Making peace with interleague play

As I listen to the Phillies playing the Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, I am no longer kvetching about interleague play in Major League Baseball. While I still miss the classic clashes in the World Series between the AL and NL champions who had not played each other since, maybe, […]

Hot summer for Princeton baseball: Four players go pro

What a summer it has been for the Princeton University baseball team. The Tigers posted a 12-31 record during the season for a .279 winning percentage. But the percentage of players turning professional is much, much higher. Pitcher Sean Episcope, who spent most of the season injured, was selected in the fifth round of the […]

Looking back fondly on my ball-playing life

Playing softball again this year has got me thinking about the arc of my ball-playing life. It began as a toddler trying to hit a plastic ball tossed by my dad and has morphed into the 60-something trudger that I’ve become. As a kid, I learned the rules and how to play the game. “Meet […]

The MLB store in New York stirs emotions

I spent yesterday in New York City to help watch my two grandsons who live there. At his request, I took my 4-year-old grandson to the F.A.O. Schwarz store at Rockefeller Center early in the afternoon. As we were walking down 6th Avenue, I spotted the flagship MLB Store across the street and suggested we […]

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 […]

Spills and thrills for the Renegades softball team

I came off the disabled list and got back onto the field with the Research Renegades softball team this week. With a game in the near-100-degrees heat Tuesday and another on cooler, cloudier Wednesday, my hands were continually switching from glove to camera to bat. We lost a tough one Tuesday, 9-8, but prevailed in […]

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 […]

Switching from hardball to softball

It’s been several years since I’ve played softball, and I was excited to try my luck in the Princeton University staff league this year. I got into one game last week, then went to the disabled list for three weeks on the admonition of the oral surgeon who did some work on me last Friday. […]

I put a toe back in the softball waters

It’s been years since I’ve played on a softball team, and I made my rookie debut last evening in the Princeton University league. The game was a test of my overall stamina and flexibilty, but especially a test drive of my new left knee. I did OK, although by playing catcher I was not severely […]