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.

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

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 […]

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.

Lee Elia’s Rant: 30 Bleepin’ Years Later

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT BELOW (SERIOUSLY) For those who are not familiar with the history of Chicago baseball it will likely come as a surprise to learn that there was a time when Wrigley Field was not so cool, fun, and controversial. Thirty years ago Wrigley was considered by most to be a baseball cemetery.  The […]

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 […]

Uh Oh, It’s Oh

Hey baseball fans! Happy New Year!!  Anyway, for today’s post, I will be blogging about a baseball player who never played in the states, but is one of the most popular international baseball players of all time. Sadaharu Oh played for the Yomiuri Giants from 1959-1980 in the professional Japanese baseball league. He originally was […]

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, […]

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 […]

Just Another Gated Community

We arrived back from Spring Training last night, three games in three delightful mad dash days that left us wishing there was time for one more. When I got home there was a wonderful surprise: a copy of the new biography of Bill Veeck by Paul Dickson. I went to sleep reading it. Yes I […]

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 […]