Maybe, Just maybe, this is the browns’ year

I’ve been ruminating on the Cleveland Browns much of this NFL season, particularly since aging Joe Flacco stepped in as starting quarterback, leading the team to impressive late-season victories and securing a rare playoff spot. Then today I learned today that Frank Ryan, the Browns’ QB of my early fandom, has died. Could it be […]

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 […]

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, […]

The antidote for ‘ghost runners’ poisoning baseball

My Twitter feed these days is awash in baseball fans bashing the “ghost runner” placed on second base to start each half of any extra innings in baseball games. If anyone has posted in favor it, I have seen no evidence. This man-in-scoring-position “enhancement” is designed to shorten the games. To me, this strange maneuver […]

My baseball career, corrected

Following a line of reasoning current among some federal officials that coronavirus would go away if we merely stopped testing, I had an emotional breakthrough today in looking back at my youth baseball career. I didn’t realize it until now but, had we not kept statistics, as a teenager I was rocketing on a trajectory […]

The joy of throwing a ball at a wall

Just as I did 1,000 times as a kid, today I threw a rubber baseball against a wall. Growing up, I spent countless hours practicing my pitching and fielding by throwing a rubber baseball or tennis ball at the stone and brick steps leading to the front door of our suburban Cleveland home. Over those […]

Cleveland’s League Park: A gem restored

June was a good baseball month for me: Not only did I get to take in my first game at Pittsburgh, but on a trip back to my hometown of Cleveland I visited the old location of League Park. The park was the full-time or part-time home of Cleveland professional baseball [go ahead, insert your […]

You can’t slide home again: A trip to the diamond of my youth

Several weeks ago I was back in the neighborhood where I grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and I took a stroll down Memory Lane. More accurately, I walked up and down Bluestone Road, the major thoroughfare of my youth, connecting our home on Erieview Road to my grade school in neighboring South Euclid. In […]