Bowling, Tim Matheson, and “Dreamer”

“You just dream about something, that’s all it’s ever gonna be.  Just a dream.” So says Harold Nuttingham in the 1979 film Dreamer, a post-Watergate, feel-good movie with a down-to-earth vibe. Nuttingham dreams of being a bowling...

The Hall of Fame Case for Tommy John

Forget about the 288 wins. Forget about the four pennant-winning teams. Forget about the pioneering surgery that bears his name. You might as well.  The Baseball Hall of Fame voters have. Thomas Edward John, Jr., the Terre Haute native who stayed in his hometown to...

Kingman’s Performance

Never at a loss for words, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda uncorked a verbal geyser of “F” word variations in response to a reporter’s inquiry on May 14, 1978.  Dave Kingman earned the privilege of setting off Lasorda by going yard three times and...

“Ball Four Goes Hollywood”

When Jim Bouton’s book Ball Four hit bookshelves in 1970, it exploded myths, revealed secrets, and offered tales of baseball, theretofore kept protected from the public.  If reporters knew about Mickey Mantle’s alcohol problem, for example, they...