Throwing Hard Easy: A Review of Robin Roberts’ Memoirs

Baseball fans often get lost in the recollections of former players retelling their life journey through the game. A great example of this hardball trip down memory lane is Throwing Hard Easy: Reflections on a Life in Baseball by Robin Roberts with C. Paul Rogers III (University of Nebraska Press). First published in 2003, the […]

Boston Red Sox Pitching Prospect Matt Spalding is Looking to Make His Mark

The more advanced prospects of the Boston Red Sox have received a lot of attention this spring. While it is certainly an impressive group, the team also has a lot of valuable young players in the lower levels of their minor league system. One of those rising players is right-handed pitcher Matt Spalding, who just […]

Orioles Emphasize Scouting Independent Leagues And It Is So Evident in Their Minor League Camp

The best place for an Independent Baseball fan to hang out this month—at least aside from a major league spring training site where many a hopeful is playing—might be at the Buck O’Neil Baseball Complex on the south side of Sarasota, FL. At one time, this same site hosted the Kansas City Royals’ innovative Baseball […]

New York Yankees Obtain Japan’s Igarashi

New York Yankees obtain Japan’s Igarashi (via AFP) Ryota Igarashi, who spent 10 seasons with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Central League, was obtained off waivers by the New York Yankees in a Major League Baseball transaction. The 33-year-old right-handed pitcher spent pre-season training with Pittsburgh but was acquired by Toronto on March…

Book Review: 60’6″

                    60’6″: Balls, Strikes, and Baseball Mortality, the debut novel from former college and semipro pitcher Mike Arsenault, is a portrait of a young man clinging to an impossible dream and wondering what lies beyond.  Arsenault uses baseball as his backdrop, but his story transcends the […]

The Fleeting Baseball Memories of Bill Whitby

For baseball players who get only a handful of games or less at the major league level, it must be terribly frustrating to wonder about the what ifs. Reaching the pinnacle of professional baseball for a few fleeting moments before it goes away forever is the ultimate in mixed emotions. Bill Whitby got to experience […]

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 […]

Remembering Paul LaPalme

This past winter baseball lost one of its treasures in Paul LaPalme. He was never a star, nor did he have great accomplishments in the game, but he was a great ambassador for baseball. He passed away in February, 2010 at the age of 86, and left behind a strong connection with baseball, the game […]

Jorge Cordova: The Mentor

Jorge Cordova was born to coach. You can tell that after spending a only few minutes with the man, or watching him counsel young players on the field. He combines his vast knowledge of the game with one of the friendliest personalities I have ever come across. It is hard to imagine that Jorge would […]

Further Details on Walt Navie’s 1945 Suicide

Walter Navie was a 20-game winner in the minors and headed for a career with the White Sox. But four years of military service ended in tragic circumstances. I have recently uncovered more details on the circumstances surrounding Navie’s death.

Another Independent Player Gets to Major Leagues

      It was not such usual candidates as Michael Ryan or Scott Richmond or John Lindsey or Randy Williams, but Independent Baseball has had one interesting promotion in the first couple of days since major league teams started taking advantage of the opportunity to expand rosters in September.  This ranks right up the excitement level […]

Just How Good were Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens?

Here is the short answer.  According to the numbers alone, Barry Bonds had the #2 best career of any position player of the modern era (behind only Babe Ruth) and Roger Clemens is the greatest right-handed pitcher of the period (since 1920).  And yet neither of these great players may make it into the Hall […]

Pair of Former Webster Yankees Get The Call

Many dream the dream. Few get a chance to fulfill it. Every kid that puts a glove on his hand or takes a turn in the batter’s box dreams of some day playing professional baseball. Earlier this week, that dream became less illusion and more reality for former Webster Yankees, Cory Brownsten (‘08) and Dan […]

A Cardinal Weekend

The Cardinals had a good weekend against the Brewers, though it could have been better.  Their slipup last night on ESPN’s game of the week dropped them back into a tie for first.  I go over this series and the Reds series in my weekly column, but let’s take a look at them here as […]

Strasburg In Harrisburg: Altoona, April 11, 2010

Who is he? He’s a right-handed pitcher, picked first in the nation by the Washington Nationals in the 2009 draft. We know as much. He grew up in Santee, California, under his parents Jim and Kathleen Swett, and went to West Hills High School there. He then attended San Diego State University as a public […]

Jim Abbott and the Question of One-Armed Power

A while ago, thinking about Jim Abbott and his missing right hand, I wondered how much power he could possibly have generated swinging the bat with one arm. I found this story from the USA Today of March 19, 1991, about Abbott hitting a triple in spring training: Ever since he began his career with […]