Where have you gone, Billy Dick?

On a whim the other day, I asked Google to find pro baseball players from my hometown, Cleveland Heights, Ohio. I grew up knowing that Steve Stone went to Brush High School in neighboring South Euclid, and that Mike Hegan and Gary Roggenburk attended my high school, St. Ignatius in Cleveland. As with many of […]

Unexpected find: new baseball caps at an antique store

In my first season of organized youth baseball, I played for the Red Sox in the Tris Speaker baseball league in suburban Cleveland. Now, 60 years later, I finally have an actual Red Sox cap. It’s not the same cap the BoSox wear at Fenway Park, but it’s a fine replica, one I found unexpectedly […]

A game from my youth: NFL Strategy

It’s Championship Sunday in the National Football League, and it’s snowing heavily at home in New Jersey. Small wonder that I got the urge to pull out one of the tabletop games I played in my high school days during winters in snowy Cleveland — NFL Strategy. Introduced in 1970 by Tudor, the company that […]

‘Love and Loss’ — the tragic tale of Ray Chapman

One of my Christmas presents was the book “Love and Loss; The Short Life of Ray Chapman,” the only player to die of injuries suffered in a Major League Baseball game. The Cleveland Indians shortstop was fatally struck in the head at the Polo Grounds by a pitch from New York Yankees hurler Carl Mays. […]

My Rooting interests for the AL and NL championships

To demonstrate that I bear no animus toward New York City, I hereby declare my rooting interest in baseball’s American and National league championship series, gateway to the World Series. Anyone who knows me even passingly should not be surprised that I am pulling for the Guardians, the pride of my hometown, Cleveland. They are […]

Requiem for a Cubs fan

Bob Newhart has died, and it’s fair to say that any and all Americans who enjoyed his comedy are deeply saddened. I’m squarely in that category. I alway felt an affinity for Bob and his Bob Hartley character on the Bob Newhart Show. Newhart grew up in Chicago and was Jesuit-educated: St. Ignatius High School […]

My quest for the Classic Cleveland Indians cap of my childhood

I started this blog years ago with the idea that I could comment on sports and life while riffing off the many baseball caps I owned, each one inspiring some memory or insight that I thought others might like to read. Today, I’ll tell the tale of my latest acquisition, one I spent several frustrating […]

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 […]