All-College Teams (A Rosenblatt Farewell)

Before I begin, I’d like to thank Mike Lynch for this opportunity to contribute to Seamheads. It’s great to be a part of this amazing lineup of contributors. I live in Omaha, Nebraska, home of Rosenblatt Stadium and the College World Series. The final CWS game to ever be played at Rosenblatt will be either […]

Touring The Bases With…Bob Bruce

Bob Bruce was signed as an amateur free agent by the Detroit Tigers at the age of 20 but it took him six years to make his Major League debut.  Bruce went 18-8 with a 3.20 ERA in his first professional season with the Wausau Timberjacks of the Wisconsin State League in 1953, then went […]

Touring the Bases with…..Craig Wright

Craig R. Wright was the first of what today would be called a “Sabermetrician” to be hired by a major league baseball team. He was the primary author of “The Diamond Appraised” (1989), and with Texas Rangers play-by-play announcer Eric Nadel has done a radio pre-game show called “A Page from Baseball Past” since 1984. […]

Are Innings Limits Here to Stay?

If Hamlet had been a modern general manager in Major League Baseball instead of the tragic heir to the Danish throne, the doomed Dane would have morosely uncovered the reports on his young talented pitchers and mournfully deliberated: “To cap or not to cap, that is the question.” Innings limits have become ubiquitous as front […]

Touring The Bases With…Randy Jones

Former major league hurler Randy Jones spent only 10 years in the bigs and lost more games than he won, going 100-123 for the San Diego Padres and New York Mets, but for two magical seasons, he was among the best pitchers in the game.  After leading the National League in losses with 22 in […]

Touring The Bases With…Kristyne A. Haver

Kristyne A. Haver CPA, is the Controller for the Reading Phillies located in Reading, Pennsylvania.  They have been an Affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies since 1967.  They are in the Eastern League. SEAMHEADS: What does your job consist of?  What are your responsibilities? KRISTYNE: My job title is Controller.  Mainly, I’m in charge of all […]

Time Marches On

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day ~William Shakespeare Time.  There’s no stopping it, no slowing it.  Whether you’re a Hall-of-Fame outfielder, a back-up infielder, or a middle school teacher, time inevitably marches on.  It slows us down, humbles us, and erodes away our natural athletic gifts. The […]

Touring the Bases (Again) With…Jack Perconte

After batting .334, .322 and .326 in three of his first five minor league seasons, second baseman Jack Perconte made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 13, 1980.  He was back in the minors in 1981 where he batted .346 for Albuquerque, then was traded to the Cleveland Indians, with […]

LETTERS FROM QUEBEC: An Expos Birthday…

“Gerry was a great salesman,” the friend said. “How else could he have convinced Walter O’Malley to bring major league baseball to Montreal?” Remember this date – May 27, 1968. It is as significant as any in the history of the organization we once called the Expos. Although pretty well forgotten now, May 27 was […]

That’s Just Me, I Like to Get the Question Right

Armando Galarraga should have pitched a perfect game.  He should have retired twenty-seven batters in a row.  He should have joined the twenty other pitchers in Major League history to have accomplished this feat. He didn’t.  Instead he got screwed.  This was a once-in-a-lifetime, overwhelmingly improbable, shockingly emotional screw-job comparable to when Vince McMahon and […]

Touring the Bases With…Melanie Levy

Melanie Levy is the Senior Group Events Executive for the Sacramento River Cats Baseball Club, Sacramento, California.  They are an Affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. SEAMHEADS: What does your job consist of? MELANIE:  I am a Senior Group Events Executive for the Sacramento River Cats. My job in particular involves working closely with schools K-12 […]

Touring the Bases With…Craig Breslow

Relief pitcher Craig Breslow has been referred to as “the smartest man in baseball” because of his degrees in molecular biophysics and biochemistry earned at Yale University, and his performance on the field has been equally impressive, boasting a 2.78 ERA in 172 career games.  Breslow was drafted out of Yale by the Milwaukee Brewers […]

Touring the Bases With…Janell Bullock

Janell Bullock is the Assistant General Manager of the Kinston Indians located in Kinston, North Carolina. They have been an Affiliate of the Cleveland Indians since 1987. SEAMHEADS: How did you get your start in baseball? JANELL:  I was in college and majoring in accounting and as I was going into my 3rd year, I thought […]

Touring the Bases With…Roger LaFrancois

Boston Red Sox catcher Roger LaFrancois spent only eight games at the Major League level but made the most of it, batting .400 with a double, a run, and an RBI in 10 at-bats in 1982.  Drafted by Boston in the eighth round of the 1977 amateur draft, LaFrancois spent most of his nine professional […]

Talking Expos: Talking Books – in Two Languages

Baseball is a pastoral game. You don’t play a pastoral game in a concrete stadium under a dome. – Charles Bronfman, Expos first owner, September 24, 2004. *     *     * Gone? Indeed. But forgotten – not by a long shot. Not if the spate of recent books about the Montreal Expos means anything. By that […]

Moms

Joe Shrode is a father, and a 19-year youth baseball coach. He is the author of “Between the Lines: A Father, A Son, and America’s Pastime.” BTL goes beyond balls an strikes, hits and outs, and wins and losses. It’s about relationships. To see excerpts, visit www.btlfatherson.blogspot.com.             There is no game tonight, so Sam […]

