Cast Your Vote For the 1917 All-Stars!

The Voice of the Fan—YOU—will be heard! Here is your golden opportunity to cast your vote for the most deserving base ball players to play in the 1917 All-Star Series between the two great leagues, taking place July 13-15 at the spacious Polo Grounds in New York, N.Y. Voting is taking place right now.  The […]

Cast Your Vote For the 1916 All-Stars!

The Voice of the Fan Will Be Heard! Vote For Your 1916 Midseason All-Stars! The Greatest Baseball Games Ever Played in July! The 1916 All-Star Series, a three game extravaganza pitting the greatest base ball players the world has ever known against one another, will be played July 14 through July 16 at the palatial […]

March Gladness: Further Thoughts on the World Baseball Classic

It isn’t always pretty, the timing stinks, the umpiring is spotty, the pitch count limits are a drag, many of the games are half-attended and God only knows what the TV ratings are, but I’d still rather watch The Kingdom of the Netherlands battle Chinese Tapei in the World Baseball Classic than one inning of […]

U.S. Postal Service Expands All-Star Stamp Lineup To Honor Each Icon Individually

U.S. Postal Service Expands All-Star Stamp Lineup To Honor Each Icon Individually (via PR Newswire) Joe DiMaggio, Larry Doby, Willie Stargell and Ted Williams to be honored on Individual Forever Stamp Sheets July 21 WASHINGTON, May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Baseball fans can celebrate their favorite All-Stars as a group or individually. Responding to overwhelming […]

The Best Game Ever

No, not game 6. The best game ever was played when I was eight years old on Doc Branson’s lot across the street from the house I grew up in. Excerpt from my manuscript, “Between the Lines: A Father, A Son and America’s Pastime.” Baseball is cool. It’s way cool, in fact. As a young […]

Back to the Future: The SPORT Magazine 1969 Major League All-Stars

While going through my old magazines (again) I saw an article from the July 1964 issue of SPORT titled “A Look Into the Future: The 1969 All-Star Team” written by John Devaney.  Devaney polled more than 50 big league managers, coaches, veteran players, writers and sportscasters to find the players whom they believed would be […]

Don’t Believe the Hype

While making the media rounds to promote The 300 Club, my book on two-dozen pitchers won 300 games, I was asked about Stephen Strasburg several times — once after he had only one win in one appearance. I told my inquisitor that he needed only 299 more wins to make the next edition. We both […]

Moms

Joe Shrode is a father, and a 19-year youth baseball coach. He is the author of “Between the Lines: A Father, A Son, and America’s Pastime.” BTL goes beyond balls an strikes, hits and outs, and wins and losses. It’s about relationships. To see excerpts, visit www.btlfatherson.blogspot.com.             There is no game tonight, so Sam […]

Donald’s Future Looks To Be At Second

At this time last year, infielder Jason Donald was playing with the Philadelphia Phillies Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley trying to make every impression possible to somehow crack a Phillies infield situation where he was road-blocked by All-Stars Jimmy Rollins at shortstop and Chase Utley at second base. Even though the situation in Philadelphia appeared […]