Stories Over Stats

While on our way to breakfast Saturday morning, the subject of former Oriole, now newest member of the Houston Astros, Trey Mancini, came up. All of Orioledom was sad to see Trey go, but happy that his first three hits for Houston were all home runs, including a grand slam. You don’t even have to […]

Earl Goes Out a Winner

Earl Weaver won his final contest, at least as much as it can be won. The Hall of Fame manager died aboard a cruise ship—it was an Oriole-themed cruise—on the day of the Orioles FanFest. I’m sure that the Baltimore Convention Center will see its share of tears, wept unashamedly by grown men who wouldn’t […]

2012 Milestones (And Beyond): Wins

Champagne has been quaffed in St. Louis, free agents have already begun signing with new teams (where have you gone, Jonathan Papelbon?) and the winter meetings are right around the corner.  Those of us who don’t live in tropical climes are looking for ways to stay warm as winter nears, and what better way to […]

First Division Finish

No, the Nationals are not headed for the playoffs, and yes, the smug fans up the coast will shake their heads in bemusement at the joy we share at finishing in the top half of the 30 Major League baseball teams. But remember and cheerish that grin, because the Nationals don’t just “hear that train […]

Childhood and Wally Bunker

The year 1964 when I was 7 years old, was a landmark for me.  In February of that year, I saw the Beatles for the first time on my grandmother’s 13″ black and white television; a set so full of vacuum tubes and other hardware that it weighed as much as our big screen TV […]

1980 AL Cy Young Race Revisited

Mike Norris celebrates his 56th birthday on March 19. He was the runner-up for the 1980 Cy Young Award in which he and Baltimore starter Steve Stone compiled career years, but did he deserve to win the award? Player Background Mike Norris was a 1st round pick by Oakland in the 1973 draft and made his debut […]

Baseball Cards as Life

This week, Josh Wilker puts a sweet and sour blend of nostalgia on to simmer in “Cardboard Gods.” All of us remember the ritual of opening a fresh pack of cards. This task could only be handled with held breath and a pair of rubber gloves to ensure corners remained perfect and legends’ faces un-fingerprinted. […]

Al fondo de la esquina caliente (At the bottom of the hot corner)

Inicios de octubre de 1970 desplegaba varias páginas de suspenso para mis 9 años de hiperkinesia desbordada. Haber seguido los juegos del Mundial de Fútbol por televisión y el Campeonato Nacional Juvenil de Béisbol en el estadio de Cumaná, encendía toda la fruición de mi expectativa ante la Serie Mundial de aquel año. Toda esa curiosidad galopaba en paralelo con el reto de la tabla de dividir y la regla de tres que significaba el cuarto grado. La maestra Inés llenaba el aula con su conocimiento transparente y su pedagogía que saltaba entre los pupitres. Cualquier asomo de miedo a las matemática me lo borró en el primer instante que escuché su voz. Me había tocado el turno de la tarde, por lo cual debía estar atento en mis juegos y correrías por calles y cañaverales de regresar a casa antes de mediodía.

From the New York Collegiate Baseball League Championship

If it wasn’t in Elmira, I wouldn’t even go. But the final day before the boys head back to the dorms is staged here, in Elmira, at Dunn Field; and Dunn Field is the center of at least one known universe. This is where my father, presumably in 1956, almost missed his high school graduation to see […]

Lyman Bostock: What Might Have Been

What coulda been–a man taken from us WAY too soon…. It’s been 35 years since the very memorable 1975 baseball season–one that saw future Hall of Famers Jim Palmer and Tom Seaver win Cy Young Awards, Frank Robinson become MLB’s first black manager, and another “no-no” thrown by Nolan Ryan. It also featured the Tigers […]