I’m happy to report that my first venture into novel writing, “White Washing the Black Sox: A Tale of Gamblers, Gamers, Guilt, and Greed” is finished and is now available on Amazon…
Mothers Day Tribute to Baseball Mothers!
We can’t let an occasion like this pass without a connection to old-time baseball! So here’s my little contribution to the day, a salute to “Baseball Mothers!”…
More On “Baseball Goats”: Contemporary Goats
Most of us remember Bill Buckner’s error in Game Six of the 1986 World Series. While Buckner was largely blamed for the loss, there was plenty of blame to go around, especially from the Red Sox bullpen…
A New Major League Record…For Balks!
“I never called a balk in my life. I didn’t understand the rule., so I never called one.” – Major League Umpire Ron Luciano (1969-1979)
Let’s Recall Hank Aaron’s First Major League Home Run!
This week marked the seventieth anniversary of “promising rookie” Hank Aaron hitting the first of his 755 home runs. Hank’s solo round tripper came on April 23, 1954, at Busch Stadium…
Tribute to Carl Erskine, RIP
The baseball world was saddened to learn this past Tuesday, April 16, of the passing of Carl Erskine, age 97, the last surviving member of the Dodgers’ Boys of Summer Brooklyn teams…
Special Category: Gene Mauch – A Managerial “Goat”
Vince Jankoski returns today with an essay telling us that a manager can be a “goat,” too. According to Vince, “Managers, even good managers, make glaring mistakes that cost their teams crucial games”. He cites Gene Mauch as Exhibit One!…
Jerry Grote, RIP
“If Jerry Grote and I were on the same team, I would be playing third base” –Johnny Bench…
THE DODGERS’ GOATS
Today Vince Jankoski returns with Part Two of his four-part series on baseball goats, focusing on the Dodgers. The first two incidents, involving Mickey Owen and Ralph Branca are well known, but the third involving the great Gil Hodges and his unfortunate – and uncharacteristically poor – performance in the 1952 World Series is not as well known…
Here’s lookin’ at you Toots!
Today we welcome back Mark Kolier with something just a bit different. Mark recounts the story of Toots Shor’s restaurant and sports bar. During its heyday, it was a favorite hangout of some of the biggest names in sports and show business…
Let’s Get Dick Allen Into the Hall of Fame!
“Dick Allen hits the ball harder than any player I’ve ever seen!” –Willie Mays. Now that’s quite a quote!…
THE GREATEST “GOATS” OF ALL TIME
Today, I’m happy to announce that we will be featuring the first of four installments by Vince Jankoski in his series on “Baseball’s Goats.” Today, Vince starts out with two well-known goats from the Deadball Era, Fred Merkle and Fred Snodgrass…
Let’s Remember Gil Hodges on the One Hundredth Anniversary of His Birth!
Let’s take a moment to remember this fine ball player on the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth this week, April 4, 1924, with a few words about his outstanding career…
Happy Easter from Baseball History Comes Alive!
As many of you know by now, I always like to find a connection between baseball history and holidays. Today, Easter Sunday is no exception. But when I did a Google search for “Baseball and Easter,” I wasn’t expecting much to come up….
We made it!! Happy Opening Day!!
For old-time baseball fans like us, if there’s a better day of the year than Opening Day, I’m not sure what it is!…
Dodgertown Opens March 23, 1951!
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An Unlikely Path To The Negro Leagues
Today we welcome back Thomas Marshall with an interesting account of an ugly incident in American history. If ever a silver lining can be found in such an incident as this, it was that it ed to certain Leavenworth inmates playing in the Negro Leagues. I think you’ll find Tom’s essay interesting…
Twenty-One-Year-Old Joe DiMaggio Makes His First Appearance in a Yankee Uniform on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1936!
Happy St. Paddy’s Day!
“When I sat at a table with Joe and other people…all the men were always looking at Joe instead of me!!” – Marilyn Monroe, speaking of husband Joe DiMaggio….
The Classic 1946 World Series: Enos Slaughter’s “Mad Dash”
The 1946 season was a great one for MLB. World War II had ended, the regulars returned, and attendance soared.
The World Series that year pitted the St. Louis Cardinals versus the Boston Red Sox. Both teams were stocked with superior players, including two of the greatest hitters of all time: Stan Musial and Red Sox Ted Williams…
1941: The Dodgers start wearing helmets. Let’s Recall the Tragedy of Ray Chapman
Eighty-three years ago today, the Dodgers announced their players would start to wear helmets, but the safety headgear would not be made mandatory in the National League until 1954, with the American League following suit four years later….
Player Spotlight: The Senators’ Tom Cheney – The Real Strikeout King!
Today Vince Jankoski returns with an interesting essay setting the record straight on who actually is the record holder for strikeouts in a major league game. It’s not someone I ever would have guessed!…
Tribute to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League!
