Mark Kolier Posts | Baseball History Comes Alive

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...

Posted on: April 9, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 11 Comments

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...

Posted on: January 17, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 6 Comments

How About a New Generation of Baseball Movies?

Over the holidays this year, I caught up watching some baseball movies that have been around for a while. Several of them I never watched before...

Posted on: January 10, 2024
By: Gary Livacari
With: 22 Comments

Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates: A Rivalry That Has Been Largely Forgotten

It’s less than 300 miles between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and both the Reds and Pirates have been around for a very long time. Their NLCS clashes during the 1970s remain some of the best and most exciting in baseball history!

Posted on: December 6, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 5 Comments

In-game interviews aren’t worth it!

I agree with Mark Kolier. I find in-game interviews with players to be distracting, and, well, annoying. How about you?...

Posted on: October 21, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 15 Comments

Mark Kolier Recalls “The Greatest Baseball Game I Was Ever a Part Of”

Mark Kolier returns today with another of his interesting personal reflections on the game we all love. This gives us the opportunity to take "time out" from our normal Baseball History Comes Alive fare with some fun, light reading...

Posted on: September 9, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 9 Comments

The Greatest Games I’ve Ever Seen

Today Mark Kolier returns with the kind of essay I enjoy the most: personal reflections on the game of baseball from years gone by...

Posted on: July 26, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 14 Comments

Refreshing Chatter: Recalling Baseball From the Back Yard to the Men’s Senior League

Today, we have something a bit different. We welcome back contributor Mark Kolier with an interesting essay reflecting back on what baseball meant to him in different stages of his life: From playing wiffle ball in the backyard, to coaching his son's Little League team, to playing on a Men's Senior League team against "real" players...

Posted on: July 14, 2023
By: Gary Livacari
With: 13 Comments

To create a bigger and better Baseball Hall of Fame – All it would take is 1/3 of 1%

With the recent actions of the Golden Days Era Committee, Buck O’Neil, Minnie Minoso, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, and Bud Fowler are all now to be inducted into Cooperstown...

Posted on: December 29, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 6 Comments

Followup To Paul Doyle’s Essay on the Dodger-Giant 1962 Playoff Series (Part Two)

A Bitter Stan Williams Recalls His Role In One Of The Worst Innings In Dodger History, October 3, 1962

Posted on: October 12, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 9 Comments

New Blog Topic: MLB should create an “MOP Award”: Most Outstanding Player!

The 2021 baseball season, conducted during a global pandemic, has provided some amazing individual performances...

Posted on: September 24, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 5 Comments

New Blog Topic: Ty Cobb had it SO much easier than Mike Trout!

Already at least half the people reading this are aggravated with the headline!...

Posted on: May 27, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 11 Comments

New Blog Topic: Baseball – Can It Improve From Here?

Ah, America’s Pastime. It would be a mistake for today’s under-35 baseball fans to believe that baseball before 1973 (the first year of the Designated Hitter,) was baseball in the stone age...

Posted on: May 6, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 11 Comments

Reflections on the 1920 Baseball Season

People no longer need to try to imagine playing baseball during a worldwide pandemic since here we are in 2021 and that’s exactly what happened last year.

Posted on: April 5, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 5 Comments

Protecting Pitchers From Line Drives

The sound of the crack of the bat. It’s a sound like no other in sports. When winter turns to spring it’s one of the harbingers of the summer game in the United States and wherever baseball is played around the world!...

Posted on: March 25, 2021
By: Gary Livacari
With: 10 Comments