Gold Glove, Golden Memories: So long, Brooks

I have dreaded this day since I was old enough to truly appreciate the perspective that mortality brings. I just heard that Brooks Robinson has died. It must be true because something is gone inside of me. Maybe the last vestiges of childhood innocence that have hung around for these 66 years. Maybe the ultimate […]

Stories Over Stats

While on our way to breakfast Saturday morning, the subject of former Oriole, now newest member of the Houston Astros, Trey Mancini, came up. All of Orioledom was sad to see Trey go, but happy that his first three hits for Houston were all home runs, including a grand slam. You don’t even have to […]

Dear MLB: Your Problem is Relevancy, Not Boredom (although that’s easily fixed, too.)

Dear Major League Baseball, Much has been written recently about your “boredom problem.” Longer games with less action have resulted in declining attendance and declining television ratings, but the solution to your on-field problem is so simple that a Little Leaguer could tell you what it is, whereas a board room full of consultants obviously […]

Negro League Great, Spottswood Poles, Honored by his Birthplace

The city of Winchester, Virginia honored early 20th century Negro Leaguer, and native son, Spottswood Poles, with a plaque earlier this summer.

Trevor Bauer, Sam McDowell, and A Rod’s Birthday Cake

So, in a fit of anger or frustration or both, Trevor Bauer heaved the baseball over the center field fence. So, what? Sure Bauer should have just handed the ball to his manager, Terry Francona, but it’s not as if he refused to give it to him, and gave him the finger instead. When someone […]

A Great Game Ruined

This past Saturday (April 14, 2018) my family and I ventured to FNB Park in Harrisburg, PA for the contest between the home town Senators, the Nationals affiliate in the AA Eastern League, and the Bowie Baysox, an Orioles affiliate. As life-long Baltimore fans, we were eager to see the Baby Birds play, and the […]

Brooks, Still the Magician

This is a weird day for me, and probably many other similar-aged people, boys especially, who grew up in Baltimore in the 1960s and 70s. My childhood hero, Brooks Robinson, turns 80 today. 80! I knew that one day Brooks would no longer be playing third base for the Baltimore Orioles because I knew that […]

Ballplayers of World War II Did Their Part

Today marks the 75th Anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor which changed every aspect of American life, including baseball and many of its players. Future Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Hank Greenburg enlisted on December 9, 1941. Greenburg had been drafted, served in the Army, and had just been discharged earlier in the […]

What Might Have Been: The Short, Brilliant Career of Charlie Ferguson

The Spring 2016 Baseball Research Journal featured an excellent article by Jerrold Casway entitled, “Bacteria Beat the Phillies which covered the careers and early deaths of Charlie Ferguson and Jimmy Fogarty due to typhoid fever and tuberculosis, respectively. Ferguson especially piqued my interest since he was born, lived, and is buried in Charlottesville, Virginia, just […]

Off the Beaten Basepaths #9: The College World Series

An Open Letter to Jose Bautista

Dear Jose Bautista, Congratulations. No one has ever sullied a glorious moment faster than you did yesterday. You hurled that bat in the clincher over Texas as if someone had smeared it with pig waste, and then stared at Sam Dyson as if he was the one who did it. Oh, that was a monumental […]

Off the Beaten Basepaths #8: League Stadium in Huntingburg, Indiana

One of the most enjoyable stops on a recent baseball sojourn to the Midwest was visiting League Stadium in Huntingburg, Indiana, home of the Dubois County Bombers of the Ohio Valley League, which is a summer collegiate circuit. League Stadium was also home to the movie version of the Rockford Peaches when Columbia Pictures filmed […]

Suns’ First Pitch Thrown By Suns’ First Pitcher

The Hagerstown Suns of the South Atlantic League asked the retiring sheriff of nearby Franklin County, Pennsylvania to throw out the first pitch for the club’s 35th home opener on April 15th, which may not seem extraordinary in any way, except this local lawman threw the actual first pitch in Suns’ history. Dane Anthony, still […]

Where Have You Gone Jay Johnstone?

I don’t care where Joe DiMaggio has gone; I’m turning my lonely eyes to Jay Johnstone. Baseball has always had loads of talented center fielders, but where, oh where, have all the colorful characters gone? You know: the guys who say crazy things and give the Commissioner a hot foot? Please don’t talk to me […]

Frontier Story With a Curve

In the spring of 1944 Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall discovered that of the 280 or so major league players in the armed forces, most had never left their domestic bases, and many had not even completed basic training, a fact I learned when researching Boots Poffenberger: Hurler, Hero, Hell-Raiser. Boots, who had […]

Off the Beaten Basepaths #7: Trappe, MD, Home Run Baker’s Home!

With school out, many people in Baltimore and Washington will be traveling to Atlantic Ocean resorts. If you’re one of those folks AND you’re a baseball fan, do yourself a favor and take a very short detour through Trappe, Maryland, the life-long home of Frank “Home Run” Baker.

Off the Beaten Basepaths #6: Leesburg, Florida

Off the Beaten Basepaths is a video series that takes you to little known baseball sites. Enjoy Episode 6 which will take you to historic Pat Thomas Stadium in Leesburg, Florida.

