A tribute to Vic Davalillo

In my schoolboy days in the 1960s, Vic Davalillo was a fixture in the Cleveland Indians lineup. Sadly, I learned today that he has died at age 84. Davalillo, a good-fielding center fielder, finished third in the American League in batting average in 1965 at .301. I remember the Topps “league leader” baseball card the […]

A Salute to Tito Francona, his dad and an old mitt

The Cleveland Guardians gave a wonderful tribute last night to Terry “Tito” Francona on his last home game managing the team before his retirement. It was a well-deserved sendoff, as illustrated by this video the team produced in his honor. That tribute video prominently mentioned that he spent a lot of his early childhood with […]

The daily challenge and pleasure of Immaculate Grid

For roughly a year running, I played Wordle _ The New York Times’ puzzle _ virtually every day. And then along came Immaculate Grid, a daily sports challenge from Baseball Reference, one of my go-to sources for information on baseball players and their stats. Throughout July and August, I stopped playing Wordle and instead got […]

I finally made it to Cooperstown

After a lifetime of waiting, I finally made it to Cooperstown. Not to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame — that childhood dream evaporated years ago — but to tour it and savor it. Tour and savor I did, along with a lifelong friend and our wives, and we thoroughly enjoyed the […]

Even the new wildcard rules wouldn’t have helped tribe

I am not a fan of the expanded baseball playoffs, with three wild-card teams in each league. While I’m sure millions of fans are stoked that their franchises have made the playoffs, I find little to crow about. Long ago I accepted the divisional playoff system as legitimate, a recognition that Major League Baseball had […]

RIP, Ray fosse

I was saddened to hear the news that Ray Fosse, whom I knew in incarnations as a Cleveland Indians player and Oakland Athletics broadcaster, died this week at age 74. In the bleak years of the late 1960s, the Indians teams I followed were downright terrible. Fosse’s arrival was a sign of hope, which blossomed […]

Indians to guardians: In transition

The Cleveland baseball franchise has played its last game as the Indians, and they went out with a victory over the Texas Rangers. I’ve been preparing mentally for the transition to the new name, which I embrace. Feelings over the dispatching of Chief Wahoo and the Indians name remain raw among Cleveland fans, and probably […]

My hometown pays tribute to Rocky Colavito

I’ve marked Rocky Colavito’s birthday on August 10th for as long as I can remember. I’m sure I found the date on the back of one of Rocky’s baseball cards, some of my most treasured possessions. Months ago I learned that a statue of Rocky would be unveiled in Cleveland on his 88th birthday, and […]

An unexpected delight: the Baseball Heritage Museum in Cleveland

After making my first visit to Cleveland’s restored League Park four years ago, I vowed to return. I got the chance this week, traveling to my hometown from New Jersey for the unveiling of the statue of my boyhood hero, Rocky Colavito. The Colavito ceremony was scheduled for early in the afternoon Tuesday, Aug. 10, […]

Cleveland gets it right: The Guardians is a great name

For this Cleveland native and lifelong Indians fan, the news of the pending switch to the name “Guardians” came Friday morning after I’d finished loading the car for the long drive home from my daughter’s home in suburban Detroit. I did a quick check of Twitter and the news was at the top of my […]