REMEMBERING JACOB RUPPERT
Owners come and owners go. Some have been hands on and others have tended to their own affairs and let the teams they owned function led by pros. The Jake, the man who created the New York Yankee empire was so involved that he even took a broom from time to time to sweep up […]
13 Things You Probably Did Not Know About Jackie Robinson
With hype and hullabaloo in the air over the 2018 All Star Game and all of its sidebars, my thoughts somehow turn to Jackie Robinson, a six-time all star and my all-star of all stars. Much is known about him, but there are quite a few things that are not. For your Number 42 consciousness […]
Remembering Harry O’Neill: Philadelphia A’s Catcher and American Hero
Over one thousand Major League Baseball players served in the US military during World War II. Yet despite this large number – and in spite of both the ferocity and length of the war – only two of those ballplayers were killed in action during World War II. Their names were Elmer Gedeon and Harry […]
PRELUDE: Here come the Yankees
By Harvey Frommer From a stumbling start back in 1903, from owners that since then in the main have set a top drawer tone and a high standard, from managers who asserted their will pushing players to perform beyond their abilities, who established winning ways setting the pattern for others to follow, from stars and […]
The Shot Heard ‘Round the World
By Harvey Frommer Throughout the long history of baseball there have been poignant, exciting, dramatic moments. But very few can compare to what happened on October 3, 1951 at the old Coogan’s Bluff.” Others, especially in Brooklyn, call it “Dat Day.” But no matter what label is applied it was a time to remember. […]
REMEMBERING MEL ALLEN
By Harvey Frommer I had the very good fortune in 1990 to visit the legendary Mel Allen at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. I was there to collect memorabilia for the “Stars of David: Jews in Sports” exhibit that I was the curator and executive producer for at the Klutznik Museum in Washington, D.C. My […]
RED BARBER
“Red was perhaps the most literate sports announcer I ever met.”-Vin Scully In my early and middle years of writing sports book, I called on Red Barber to blurb them. He never failed. He along with Mel Allen those long ago summer nights spun the tales of New York City Baseball and hooked me on […]
Dan Driessen, Forgotten Cog of the Big Red Machine
Do you remember your first trip to a Major League ballpark? The sights and sounds of the Big Leagues can be dizzying for a young fan getting his first in-person taste of the game at the highest level. That was certainly the case for me when I visited Riverfront Stadium on June 23, […]
Summer of ’41: Joe DiMaggio’s Epic 56-Game Hitting Streak
With all the hype and hoopla surrounding Aaron Judge and with all the comparisons to the accomplishments of the Yankee Clipper, what Joe Di did in 1941 stands at the top of the list . So here is the flashback. Harvy FrommPhoer The 1941 Yankees were a loaded team. They would win 101 games, the […]
Baseball’s Golden Era: New York Cubans
By Ismael Nunez From 1947 to 1957, a baseball team from New York City would win the World Series. The three teams present in New York City were the New York Yankees, New York Giants, and Brooklyn Dodgers. Some of the greatest players came out of this decade. The Yankees would win five World Series […]
How Murderers’ Row Shaped Baseball
When Yankee owner Colonel Ruppert’s “Rough Riders,” as some called them in the late 1920s, were not going head to head against their American League competition, they were playing exhibition games in Buffalo, Omaha, Rochester, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis… Everyone in the little cities and small towns wanted to catch a glimpse of the Babe, Lou […]
Dog Days at Fenway Park
With the crowds having fun at the hub in Boston, with the team gearing up to go deep this October, with a roster loaded with talent and more on the way, a flashback to Sox in the Sixties is almost like culture shock. September 28th, 1960, Red Sox vs. Orioles. Overcast, dank, chilly the final […]
Top 15 Best Baseball Players of All Time
It’s never easy to rank sportsmen due to how much loyalty these athletes manage to foster. However, certain facts have to be taken into consideration, and, with that in mind, this is a listing of 15 of the best baseball players in the history of the game. Roger Clemens Clemens posted Earned Run Averages –or […]
Top 10 professional baseball players with glasses
Players who have weak eyesight may be intimated by the fact that they have to wear glasses on the field. However, ever since the earliest days of baseball, notable baseball players have sported spectacles during baseball games. Here is a list of top 10 professional baseball players with glasses. So next time if you have to wear glasses on […]
Baseball’s Biggest Wins by Underdogs
The game of baseball has many hard to believe success stories, some of which have been made into films. The game proves the underdog always has a chance. We are all aware of the happy fact that even the chief underdog has a chance, and a sport that has had many stories of improbable victories […]
The best Third Baseman in the History of Baseball
Most young baseball fans have been taught that no one played third base like Brooks Robinson. That Brooks was the undisputed best third baseman of all time. When discussing this I have to be careful since I like Brooks. Just a couple of years after he retired he came through our area and played […]
Hank Aaron’s Final Home Run
By Chris Zantow On Tuesday, July 20, 1976, Hank Aaron hit his 755th and final home run for the Milwaukee Brewers in a 6-2 win over the California Angels. It was mid-season, so most likely none of the 10,134 in attendance at Milwaukee County Stadium had any idea it was the last time Hammerin’ Hank would hit one out of the […]
The Minor Leagues’ Home Run King
Most baseball fans are familiar with Barry Bonds, also known as baseball’s all-time home run king. But he’s just the MLB’s leader in home runs. “Who leads the minors in career homers?” you ask. The answer? A man named Mike Hessman. Hessman went to Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California and was a star […]
What would Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner & Willie Mays be paid in 2015?
