His place in history

A week ago, when the baseball season hadn’t yet started, and the Cubs weren’t off to their “This will be a long year, won’t it?” start of 1-4 after five games, I scanned a card highlighting long-ago Cubs pitcher Rick Reuschel. Today, in the interest of equal time–and to keep me from going off on this

The pivotal year

I was walking my dog this morning when I noticed a penny in the street. It was in the crease between the actual street and the asphalt lump that rises to form a speed bump. Speed bumps are prevalent in my neighborhood, and they’re irritating but, like squirrels, they continue to exist without regard to

There will be less to chew on

In the process of identifying another player with some chaw in his back pocket (and right underneath his batting glove), I wanted to write a few more words about baseball and tobacco. I’m not old enough to remember Joe Garagiola as a player. Instead, I think about him as a baseball announcer, for the Game