by David Krell | Apr 21, 2017 | David Krell
What if… Charlie Finley hadn’t broken up the 1970s Oakland A’s dynasty? Bob Uecker hadn’t appeared in Major League? there was no Designated Hitter position? the Mets had never traded Nolan Ryan to the Angels? Yogi Berra had played for the...
by David Krell | Mar 7, 2017 | David Krell
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...
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 | May 9, 2015 | David Krell
Today marks the anniversary of a turning point in baseball. On May 9, 1883, Brooklyn hosted its first home game in professional baseball, playing to a 7-1 victory against Harrisburg in the Interstate Baseball Association. On May 1st, Brooklyn debuted in professional...
by David Krell | Jun 23, 2012 | David Krell
Jim Bouton peeled back the veneer protecting Major League Baseball in his 1970 exposé, Ball Four. It reads like a friend sharing secrets with you over a couple of beers at a baseball game. Bouton, a quasi-phenom pitcher in the early 1960s with the New York Yankees, he...
