Batman, Baseball, and 1966

1966 was the year of the superhero, thanks to Batman.  After the camp version premiered on ABC in January, starring Adam West in the title role, Batman triggered a fascination that inspired a slew of iconic guest villains: Cesar Romero as the Joker Burgess Meredith as...

How Cooperstown Got Its Name

Cooperstown is a destination rooted in myth.  Abner Doubleday did not, most certainly, invent baseball on a grassy area while he was a military school cadet. And yet, it is that myth anchoring the village’s notoriety as the home of the National Baseball Hall of...

The Hall of Fame Case for Lou Piniella

Lou Piniella is one of baseball’s greatest journeymen—a player with the Orioles, the Indians, the Royals, and the Yankees, in addition to stints as a manager with the Yankees, the Reds, the Mariners, the Devil Rays, and the Cubs. Piniella’s achievements as...

1986, Hollywood, and the Chicago Cubs

1986 was the Year of the Cub—for Hollywood, anyway. About Last Night stars Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, charter members of the Brat Pack—a group of young actors dominating movie screens in the 1980s.  Lowe and Moore play a couple trying to extend a one-night stand into a...

The Burning of Boundary Field

Not since British troops burned the White House during the War of 1812 had the environs of the nation’s capital endured a conflagration triggering a plummet in morale.  On March 17, 1911, a fire tore through the Washington Nationals’ ballpark, also known...

The Death of Lou Gehrig

Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.  So said a fictional version of Babe Ruth in the 1993 film The Sandlot. Lou Gehrig, undoubtedly, belongs in the latter category.  Stricken by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, the Yankee slugger died on June 2, 1941 at the...