Fixing the date for the Baseball Solstice

Now is the winter of our discontent, baseball fans. The World Series ended on Oct. 28, and nearly two months later I’m really starting to miss the game. Musing on this long dormant period for the national pastime, I’ve concluded that like our pagan ancestors, we must mark the passage of the seasons. And that […]

The baseball season ends, and winter begins

It’s no coincidence: The baseball season concluded last night as the Cardinals knocked off the Rangers in St. Louis, and it’s snowing this morning in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York. What more do fans of the Phillies, Pirates, Yankees and Mets need to remind them that the 2011 season didn’t go their way? But what […]

Who were the best relievers in baseball in 2011? Jose Valverde and J.J. Putz

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance gives the Goose Gossage award each year to the best relievers in baseball, and here’s my ballot. I have nominations for the American and National leagues. American League 1. Jose Valverde, Detroit Tigers – The best in baseball in 2011 based on number of saves, and I think that’s an accurate reflection […]

“Moneyball” review: Not just a great baseball movie – a great movie, period

“Moneyball” is terrific. On the surface, it’s the story of the Oakland Athletics 2002 season and General Manager Billy Beene’s attempt to compete against the big-money likes of the Yankees. That alone is a great story, but Brad Pitt’s production runs at deeper levels. It probes the challenges of defying traditional wisdom not just in […]

Up in the air: Wearing my Indians cap in a hot air balloon

For my first hot air balloon ride, I wore my Cleveland Indians cap. Somehow that was appropriate.

The West Coast: A wasteland for baseball offense

AL, NL, all around the game: the West Coast is a barren landscape for hitters in Major League Baseball. I’m most acutely aware of the offensive struggles of the San Francisco Giants, the defending world champions who rank last in runs, 28th in hits and 25th in home runs. The Giants play a lot of […]

Great moments in childhood: My 1966 Rocky Colavito baseball card

On this, the 78th birthday of Rocky Colavito, permit me to reminisce on one of the great events of my childhood. Like most kids in Cleveland in the late 50s and 1960s, I idolized Rocky Colavito, my favorite Indians player. I was only 3 when Frank Lane traded him to the Tigers for Harvey Kuenn at […]

Coming out as a San Francisco Giants fan

With one of my sons and a friend, I went to see the Cleveland Indians play the Giants at AT&T Park in San Francisco yesterday. The nationally televised game was a test of loyalty for me: Would I root for the team of my youth or the team of my recent years. Honestly, I wasn’t […]

Father’s Day is a day for baseball

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there who taught their sons and daughters the love of baseball. Baseball and life itself were intertwined for my father and me. There was always a ballgame on the radio, it seemed, accompaniment as we drove just about anywhere or as I played Wiffle ball in the […]

Remembering – fondly – Jim “Grand Slam” Northrup of the Detroit Tigers

Jim Northrup, a power-hitting outfielder with the Detroit Tigers for many years in the 1960s and early 70s, died today at age 71. I read the sad news on my wife’s iPad just before dinner. As a kid growing up in Cleveland, I saw Northrup and the Tigers play many, many times, at Cleveland Municipal […]