The Indians have changed their name. Here is Tom Hanks: Why Tom Hanks?
I’ve been watching baseball for nearly half a century and I’ve never seen such a bad play
I don’t know what happened to Pittsburgh Pirates’s first baseman Will Craig’s brain on this play. THERE WERE TWO OUTS! JUST STEP ON FIRST BASE!! Watch: Did I mention that the Mets were in first place in the NL East?