Gene Carney, 1946-2009

The sad news arrived today that baseball writer Gene Carney has died. Gene had published his newsletter, Notes from the Shadows of Cooperstown, here at the Baseball Archive since 1998. It started in the early 90s as a printed newsletter that he mailed out to fellow baseball fans, and over the years he developed quite […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Fifth

I didn’t go far to find the title for this, the fifth and final in my series of Notes on my research last month in Chicago. What started with #489 — not counting #425–426 — ends here, but not really.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Chicagoed

NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of reports on my research at the Chicago History Museum, May 27-29. The first appeared in NOTES #489, and the last, I think, will be in #493.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Puzzle Pieces Galore

NOTE: This is the third in a series of reports on my research at the Chicago History Museum, May 27-29.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: The Chicago Press

This is the second in a series of reports on my research at the Chicago History Museum, May 27-29. The first appeared in NOTES #489, and contained a kind of overview of my findings in the CHM “Black Sox Scandal Records.” In this issue, I report on what I found in the CHM’s newspaper microfilm […]

Annotated B-Sox Index, #268-490

AN ANNOTATED INDEX TO THE NOTES PROBE INTO THE GREAT BASEBALL COVER‑UP               For most of its first 267 issues, between March 1993 and August 2002, Notes from the Shadows of Cooperstown was an innocent newsletter that rarely dabbled in anything remotely close to “investigative reporting.”  Early on, Notes was heavy on poetry, light […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: There’s Gold in Them Thar Documents

This issue will be a preliminary report on my visit to Chicago, where, with the assistance of a SABR-Yoseloff research grant, I just spent parts of three days at the Chicago History Museum.

Notes #489 — There’s Gold in Them Thar Documents

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #489                                                                                                                          MAY 31, 2009                      THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR DOCUMENTS               This issue will be a preliminary report on my visit to Chicago, where, with the assistance of a SABR-Yoseloff research grant, I […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Notes on the Run

I am fond of saying that my favorite issue of Notes is the next one (Picasso used to say that about his paintings) — but this time, I really mean it. Because the next issue will be from the other side of three days of research in Chicago.

Notes #488 — Notes on the Run

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #488                                                                                                                          MAY 25, 2009                                             NOTES ON THE RUN               I am fond of saying that my favorite issue of Notes is the next one (Picasso used to say that about his paintings) — […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Pennsylvania Digging

BUT FIRST, THIS JUST IN: The documents purchased by the Chicago History Museum in December 2007 at auction for about $100,000 are now accessible! If this is news to you, see NOTES #425–426. I am planning to travel to Chicago to spend some time with them, May 26-29. I suspect they will provide material for […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: So Much to Read, So Little Time

Last issue, I mentioned that I ran across something from the White Sox bat boy in 1919. Since then, believe it or not, I found an interview of sorts with the assistant bat boy.

Notes #487 — Pennsylvania Digging

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #487                                                                                                                          MAY 17, 2009                                        PENNSYLVANIA DIGGING   BUT FIRST, THIS JUST IN:  The documents purchased by the Chicago History Museum in December 2007 at auction for about $100,000 are now accessible!  If this is […]

Notes #486 — So Much to Read, So Little Time

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #486                                                                                                                            MAY 5, 2009                            SO MUCH TO READ, SO LITTLE TIME!               This issue is on the longish side, partly because it has some items that I could have added to #485, but […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Notes From Home and Away

This issue has been put together between and after a couple of road trips. Most of the notes from “home” arrive via the internet these days, but I still frequent my local library, too. In any case, this has been a fun issue to write, and that usually means it will be a fun read, […]

Notes #485 — Notes from Home and Away

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #485                                                                                                                       APRIL 30, 2009                                  NOTES FROM HOME AND AWAY               This issue has been put together between and after a couple of road trips. Most of the notes from “home” arrive via the […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Cradle to the Grave

The phrase seemed to fit this issue, after the opening essay was written. Requiem for a Rookie is, I believe the sixteenth Requiem that has appeared in NOTES over the past, well, sixteen years. But they are not annual features, and never planned. Never really wanted. But they happen.

