Who You Callin’ a SEAMHEAD?

This appeared in NOTES #38, back in October 1993, when NOTES was a rookie.

Baseball History — As Seen From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Part II

In the second of a 10-part series, the author takes an in-depth look at Major League Baseball history from 1911 to 1920.

Notes #438 — Farewell to Winter

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #438                                                                                                                    MARCH 14, 2008                                         FAREWELL TO WINTER               Snow is still piled up in my neighborhood, but we have turned the corner on winter, I think. Most of the ground is not covered […]

The Stickpin

I often write about the Hall of Fame. Here is a story that appeared in FAN Magazine #7. It was my introduction to Mike Schacht, who had advertised in the SABR Bulletin for baseball stories with a father/son theme.

Baseball History — As Seen From the Shadows of Cooperstown

In the first of a 10-part series, the author takes an in-depth look at Major League Baseball history from 1900 to 1910.

Notes #437 — Once Upon a Time

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #437                                                                                                                      MARCH 7, 2008                                             ONCE UPON A TIME               I once wrote a poem about the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown that contained the line, “an attic full of once-upon-a-time stuff.”  One of […]

A Baseball Family Album

Since writing the opening piece (no pun intended) on puzzles, my Deadball Era opus has been framed and now stares at me in my office. I am struck by how these images from 1900 and earlier remind me of a family album. It is easy to forget that photography was once new, and that some […]

Notes #436 — Scattered Pictures

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #436                                                                                                            FEBRUARY 28, 2008                                         SCATTERED PICTURES               When someone beings a speech or essay with “I am often asked,” I always wonder how often, and suspect that it might have been once. But […]

Notes #435 — Conspiracy Theories

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #435                                                                                                            FEBRUARY 19, 2008                                         CONSPIRACY THEORIES               A couple boxes of old stuff related to Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, and the JFK assassination is found in Texas, and it’s #1 on the […]

Notes #434 — “Don’t Let Baseball Die”

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #434                                                                                                            FEBRUARY 12, 2008                                       “DON’T LET BASEBALL DIE”               It’s Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, and the words attributed to him — spoken to baseball’s inventor, General Abner Doubleday, on his deathbed — seem […]

Notes #433 — The Silly Season

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #433                                                                                                               JANUARY 30, 2008                                             THE SILLY SEASON               This issue’s opener was penned by Hugh Keogh, of the Chicago Tribune, almost exactly 97 years ago.   BASEBALL IN JANUARY   Trot out your […]

Notes #432 — The Bright Side

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #432                                                                                                               JANUARY 17, 2008                                               THE BRIGHT SIDE               There are many kinds of busy, I think. Much of my working life, I stayed busy doing things that earned a paycheck, and I feel […]

Notes #431 — Feels Like Spring Training

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #431                                                                                                                  JANUARY 8, 2008                                   FEELS LIKE SPRING TRAINING               A week ago, after celebrating New Years Eve in the Adirondacks, I crawled back south to the shadows of Cooperstown in a mix of […]

An Annotated B-Sox Index, Issues 268-430

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 #430 — Closer

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #430                                                                                                           DECEMBER 27, 2007                                                       CLOSER               Another year in the hopper. This is the 45th and final issue of Notes in 2007. I will use it to look back, and then to look […]

Notes #429 — From the Horse’s Mouth

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #429                                                                                                           DECEMBER 20, 2007                                     FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH               This issue zig-zags all over the place, from the racetrack, to the courtroom to Nazi Germany. So it seems fitting to start off at […]

Notes #428 — Another Day That Shook Baseball

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #428                                                                                                           DECEMBER 13, 2007                            ANOTHER DAY THAT SHOOK BASEBALL               I have been getting NOTES out weekly for some time now, but I held back on this issue, hoping that I could […]

Notes #427 — In the Waiting Room

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #427                                                                                                             DECEMBER 4, 2007                                          IN THE WAITING ROOM               To paraphrase Jerry Lee Lewis, there’s been a whole lot o’ waitin’ goin’ on. Shaking is easy, waiting is hard. Like in a hospital […]

Notes #426 — Curiouser and Curiouser

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #426                                                                                                           NOVEMBER 27, 2007                                                 CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER               The phrase is from Through the Looking Glass, but it came up as a fitting image soon after I found myself not down a rabbit […]

Notes #425 — More Puzzle Pieces Found!

