Adios, Carlos Delgado. Thanks for a great career.

Overcome by injuries, Carlos Delgado has retired from baseball. Even though he’s been inactive since early in the 2009 season, his departure still resonates. There’s a nice farewell piece on Carlos in the Globe and Mail that summarizes the man and his career. Delgado piled up some impressive numbers on offense during his years with the […]

Giants, Dodgers embrace rivalry, denounce violence

When you get 25,000 or 50,000 people together for a baseball game and throw in a few beers, it’s inevitable that some fans are going to misbehave. I’ve seen that ugly side of baseball in major league stadiums up close. One of the worst episodes was in 1977 or 1978 when a nasty fight broke […]

After the first full week of play, some startling names atop the baseball standings

As I write this post, the Yankees and Red Sox (again!) are playing on the Sunday night telecast. If the Yankees win, they’ll manage a tie in first place of the American League East not with the Sox but with the Baltimore Orioles. Whoa. And check the AL Central standings. The Indians, who (be honest) […]

What cap will Manny Ramirez wear on his Hall of Fame plaque?

That’s a question that’s likely to remain hypothetical. Manny Ramirez slipped away quietly into retirement Friday after it was revealed he flunked a drug screening. Unless some future commissioner grants a pardon for the stars of the Steroid Era, I doubt Manny will ever make the Baseball Hall of Fame. He has the stats to justify […]

Wowed by the new WordPress iPad blog display

I use the WordPress platform to write this blog, and the other night in my preferences I activated a new option that changes the way the blog appears on iPads. Last night I finally got a chance to see the results, and wow! The display is similar to Flipboard, an iPad app that takes Facebook, […]

In baseball broadcasts, there’s comfort in the home team

Major League Baseball is again offering a free preview of its TV package during April. While I never have the time to watch so much TV that I’d spring for the season-long package, I take advantage of the preview to sample games and see teams from around the American and National leagues. Last night I […]

Taking the plunge in fantasy baseball one more time

Fantasy baseball tears me in two directions. On the one hand, I love the concept of creating my own team to see what might happen if I were picking the lineups. On the other hand, pulling apart the game at the seams and stitching into something else should never eclipse the real thing. So I […]

India wins the cricket World Cup

India defeated Sri Lanka today to win the cricket World Cup, an event that unfortunately will be met with a yawn, if any reaction at all, in most of the United States. That’s too bad. I know next to nothing about cricket, but from what little I’ve observed from afar is that the sport is […]

Cleveland Indians honor Bob Feller in novel way, giving up 15 runs

For the pre-game ceremony honoring the late Bob Feller, the Indians stamped his uniform number, 19, on the mound at Progressive Field in Cleveland today. Then the Indians pitching staff gave up 15 runs to the White Sox — four shy of Feller’s number. Thank goodness they didn’t honor Sam McDowell. He wore No. 48.

Memorable opening days in Major League Baseball

The two most memorable opening days in my memory are marking significant anniversaries this year. Forty years ago, on April 8, 1971, an unheralded rookie named Gomer Hodge drove in the winning run in the Cleveland Indians’ home opener. Somewhere in a scrapbook I have clippings from that game, the exciting finish of which I […]