A note from somebody at the New York Times alerted me to this new-found footage of Babe Ruth swinging a bat and playing Yankee Stadium outfield circa 1928. The footage comes via 90-second silent 8-millimeter clip shot recently unearthed by a New Hampshire man from his grandfather’s home movie collection. It won’t win any awards [...]
Archive of posts filed under the baseball history category.
One for the Ages
“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” — Maxwell Scott, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
That Satchel Paige was one of the greatest baseball players of all time isn’t exactly a controversial topic these days. Even casual fans are probably familiar with the colorful Paige’s aphorisms (“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on [...]
What the Helton?
Today’s Baseball Prospectus/ESPN Insider double dip concerns the Rockies’ Todd Helton, and in particular his Hall of Fame chances. If you were quietly minding your business by not thinking about Helton’s Cooperstown case, you weren’t alone; I was somewhat surprised when I was offered the assignment:
Is Todd Helton bound for the Hall of Fame? On [...]
Beating the Rush
Last week’s Hit List, submitted for Thursday publication prior to my departure for Milwaukee (hence the holiday traffic title reference) but alas, not run until Friday. The list marks the first time since Opening Day that the Dodgers were not #1; they were one point short of the Rays. Ouch.
Meanwhile, at a Fourth of July [...]
Mind Like a Steel Trap
A few weeks back, I was in Minneapolis for the wedding of my wife’s cousin, and at some point during the festivities, the wedding of the bride’s father came up in conversation. It took place on June 25, 1977, which also happens to be my wife’s birthday (the birthday girl was the flower girl for [...]
An Unexpected Stop for the Ryan Express
Back when the Futility Infielder site was merely a twinkle in my eye, a time when my friends and I were still reveling in our dumb good fortune to climb aboard the Yankee ticketholder bandwagon en route to a 114-win season, an issue of the Brown Alumni Monthly landed in my mailbox. Now, I rarely [...]
The Dodger 100
And now for a welcome break from the steroids hubbub, I’ve got a couple books which recently landed in my in-box to plug this week. The first, which has actually been sitting on my desk for a few weeks, is Jon Weisman’s 100 Things Dodger Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, a 300-page [...]
The Dock Is Out: Dock Ellis (1945-2008)
“Dock Ellis was my first client in baseball, and he gave me as much joy as anybody outside of my family… He was so unique. He was viewed by some people as an outlaw, but he was far from that. He was so ahead of his time. He was so intuitive and smart and talented [...]
Bobby Murcer (1946-2008)
Several years ago, the legendary Cleveland proto-punk band the Styrenes rose from the grave long enough to reissue some great old material via album entitled All the Wrong People are Dying. The title track (listen here) is dirge beneath vocalist Mike Hudson’s spoken-word eulogy for his 33-year-old recently deceased brother Joey, a fellow musician, and [...]
Scraptastic
At the beginning of last month, I was fortunate enough to interview former Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Marvin Miller about his recent statement regarding the Hall of Fame. In the weeks since, the topic of mortality has been an all-too-prevalent one around here, underscoring just how lucky I was to pursue the [...]
