Rest in peace, Bobby Thomson

Bobby Thomson died today at age 86, but his memory will live on as long as the game of baseball is played. It was Thomson who hit “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” in 1951, a home run that lifted the New York Giants over the Brooklyn Dodgers and into the World Series. That blast […]

Tracking down my first major-league baseball game

The Internet was invented for us baseball fans. No other sport offers such a rich trove of statistics, and the Web is chock full of sites that slice and dice them. One of my favorite is baseballlibrary.com, which enabled me to track down the precise date of the first major league game I attended. I […]

Great baseball stories: W.P. Kinsella’s “Thrill of the Grass”

Baseball, the quintessential American game, is the source of inspiration for many a writer. If I have single favorite short story on the sport, it likely is “The Thrill of the Grass” by W.P. Kinsella, who it just so happens is Canadian. Perhaps it’s that across-the-border perspective that allows him such keen insight into “our” […]

A tip of the cap to Paul Waner, in memory of my father

Paul Waner Originally uploaded by doug.goodman Had cancer not claimed him years ago, my father would have celebrated his 90th birthday today. Dad handed down to me many values, not the least of which was his lifelong love of baseball. Dad was born in western Pennsylvania in 1920, which meant he grew up a Pittsburgh […]

The Yankees’ evil empire keeps expanding

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=Lance+Berkman&iid=8924515″ src=”http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/8924515/mlb-brewers-astros-may/mlb-brewers-astros-may.jpg?size=500&imageId=8924515″ width=”234″ height=”351″ /] A few years back my younger son and I marveled at the awesome display of power Lance Berkman put on at the home run derby during the All-Star break. Now the longtime Houston Astros slugger is wearing pinstripes for the Evil Empire that is the New York […]

Matt Garza no-hits the Tigers

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Matt+Garza&iid=9263262″ src=”http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9263262/tampa-bay-rays-matt-garza/tampa-bay-rays-matt-garza.jpg?size=500&imageId=9263262″ width=”500″ height=”365″ /] Matt Garza entered his named in the record books at Cooperstown as he threw a no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers tonight. In the old days, I’d have been lucky to catch the game late at night on the radio if the right stations with the right wattage […]

A tip of the cap to Lou Piniella

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=Lou+Piniella&iid=7044743″ src=”http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/7044743/tampa-bay-devil-rays/tampa-bay-devil-rays.jpg?size=500&imageId=7044743″ width=”234″ height=”350″ /] In a graceful move, Lou Piniella has announced he’ll retire after wrapping up the season with the Chicago Cubs. Piniella has distinguished himself as someone who excelled as a player and a manager, a combination that is uncommon if not rare. I’ve followed Piniella’s career for a […]

Oosthuizen wins the British Open (silence the vuvuzelas, please)

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=Oosthuizen&iid=9376700″ src=”http://view3.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9376700/sports-news-july-2010/sports-news-july-2010.jpg?size=500&imageId=9376700″ width=”234″ height=”333″ /] Congratulations to Louis Oosthuizen on winning the British Open today. I turned on the TV this morning and was shocked to see he was still far out front of everyone else early in his final round. One of the images that will stick with me was of […]

RIP George Steinbrenner, one of the last great black-and-white figures

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=George+Steinbrenner&iid=2183905″ src=”http://view3.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/2183905/yankees-mets-steinbrenner/yankees-mets-steinbrenner.jpg?size=500&imageId=2183905″ width=”234″ height=”315″ /] As the world knows by now, George Steinbrenner died today. The longtime owner of the New York Yankees was 80 and leaves behind a legacy of championships. This afternoon I put together a gallery of Associated Press photos showing Steinbrenner over the years. What struck me was […]

All hail Spain, World Cup champions

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=World+Cup&iid=9335294″ src=”http://view3.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9335294/spain-iniesta-holds-the/spain-iniesta-holds-the.jpg?size=500&imageId=9335294″ width=”500″ height=”329″ /] Congratulations to Spain for winning the World Cup. I’m wavering a bit from an earlier post that soccer is here to stay among American sports fans. The first half of today’s game was mind-numbingly dull. The only excitement was wondering whether the Dutch were going to set […]