Review of John Grisham’s Baseball Novel, Calico Joe

Calico Joe is the newest novel by my favorite fiction author John Grisham. It arrived on my ipad late on Tuesday afternoon. I finished it by Wednesday night and most of it was finished on a trip to see our Gator softball team take on UCF a couple of hours away. We lost the game [...]

Why Florida Fans Are Upset With NCAA Softball Officials

I have waited a few days to let my thoughts get focused and my emotions settle down before composing this note to the NCAA and those that are in charge of the Women’s College World Series. And before you Pac-10 fans start throwing rocks let me start by congratulating the Arizona State Sun Devils for [...]

UCLA and Florida Softball, a New Rivalry?

It was a great weekend of softball at Katie Seashole Pressley Stadium on the University of Florida’s campus. Perfect weather if you were a Gator, very hot and humid if you had to make the trip from UCLA. The weather might have played a bigger part than expected when you factor in the two double [...]

Rivalries and Respect

Rivalries and Respect. Do those two words belong together in the minds of most fans or players? At first blush, I have to admit that I didn’t see it either. You hate your rivals don’t you? You can’t stand anything about them. You don’t like their colors, their field, their stadium, their players, their managers [...]

Is it still the Mid-Summer Classic?

Baseball is the Great American Pastime. It is a game we grew up with and many of us love, especially those who are on this site. As I write this, it is the All-Star break and the game is tonight. Yet I can’t help but feel that the game I love has lost something with [...]

Southeastern Conference Champs and Statistical Leaders

Some baseball guys and gals swear by the old idiom that “defense and pitching wins championships.” Others are more inclined to go with the more recently popular “chicks did the long ball.” Still others believe the best way to win is to out hit your opponents and you most often do that by leading the [...]

Ben Chapman and Jackie Robinson

Ben Chapman or Chappy as I was instructed to call him, (see my previous article for my introduction to him) was born and reared in the Deep South during a time when racial segregation was the norm. He played baseball during the segregated years as well. What is interesting to me is how he is [...]

My Time With Ben Chapman

Unlike my esteemed colleagues on this website, I am not a baseball historian. I am not a professional baseball writer. Nor have I ever played the game professionally. So as you read this article, please keep that in mind. What I am however, is a life-long fan of the game of baseball. I played it [...]