Hi all. It's been a while since I could share my tilted, perhaps off kilter opinions about the great game with you. I've kept my ears open while my hands were occupied trying to earn a few bucks. And I've heard some things I feel are of interest. The most ...
Why Can’t This Happen as Baseball Opens Today? With the baseball season bare hours away, I’m reminded of an old joke. Today’s column will be a reverse on that old joke.
The joke is about a man who was ordering breakfast at the diner. "Give me runny scrambled eggs, burnt bacon, cold toast and cold coffee." His waitress said "We couldn't do that." To which the customer said "That's what you did yesterday!" Here's the reverse. Something happened ...
Just One Voice Singing in the Darkness
Hi all. With a week to go before official Opening Day, I'm going to do something completely different. I'm going to share the words of a far better wordsmith than I, with no edits on my part. Not long ago I wrote my opinion of the changes that are coming to ...
The Times in Baseball They Are A-Changin’
Hi all. Here's how I see baseball on this Thursday, March 14. Traditionally baseball has been the most resistant to change of any sport out there. Both college and pro football routinely changes their rules more often than Taylor Swift changes boyfriends. Now, MLB and the union have agreed on changes, some of which ...
Tom Terrific Takes a Terrible Turn; Longtime Trouble Worsens Tragically
Hi all. Yesterday was another day of great unhappiness in the baseball world. News of deaths and illness among baseball greats have dotted columns like this one. This time it's the Mets' Tom Seaver, #41, "The Franchise" and above all Tom Terrific. In the '60s and '70s you didn't have to ask who Tom Terrific ...
So Long to a Two-Way Pioneer; R I P Don Newcombe, New Jersey is Proud
Hi all. The baseball world lost a very special man today, at age 92. Brooklyn Dodger star Don Newcombe, "Big Newk" to his teammates and fans has passed away. In two ways he was a pioneer. He was the first black pitcher to start a World Series game. He ...
R I P Mr. Robinson
Hi all. Here's how I see baseball on this Thursday, February 7. After a winter of annoying illness punctuated by a stretch on the DL, I had hoped to return to write a happy piece about one of baseball's talented unemployed finding a new home. But it wasn't to be. ...
Wanted–one Black Border; Yankees’ star and Coach Stottlemyre dead at 77
Hi all. Posts in the offseason are few and most of them are a painful effort to write. God knows this one counts in that category. News of the death of former Yankee star and later pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre was a rare cause to stop the press around here. ...
Ford Frick Award Goes to Al Helfer;
Hi all. Here's how I see baseball on this Friday, December 14. For the second year in a row, the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in baseball will be given posthumously. Meantime, the Yankees brain trust have lost both outfielder Andrew McCutchen and Lance Lynn, a pitcher who would have done ...
New Hall of Fame Inductees-One makes Sense, the Other Raises Eyebrows
Hi all. Here's how I see baseball on this Tuesday, December 11. Two days ago, when word of the newest Hall of Fame inductees came out, for personal reasons I felt unable to write what I was thinking. I hope to do so now. One inductee, Lee Smith ...