Surprise! Baseball players bunting

I could scarcely believe my eyes. During the three-game weekend college baseball series between Yale and Princeton, several batters squared to — wait for it! — bunt. The Bulldogs and Tigers each laid down a successful sacrifice bunt in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, and Yale laid down two in the nightcap. Neither team […]

Dodgers and Giants: Let’s bring them back to New York for a series

Knotted in a tie for first place in the National League West Division with the best records in baseball, the Giants and Dodgers begin a marquee weekend series tonight, Friday, Sept. 3. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. Pacific time. The Giants and Dodgers left New York for the West Coast a lifetime ago, […]

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 […]

Pitchers who rake —a dying, underappreciated art

The chatter around the Cold Stove League today is that Major League Baseball is likely to allow a universal designated hitter for whatever shortened season we get in 2020 as well as 2021 and, inevitably, forever after. For years, I’ve been expecting this change to come, all the while fervently hoping it wouldn’t. Metaphorically speaking, […]

Keeping the Tiger team intact

When your season is unexpectedly cut short by a pandemic, what’s a college coach to do? At Princeton, Scott Bradley has turned to virtual tools to keep coaching. Through the university’s athletic fellows program, I’ve had a glimpse of how the head coach and his assistants have managed to keep the team together and inspire […]

Baseball Cards, the Astros, and other Garbage Pail Kids

As I dashed into Target last week to pick up a few food items that needed restocking, I swung by the display for the trading cards on my way to the checkout line. If there’s not going to be a baseball season, I reasoned, I need some baseball cards by which to remember it. I […]

Celebrate the baseball solstice (and put a new equinox on your calendar)

Today, Dec. 28, 2017, marks the annual Baseball Solstice. That’s the mid-point day between the last out of the World Series and the first exhibition game or games of Spring Training. The World Series ended the night of Nov. 1 in Los Angeles, with the Houston Astros defeating the Dodgers. I am still processing the […]

Setting the annual Baseball Solstice

With the temperature flirting with 70 degrees today here in New Jersey, I’m aching for baseball even as I acknowledge we must endure weeks of winter before we hear “Play ball!” again. So it’s high time to announce the annual Baseball Solstice, that precise point between the final out of the World Series and the […]

A farewell to the Freak? I hope not

Just yesterday morning, waking up and moping over the morning news that the Giants had fallen to the Dodgers for a second consecutive night, I got to thinking that it would do the world good to see Tim Lincecum back on the mound. Today, I woke up here on the East Coast to the news […]

My National League picks for the 2014 baseball season

These picks and $3 will get you a coffee and donut at Dunkin’ Donuts: East 1. Atlanta – Top of a weak heap 2. Washington – They’ll make it interesting 3. New York – Struggle, they will 4. Philadelphia – It’ll be a long summer 5. Marlins – It’s always a long summer Central 1. […]