Notes #413 — Race to .500

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #413                                                                                                           SEPTEMBER 4, 2007                                                                  RACE TO .500               When the leagues were carved into six divisions, a change that I resisted because it introduced wild cards, a football thing, some folks predicted that […]

Notes #412 — Return to Normalcy

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #412                                                                                                                  AUGUST 30, 2007                                         RETURN TO NORMALCY               Spend a lot of time in 1919-1920, and you run into the phrase “return to normalcy” a lot. That’s because it was the campaign slogan […]

Notes #411 – Last Looks at the Eye

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #411                                                                                                                  AUGUST 26, 2007                                       LAST LOOKS AT THE EYE               I begin again with a recap of this series of NOTES devoted to Collyer’s Eye.               406 — Eye-balling Collyer’s Eye. 1918 thru […]

Notes #410 — The EYE, After the Fall

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #410                                                                                                                  AUGUST 24, 2007                                                     THE EYE, AFTER THE FALL               Let’s begin with a recap of this series of NOTES devoted to the newly-found (well, 2005) issues of Collyer’s Eye.               406 […]

Notes #409 — Seeing EYE Watchdog

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #409                                                                                                                  AUGUST 21, 2007                                                       SEEING EYE WATCHDOG               Five years ago, I was skimming through Brendan Boyd’s novel Blue Ruin, and whatever I thought I knew about the 1919 World Series, I probably […]

Notes #408 — Eye of the Storm

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #408                                                                                                                  AUGUST 21, 2007                                                              EYE OF THE STORM               Hurricane season furnishes the perfect title for this issue, as I re-visit Collyer’s Eye once more, with more on deck. Was the Eye an […]

Notes #407 — The Eye, Wide Open

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #407                                                                                                                  AUGUST 15, 2007                                                          THE EYE, WIDE OPEN               Last issue, I gave Notes readers a peek at Collyer’s Eye … taking us right up to its first in a series of […]

Notes #406 — Splinters

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #406                                                                                                                    AUGUST 7, 2007                                                                    SPLINTERS               I had a couple ways to go for the title of this issue. My favorite home run, smote by Bill Mazeroski in October 1960, soared over the […]

Notes #405 — Pictures at an Exhibition

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #405                                                                                                                        JULY 31, 2007                                                  PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION                                                            (Digitally Enhanced)                         While I tip my cap to the Russian composer Mussorgsky (an earlier “Maz,” perhaps, he clouted Pictures in 1874) for the title […]

Notes #404 — Requiem for a League

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #404                                                                                                                        JULY 21, 2007                                        REQUIEM FOR A LEAGUE   From NOTES #384:             A LEAGUE OF THEIR OUR OWN     Last Halloween, an item appeared in my local paper, announcing the formation of a […]

Notes #403 — Midsummer’s Cleaning

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #403                                                                                                                        JULY 16, 2007                                         MIDSUMMER CLEANING               In my home office, clutter doesn’t build up just in spring, I have to work at whittling it down and sorting it all out much more […]

Notes #402 — Crazy ’07s

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #402                                                                                                                        JULY 10, 2007                                                                    CRAZY ’07s               I’ve noted here before that this summer is my golden anniversary of fandom. That is, I started following major league baseball in 1957. I associate my […]

Notes #157 — I Don’t Know

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #157                                                                                                                             APRIL 1998                                                                 I DON’T KNOW   Bud: Who’s on first. Lou: I don’t know. Bud: He’s on third. Were not talking about him. Lou: How could I get on third base. Bud: You […]

Notes #401 — Beer With a Chaser

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #401                                                                                                                        JUNE 27, 2007                                                         BEER WITH A CHASER               Here in the Shadows, the city of Utica is readying itself for the annual Boilermaker Road Race. As Casey Stengel would say today (he’d be […]

Notes #400 — FOUR HUNDRED

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #400                                                                                                                         June 19, 2007                                                FOUR HUNDRED               A week in Seattle knocked me out of my weekly Notes routine, and because I was also readless in Seattle — there was so much to […]

Notes #399 — CLOSING IN ON 400

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #399                                                                                                                          JUNE 6, 2007                                             CLOSING IN ON 400               Sometimes, the numbers become hurdles. I still remember Early Wynn struggling for that elusive 300th win. When the White sox won the pennant in […]

Notes #398 — Back to the Garden

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #398                                                                                                                          MAY 30, 2007                                                        BACK TO THE GARDEN               Something happened on the way to this issue. As I was moving right along toward my goal of reading and reviewing a book a week, […]

Notes #397 — To Tell the Truth

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #397                                                                                                                          MAY 22, 2007                                                           TO TELL THE TRUTH               To Tell the Truth has been a cliche’ a long time, long enough that it was the name of an old TV game show on […]

