by David Krell | Dec 22, 2016 | David Krell
A minor league baseball treasure resides in the heart of Appalachia. West Virginia may be known for its natural resources—coal, logging, natural gas—but its roots in baseball date back more than 100 years. Charleston began its professional baseball history in 1910...
by David Krell | Dec 20, 2016 | David Krell
It was a glorious moment. On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record, previously thought unassailable, when he hit his 715th career home run. Aaron’s historic blast occurred during a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the...
by David Krell | Dec 19, 2016 | David Krell
Decades before he elevated to the executive suite as owner of the Chicago White Sox, Charles Comiskey pioneered a fielding concept during his playing days. Or so the legend goes. After Comiskey died in 1931, a series of Chicago Daily Tribune articles examined his...
by David Krell | Dec 18, 2016 | David Krell
More than the site of a world-famous automobile race, Indianapolis is a Midwestern bedrock of popular culture. Its benchmarks include being the hometown for David Letterman, the site of Elvis Presley’s last concert, and the setting for the CBS situation comedy...
by David Krell | Dec 17, 2016 | David Krell
A murder-suicide in a Pittsburgh hotel on Valentine’s Day in 1894 firmly occupies a place on the roster of baseball’s tragedies. It was the fatal result of a love affair between a major league pitcher and a baseball mogul’s wife. Edgar McNabb...
by David Krell | Dec 16, 2016 | David Krell
Houston, we have a solution. Famous for its humidity, Houston unveiled a revolutionary, futuristic, and air-conditioned sports refuge—the Harris County Domed Stadium, also known as the Astrodome. Débuting in 1965, the Astrodome’s monkey reflected the 1960s...
by David Krell | Dec 15, 2016 | David Krell
Cleveland, home of the Indians, reveled in the exploits of Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, and Lou Boudreau in the 1940s. The Cleveland Buckeyes did not receive parallel acclaim—this, despite the team’s 1945 Negro League World Series championship. “The public and...
by David Krell | Dec 14, 2016 | David Krell
A prime time powerhouse on the roster of Reagan Era television programs, Magnum, p.i. invokes images of Aloha shirts, a red Ferrari, and a Detroit Tigers baseball cap worn by the title character, played by Tom Selleck “with a shaggy charm that manages to cut...
by David Krell | Dec 13, 2016 | David Krell
Midwesterners are a stoic lot; stereotypically speaking, they’re quiet but not timid. Theirs is a mission of doing a job without complaint, fanfare, and insolence. To be from the Midwest, certainly, is to have a work ethic in your DNA where seeking attention...
by David Krell | Dec 12, 2016 | David Krell
When John Fogerty débuted his 1985 hit song Centerfield, he reminded people of the joy inherent in baseball—the video produced for this musical, lyrical, and nostalgic homage to baseball depicts a collage of footage featuring baseball legends, including Hank Aaron,...
