Astros fan makes great catch with his cap

Here’s great use of a baseball cap: An Astros fan, sitting along the left field foul line in Houston, uses his cap to snag a foul ball out of the clutches of the Mets fan sitting beside him. And the Astros fan made the catch while talking on his cell phone! Here’s a link to […]

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 […]

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 […]

Bye, Bye, Lebron

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Lebron+James&iid=9312354″ src=”http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9312354/file-photo-cleveland/file-photo-cleveland.jpg?size=500&imageId=9312354″ width=”500″ height=”319″ /] Lebron James has bid adieu to Cleveland and the Cavaliers, choosing to take his quest for an NBA championship to Miami and the Heat. The tales in the leading newspapers of the two cities are as expected. There’s joy in Miami, where the Herald’s lead sentence tonight is […]