From the category archives:

“Ripped from today’s headlines…”

Earlier today the Pittsburgh Pirates placed 36-year-old closer Jason Grilli — recently selected for his first All-Star Game — on the 15-day disabled list with a strain in his right forearm.

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I read it in the Times

June 28, 2013

Unusual in that one of the pieces appeared in the main section, not on the sports pages: Dan Barry, author of Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball’s Longest Game, does a follow-up of sorts in this profile of Doc Edwards, one of those “baseball lifers.” Edwards, 76, was manager of the Rochester Red […]

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Time out…

May 22, 2013

Because baseball is, in reality, just a game.

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I’m sure I corresponded about this with Dave Jamieson after my recent purchase of a pack of 2013 cards and well before this NY Times story came out, but can’t seem to find a record in any of my e-mail accounts. Drives me nuts. Anyway, has anyone else notice that Topps changed its card-numbering system? […]

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Yesterday I was supposed to be interviewed by WFMB-Am, the ESPN affiliate sports talk radio station in Springfield , Ill. about my book. The call was scheduled at 5:05 p.m., my time. Given the horrific circumstances of the events at the Boston Marathon (haven’t looked at the tabloids yet; are any of them using the […]

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Horror in Boston

April 15, 2013

“Boston Marathon Blasts Kill 2, Police Say,” NY Times headline The explosions went off more than four hours after the start of the men’s race, which meant that there were still several thousand runners yet to finish the race. Can you imagine if there had been a similar or additional event at Fenway Park, where […]

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There’s a line in the new biopic, 42, in which Pee Wee Reese tells his new teammate Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to break the (modern) color line, “Maybe tomorrow we’ll all wear 42. That way they won’t tell us apart.” That tomorrow is today. Today Major League Baseball holds its annual Jackie Robinson Day. […]

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We’re #1!

March 23, 2013

At least among the researchers and library set. According to Amazon.com, 501 Baseball Books is: #1 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Publishing & Books > Bibliographies & Indexes > Literature

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Can you hear me now?

March 22, 2013

The previous article from The New Republic had a link to another baseball story in the magazine: the possible flaws in MLB’s partnership with T-Mobile to supply teams with cell phones for communicate with the bullpen.

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Boo-flippin’-hoo

March 20, 2013

So the entitled Yankee fans are turning their backs on the Bronx Bombers because of a few injuries? Welcome to the world of every other baseball fan. Richard Sandomir chronicled the last time the Yankees fell so low — 1965 — which “No current Yankees player was alive to witness.” He gives a nod to […]

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  Not content with destroying their previous franchise — my beloved Montreal Expos — the current management of the Miami Marlins are intent on ruining — for the second time — another team as well as crushing the souls of whatever fan base they’ve managed to muster. Now they have the nerve to sue a […]

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I wonder if that was an edict handed down by MLB. Submitted for your enjoyment: Cleveland Indians: A (Annotated!) Miami Marlins: B+ Arizona Diamondbacks: B Oakland A’s: B- Kansas City Royals: D

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Happy President’s Weekend!

February 16, 2013

Sorry, but no cards for George Washington, top, who played for the Chicago White Sox from 1935-36, or Ezra Lincoln, below, who split his one big league season in 1890 between the Cleveland Spiders and Syracuse Stars.    

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Bits and pieces, Feb. 4

February 4, 2013

Value Over Replacement Grit offers a baseball-themed crossword puzzle. At the risk of appearing sexist, I must say this is the first time I’ve encountered a woman who collects baseball cards with such a passion as Cee Angi, who wrote this mournful “Requiem for the 00s: The Decline of Topps Baseball Cards,”  in which she […]

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No takers? What a surprise.

January 29, 2013

Because you can put this on your bookshelf, behind lock and key. because, really, would you play with it? The eBay item of the day: a hand-made baseball tabletop game with an opening bid of $1.2 million. But at least you get “free economy shipping.” Frankly someone who has that kind of money to spend […]

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The “Dark” Knight?

January 24, 2013

Supposedly former sportswriter and baseball commissioner Ford Frick was the one to bestow on Stan Musial the honor, “baseball’s perfect knight.” But as we all know, nobody’s perfect. That’s why I wonder about the purpose of this piece by Luke Epplin in The Atlantic that seeks to drive home the point. In particular, Epplin (who […]

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Swung on and missed

January 15, 2013

As in I missed posting this earlier. So how’s Peter Rose looking now, given the latest Hall of Fame debacle? Perhaps in an attempt to bring him back into the spotlight, he and his family are the subject of a new reality TV series, Pete Rose, Hits & Mrs., which airs Sunday nights on The […]

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Ouchies.

January 15, 2013

In 1991, I “auditioned” for a new softball team. I had been playing slow pitch/arc in town but had become a bit bored, so when some old friends from Brooklyn told me about their fast-pitch team in Freehold, I thought I’d give it a shot. In the first at bat of the first day of […]

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An “empty” Hall

January 10, 2013

Sure enough, the papers are full of stories about the lack of new inductees by the BBWAA for this year’s Hall of Fame inductions. Perhaps The NY Times did it best: Knowing how “expensive” it is to waste “real estate,” I’d say that’s a pretty bold move. It’s either an editorial comment of some sort […]

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Not sure if this is surprising or not, but no one was elected into the Hall of Fame today. Don’t know how long this will stay live, but here’s the official word from the Baseball Writers Association of America website. You can bet dollars to donuts that there will be scores of columns, both in […]

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