Final Rosters Set For 1916 Mid-Summer Exhibition!

Voting has concluded for the upcoming three-game series that will pit the best of the National League against the best of the American League as selected by you, the fans!  Both rosters are loaded with talent and competition to prove which circuit is superior will be fierce. Since the loops began meeting in the world’s […]

View to a Thrill

Of the thousands who watched the Home Run Derby this past Monday, no one in Citi Field had a better view than George Carroll, who was directly behind home plate. And I mean directly behind home plate: Carroll was one of two catchers who most people saw all night long and probably never noticed. Carroll […]

The Glory Days: How MLB’s First Expansion Unfolded

Major league baseball’s first modern-day expansion did not just happen overnight. It was not simply the result of a shrewd job of blackmailing by William Shea and renowned baseball man Branch Rickey; they did not hold Commissioner Ford Frick and 16 team owners hostage by threatening to start a new league. The shadow of the […]

Remembering Nick Adenhart

The following is an excerpt from Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley, which I wrote in 2009 about a college summer league team, the New Market Rebels. Preparations were well under way for the Rebel season when Nick Adenhart, who happened to be from my home of Williamsport, MD was killed three years […]

Just Another Gated Community

We arrived back from Spring Training last night, three games in three delightful mad dash days that left us wishing there was time for one more. When I got home there was a wonderful surprise: a copy of the new biography of Bill Veeck by Paul Dickson. I went to sleep reading it. Yes I […]

And your 2011 World Series Winner is…

About 30 years ago, Bill James introduced a prediction system that picked the World Series winner with 70% accuracy. He wrote about the system for Inside Sports magazine in 1982, then expounded on it in his 1984 Baseball Abstract. He developed the system in 1972 and it accurately predicted the World Series winner at a […]

A Good Old Fashioned Mano a Mano Fight in Milwaukee

Baseball fights still occur, but very seldom are they only a two-man affair. It seems the entire team has to show up now. But in baseball’s Deadball Era I have come across a number of one-on-one fights. One of the nastiest occurred in Milwaukee on May 8, 1913. The press coverage gives us the feeling […]

It Could Have Been Worse, Milwaukee

Opening day 2011 saw the Milwaukee Brewers suffer an improbable defeat, allowing four runs in the ninth inning – punctuated by a two-out, three-run game-winning home run by Ramon Hernandez – in a 7-6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. A deflating loss? Yes. Crushing? No doubt. Frustrating? Of course. The worst loss in opening day […]

Showalter Ups the Ante in the AL East

In a recent interview on the Seamheads Podcast Network’s Outa the Parkway, Tim Donner of Radio America talked about Buck Showalter’s intensity, how he wore out his welcome quickly in the three previous managerial gigs that define his career.  Showalter’s fire and competitiveness are on display once again in an article on ESPN and in […]

If Only All 48 Indy Players Could Catch This Break

    Robert Coello has only been pitching for four years after starting his professional career as a respected catching prospect, but the 6-foot-5, 250-pound right-hander no doubt is the envy of many of the other products of the Independent Baseball leagues who have their nameplates posted on a dressing cubicle in a major league clubhouse […]

Honig Gives Boost to All

Sit down to watch “A Hall for Heroes,” “Baseball’s Golden Age,” “When It was a Game” or any number of other baseball programs. No doubt you will hear plenty from Donald Honig. Maybe you have delighted in one of 12 baseball books he has authored. This week, allow the man with plenty of baseball yarns […]

Take Me Back to Texas, Please!

Josh Hamilton said he could smell the early voting on Proposition 19 wafting in from the San Francisco bleachers all night long. What was I thinking? Juan Uribe hasn’t played like this in years. Edgar Renteria looks like he is 19 again and Cody Ross is playing like he is on something.  The explanation was […]

Bill James’ World Series Predictor Goes With…

More than 25 years ago, Bill James introduced a prediction system that picked the World Series winner with 70% accuracy. He wrote about the system for Inside Sports magazine in 1982, then expounded on it in his 1984 Baseball Abstract. He developed the system in 1972 and it accurately predicted the World Series winner at […]

Red Sox Should Grab Joe Torre

A series of events have happened in the last week, which should have Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein making a lot of behind the scenes phone calls. First, Joe Torre announced his retirement from the Los Angeles Dodgers as their manager. Then, Torre did not rule out managing another team and has since […]

Unfortunately, I Was Right

In 2004, long-time Bay Area sports announcer Lon Simmons won the Ford Frick Award presented annually at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown. From that moment, Jon Miller, who idolized Simmons since childhood from listening to him broadcast Giants games, began referring to Simmons as a “Hall of Fame announcer.” Miller, I was […]

Webster Wins In Walkoff Fashion Again

(Webster, N.Y.) If first impressions mean anything, the summer of 2010 promises excitement at Basket Road Field. Matt Delewski (Toledo) slashed a ninth inning one-out single just inside the third base bag plating Wes Winkle (Ball State) with the game’s only run as the Webster Yankees downed the Allegany County Nitros 1-0 in New York […]

The Man Who Brought The American League to Milwaukee: Matthew Killilea

If asked, most no doubt would answer Bud Selig was the man who brought the American League to Milwaukee–and that answer would not be wrong. But 70 years before the 1970 Brewers first played at Milwaukee County Stadium, Milwaukee had a team in the American League, and Matt Killilea was a major part of the […]

Cardinals Getting Ready

Before we get to the news of the weekend, it’s just come across Twitter that the Cards have invited Shelby Miller and Sam Freeman into camp.  While it’s most likely to make sure they have enough arms for whatever drills and situations that they have in mind, it’s still interesting to see Miller get a […]