Face it: We’re playing ‘The New York Game’

As Kevin Baker abundantly and entertainingly makes clear, America’s pastime is “The New York Game.” Baker’s book with that title examines the development of baseball from its organizational stirrings in the mid-19th century to the cusp of racial integration at the end of World War II. The setting? New York City. My friend Jerry and […]

Old-time base ball comes to Princeton

Over the years in New Jersey, I’ve seen re-enactments of George Washington crossing the Delaware and the battles of Monmouth, Trenton and Princeton. Today, I got to see something old as something new: two bare-handed teams in Civil-War-era-style uniforms using vintage bats and balls play a “base ball” game using 1864 rules. The Newtown Strakes […]

A great week of baseball in Philly and Baltimore

I took vacation last week and packed it full of baseball. On Wednesday, my friend Jerry and I saw the Phillies beat the Cubs at Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia. The next day, I drove to Baltimore to connect with relatives to catch an Orioles’ game against the Tigers and then two games against the […]

Trying a new angle on Princeton baseball

The dimensions of each baseball field rarely change, and when I’m shooting games I want to make sure I don’t overlook some new vantage points that I hadn’t tried before. At today’s Brown-Princeton doubleheader, I knew I’d have time to try something different. Inspiration struck in the nightcap, when Jacob Faulkner started for the Tigers. […]

Weather cold, bats hot at Princeton-Rider baseball game

Most years that I can recall, Princeton plays a mid-week, non-conference game against Rider University. The Broncs play at Sonny Pitaro Field on the campus in Lawrence Township, roughly 8 miles from Princeton’s campus. On Wednesday, I had a late meeting at work but was able to drive to the Rider campus in time to […]

Princeton baseball is back home

Princeton and other college baseball teams in the Northeast typically start their seasons on long road trips down South, where the weather is warmer and a bit more predictable than it is on campus. That was the case again for Princeton, and I had to wait until this weekend for their home opener series and […]

A gripping story of the Detroit Tigers and a 1930s wave of terror

I am forever on the hunt for baseball books, and by chance I discovered through an electronic library “Terror in the City of Champions.” The book, published in 2016, chronicles the exploits of the Detroit Tigers and other Motor City sports teams in the 1930s against a backdrop of violent crime perpetrated by a ruthless […]

‘Love and Loss’ — the tragic tale of Ray Chapman

One of my Christmas presents was the book “Love and Loss; The Short Life of Ray Chapman,” the only player to die of injuries suffered in a Major League Baseball game. The Cleveland Indians shortstop was fatally struck in the head at the Polo Grounds by a pitch from New York Yankees hurler Carl Mays. […]

Saying farewell to my left knee

I underwent replacement surgery for my left knee on Thursday, Jan. 23. As with many things in my life, a connection to baseball is involved. In all my years as a kid and teenager playing baseball, only once did play come to a halt because I was injured. It happened when I was 11 years […]

Rest in peace, Bob Uecker

News of the death of Bob Uecker hit me hard. Uecker, the Milwaukee kid who made it to the big leagues and made it even bigger as an entertaining ambassador for baseball, was one of the great characters of the game. I first heard Ueck on WTMJ radio when I moved to Milwaukee for graduate […]