Negro Leagues Players Who Have Been Overlooked by the Hall of Fame

When I set out to write my book, Baseball State by State, which features all-time teams by players’ state of birth, I originally did not include Negro Leagues players. I quickly realized the error of my ways, since how can you name an All-Time Georgia team and leave out Josh Gibson or compile an All-Time […]

The Seventh Game of the 1926 World Series: Was it Hollywood or Reality?

I can still remember seeing the 1952 film “The Winning Team” starring Ronald Regan and Doris Day.  Of course my knowledge of Grover Cleveland Alexander was non-existent until then.  In fact, I might have checked with my father and asked if it were a true story.  Which he informed me that Alexander was one of […]

Branch Rickey: Utmost Loyalty or Vehement Dislike

I have been enjoying the fine bio “Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman by Lee Lowenfish.  While doing so, an internal debate has erupted in my mind.  The object of discussion is the polarized feelings of those from his baseball life.   Certain members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, such as Rogers Hornsby, and Ralph […]

The Ryan Braun Debacle

As a lifetime Brewer fan and—until recently—a defender of Ryan Braun’s (yes, I was taken in by the ferocity of his public statement in February of 2012 .  Call me an idiot, or, in the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, “What a gull-a-bull.  What a nin-com-poop.”)  I feel compelled to comment on the unfortunate situation […]

NJBM Kids’ Hot Korner: Tony Gwynn

Hey baseball fans! I just put up my latest post in the Kids’ Hot Korner section of New Jersey Baseball Magazine. This one is about Tony Gwynn, one of the greatest hitters of all time. If you want to read more about Tony, just click here. Hope you like the post and thanks for reading it. Check back […]

Kid Blogger’s Live Interview with Rickey Henderson

Hey baseball fans! Here’s the last video in my series of Baseball Hall of Fame Classic live interviews. If you don’t know who it is, here’s a hint: this outfielder played in four decades and is most remembered for his ability to steal bases and score runs. If you haven’t guessed who he is, I’m […]

John Fogerty: Rockin’ In Cooperstown

John Fogerty has taken his turn at bat in some of the world’s best-known concert venues. Fillmore West. The Fox Theatre. Madison Square Garden. The Royal Albert Hall. But it’s likely the performance that meant the most to him was the one he gave on July 25, 2010 in Cooperstown, New York, at the National […]

Kid Blogger’s Live Interview with Rollie Fingers

Hey baseball fans! Here’s the latest in my series of Baseball Hall of Fame Classic live interviews. If you’d like a hint: this pitcher was a three-peat World Series winner and he also won my countdown of the greatest facial hair in the Hall of Fame.  If you haven’t guessed who he is, I’m talking about […]

Kid Blogger’s Live Interview with Goose Gossage

Hey baseball fans! Here’s the latest in my series of Baseball Hall of Fame Classic live interviews. If you’d like a hint: this person is a certain Hall of Famer who is not a mammal, but rather a type of bird. If you still need another hint: he pitched against George Brett in the famous “pine tar […]

Remembering Al Lopez, Tampa’s Latin Jackie Robinson

Recently the family home of Al Lopez was uprooted and moved a short distance. In about a year it will open as the Tampa Baseball Hall of Fame. It is obviously appropriate the baseball history of Tampa would be housed in the Lopez home, and in Ybor City, a neighborhood just east of downtown Tampa, […]

Cooperstown 25 Years Later

Summer and baseball go together like Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel and incoherent sentences—you just can’t imagine one without the other. This formula lends itself for even the average baseball fan opportunities to create memories with family and friends by taking in a game at any level, whether professional or little league, or making a pilgrimage […]

My Live Interview with Hall of Fame President, Jeff Idelson

Hey baseball fans! As some of you may remember, back in December, I had the great honor to interview Jeff Idelson, the actual President of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The interview was done over the phone and Jeff couldn’t have been any nicer. Here’s a link to that interview, in case you want to check […]

SABR, Bud Fowler and a Taste of Cooperstown

Last Thursday I made my way to Upstate New York for the fifth annual Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference. I have gone each year so that means it has been five times that I have attended if my math is correct. Driving to Cooperstown can be challenging since I cannot wait to get there and […]

A Baseball with Matt Year in Review

Hey baseball fans! Happy blog-iversary! Yup, that’s right, folks; today is the one year anniversary of Baseball with Matt. I just want to thank all of my viewers, without whom I would have never gotten to this point. Anyway, in honor of this special day, I am going to give you all a year in […]

My First Trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame

Hey baseball fans! I am off this week because of spring break, so naturally I took a baseball-related vacation… to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York! If you can believe this, it was actually my first time there and it was AWESOME!!!!!! I had a lot of fun and […]

Kid Blogger Interviews the Gator, Ron Guidry

Hey baseball fans! I have another interview for you! This one is with New York Yankees pitching great: Ron Guidry! Some of you probably have no idea who he is, which is why I will tell you all about the “Gator” in the next paragraph. Ron Guidry played for the Yankees from 1975-1988. In those years, […]

My Visit to the Sports Immortals Museum

Hey baseball fans! During the recent break, I went to Florida to visit my grandparents, Aron and Salome, and I visited the Sports Immortals Museum in Boca Raton, Florida. There, I got to look at 1% of the biggest collection of sports memorabilia in the world (the rest is in special storage vaults). Let me tell […]

