On a sweltering summer day in 1960, my father parked our family station wagon and led my mother, my sisters, and me through the front gates of Sportsman’s Park, then the hallowed home of the St. Louis Cardinals. First Day at the Ballpark Until that day, I had known the Cardinals only from the box […]
baseball
From History Teacher to Minnesota Twins Curator
How do you get to be the guy with the coolest job in baseball? Well, it all started with just good manners. Major League Baseball’s First Team Curator Clyde Doepner looked at a high stack of mail on his desk his first day back from summer break in 1966. As a high school history teacher […]
The Japanese Babe Ruth: Shohei Ohtani
There is a new sensation in baseball and he is from Japan. He is on a record-breaking spree and if we are to go by the numbers (and even performance on the field), it would not be wrong to claim that he is the Japanese equivalent of the legend, Babe Ruth. The player is Shohei […]
Hank Aaron: Greatest Baseball Hitter
Hank Aaron, the greatest baseball hitter of all time played in a National League city – Atlanta, home of the Braves. Growing up in Kansas City, an America League City, where I first followed the Kansas City Athletics and then the Kansas City Royals, Hammerin Hank didn’t receive a lot of newspaper mentions in the […]
Living the Dream: The Wrigley Rooftop Experience
Wrigley Field is baseball’s Mecca. Wrigley Field is ivy-covered brick walls, Harry Caray sings “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and Ferris Bueller played hooky to attend an afternoon Cubbies game. Celebrating its 100th year birthday in 2014, the old ballpark outshines its host team. The Friendly Confines The Cubs’ sad post-season record hasn’t stopped […]