2016 Postseason Recap

The 108-year drought is finally over. Somewhere Ron Santo and Harry Caray are smiling and hollering. The lovable losers finally did it. The Chicago Cubs are officially champions of the baseball world, and the longest championship drought in major American sports has ended. With their historic Game 7 victory, the Chicago Cubs capped off a […]

World Series Recap

It is finally happening. We have all seen the countless memes and useless facts about how the world has changed since this last happened, but we are all finally here. The Chicago Cubs will be hosting a World Series game at Wrigley Field. This is not a drill. The North Side of Chicago will be […]

The Sunday Notes: Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016

So, 2015 is now a permanent part of our history as 2016 will take baseball shape this week when we find out who the writers voted into the Hall of Fame. If you will allow me this time around, instead of giving you a few links to read I thought I would share a few thoughts […]

The Sunday Notes: 2015 Awards Edition

The 2015 award season has come and gone, ending the year. For the twelfth straight year, average attendance per game topped 30,000 and overall gate went up, barely, over last year. All told, 73,760,020 purchased tickets to Major League Baseball games in 2015. Would you believe the first year the average topped 20,000 was 1979 […]

The Sunday Notes: 2015 World Series

Now that we have enjoyed baseball’s playoff appetizer, it is time for the main course, the 2015 World Series. The plucky Kansas City Royals host the New York Mets starting Tuesday night at Kaufman Stadium in what we hope to be a classic matchup. No deficit is too large for the Royals, who pound out hit after hit. […]

What Baseball Means To Me

It is springtime again in America. Yeah, tens of millions are digging out from mountains of snow to go to work, but the trucks carrying our summer obsession have safely reached their destinations in Florida and Arizona. Once unpacked, another baseball season will be upon us and it can never come too soon. For me, […]

Ernie Banks Leaves A Powerful Legacy

Ernie Banks, one of the brightest personalities in Major League Baseball history, passed away Saturday, January 26 at the age of 83 from a heart attack. Best known for his sunny optimism and the catch phrase “Let’s play two,” the Chicago Cubs icon is hardly remembered outside of Chicago for his graceful glove at short […]

Book Review: A Nice Little Place on the North Side: Wrigley Field at One Hundred

Hey baseball fans!   I recently had the chance to read A Nice Little Place on the North Side: Wrigley Field at One Hundred by George F. Will, a book about Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. The book was written around the time of the Stadium’s 100th anniversary. Overall, it was a very good book […]

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 […]

Second Half Help

They aren’t all prospects but they all could help you in one way or another. Here is one player from each team worth picking up for the 2nd half of the season. Note: All players are 30% owned or less in Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball Arizona Diamondbacks - 3B Matt Davidson – The Futures Game MVP […]

A Bird in the Hall of Fame?

Hey baseball fans! Remember in my Gary Carter post where I said to stalk my blog like a hawk for new posts? Well, the reason I said that was because I was making a reference to another Expo Hall of Famer,Andre Dawson! Andre “The Hawk” (got his nickname because his uncle said that he attacked ground balls […]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Starting pitcher Randall Delgado, you know, one of the key pieces in the OF Justin Upton trade, is off to a rough at AAA and may not be the first call up once the Dbacks need help in the rotation, that may go to Tyler Skaggs. Good thing that Upton fellow isn’t off […]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Pretty tough week for the DBacks as they lose 2B Aaron Hill until June with a broken hand. Hill suffered the injury when he was hit by an Edwin Jackson pitch. Tried to play with it over the weekend but just couldn’t do it. Outfielder Jason Kubel was also placed on the DL […]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Centerfielder A.J. Pollock had a big game Wednesday, hitting two HRs and driving in four runs. Pollock may not have even begun the season with the team except for the injuries suffered by Adam Eaton an Cody Ross, problem is when those two return from the DL there may be no room for […]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Funny how things work out. During the off-season the DBacks were making deals because they thought they had a stockpile of outfielders, but after trading Justin Upton and Chris Young, and with the elbow injury suffered by Adam Eaton , that depth has been severely depleted…..Speaking of Upton, he just hit his second […]

Fair Trade?

March 17, 2013 something bizarre occurred in major league baseball.  Mike Cisco, the grand son of Galen Cisco, former MLB pitcher, and pitching coach , was traded to the Los Angeles Angels.  So, what was so unusual about that?  The Angels acquired the Philadelphia pitching prospect for nothing! Mike Cisco, a prospect, pitched at Reading […]

A Unique Walk-Off

I attended a SABR meeting of the Connie Mack Chapter in June of this year.  It was held at Waterfront Park in Trenton, New Jersey.  This is home to the Trenton Thunder, the ‘AA’ affiliate for the New York Yankees.  That day one of the presentations was about players that had hit over twenty triples […]

White Sox Rising

May 31, 2012 When the Chicago White Sox swept the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field two weeks ago it was fun but, really, can’t an old person with a fly swatter beat the Cubs? The Sox, however, were apparently emboldened by that three-game ear-gouge of their crosstown rivals because now the Pale Hose are taking […]

Clearing The Bases

Injuries are probably playing a big part in how your fantasy team is performing this season.  It seems every week we are seeing three to four players land on the DL, and I’m not talking about a long reliever or backup middle infielder that no one cares about, I’m talking about top of the line […]

