Looking For A Few Good Loopholes

The story goes that W. C. Fields, on his deathbed, received a visit from an old friend named Gene Fowler. Fowler knew that there was more to Fields than the misanthropic sot he so often played in his movies, but also that Fields was neither an angel nor likely to find himself in the vicinity […]

Post-Season Condensed by One Lousy Day

In a breakthrough that was hailed as the forerunner of even more seismic shifts down the road, a special 14-man committee put together by Commissioner Bud Selig has announced the elimination of exactly one off-day from a postseason schedule that turned last year’s championship competition into a joke. Thus it remains a joke, a bad […]

Great What-If Matchups

One of most baseball historians’ favorite things to speculate about is how certain players would have done if their careers had happened in different times and places and against different opponents. How spectacular would Ozzie Smith have been on a dirt infield with a small glove instead of on Astroturf? Suppose Ted Williams had been […]

Naming Wrongs

Shortly after I started working at the Hall of Fame library, I discovered a wonderful book published in the 1990s by Peter Filichia, titled Professional Baseball Franchises. It lists every minor-league team from the 1880s forward, including nicknames, league affiliations, classifications, renamings, and years of existence. It is indispensable for locating where people played, which […]

The Game That Brought Me Home

Last night, I watched the first inning of the greatest baseball game I never saw. That’s all, just the first inning. The rest of the game can wait, because it was the baseball equivalent of the proverbial 40-pound bag of Oreos. You wouldn’t want to devour it as soon as you open it, and you […]

Another Great Story Bites The Dust

At the 2008 SABR convention, baseball historian Norman Macht gave a fascinating one-hour presentation on the pitfalls of accepting great stories as true simply because they sound great. He discussed several classics, including one involving Lefty Grove that was attested to by several eyewitnesses, all of whom happened to be mistaken because the events detailed […]

And Another Thing…

I’ve gotten a lot of favorable response to the “re-invention” of baseball in my last blog. One other subject I wanted to cover but didn’t manage to fit in was the fan experience at the ballpark. Living in Cooperstown, I don’t get to many major league games any more, but I used to go to […]

Selig, Owners Announce Re-Invention Of Sport

In a surprise announcement following the winter meetings attended by owners and generals managers, “Commissioner” Bud Selig declared his intention of re-inventing the sport known as baseball. “Let’s face it,” Selig told the press. “We’ve screwed this game up so thoroughly that it has almost no meaning for anyone any more. Fans don’t know what […]

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