Notes #484 — Cradle to the Grave

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #484                                                                                                                       APRIL 13, 2009                                         CRADLE TO THE GRAVE               The phrase seemed to fit this issue, after the opening essay was written. Requiem for a Rookie is, I believe the sixteenth Requiem that […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Another Openin’ (Day), Another Show

It’s a raw day here in the shadows of Cooperstown, and any team opening in central New York would likely be postponed. It will be a while before the local fields are truly playable, the grass has not reeled out its greenness yet; it is suspicious that there may be one more snowfall out there. […]

Notes #483 — Another Openin’ (Day, Another Show

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #483                                                                                                                         APRIL 6, 2009                        ANOTHER OPENIN’ (DAY), ANOTHER SHOW               It’s a raw day here in the shadows of Cooperstown, and any team opening in central New York would likely be postponed. It […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Digging It Out

Notes #482 — Digging It Out

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #482                                                                                                                    MARCH 30, 2009                                                DIGGING IT OUT               Once you believe that the B-Sox story has still not been fully told, reading old newspapers (or books) becomes a lot more fun. I’m in […]

Notes #481 — The Fourth Estate

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #481                                                                                                                    MARCH 25, 2009                                           THE FOURTH ESTATE               If the press is the Fourth Estate for society, keeping an eye on the clergy, nobility (the wealthy), and the commoners (the rest of us) […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: The Fourth Estate

If the press is the Fourth Estate for society, keeping an eye on the clergy, nobility (the wealthy), and the commoners (the rest of us) — then sports writers are surely the Fourth Estate of Baseball. They keep an eye — or should — on the players, the team owners (”the Lords of the Realm”) […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: St. Patrick’s Day Edition

The following is from Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown #125, which was first published way back in 1996.

Notes #480 — On the Trail Again

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #480                                                                                                                    MARCH 17, 2009                                            ON THE TRAIL AGAIN               It’s been a while, but this issue has turned out to be 100% B-Sox. And that’s because I have been doing some serious hiking […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Spring Hopes Eternal

I know that title looks twisted, but we are not talking about what comes out of the human breast here. We are talking spring as in spring training. The time of year when my Pirates trail nobody in the standings, and we can all dream away.

Notes #479 — Spring Hopes Eternal

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #479                                                                                                                    MARCH 10, 2009                                        SPRING HOPES ETERNAL               I know that title looks twisted, but we are not talking about what comes out of the human breast here. We are talking spring as […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Time Marches On

Notes #478 — Time Marches On

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #478                                                                                                                      MARCH 3, 2009                                             TIME MARCHES ON               March. The name of the month has a different root than the verb, but to me, they are somehow linked. March. It has a military sound. […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: A Song For All Sinners

This issue’s curious title comes from the last item below, a poem featuring Shoeless Joe Jackson, that I found tucked neatly inside a column by Grantland Rice, in the Atlanta Constitution, October 22, 1929. The poem is not Rice’s — it was penned by Eugene Manlove Rhodes, and while you can Google him, I don’t […]

Notes #477 — A Song for All Sinners

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #477                                                                                                            FEBRUARY 23, 2009                                                     A SONG FOR ALL SINNERS               This issue’s curious title comes from the last item below, a poem featuring Shoeless Joe Jackson, that I found tucked neatly inside a […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: A Convenient Amnesia

I think we’ve all read or heard some variation of George Santayana’s, “Those who fail to remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.” Santayana, despite that name which will mean delays at the airport check-in, was a born-in-Spain American (1863-1952), who thought and wrote in the wake of the Civil War, a voice for […]

Notes #476 — A Convenient Amnesia

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #476                                                                                                            FEBRUARY 12, 2009                                         A CONVENIENT AMNESIA               I think we’ve all read or heard some variation of George Santayana’s, “Those who fail to remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.”  Santayana, […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Just an Idea

Next Page »