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 | Feb 3, 2017 | David Krell
Yankee Stadium owns the patent on ballpark magnificence, Ebbets Field maintains an aura of magic decades after its destruction, and Wrigley Field possesses a charm honed throughout decades of unrealized hope between 1908 and 2016. An Iowa farm ranks among those and...
by David Krell | Feb 2, 2017 | David Krell
When Dizzy Dean pitched for the Cardinals in 1934, St. Louisans rested as easy as a stray feather landing on a duck’s backside—the Arkansas native led the major leagues in wins, strikeouts, and complete games. With a 30-7 record, Dean marked the Cardinals as an...
by David Krell | Feb 1, 2017 | David Krell
Washington, D.C. is a city often laced with discord, evidence by the combative nature of politics. Baseball, too, is combative, but rarely on the level witnessed on September 30, 1971. In the last game of the second incarnation of the Washington Senators, a melee...
by David Krell | Jan 31, 2017 | David Krell
Baseball is a game of sounds. The crack of the bat. The roar of the crowd. The shouts of the vendors. Radio announcers, of course, provide sonic backdrops from optimism lacing spring training to tension surrounding the World Series. Ernie Harwell, Vin Scully, Red...
by David Krell | Jan 30, 2017 | David Krell
Bob Aspromonte fit nicely with the cultural paradigm built upon a “boys will be boys” philosophy in the 1960s, the decade when Joe Namath swaggered while Dean Martin swigged, offering touchstones for male fantasies of being famous and female fantasies of...
