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 […]

Looking back fondly on my ball-playing life

Playing softball again this year has got me thinking about the arc of my ball-playing life. It began as a toddler trying to hit a plastic ball tossed by my dad and has morphed into the 60-something trudger that I’ve become. As a kid, I learned the rules and how to play the game. “Meet […]

‘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. […]

Saying farewell to my left knee

I underwent replacement surgery for my left knee on Thursday, Jan. 23. As with many things in my life, a connection to baseball is involved. In all my years as a kid and teenager playing baseball, only once did play come to a halt because I was injured. It happened when I was 11 years […]

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 […]

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, […]

Cleveland gets it right: The Guardians is a great name

For this Cleveland native and lifelong Indians fan, the news of the pending switch to the name “Guardians” came Friday morning after I’d finished loading the car for the long drive home from my daughter’s home in suburban Detroit. I did a quick check of Twitter and the news was at the top of my […]