Notes #396 — Good Questions

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #396                                                                                                                          MAY 16, 2007                                              GOOD QUESTIONS               Good questions are hard to find. Once found, answering them can lead to books. Which can raise new questions, requiring new answers, and that’s one reason […]

Notes #395 — Rough & Tumble Times

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #395                                                                                                                            MAY 9, 2007                                                   ROUGH AND TUMBLE TIMES               When I’m not writing these days, I’m spending time in my kitchen (where I am truly an amateur), or my garden (ditto, although when it […]

Notes #394 — The Natural

            NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #394                                                                                                                            MAY 2, 2007                                                                 THE NATURAL               When it comes to writing baseball, I am a Natural. All that means, is that I don’t spend much time worrying about what to write, writing […]

#393 Is It Spring Yet?

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #393                                                                                                                       APRIL 23, 2007                                                             IS IT SPRING YET?               The weather pendulum here in the shadows has swung from eight inches of heavy, wet snow a week ago, to eighty degrees today. Upstate […]

Notes #377 ROAD SHOW

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #377                                                                                                                           JULY 9, 2006   COMING EVENTS:   Wednesday, July 26, 7 PM, Cincinnati Reds HOF & Museum   Sunday, July 30, 6 PM: SABR Regional Meeting, Cooperstown   Friday, August 11: Syracuse Skychiefs’ Ballpark […]

Notes #392 Wintry Mix

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #392                                                                                                                       APRIL 17, 2007                                                                   WINTRY MIX               That’s a phrase from the weathermen, used when they aren’t sure whether it’s going to rain, sleet, snow, hail, or all of these choices on nature’s […]

#136 One Woman Out

           NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN            Observations from Outside the Lines          By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #136                                        June 17, 1996  ONE WOMAN OUT  Maybe the reference to Asinof’s book on the Black Sox is not too far-fetched. The Margian Chronicles might be a movie someday (Roseanne as Marge?  Jerry Lewis […]

Notes #391 — Counting Down the Days

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #391                                                                                                                    MARCH 21, 2007                                                     COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS               As I process these words, my Magic Number is seven. That is the number of work days left, before I hang up my […]

Notes #390 Winter Wonderland

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #390                                                                                                            FEBRUARY 27, 2007                                                        WINTER WONDERLAND     AND THE WINNER IS                 I wonder if any authors think about awards when they start writing their books?  I wasn’t even thinking book when […]

Notes #389 Trial of the Century

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN                                            Observations from Outside the Lines                                      By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #389                                                                                                            FEBRUARY 17, 2007                                                       TRIAL OF THE CENTURY               It’s been some month here in the Shadows of Cooperstown. Over five feet of snow have fallen in my neck of the woods, and […]

Notes #388 Pieces of the B-Sox Puzzle

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN Observations from Outside the Lines By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net) #388 February 7, 2007 MORE PIECES OF THE B-SOX PUZZLE I hope that some day soon, everyone interested in putting together the pieces of the B-Sox puzzle, will be able to read, in an unhurried, leisurely way, the transcripts […]

NOTES #387

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN   NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN Observations from Outside the Lines By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #387 JANUARY 19, 2007 THE CASE FOR SHOELESS JOE   Single-topic or "theme" issues of Notes were once rare. I think the first was #77, filled up with stories from a […]

The Case for Shoeless Joe (#387)

Single-topic or “theme” issues of Notes were once rare. I think the first was #77, filled up with stories from a Jay Buckley tour in 1994. Then #125, a St Patrick’s Day special in 1996. Because so much of Notes since issue #268 has been devoted to the “Black Sox,” I suspect most current readers […]

In With the Old (#386)

This is not the Notes it was supposed to be. For the new year, this issue should be brimming with new material. Instead, it is pretty much an issue that was stitched together like a quilt, with patches of stuff I’ve been posting recently on the internet. Much of the material here was posted to […]

NOTES #386

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN Observations from Outside the Lines By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #386 JANUARY 1, 2007 IN WITH THE OLD   This is not the Notes it was supposed to be. For the new year, this issue should be brimming with new material. Instead, it is pretty much an issue […]

White Stocking Stuffers (#385)

There was so much more I wanted to get into this issue, but I just ran out of time and space. Look for one more issue in ’06. A NOTE FROM JIM ELFERS Last issue, I reviewed Jim’s book, The Tour to End All Tours, and received this note, which I pass along with Jim’s […]

NOTES #385

NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN Observations from Outside the Lines By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)   #385 DECEMBER 17, 2006 WHITE STOCKING STUFFERS   There was so much more I wanted to get into this issue, but I just ran out of time and space. Look for one more issue in ’06.     […]

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