What better way to celebrate Women’s Month than with a tribute to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League….
Black History Month Trivia, Part Four!
As our month-long tribute to Baseball and Black History Month comes to an end, here’s Part Four of Vince Jankoski’s trivia quiz. We thank Vince for the great job he did in putting this together…
Lets remeber the Great Honus Wagner’s Birthday!
We can’t let this week go by without mentioning the birthday anniversary of Honus Wagner, born on February 24, 1874, 150 years ago yesterday…
The Babe Comes Through For a Kid Again!
Today we welcome back Andrew Sharp with an interesting essay making the point that the Babe would do anything to make a kid happy…
Joe Louis and Satchel Paige meet at Comiskey Park on August 13, 1948!
“The fact that most baseball fans did not see him in his prime is one of the great tragedies of the game.” –Iconic Baseball photographer George Brace, speaking of Satchel Paige.
With February being Black History Month, here’s a salute to the great Hall of Famer Satchel Paige, who many baseball historians think may be the greatest pitcher ever…
Black History Month Trivia, Part Three
Today we continue with our tribute to Black History Month with Part Three of Vince Jankoski’s 28 trivia questions. Before we get to the questions, here’s a few words about the Homestead Grays. Photo sent to me by Chris Whitehouse….
The Shot BEFORE the Shot Heard ‘Round the World!
Today we welcome back Matt Kastel with an interesting account of a tragic incident that occurred at the Polo grounds on July Fourth, 1950. This is something I had never heard of before. Many years later, it’s still painful to read about what happened to a fan casually sitting in the stands and enjoying a ball game…
Salute to The Great Josh Gibson
Today, I’ll continue with our month-long celebration of Black History Month with a short tribute to Josh Gibson I wrote a few years ago. How he would have hit if allowed to compete against major league pitching for his entire career career, we’ll never know. But there’s no debate that he was a great hitter, one of the best ever…
Emmett Ashford’s Debut comes at D.C. Stadium, April 11, 1966
As part of our continuing coverage of Black History Month, we welcome Andrew Sharp with an interesting essay about the career of the major league’s first African-American umpire, Emmett Ashford…
BLACK HISTORY MONTH TRIVIA, Part Two
Today, in our ongoing tribute to baseball and Black History month, we’ll continue with Vince Jankoski’s baseball trivia questions. As I mentioned last week, I’ll be posting seven trivia questions each Thursday, one for each day of the week for the entire month…
“42” MOVIE REVIEW
Today we welcome back Bill Schaefer with an interesting “review of a review.” Bill analyzes Boston Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan’s “take” of the movie “42,” written in 2013. Bill then adds his own comments as he goes along. Read Bill’s essay, and see if you agree with Bob Ryan and/or Bill Schaefer!…
Our Annual Birthday Tribute to the Great Bambino, Babe Ruth!
We can’t let the day go by without our birthday salute to Babe Ruth, born on this day, February 6, 1895, 129 years ago….
Great Photo of Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby!
Here’s a real neat photo sent to me by a friend. That’s Larry Doby on the left and of course Jackie Robinson on the right. But here’s a real surprise…Who do you think is the player on the far left, sitting on the dugout steps??…
BLACK HISTORY MONTH TRIVIA, Part I
Many thanks to Vince Jankoski for reminding us that February is notable for two reasons – and no, the month’s terrible weather is not one of them!..
Equal Time for the 1939 Reds!
We’ve all read a lot about the great Yankee teams of the 1930s, especially the 1939 team, which many historians consider one of the greatest of all time. That got me thinking about their National League opponents in the 1939 World Series, the Cincinnati Reds…
Bud Harrelson, RIP
Today Vince Jankoski shares with us a tribute to recently deceased Bud Harrelson with an interesting analysis of his career. Vince addresses the question of how the light-hitting Harrelson (.236 career average) could have survived for 16 seasons in the major leagues…
Don Newcombe Retires, January 19, 1961
This past Friday, January 19, 2024 was the sixty-first anniversary of Don Newcombe’s release from the Indians, bringing to a close his remarkable twelve-year major league career…
Vern Stephens: The Most Ignored Great Shortstop
When my son Gordon and I began our Almost Cooperstown podcast nearly four years ago, we set out to put nine players in the Hall of Fame who had not been elected. This was in our very first episode, and Gordon put out Vern Stephens, a player with whom I was completely unfamiliar…
Joe McCarthy’s Boston Years, 1948-1950
Forty-six years ago today, January 13, 1978, Hall of Fame manager Joe McCarthy passed away in a Buffalo hospital at age 90. We’re all familiar with Joe McCarthy’s success as the winningest manager in Yankee history from 1931-1946…
