It is from the Kansas City Royals, a barnstorming club in California that was run by Chet Brewer. LOOK magazine, at Mann's behest, commissioned Maurice Terrell for a photo session at Lane Field in San Diego on October 7, 1945. See: ourgame.mlblogs.com/jackie-robin...
Third in a season-long series, at Our Game. Jackie Robinson Day, reconsidered. The story concludes: "I must have known how alone he was and how awesome a mission he had assumed: to be the individual who shaped the crowd — which is what a hero does." ourgame.mlblogs.com/americas-nat...
Hail and farewell, Garret Anderson.
Pedestrianism! Also known as race walking, it was a major sport in the 19th century. blogs.loc.gov/picturethis/...
Jackie Robinson Day coincides with the death of Lincoln.
"Come On, Play Ball With Me, Dearie"; as sung in Flo Ziegfeld Jr's annual review "Follies of 1909." The girls and the costumes are great, but that backdrop is a really good depiction of the Polo Grounds before the fire of 1911.
Once upon a time ...
I spent 28 years researching the origin of baseball--its "father" is not Abner Doubleday (nor Alexander Cartwright), though the involvement of a religious cult makes for a wild and woolly tale. The book was published in 2011:
Second in a season-long series: America's National Game. This essay focuses on 1920 and three men who changed the game: Babe Ruth, Rube Foster, and Joe Jackson. ourgame.mlblogs.com/americas-nat...
Jayson Stark throws me a nod in his discussion of the Jo Adell game. www.nytimes.com/athletic/718...
This image should have loaded by now:
Hail and farewell, Davey Lopes.
Now on Youtube, Larry Lester and I, gabbing about "Negro Leagues Stats and MLB's Official Record": www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1E9...
The launch of a new, season-long series at Our Game, focusing on events in baseball that changed America. The opening essay is on FDR's green-light letter of January 15, 1942. ourgame.mlblogs.com/americas-nat...
Via the NYT: I love the idea of a version of Melville's Bartleby for kids. Seems to teach, more gently, the same lesson. That said, sometimes it's emotionally satisfying to identify with Ol' Bart's attitude.
My first contribution to a published book, in a section on shaving implements, from Catalog of the Unusual, 1973.
There is some precedent! A few years ago, @johnthorn.bsky.social and friends recorded a re-creation of a famous game from 1870: m.youtube.com/watch?v=k52j...
A leftover from Roy Cullenbine?
Not 42 (Dodgers). Not 9 (Montreal). Not 5 (Monarchs). Number 30 is new to me.
And I would say the game overall is better for it. The extra-inning rule is still quite contentious, but otherwise time after time, these rules changes faced fan pushback until they were implemented and then largely accepted.
It's an accomplishment:
www.baseballamerica.com/stories/abs-...
The National League, not the NA, was the league that endured. Reasonable people may disagree.
MLB's decision not to recognize the National Association as the first major league dates to 1969. See: ourgame.mlblogs.com/why-is-the-n...
One could make that case. Or any of those in the field. But the box score does not record pitches.
MLB played its first game on April 22, 1876. Here is a play-by-play that I worked up, from newspaper sources. ourgame.mlblogs.com/mlbs-first-g...
The Final Four, sorta. At Durland's Academy, 1902.
I used to live around the corner from Fanelli's on Sullivan Street between Prince and Spring.
Andrew Marchand on Opening Night, in the @nytimes: "A new season starts another chapter, but it is an old book." Yes indeed.