Adding a P.S. to a 55-Year-Old Love Letter to Baseball

My Dearest Baseball, I found an old love letter written to you on October 8, 1958, by The Sporting News, one you should have taken seriously. In it, your old beau admits to flirting with a cute new thing named the National Football League. Indeed, that particular issue was the first time that a story […]

Swing Time

Chris Davis was one tired looking hitter coming down the stretch. So was Manny Machado. Both have a reputation for being hard workers. No doubt fans of every team could name a hitter or two (or eight) who despite the hard work, slumped in September. I am starting to believe that it was because of […]

View to a Thrill

Of the thousands who watched the Home Run Derby this past Monday, no one in Citi Field had a better view than George Carroll, who was directly behind home plate. And I mean directly behind home plate: Carroll was one of two catchers who most people saw all night long and probably never noticed. Carroll […]

Misplaced Minor League Nomenclature

Many fans may not realize that the Frederick Keys, the Baltimore Orioles’ affiliate in the Carolina League who happen to be celebrating their 25th anniversary this season, are named for Francis Scott Key who is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery across the road from the ballpark. This is because nothing that the Keys do promotionally […]

Off the Beaten Basepaths #5: Lefty Grove’s Home Town

Lefty Grove was born in the mountain town of Lonaconing, Maryland which is the focus of this installment of Off the Beaten Basepaths. Lefty was the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1931 and his trophy resides in the George’s Creek Library in Lonaconing. It’s the only MVP trophy not in private hands or at […]

Earl Goes Out a Winner

Earl Weaver won his final contest, at least as much as it can be won. The Hall of Fame manager died aboard a cruise ship—it was an Oriole-themed cruise—on the day of the Orioles FanFest. I’m sure that the Baltimore Convention Center will see its share of tears, wept unashamedly by grown men who wouldn’t […]

Memorial Stadium Love Affair

David Stinson, a friend, and author of the novel Deadball, recently took me on a trip to Baltimore to visit some interesting and little known baseball sites. We visited the spot where once stood Union Park, home of the National League Champion Orioles. This was the team of John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson whose graves […]

Orioles Magic

Leaving the radio on so that I could listen to the Orioles’ game, I got out of my car on Saturday to pump some gas at a local convenience store here in Western Maryland. “Excuse me, but what’s the score?” asked a guy heading into the store. “One to nothin’, Orioles,” I replied. “Great! What […]

Suns Hit a Gnome Run With Harper Promotion

The Hagerstown Suns, the Nationals’ South Atlantic League farm team, handed out a rather interesting item this past Saturday night, when they gave away Bryce Harper Garden Gnomes to the first 1,000 fans who entered Municipal Stadium. The gates opened at 6:00, but fans began lining up before 5:00 to ensure that they would receive […]

Off the Beaten Basepaths #4: Rebel Park in New Market, VA

Few ballparks in America offer an old-fashioned ambiance as does Rebel Park in New Market, Virginia. Coupled with its spectacular view of Massanutten Mountain, Rebel Park might be the most scenic baseball site in the Eastern United States. It is home to the New Market Rebels of the Valley Baseball League, a wooden bat, summer, […]

A Tale of Two Teenagers

Another teenage phenomenon has made his way through Hagerstown, only this year he was wearing visiting gray and his stay lasted for only four games. Dylan Bundy, the Baltimore Orioles 2011 first-round draft pick who is rated by many scouts as the best high school pitching prospect in the last 25 years, threw five shutout […]

Off the Beaten Basepaths #3: The Eastern Shore

Maryland’s Eastern Shore and the Delmarva Peninsula has a rich baseball history. Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx and Frank “Home Run” Baker were born there as were many other Major League ballplayers. An excellent musuem, the Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame, is located in Salisbury. But there’s no sense reading about it, when you […]

Remembering Nick Adenhart

The following is an excerpt from Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley, which I wrote in 2009 about a college summer league team, the New Market Rebels. Preparations were well under way for the Rebel season when Nick Adenhart, who happened to be from my home of Williamsport, MD was killed three years […]

Harper-Less Hagerstown Suns Open with a Flourish

A very respectable crowd of 2,078 turned out on a very chilly Opening Night, to watch the Bryce Harper-less Hagerstown Suns play the West Virginia Power in Sally League action on Thursday. Still, the contrast between this year and last year when 6,017 came to watch Harper’s minor league debut was stark to the point […]

This Ain’t Your Uncle’s Slide Show

When I was a boy, the latest in home entertainment technology was not a 60″, HD, surround-sound television, but the Kodak Carousel slide projector.  This bit of click-clacking wizardry was hardly entertaining, however, because invariably, Uncle Bob and Aunt Sally would invite you and your family over to view the slides from their latest vacation […]

Off the Beaten Basepaths: Spring Training 2012

It wasn’t easy going to Florida for a Spring Training sojourn because it was up to us to have as much fun as possible on behalf of all our friends who couldn’t go. Our motto was We’re having fun because you can’t.  It took us 15 days and we drove almost 2,900 miles down, around, […]

Spring Training, Here We Come!

Ah, spring. The time when a young man’s fancy turns to baseball, especially if that young man is now 55 years old.  Hope is springing eternal in training camps across Arizona and Florida and fans up north are dreaming that this is the year for their favorite team. Don’t you wish you could go to […]

Off The Beaten Basepaths

It appears quite possible that the Hagerstown Suns, Bryce Harper’s home for the first half of the 2011 season, will be moving to Winchester, Virginia. The Suns of the South Atlantic League had hoped that the city of Hagerstown would either significantly renovate Municipal Stadium or replace it all together, but that hasn’t happened. The […]

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