1920: A Year of Tragedy and Scandal

Just a few days before the 1920 World Series between the Brooklyn Robins (also known as the Dodgers) and the Cleveland Indians began, Eddie Cicotte and Shoeless Joe Jackson turned rumors to fact about gamblers reaching their tentacles into the clubhouse to choke the...

Ralph Houk: Filling Casey’s Shoes

When Ralph Houk took over the manager job for the New York Yankees, he had big shoes to fill.  Casey Stengel’s shoes. Houk guided the Yankees from 1961 to 1973, then took the helm of the Detroit Tigers from 1974 to 1978.  He finished his managerial career with...

The Hall of Fame Case for Bill Buckner

“Little roller up along first.  Behind the bag!  It gets through Buckner!  Here comes Knight and the Mets win it!” Vin Scully’s broadcast of Mookie Wilson’s 10th inning ground ball in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series sends chills through the...

Opening Day

Opening Day is a metaphor for life.  It helps inaugurate Spring with hope, the very base of the season’s renaissance. Indeed, any junior high student in French class will tell you that naître, the root of renaissance, means to awaken in the language of love....