To paraphrase from a Thomas Boswell classic, “Time Begins on Opening Day.” In Michael Ortman‘s case, multiply that times 50. One of the things I wanted to ask the author of Opening Day: 50-for-50: One Fan, One Game, A Half-Century of Baseball Stories was how his approach to the game has changed over time. Like […]
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Baltimore Orioles,
Opening day,
Washington Nationals,
Washington Senators
Not going to go into a whole long intro. Seems redundant since it’s already in the video. But here’s the review I posted a while back about The Batter’s Box: A Novel of Baseball, War, and Love, by our guest, Andy Kutler.
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baseball in war time,
Bob Feller,
Washington Senators
Fan in Chief: Richard Nixon and American Sports, 1969-1974, by Nicholas Evan Sarantakes (University Press of Kansas, 2018) Say what you will about him, but there’s no denying that Richard Nixon was a rabid sports fan. During baseball’s centennial year of 1969, he attended ceremonies and events surrounding the All-Star game in in Washington D.C. […]
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Richard Nixon,
Ted Williams,
Washington Senators
This year represents the golden anniversary of the most successful Washington Senators in history, bearing in mind that this was the 1961 expansion model and not the previous incarnation that relocated to Minnesota where they became the Twins that same year. Two years, later the “new” Senators themselves moved to Texas to change their uniform […]
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Washington Senators
♦ The Minnesota Spokesman Record, an African-America newspaper, posted this review of They Played for the Love of the Game: Untold Stories of Black Baseball in Minnesota, published by Frank M. White. ♦ The Lincoln (NE) Journal Star provided this piece on Roger Angell‘s memoir, This Old Man: All in Pieces. I still maintain this […]
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Baseball Cards,
minor leagues,
Negro Leagues,
Roger Angell,
Topps,
Washington Senators
Since I posted the first of these on a Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. These are kind of fun; it’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get. (Actually, I never understood […]
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baseball books,
baseball statistics,
Brad Ausmus,
Gabe Kapler,
George Case,
Life Magazine,
Mike Francesa,
Phil Mushnick,
sabermetrics Willie Mays,
Shawn Green,
Stan Musial,
The Simpsons,
Time Magazine,
Washington Senators,
World Baseball Classic
MLB.com’s Paul hagen posted this review of the new You Gotta Have Heart: A History of Washington Baseball from 1859 to the 2012 National League East Champions, by Frederic Frommer, son of the peripatetic baseball author Harvey Frommer.
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Frederic Frommer,
Washington Nationals,
Washington Senators
Haven’t done one of these in awhile. * The Washington Times posted this one on Willard Mullin’s Golden Age of Baseball: Drawings 1934-1972, edited by Hal Bock and Michael Powers. * WTOP in Washington DC ran this story and audio interview on Fred Frommer’s You Gotta Have Heart: A History of Washington Baseball from 1859 […]
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baseball cartooning,
Fred Mullin,
Washington Nationals,
Washington Senators
Shelby Whitfield, the former play-by-play announcer for the Washington Senators who wrote Kiss it goodbye (1973), a critical book about the team’s owner in the early 1970s and later managed an all-star cast of announcers for ABC Radio, died Feb. 5 at a rehabilitation facility in Jackson, NJ. He was 77. According to Whitfield’s obituary […]
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Shelby Whitfield,
Washington Senators
One of those heart-warming stories following World War II, Shepard was a flier who was shot down and captured in Germany. His injuries required the amputation of his right leg below the knee. Upon his return to the States, Shepard was signed by the Washington Senators and pitched in one game, against the Red Sox […]
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Bert Shepard,
disabled ballplayers,
Washington Senators,
World War II