Harmon Killebrew, Lew Burdette, and the Red Seat

When Harmon Killebrew died in 2011, obituaries recalled the statement of former Baltimore Orioles manager Paul Richards:  “Killebrew can knock the ball out of any park, including Yellowstone.” Killebrew’s power resulted in 573 home runs in a 22-year...

The Decade of Baseball Migration

The 1950s was a decade of change. Elvis Presley spearheaded the introduction of rock and roll, television replaced radio as the preferred mass medium for news and entertainment, and several baseball teams migrated westward—way westward for two teams, mid-westward for...

The Tragedy of Roy Campanella

Roy Campanella grew up in a section of Philadelphia called, appropriately, Nicetown. “He was like a little Santa Claus.  Everybody loved Campy…This guy was just one happy, great, lovable baseball person.  And that’s about the way I can describe...

Opening Day

Opening Day is a metaphor for life.  It helps inaugurate Spring with hope, the very base of the season’s renaissance. Indeed, any junior high student in French class will tell you that naître, the root of renaissance, means to awaken in the language of love....

The Larry Sanders Show

With Stephen Colbert entering the late night talk show wars, audiences have another choice to wind down their day.  Late night, a programming block invented by NBC with Broadway Open House in 1950, spurred a slew of hosts. Steve Allen debuted Tonight, later...