Negro Leagues DB Update: 1908 & 1909 Negro Leagues

The 1908 season saw the emergence of a national scene in black professional baseball.  Two important eastern teams, the Philadelphia Giants and the Cuban Giants of New York, made trips to the Midwest, their most notable opponent being Rube Foster‘s new powerhouse, the Chicago Leland Giants.  The Cuban Stars of Havana spent significant time in […]

Clearing The Bases

With all of the injuries throughout Major League Baseball and the natural progression of fantasy teams claiming players off the waiver wire, the pickings have become pretty slim in deeper leagues.  With that in mind we are going to talk about minor league players that could help your team in the coming weeks or months.  […]

Rollie Hemsley: How a Hard Drinking Catcher Made Alcoholics Anonymous an International Phenomenon

Particularly in the earlier days of the game, baseball had a well-earned reputation for hard drinking and living players. Because the players often socially mingled with the press, and because the writers depended on access to teams to sell their papers, the vast majority of the more salacious happenings failed to make it to the […]

A Flood of Riches

The rain is falling in Washington and it will mean that there is no chance to sweep the Marlins today. There is nothing cloudy or damp, however, about the superlatives being used to describe the Washington Nationals pitching staff. It is dedicated Nationals fans who are most aware of what it all means as they behold […]

How Hack Wilson’s Historic 1930 Season Avoided Knockout Punch

Lewis “Hack” Wilson enjoyed one of the most inspired seasons in baseball history in 1930. Playing outfield for the Chicago Cubs, he hit .356 with 56 home runs and a major league record 191 RBI. He had set the National League RBI record the year before with 159, but shattered that with his inspired play […]

Thinking About Jamie Moyer at 49

Jamie Moyer is old enough to have helped prompt the Chicago Cubs to trade Dennis Eckersley to the Oakland A’s in the spring of 1987, when Moyer was a rising prospect displacing Eckersley as a starter, and to have been traded along with Rafael Palmeiro to the Texas Rangers for Mitch Williams before the 1989 […]

Hi Bithorn: Puerto Rico’s Baseball Pioneer

More than 225 players who were born in Puerto Rico have played major league baseball, representing a staggering amount for such a small country. Their successes were paved by right handed pitcher Hiram “Hi” Bithorn, who was the first of them to debut, with the Chicago Cubs in 1942. Bithorn is not well-remembered today because […]

A Book as “Terrific” as Its Subject

Like the “The Little Engine that Could,” Tom Seaver began a steep climb saying “I think I can. I think I can.” Seaver’s mom, Betty, grafted the story into her son’s DNA by reading it to him as a child. Seaver always thought he could do whatever he set out to do, and usually he […]

A Tribute to Billy Sullivan

On October 14, 1906, despite being big underdogs, the Chicago White Sox won the World Series with a victory over the cross-town Chicago Cubs. With excitement still running high, many members of the World Champion White Sox traveled to a small Wisconsin town named Edgerton, to play against their local team. Billy Sullivan, the catcher […]

Why Albert Pujols Will Stay In St. Louis

We heard it a lot. At the end of September and during every playoff series, we heard “this could be the last time Albert Pujols has an at-bat in a Cardinal uniform,” sometimes tweaked with the last home appearance. So much so that someone made a chart out of how he did in those situations. […]

Clearing The Bases

The 2011 World Series has certainly been memorable.  Whether it’s Albert Pujols hitting three HRs in a single game or phone gate when Tony LaRussa couldn’t get Jason Motte warmed up in the bullpen during Game 5, not like we’re going to forget this series anytime soon.  Let’s see what else is going on throughout […]

Ward Miller Dedication

On a sunny afternoon Sunday August 21, 2011, on the grounds of the Lee County Courthouse in Dixon, Illinois a monument dedication was held for former resident and baseball player Ward Miller. Dixon resident and local baseball historian Mark Stach, addressed the crowd wearing a Chicago Cubs replica jersey, very similar to the one Ward […]

You Can Bank on It

In 1967, Louis Armstrong recorded “What a Wonderful World.” Do you think Armstrong naturally believed that about everything? Most likely not, but he made a decision to view life with optimism. While Armstrong dazzled the jazz circuit, Ernie Banks shared a similar view on the baseball diamond. “Let’s play two,” Banks said. A combination of […]

Boston Sweeps Yanks but Playoff Hopes Remain Dim

Boston has finally reached .500 this season but now midway through May it’s a likely bet the Red Sox playoff hopes in this overly-hyped season remain iffy at best. Their position in the standings is certainly not bleak, however, for the Red Sox to have any chance of reaching the playoffs, the team would have […]

Dreams Turned Nightmares

In 1949, a 29-year-old Phillies first baseman was surging. Standing more than 6-feet tall, 175 lbs. and equipped with a pleasant disposition, he had the total package. Whether at the plate or in the field, he exuded cool. Former teammate Lennie Merullo said of Eddie Waitkus, “It was like his head actually rested on top […]

Clearing The Bases: Closers

The old axiom when it comes to relief pitchers, is never pay for saves.  I follow this mantra somewhat, especially in mixed leagues, but in NL or AL only leagues I want to have one solid closer.  I don’t like to spend a big part of my budget on more than one, but I want […]

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