He’s not moving up anytime soon

The picture above makes it clear that Alex Rodriguez was in a lot of pain. Taking a big-league pitch–of any type–off of one’s hand can’t possibly be a pleasant experience. Seeing him writhing on the ground was hard to watch, on a human level. But having said that, it’s hard to muster up much sympathy

My first podcast

I spent some time on the phone this morning with Bernadette at LadyAtTheBat. Her knowledge and passion for the game–and for the Yankees–is evident. She has been running her blog for five years, which I know for a fact takes a lot of dedication. She sent me a link to the show, which I’m sharing

Quite an achievement

Even the most hardcore Cubs fan there is could be forgiven if they forgot about Ron Hassey. He came to the Cubs in the middle of the 1984 season, part of the Rick Sutcliffe trade that sent Joe Carter and Mel Hall to the Indians, and set the Cubs on their way to the divisional

Let’s start with a win

Rick Reuschel was one of the Cubs from my childhood that I remember the most. He was coming off of an 11-17 season when this card appeared in 1976, and then went on to become the Cubs’ first pitcher post-Fergie Jenkins to win 20 games in a season the following year. The Cubs have had

Pitchers and catchers reported today

It’s officially spring training, now that the pitchers and catchers have reported to the Cubs’ facilities in Arizona. Position players are coming in next week. Burt Hooton was a Cubs pitcher who seemed destined for greatness. He made his big league debut in 1971, without spending a single day in the minor leagues. No Cubs

It was a lucky number

In the spring of 1975, I was signed up to play baseball for the first time.  I found out, as I had never really thought about it before, that being left-handed narrowed down my choices for baseball gloves considerably. In fact, there was exactly one glove for left-handers in the entire store: a black glove

An old Footeballer

There’s a few things you may or may not know about former Cubs catcher Barry Foote: He was an everyday catcher for the Montreal Expos in the mid 1970s. Future Hall of Famer Gary Carter played in right field as a result. He was traded to the Phillies for Tim Blackwell (another catcher), and then

Goin’ to the Show

Bull Durham is one of my favorite movies, and I’ve written about it here. I had never heard the majors referred to as “The Show” before the movie came out, but ever since I saw it, the majors are now “The Show.” MLB itself has licensed the term to Sony, and they have used it

I’m rooting for the NL team, even if it is the Cardinals

At the beginning of every baseball season, whenever somebody is making their predictions about how everything will turn out six months later, you can reliably hear two things: The American League East is a “strong division,” while the National League Central is a “weak division.” Any division with both the Yankees and the Red Sox

The unique nature of Game 163

This is my 163rd post on this blog, and I wanted to spend a few moments ruminating on the most unusual game in all of baseball. The baseball regular season is a very predictable thing, in the sense that a team travels around from city to city, plays 2 or 3 or sometimes 4 games

We’ll have to get along without the Yankees

It’s probably a very disappointed crowd of people making their way home from Yankee Stadium. I can’t say I relate to their frustration, though. Yes, the window to win still another championship with Jeter and Rivera just closed for the year. And yes, A-Rod isn’t the man you want at the plate with the game

Process of elimination

On the last night of the regular season, which seems like much longer than eight days ago, we were treated to a sensational night of memorable moments. Perhaps I’m being greedy, but the next thirty-six hours could give us even more moments like this, because three teams will see their seasons end, one way or

Great catch! (x2)

The final score of the game last night was 10-1, Yankees over the Tigers. If you want to get technical about it, the Yankees’ nine-run margin of victory could have withstood either of the catches being missed by centerfielder Curtis Granderson instead. But for momentum swings, you’ll never see two finer rally-killing plays than were

The Tigers don’t miss 2002

It was great to see Comerica Park in Detroit crowded and rocking for tonight’s playoff game. Whenever you have a chance to put the Yankees away on your home field, you’d better have the home crowd out in force. It doesn’t look too good for them in the eighth inning now, but this season has

The game without any drama

When history looks back on the baseball games of last Wednesday night, the Red Sox/Orioles game in Baltimore and the Yankees/Rays game in Tampa will receive the lion’s share of the attention. The endings of the games were weirdly synchronized with each other, in a way that Hollywood would never be able to script. But

Midnight in Baltimore

How devastating was last night for the Red Sox? The collapse that consumed the month of September was one thing, which ended with a 7-20 record coming down the stretch. But there was still hope for them, as they were clinging to a one-run lead in the ninth inning. At the same time, the Yankees

Hard to believe

The last post I wrote was a celebration of the career accomplishments of Mariano Rivera. He’s been great, he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer when the time comes, and I don’t think we’ll see another one like him again. But, having said that, there’s at least one instance where he didn’t come up big.