by David Krell | Feb 11, 2017 | David Krell
In the ninth month of 1965, baseball fans reveled in the aura of excellence displayed at major league ballparks. Ernie Banks, the jovial Cubs shortstop, whose trademark suggestion “Let’s play two!” indicates pure delight in playing baseball, knocked...
by David Krell | Feb 8, 2017 | David Krell
Famed for its portrayal in Jim Bouton’s tell-all book Ball Four, the Seattle Pilots lasted one season—1969. While the Mets inched toward an improbable World Series victory against the Baltimore Orioles, the Pilots went 64-98. After the ’69 season,...
by David Krell | Feb 4, 2017 | David Krell
“I believe in the Church of Baseball.” So begins Bull Durham, a 1988 cinematic voyage exploring the charm of the minor leagues. Written and directed by former minor league ballplayer Ron Shelton, Bull Durham expresses a journeyman’s wisdom and...
by David Krell | Jan 22, 2017 | David Krell
In the 1976 movie The Bad News Bears, Walter Matthau plays Morris Buttermaker, a former minor league ballplayer with the unenviable task of managing a team consisting of loudmouth Little Leaguers. Matthau’s rumpled persona matches the Buttermaker character like...
by David Krell | Jan 18, 2017 | David Krell
On September 29, 2004, Montreal bid adieu to its beloved Expos ball club. And so, a baseball legacy faded into finality as the Expos transitioned to become the Washington Nationals. Montreal never celebrated a World Series championship, but moments of greatness...