Hey baseball fans! With the offseason upon us, money is a big topic in many of my baseball-related conversations. Should this player be paid more? Should this player be paid less? Should this player sign a bigger contract? I have heard these questions daily for the past couple of months and I’ve answered them differently […]
The Louisville Slugger Legacy
The beginnings of the famous baseball bat making company Louisville Slugger is something out of a storybook or a classic Coca-Cola commercial. It started with a young man’s love of baseball, opportune timing and a father’s willingness to make his son happy. It Started With a Broken Bat In 1884, the Louisville Eclipse team, led […]
An infographic on how baseball has evolved over the years
Provided by Nationwide Insurance
Did Jackie Robinson Impact Major League Baseball More than Any Other Player?
Jackie Robinson didn’t just say that; he lived it. Monday, April 15, 2013 marks the 66th anniversary of the pioneer who journeyed where no man had journeyed before him. If his life is measured by the impact it made on others, it is nothing short of monumental. Has anyone impacted Major League Baseball more than […]
Top Earners in Baseball: Worth It or Not?
By Becky Wilcox When Nolan Ryan became baseball’s first million dollar ballplayer in 1980 in signing with the Houston Astros, everyone thought the game was going crazy when it came to salaries. Over 30 years later and adjusted for inflation, a million dollars doesn’t have the buying power it did in 1980 for Ryan. In […]
The biggest issue with the Hall of Fame voting process
Yesterday was a big day for the BBWAA and the baseball Hall of Fame as we saw several ‘tainted’ names come up on the ballot results. When the results came out we learned that none of the players eligible had been granted entry. Names that include a pitcher with 350+ wins, the all-time home run […]
The curse of the Triple Crown title
By Ismael Nunez Miguel Cabrera just won the Baseball Triple Crown: (which means he led the AL) in Home-Runs, RBI, Batting; yet in the 2012 World Series he did not have the same type of production. One Home-Run in Game Four and struck out to end the Series. Yet it’s not the first time a Triple […]
Art Gallery Salutes Fenway Park
A multi-media salute to Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox and baseball is on display at the Bunker Hill Community College Art Gallery in Boston. More than 30 artists and collectors, most from New England, provided oilpaintings, quilts, watercolors, drawings and cartoons for “Take Me Out To The Ballgame: Celebrating Fenway@100.” The exhibit features black-and-white […]
Seeing Lee Is Well Worth the Journey
One of my favorite former ballplayers is pitcher Bill Lee. Lee pitched for the Boston Red Sox and the Montreal Expos from 1969-1982. He was also blacklisted from Major League Baseball for standing up for his teammates. The Expos released one of Lee’s teammates, Rodney Scott. Lee and Scott were friends, and Lee thought that Scott was […]
Doris Sams, Women’s Baseball Pioneer, Dies at 85
Doris Sams, a pioneering women’s baseball star who inspired the film “A League of Their Own,” died Thursday, June 23rd in Knoxville from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 85. Sams, known as Sammy to her teammates and friends, was one of the leading players in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, founded in 1943 […]
The History of Little League Baseball
Little League Baseball is the largest organization for youth sports and has been the hallmark organization for children’s recreational baseball for over 70 years. From a meager beginning of only one league and 30 total participants in 1939 Little League Baseball has grown to 7,123 leagues and 2,513,760 participants as of the year 2010. […]
Upon Further Review: Who’s the Greatest Pitcher Ever?
This article was written by Alexander Herd. Since the beginning of the “Upon Further Review” series, we’ve looked at several different aspects to the game of baseball. From first basemen who may make the Hall to the importance and significance of a closer. In this installment, Vinny Ginardi and Greg Kaplan are going to try […]
