Kirk Gibson and the enduring image

Everyone who knows anything about baseball can tell you about Kirk Gibson and the 1988 World Series. It was Game one of that series, and nobody gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a chance against the Bash Brothers that were the Oakland A’s. The A’s had their unstoppable closer, Dennis Eckersley on the mound, when Dodgers

A wonderful season

How much does anybody really know about the ballgame in Atlanta on April 8, 1974? Hank Aaron hit his 715th homer in the fourth inning, into the bullpen behind left-center field. Two random guys came out to congratulate Aaron between 2nd and 3rd base. His mother was waiting to give him a big hug as

Say it ain’t so

Unlike a lot of people who pay attention to these things, I was supportive of Ryan Braun’s recent MVP award. Matt Kemp of the Dodgers had a better statistical season than Braun–only a fool would deny that–but the award isn’t really about that. What the award is about is up to the individual voter, and

And the first shall be first

When each of us was in school, we all learned pretty quickly where we fell in the alphabetical listing of students in the class. Teachers had us listed that way in their grade books, and whenever the roll call was made, we knew if we would be called near the front, in the middle, or