The Powerful Pachyderms

Hey baseball fans! Here’s the next blog about one of the greatest rosters in baseball history: Have you ever heard of the great manager Connie Mack? In case you haven’t, Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 to 1950! During that span, he led the A’s to nine AL pennants and five World Series victories. Mack has […]

Kid Blogger Interviews Curt Schilling

Hey baseball fans! I have another great interview for you today! This interview is with the should-be Hall of Famer……Curt Schilling! You probably already know who Curt is, but in case you don’t, let me tell you a little bit about him. The Alaska-born Schilling played from 1988-2007 with the Phillies, Astros, Diamondbacks and Red […]

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 […]

All-Around Athletes

Hey baseball fans! As I promised in my Booming Batters post, today I will be blogging about some of the greatest all-around athlete nicknames in baseball history. Hope you enjoy: Stan the Man - Stan Musial From 1942-1963 with the St. Louis Cardinals, Musial had one of the best careers of all time. With 475 homers,  3,630 hits, and […]

Booming Batters

Hey baseball fans! Now that I’ve blogged about Proficient Pitchers nicknames (part one and part two), it’s time for the hitting nicknames. Here they are: The Splendid Splinter - Ted Williams Ted’s goal as a baseball player was that when he walked down a street, a dad would say to his son: ‘Son, there’s the best hitter that […]

Fabulous Fielders

Hey baseball fans! Like I promised you all last time in my Splendid Speedies blog post, I will be blogging today about some great nicknames in baseball history, this time pertaining to fielding abilities: The Vacuum Cleaner - Brooks Robinson The excellent fielding third baseman won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves in his career (second most all time) with the Baltimore […]

Splendid Speedies

Hey baseball fans! Today I will be starting a series of blogs about the greatest nicknames in baseball history. Each blog will focus on a different baseball characteristic. This blog will be about the nicknames pertaining to speed: Commerce Comet - Mickey Mantle I know what you’re thinking: Mickey Mantle was speedy? Well, the answer is yes. […]

Kid Blogger Interviews the President of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Hey baseball fans! I have another interview for you! This time, I interviewed National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum President Jeff Idelson! I talked to him a couple of days ago and he was a very nice and friendly guy. Click here to see the Hall of Fame’s website. Anyway, let me tell you a little […]

Kid Blogger Interviews MLB’s Official Historian

Hey baseball fans! I just received the answers to the interview questions that I sent to…. John Thorn, the Official Historian for Major League Baseball! Thorn was appointed Official Baseball Historian for Major League Baseball by the Commissioner on March 1, 2011. He has written books like “Treasures of the Baseball Hall of Fame” and […]

The Glory Days: More 1960s Stars Depart

There were other players who retired in the 1960s after having helped the Dodgers and Yankees make regular treks to the World Series in the late 1940s and into the 1950s. The best-known players from that group were Dodgers Carl Furillo, Johnny Podres, Jim “Junior” Gilliam and Clem Labine, and Yankees Bobby Richardson, Gil McDougald, […]

Touring the Bases With Bob Wolff

Bob Wolff is one of the most famous television and radio announcers of the second half of the Twentieth Century. He has been inducted to both the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown and the Basketball Hall of Fame as well. His call of Don Larsen’s World Series Perfect Game in 1956 for Mutual Radio […]

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 […]

Some Thoughts on Secondary Aspects of the Hall of Fame Voting Results

The 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame vote was recently announced, and only one player was elected, Barry Larkin. Fellow Seamheads author Andrew Martin wrote a good post dissecting this year’s vote. I’m not going to do the same, especially since I largely agree with his views: Larkin is marginal but I support his election; Bagwell and […]

IBWAA Selects No One In 2012 Hall Of Fame Vote

The alternative Baseball Hall of Fame vote came up a little different than the Official Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). The official group for Cooperstown election came back with only one inductee—lifelong Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin. I would like to congratulate Mr. Larkin as well on a stellar career that I was able […]

A Brief Dissection of the 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

First off, congratulations are in order for the Baseball Hall of Fames’ newest member, Barry Larkin. His selection today caps off an excellent 19 year major league career that was spent exclusively with the Cincinnati Reds. With 86.4% of the votes, Larkin was the only player on this year’s ballot to garner the necessary 75% […]

Hall of Fame Honors Selig With Locked Door

When the press release was distributed by the Hall of Fame on August 18, it seemed like a cool thing–dedicating a library space to the archives of baseball’s nine commissioners. As the release put it, “Cooperstown will also now be forever celebrated as the archival home for the Office of the Commissioner following the Wednesday […]

No Retirement in Site for Ageless Milo

As a broadcaster, Milo Hamilton doesn’t have to worry about his arms or legs giving out. He can still read his voluminous notes and talk about baseball with the best of them. Plus his voice still projects the dulcet tones that accompanied his call of Hank Aaron’s record 715th home run on April 8, 1974. […]

A Chat with Baseball HOF President Jeff Idelson

Believe it or not, despite the fact that I have been an ardent fan of baseball for many years, I have never made a trip to the Hall of Fame. Located in Cooperstown, New York, The Hall of Fame is a shrine to America’s game, holding numerous artifacts, exhibits, and other holdings that represent the […]

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