Baseball mitt reissues: One can hope

Volkswagen brought back the Beetle. Ford reissued the Thunderbird. And Corgi toys have reissued its Batmobile model, as my Facebook and Instagram feeds remind me nearly every day. As a baseball fan, I’ve long wished that sporting goods companies would offer us reissued versions of the mitts we had in our younger days. Several years […]

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 […]

another Ohio STATE-Notre Dame matchup

As a kid, I watched a lot of Ohio State football games, really getting into the Buckeyes when Rex Kern led them through an undefeated season in 1968. By that time, I’d learned the basics about college football conferences, at a time when the Big 10 had 10 teams (AS GOD INTENDED!). Growing up in […]

Rest in peace, Bob Uecker

News of the death of Bob Uecker hit me hard. Uecker, the Milwaukee kid who made it to the big leagues and made it even bigger as an entertaining ambassador for baseball, was one of the great characters of the game. I first heard Ueck on WTMJ radio when I moved to Milwaukee for graduate […]

The day they traded Gorman Thomas

For 23 years, I worked for The Associated Press in five bureaus across the country and at headquarters in New York. I joined the wire service in Milwaukee in 1981, as the Brewers were gaining momentum that would carry them to the memorable 1982 World Series. The Brewers lost that series to the St. Louis […]

Turkey Bowl XXX in Princeton

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We celebrated the traditional way in Princeton, New Jersey, by playing the 30th annual Princeton Gentlemen’s Society Turkey Bowl football game. Thanks to gimpy knees, I was a non-combatant. I did prowl the sidelines taking photos. My main photo outings are shooting birds and other wildlife, but I also enjoy sports photography […]

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 farewell to the Oakland Athletics

For six years in the 1990s, I lived about two and a half miles from the Oakland Coliseum. From the front lawn of our home in Alameda, I could occasionally hear cheers from an Oakland A’s game, if the wind was just right. I followed the A’s regularly back then, listening to their games on […]

A nice night at Kauffman Stadium

A family gathering brought my wife and me to Kansas City last weekend, and we got in early enough Friday evening that we were able to catch the Royals hosting the Minnesota Twins. I’d been to Kauffman Stadium once a few years ago, and it didn’t make much of an impression on me. But I […]

Saying farewell to the Say Hey Kid

Willie Mays died last night at age 93, news that most Americans woke up to today. So did I, by checking the text my daughter sent me last night shortly after I’d dropped off to sleep. Although I never saw Willie play in person, I saw him play on TV in many an All-Star game […]