24 posts
Mantle goes deep Once upon a time, early in the 1950s, there were three professional baseball teams in New York City. The Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Yankees, and the New York Giants. At that time, perhaps three of the best center fielders who ever played the game played for…
The discussion between Bear and B&P on the use of drugs in Baseball got me to thinking. Drugs of some kind have been in vogue in some fashion as long as I have been following baseball. I may not have been aware of it, but it was prevalent. A number of former players have become…
Earlier in the week I had a dialogue with MT and Bluto regarding the lack of confidence I have in RVS as a competent MLB Team Batting Coach. I have no doubts that his methodology can and does work for some, but each batter is different and needs a different approach. At least…
Well, spring training is here. Right now it is dominated by the sound of balls hitting mitts with amazing velocity. There is plenty of optimism, and from each camp, you hear that this guy looks amazing, and his pitches are jumping out of his hand. All that will change in the next few days when the rest of the squad reports and soon the crack of the bat will join
The St. Louis Cardinals have always been an iconic organization in MLB and arguably the most successful NL via winning more WS than any other NL team, trailing only the NYY. The Cardinals have won 11 WS in 19 appearances. They also hold the ire of Dodger fans as St. Louis has beaten the LAD in four postseason series (1985 NLCS, 2004, NLDS, 2013 NLCS, and 2014 NLDS) against a
Last week baseball lost another legend. Henry Aaron. Though he never played for the Dodgers, I had a deep respect for him as a man, and a ballplayer. I cannot imagine how it was for him growing up a black kid in the south. Nor can I imagine the hate directed at him when he was closing in on breaking the all-time HR mark set by Babe Ruth. He had
Hi gang! I thought I would lighten the mood around the morgue and talk about a subject I know a little about. Beards. As I was looking through my baseball cards, I noticed the obvious. There is a lot more facial hair in the game today than when I first started watching the game. Clean faces were the thing. Back in the 1800 s, a lot of players favored wearing a
Mark did such a great job in his tribute to Lasorda. It was moving and fitting. And as usual, it got me thinking of how many of those who influenced us in our lives have passed on over the last few years. I remember how sad I was when Duke Snider passed in 2011. He was 84 at the time, but I was glad that Duke had been alive to
Born in the small town of Washington Maine on November 30. 1901, Clyde Leroy Sukeforth, or Sukey as he was known in baseball circles, was a typical small town boy. He began playing when he was young and grew as youngsters did in those days to love the game. Over his career he would catch, coach, manage and scout for major league teams. He is forever tied to the Dodgers
It starts when you are young. For some, it is your first program, for others baseball cards, and some an autograph. Mine started with cards. I got my first pack when I was 7. 1955 Topps. I was living in Minnesota with my mom and we moved back to California that fall. I went to an Angels game with my uncle. And the next day I got a pack of
This season, our long drought ended, and the Dodgers brought home the trophy. What a great feeling. And over the last few years we have come close, and just fell short. But in the days before the present system was set up and league expansion, there were only 2 winners. No second chance at a title. Just two teams battling it out for MLB supremacy. Four times in their history,
Today my topic is Johnny Roseboro. One of the things I often wished was that I had been able to see Campy play when he was at his peak. Even one year in LA would have been nice, but it was not to be. So for my formative years watching the game, our catcher most of the time was John Junior Roseboro. He was born in Ashland, Ohio on May
Well I am back. Hope you are all basking in the glow of the Dodgers World Series win. I know for me it will always be a great memory. So, my tale today is about the men who umpire our great game. Specifically 5 of the 10 men who are in the hall. The second half will be in the next installment. Think about that. Over 130 years of professional
He was my favorite player growing up. A California boy who found fame in the borough of Brooklyn. He was a graceful outfielder, and a power hitting threat on the great Brooklyn teams of the late 40 s and 50 s. He was the only lefty threat in the lineup that featured Jackie, Gil, Campy, Pee Wee, and Scoonj. And in Brooklyn he was simply The Dook . I got that part from
I have been a baseball and Dodger fan for slightly more than 60 years. My love for baseball was immediate, and with the Dodgers, it was love at first sight. In that sixty years, I have listened to or watched roughly 7,500 Dodger games. I have also watched and coached countless youth ball and high school baseball games. I have also had the pleasure of watching my sons participate in
I am old school. Never have claimed to be anything but. Baseball has been a part of my life, a big part, for over 60 years. LA was a minor league city until the Dodgers moved here in 1958. We played the game anywhere we could, usually on our school playground. Some played little league, others did not. I never really had any coaching until I played little league. Then
In 1999 Nike came out with a clever commercial featuring Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Mark McGwire and Heather Locklear. Rather than pay attention to the Cy Young award winning pitchers, Glavine and Maddux, Heather swooned over Mark McGuire and his ability to hit the ball over the fence. After a stringent work out regiment, Glavine and Maddux hit some out in batting practice and, for the first time, Heather Locklear
There’s a pretty good chance, unless you are an ardent student of “old-time” baseball and you are a scholarly student of the Negro Leagues, that you have never heard of Bullet Rogan. I have to confess that I knew very little of Bullet Joe Rogan until my recent article on the Negro Leagues. Frankly, even with the information we have, there is far too little known about him. From those
So I wrote and submitted this article to Jeff on July 22nd in the a.m. He then let me know he had a couple of other articles lined up and that it might be posted later this week. Then, the Dodgers go and sign Mookie Betts. Wow! I decided to leave the article intact with a few adjustments. ● I’m glad that I was proven wrong. I did not
The other night I watched a few innings of the Dodger intra-squad. Even though they added piped in music, and “fan noise” it was still difficult for me to get excited about the game. One thing I did enjoy, however, was watching Josiah Gray pitch. He is a good one folks! And, if baseball ever returns to some semblance of normalcy, I can see great things ahead for him. Both
I’m going to come right out and say that I believe that Gil Hodges should be in the Hall of Fame. Much has been written about the subject and nothing that I offer here is unique or original to me. I will just say this, if a player can be voted in for being a tremendous person, then Gill Hodges would be a unanimous first ballot selection. I was too
In 1961, 21 year old local boy, Willie Davis became the Dodger’s starting center fielder. He was to become the replacement for the great Duke Snider, beating out among others the legendary Don Demeter :-). I was 10 years old at the time. Being the gawky string bean kid that I was, I had no real idea of the concept of “cool.” Even though I didn’t know what “cool” was,
Every true baseball fan knows about Kershaw and nearly everybody on the planet knows about Koufax, but only the truest of true Dodger fans know that there was yet a third outstanding left-handed “K” who once pitched for the Dodgers – Karl Spooner. Karl Benjamin Spooner was born on June 23, 1931 in Oriskany Falls, a village in upstate New York about 20 minutes south of Utica. He grew up
There has been a lot of discussion about the state of the game with respect to Home Runs and Strikeouts. Many of us remember when hitting wasn’t so much hit or miss as it is today, and for many of us remember the game was more enjoyable when teams were “producing” runs. But the HR has always been the attention grabber. The first and arguably the most prodigious HR hitter