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #425                                                                                                           NOVEMBER 19, 2007                                                 MORE PUZZLE PIECES FOUND!               I hardly ever use an exclamation point in my titles of NOTES, but this one deserves it. Within the past week, a reporter on […]

Notes #424 — Off-Speed Pitches

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #424                                                                                                           NOVEMBER 13, 2007                                           OFF-SPEED PITCHES               Most of this issue is home-grown, from the Shadows of Cooperstown. It begins with a postscript on my recent visits to the area’s past — they […]

Notes #423 — So Many Trails to Follow

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #423                                                                                                             NOVEMBER 6, 2007                                                  SO MANY TRAILS TO FOLLOW               Sometimes I wonder how Burying the Black Sox ever got researched and written and sold and proofread and marketed, while I was working […]

Notes #422 — A Win-Win Series

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #422                                                                                                              OCTOBER 29, 2007                                               A WIN-WIN SERIES               It was not the World Series I had hoped for, rooted for. The Cubs fell early, then the Phillies, and then I found myself intrigued […]

Notes #421 — October Games

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #421                                                                                                              OCTOBER 22, 2007                                              OCTOBER GAMES               Whoever thought I’d wake up on the eve of a World Series muttering Damn Red Sox?  Don’t get me wrong, I kind of like the team, […]

Notes #116 — End Games

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #116                                                                                                              OCTOBER 20, 1995                                                    END GAMES               I considered myself a fair chess player, until I agreed to moderate the high school chess club where I taught. Then I started learning, from kids […]

Notes #117 — A Wedding and a Funeral

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #117                                                                                                              OCTOBER 30, 1995                                     A WEDDING AND A FUNERAL               Long ago someone told me that most people go to church three times in their lives, when they’re hatched, matched and dispatched.  Elsewhere […]

Notes #420 — Such Interesting People

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #420                                                                                                              OCTOBER 15, 2007                                    SUCH INTERESTING PEOPLE               The title of this issue could well serve as a substitute for Notes from the Shadows of Cooperstown.               Notes has been called a […]

Notes #419 — Sweeps Week

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net) #419                                                                                                                 OCTOBER 8, 2007                                                                SWEEPS WEEK               Well, almost. I hate best-of-five, but if they MUST be played, then let them be sweeps. (Yes, comebacks from 0-3 have happened, but they are highly improbable.) […]

Notes #418 — Playoff!

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net) #418                                                                                                                 OCTOBER 1, 2007                                                      PLAYOFF!               October’s Game was once synonymous with the World Series, but over the recent decades, the playoffs have produced as much drama, maybe more, than the season’s end games. […]

Notes #417 — The Big Train Issue

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net) #417                                                                                                         SEPTEMBER 25, 2007                                           THE BIG TRAIN ISSUE               Sometimes the titles of NOTES have nothing much to do with the content, but rather, have everything to do with the number. And if you’re […]

Notes #416 — Pebble Hunter

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #416                                                                                                         SEPTEMBER 20, 2007                                               PEBBLE HUNTER               According to a very old baseball glossary put together by Hugh Fullerton, that is what they called a player who made excuses for his errors. “It […]

Notes #415 — All I Know Is What I read

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #415                                                                                                         SEPTEMBER 18, 2007                                                “ALL I KNOW IS WHAT I READ …               … in the newspapers.” That phrase became a byword in the 1920s, thanks to Will Rogers, who ended up in […]

Notes #414 — Looking Back, Catching Up

                               NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                  By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #414                                                                                                         SEPTEMBER 11, 2007                                    LOOKING BACK, CATCHING UP               Notes #248 was posted on September 12, 2001, and I am reprinted up top in this issue, the opening lines, as we […]

Notes #232 — The Undiscovered Country

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #232                                                                                                                          April 20, 2001                                                THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY               When I decided upon this title for this issue, Opening Day was still fresh in mind. I was going to write about how each fresh […]

Notes #231 — Play Ball

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #231                                                                                                                         APRIL 1, 2001                                                                    PLAY BALL               My poem “Opening Day” ends with this challenge: Name words more magical than / Play ball.  When I wrote that one (you can find it in […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »