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 […]

The Big Rude

Hey baseball fans! The team that represented the American League in my favorite World Series (1993: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Philadelphia Phillies) was filled to the brim with All Stars like Joe Carter and Jack Morris and Hall of Famers like Rickey Henderson and Paul Molitor. However, perhaps the most important player on the team that season was the AL batting champion […]

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 […]

The Baseball Historian’s Notes for July 15, 2013: Is it Time to Change the All Star Game?

Despite making his major league debut on June 3rd and only playing in 37 games, 23-year-old Los Angeles Dodgers rookie sensation Yasiel Puig received a huge surge of support to make this year’s National League All Star team. The outfielder has done his best Roy Hobbs impression by hitting a blistering .392 with eight home […]

Ebbets Field 100

The move of the NBA’s Nets this season has allowed fans and journalists to speak a magical word that had disappeared from the lexicon of major sports leagues for more than 50 years: “Brooklyn.” Brooklyn is probably New York City’s most beloved and, possibly, provincial borough and the relocation of the New Jersey Nets to […]

Rose & Reggie: 40 Years Later

Rose & Reggie: 40 Years Later Reggie Jackson and Pete Rose are two of baseball’s all-time iconic figures, having put together nearly unparalleled careers in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Jackson and Rose played on piles of All-Star teams, won multiple World Series, earned millions on and off the field and were often loved and […]

Clearing The Bases

Well all of the fantasy rankings have been completed, it’s time to talk about real life baseball. There will be very little fantasy talk in this column as I will be making predictions on how the divisions will end. Predictions are never all that easy and in some cases completely useless once the season begins […]

The Ultimate Baseball One-Hit Wonder

Hey baseball fans! Today, you will read about the best example of a one-hit wonder in baseball history. Enjoy. Jim Konstanty had a very good 1950 season. The reliever for the NL pennant-winning Phillies went 16-7, had an ERA of 2.66, and collected 22 saves, earning him NL MVP honors. Some of the other players in […]

The Wampum Walloper

Hey baseball fans! Today, I will be blogging about a certain ballplayer who was very good at the major league level. He made seven All-Star Games in his 15-year career from 1963-1977. Ladies and gentleman, Dick Allen. Dick “Richie” Allen started his career with the Phillies. In 1964, technically his second year in the bigs, he […]

The Broken Thumb of Fate, the Collapse of the ’64 Phillies

Frank Thomas and I have been faithful friends for nearly twenty years.  I am referring to the “Original” Frank Thomas who was a rookie for the Pirates in 1951 and an original New York Met in 1962; not to confuse him with the White Sox slugger of the nineties. I met Frank at a Pirates’ […]

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 […]

The Kid from the Old School

Whether or not the Philadelphia Phillies rebound from their slow start to the 2012 season, remains to be seen. But if we are watching the changing of the guard in the NL East, then the May 6 evening that Cole Hamels plunked Bryce Harper, claiming it was “Old School,” will certainly be seen as a […]

Clearing The Bases

Major League Baseball teams for the most part use the first third of the season (April, May) to evaluate their team, the middle third (June, July) to make acquisitions to help the team, and the last third (August, September) to fight for a playoff run.  Now trading won’t really pick up for another month or […]

Clearing The Bases

As Fantasy owners we have been complaining all season about one of three things.  Players who are off to slow starts (Albert Pujols, Jose Bautista), injuries (Jacoby Ellsbury, Chris Carpenter, Carl Crawford), and the weekly merry-go-round that has been the closer situation throughout baseball (half the league).  This week however, we are starting to get […]

Clearing The Bases

Pretty big night in the world of sports this Thursday.  We have the NFL draft, which I will be following closely along with two Game 7s in the NHL not to mention a smattering of games in MLB, doesn’t really get much better.  As for fantasy owners I have another Top 9 list for you, […]

Bill Veeck Day

Today is Bill Veeck Day. It is the day that Paul Dickson’s biography of Bill Veeck is officially released, the day “Sport Shirt Bill” is back with us once again. Like a bad penny, he has returned. It is something he himself said often, as he bounced between Wrigley Field and Comiskey, forever part of […]

Roy Smalley, Jr.—A Baseball Classic

This past week baseball lost Roy Smalley, Jr., another member of the World War II generation that has been rapidly slipping away in recent years. He was a player, a manager, an armed services veteran, and the father of Roy Smalley III, also a major leaguer. He was part of a vanishing generation that played […]

Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw Named Walter Johnson Award Winners by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance

You can debate whether Justin Verlander should be win the “best player in the league” award.  There was no debate on if he’d win the “best pitcher” version. The Detroit Tiger ace was an unanimous selection for the Walter Johnson Award, given out by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  Verlander was the top name on all […]

Blue Monday: a Bitter Expos Anniversary

“Blue Monday, how I hate Blue Monday” Fats Domino may have sung the words, but it took Expos fans to live the nightmare – and many of us still carry the pain. It was thirty years ago today when we – and by ‘we’ I mean every living, breathing, Expos fan in Canada – watched […]

Win a Copy of the iOOTP App for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad!

My good friends at Out of the Park Developments have given us three free copies of their iOOTP app to give away to you, our loyal readers.  All you have to do to qualify is subscribe to our Seamheads Outsider Baseball Bulletin e-zine and you’ll be automatically entered into three drawings, to be held at […]

Catching Up With Scott McGregor

The recent tragic passing of Mike Flanagan served as a sad reminder of the great Baltimore teams of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Looking at their recent results, it is hard to fathom how far the once proud franchise has fallen over the past couple of decades. The term dynasty should not be thrown […]

Touring The Bases With…Lehigh Valley IronPigs GM Kurt Landes

Kurt Landes is the General Manager for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs located in Allentown, PA. They have been a AAA Affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies since 2008 and are in the International League. They play at Coca-Cola Park. (a) www.ironpigsbaseball.com Seamheads.Com: What was your first job in baseball? Kurt Landes: My first job in baseball […]

Touring The Bases With…Lindsey Knupp

Lindsey Knupp is the Promotions and Entertainment Director for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs located in Allentown, PA. They have been an Affiliate of the 2009 National League Champions Philadelphia Phillies since 2008, the year they were World Champions! SEAMHEADS: What was your first job working in baseball? How did you obtain the position? How did […]

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: Starting Pitchers

Clearing The Bases                                                                                                                                          March 30, 2011 By George Kurtz Once again Starting Pitching is generally an area I will select later on in my drafts as I’m a big believer in loading up on hitting early on.   Sure I would love to have a top notch starter to anchor my staff, but I’m not willing […]

2011 Pre-Season Preview: AL East – New York Yankees

NY Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira New York Yankees (2010 record: 95-67) The Yankees entered the off-season expecting to sign LHP Cliff Lee to a lucrative deal, but a funny thing happened on the way to the ballpark – the Philadelphia Phillies signed Lee out from under their nose at the eleventh hour. Hey, turn about […]

Fearless forecast for 2011 flag chases

The first rule in making baseball predictions is to expect the unexpected. Don’t go with last year’s winners, popular favorites, or big-money ballclubs. Unless they deserve it, of course. Now that we’ve gotten past the obvious rules, there are the string of unknowns that can pop up anywhere during the course of a 162-game schedule, […]

Coste Adds Phils TV Job While Elbow Heals

     One of Independent Baseball’s favorite sons, so designated because of the dogged determination in which he did not debut in the major leagues until his was 33, has a new job in broadcasting, but at the same time is continuing his comeback from Tommy John elbow surgery with hopes, at 38, of landing a […]

2011 Pre-Season Preview: NL East – Philadelphia Phillies

Phillies 1B Ryan Howard Philadelphia Phillies (2010 record: 97-65) The Phillies entered the new year as one of the handful of teams with a legitimate claim to the designation as the best team in baseball. They entered the free agent fray towards the end of the process and lured southpaw Cliff Lee away from both […]

2011 MLB Power Rankings, The Ides of January Edition (Part III, #1 – #10)

With most of the top free agents now signed and teams starting to take shape as we approach spring training, I thought I would share my pre-pre-season perspective on the relative strengths (and weaknesses) of all 30 major league teams. I have broken the article down into three installments, and will publish one of the […]

Phils to Have Best Rotation of the Live Ball Era?

On my way in to work last evening, one of the talking heads on local sports talk radio insisted the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies have the best rotation he’s ever seen, and this before they’ve even thrown a pitch as a unit. Bringing Cliff Lee back to a threesome that includes two-time Cy Young Award winner […]

The Ultimate Seven-Game Fall Classic: Game Two

In part one of my Ultimate Seven-Game Fall Classic series, I featured Game One of the 1988 World Series between the Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Dodgers.  This time around, I’m traveling back to the Deadball Era when pitchers still dominated the game and runs were hard to come by.  It wasn’t until the “Roaring […]

For a Few Dollars More

Cliff Lee is the best hired gun since Clint Eastwood starting taking himself too seriously. The Texas Rangers, born the expansion Washington Senators in 1961, went almost fifty years without winning a post-season series. Then like poor campesinos faced with hired guns from the hacienda, they brought in Cliff Lee. Cue the music as Cliff […]

The Philly Phan’s Guide to the Playoffs

October baseball is now a rite of passage in Philadelphia. No longer are Phillies fans left to wonder about “next year” or suppose “what if” or try to convince themselves that they had better appreciate fall baseball because they may not see it again for awhile. No, not for the foreseeable future in this town. […]

Lazzari’s Baseball Roundup 2

TRIVIA QUESTION: The 1990 Philadelphia Phillies–who finished 4th in the NL East under manager Nick Leyva–were led in victories by a starting pitcher with a measly total of just TEN. Can you name this former left-handed hurler? Answer to follow……….I have a new nickname for Bill Hall of the Boston Red Sox: “The Pendulum.” WHY? […]

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