PitchCom: No more shaking off signals

It has slowly dawned on me over this baseball season that a ritual component of the game has gone the way of barehanded fielders. What’s missing? The pitcher shaking off signs from the catcher on which pitch to throw. PitchCom, the secure way for hurlers to get instructions on the next pitch from the catcher […]

Another manager bites the dust

The Philadelphia Phillies fired Rob Thomson as manager today, an inevitable outcome after the Phils got off to a terrible start to the 2026 season. Never mind that Thompson guided the Fightin’ Phils to winning records under his tutelage for the four previous seasons. An ugly 9-11 start doomed Thomson, who I hope gets another […]

The soothing sounds of Spring Training

I spent the previous two days watching the snow fall and a few hours shoveling during and after the Nor’easter storm that blanketed much of the Northeast. Post-shoveling, through the MLB app on my iPhone I was able to catch some of the glorious sounds of opening weekend for Spring Training. Actually, I heard a […]

A New York minute with my new Giants cap

At mid-week, I took a train into New York City on my way to visit my son and his family who live in Manhattan. They had given me a spiffy fitted and personalized San Francisco Giants cap for Christmas, and wearing it was the right headwear choice for a moderately cold January outing. On the […]

1968: The Year of the Pitcher remembered

Whenever I visit the nearby public library, I always check the stacks for baseball books. The other day, I picked up “The Year of the Pitcher” by Sridharan Pappu. In it, he chronicles the 1968 baseball season, highlighted by the pitching dominance of Bob Gibson, who posted an infinitesimally small E..R.A. for the Cardinals, and […]

Remembering a great season and a great World Series

As the sun has set on the 2025 baseball season, I’m in a reflective, thankful mood. We had a heck of a World Series, with the Toronto Blue Jays taking the mighty (i.e., mightily financed) Dodgers into 11 innings of Game 7 before coming up short. I was rooting for the Jays and shut the […]

Rooting for the BLue Jays (and hoping against hope)

Led by Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers are a formidable force heading into the 2025 World Series. After whipping the Yankees in five games last year, the Dodgers are back and well-positioned for a repeat victory. As a San Francisco Giants fan, I am genetically encoded to root against LA, and I will do […]

Baseball cards to celebrate the playoffs

At the hardware store last weekend, I was surprised to find baseball cards for sale at the checkout counter. Single packs with sticks of desiccated pink gum weren’t on offer as in my childhood days — just cube boxes containing eight Topps packs. I hadn’t bought or even seen baseball cards for sale yet this […]

Hammerin’ Hank is forever

I missed the news last year when the United States Postal Service issued a “forever” stamp in honor of Hank Aaron. But a lovely surprise arrived in the mail the other day. A friend and former Associated Press colleague had stuck one of the stamps in a notecard and mailed it to me in an […]

Hot summer for Princeton baseball: Four players go pro

What a summer it has been for the Princeton University baseball team. The Tigers posted a 12-31 record during the season for a .279 winning percentage. But the percentage of players turning professional is much, much higher. Pitcher Sean Episcope, who spent most of the season injured, was selected in the fifth round of the […]