So Long Mr. Harwell, you will be missed

  It was late September, 2002.  I had a busy week scheduled.  Fly out to Kansas City, MO to do a broadcast with the Kansas City Royals and return home and get married on that Saturday.  My first big league broadcast.  The Royals invited the announcers from some of their minor league affiliates to come […]

Touring the Bases With…Juliana Paoli

Juliana Paoli is Chief Marketing Officer of the San Jose Giants located in San Jose, California.  They are an Affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. SEAMHEADS: You spoke at the Baseball Winter Meeting in Indianapolis last year and Las Vegas in 2008. You also said you were not comfortable as a public speaker.  Do you […]

Senate Bill 1070 and Baseball’s Role in the Coming Storm

There’s a storm brewing in the southwest.  It doesn’t matter how strong the retractable roof that intermittently hangs over Chase Field might be, this tempest will flood baseball in Arizona.  This inclement weather threatens to do more than delay a first pitch or wash out a baseball game.  Instead, we’re talking about a new definition […]

Rambling On About My Glory Days – What to Do When the Lights Go Out

Although I had a few more major league at-bats than “Moonlight Graham” did, I know just how he felt in the movie Field of Dreams – maybe I could have kept playing, but I may have missed my life’s passion, and missed making a difference for some kid. I guess I am one of the […]

I Told You So… or How Javier Vazquez Almost Broke My Leg

He’s not trying to get outs and win baseball games. He’s trying to avoid being on the back page of the Daily News, his hat pulled down over his eyes, his head tilted downward, walking off the mound as manager Joe Girardi waits to hand the ball to reliever Sergio Mitre.

Touring the Bases With…Darryl Hamilton

Darryl Hamilton was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 11th round of the 1986 amateur draft and spent seven seasons in Milwaukee before signing as a free agent with the Texas Rangers in 1996.  After only one season in Texas, Hamilton played for the San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, and New York Mets, with […]

Rambling on About My Glory Days – Rambling & Wondering

I often get the comment from people, “I bet you wished you played now with the money players make these days.” It makes me dream, of course, but I really wonder if I would have even gotten a chance to play professional baseball in today”s game. I have attended quite a few minor league baseball […]

Touring the Bases With…Carlos May

Carlos May, brother of major league slugger Lee May, was selected 18th overall in the 1966 draft, which also featured Reggie Jackson, Gary Nolan, and Richie Hebner.  He spent parts of three seasons in the minors, batting .311 from 1966-1968, before making his big league debut on September 6, 1968 with the Chicago White Sox.  […]

Live It, Love it

For a few weeks now, things have been a little different for me.  I’ve had a spring in my step, a twinkle in my eyes, and a smile curling from the corner of my lips.  The grass has been greener, the sun shining brighter, and the pollen count off the charts. I’m in love, you […]

Touring the Bases With…Tout Wars

Not long ago the Society For American Baseball Research (SABR) announced that it had partnered with Tout Wars, a fantasy baseball league founded in 1998 that pits the top fantasy baseball experts in the industry against each other.  On March 26, F.X. Flinn, a long-time member of SABR’s Board of Directors, awarded the very first […]

Tales From a Minor League Bus

The 2010 minor league baseball season is underway and every minor league general manager has a deal in place with a bus company to move their team around from town to town and city to city during the upcoming season. With that in mind, I can only sit back, smile and laugh as I think […]

Touring the Bases With…Ron Kittle

Right-handed slugger Ron Kittle belted 90 homers, drove in 247 runs and batted .337 between Double-A and Triple-A from 1981-1982 before settling in as the Chicago White Sox’s full-time left fielder in 1983.  His pyrotechnics display continued in the majors when he slammed 35 homers and drove in 100 runs in his rookie season, earning […]

Touring the Bases With…Seattle Pilots Documentarian Steve Cox

I don’t have any special knowledge of the Seattle Pilots; like many thousands, I’ve read Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, but I’m nowhere near old enough to have firsthand experience of the team. Still, that book, along with an interest in baseball in Seattle, made me curious about Rainer Valley’s one-year wonder. So a few months […]

Rambling on About My Glory Days – If Only Every Day Could Have Been Opening Day

Wondering what you would do in this situation? Within a couple of hours I had two calls from friends. “Jack I have a ticket for you for the Monday White Sox/Indians opener,” and “Jack, I have a ticket for you for the Monday night final four basketball game.” No brainer for me – baseball any […]

Letters From Quebec: Catching Up With Spring Training

I admire catchers, a fact I rediscovered recently in chilly Florida where I attended four spring training ball games – and caught a cold. I was travelling with an old friend who is now a judge in the courts of Ontario. My friend, let’s call him Dave, once toiled as a left-handed relief pitcher for […]

Touring the Bases With…Dick Drago

Pitcher Dick Drago began his career with the expansion Kansas City Royals in 1969 and split time between the rotation and the bullpen, winning 11 games in 26 starts and 15 relief appearances.  He led the Royals with 17 wins in 1971, but from ’69-’74 he went only 68-80 as a starter before becoming a […]

Meet the New Park Factors – Part I

“It’s a park that could make you a hero or a bum.” – Stan Musial on the Polo Grounds, 1957 Stan Musial was truly one of the most consistently great hitters baseball has ever seen. With a lifetime average of .331, his slumps were like comets—showing up every few years, then disappearing in a flash. […]

Rambling on About My Glory Days – Ballplayers (Kids) Say the Darndest Things

One never knows when a ballplayer, young or old, will say something that makes your head spin, creates a comment that you don”t forget and teaches a valuable life lesson for the future. My second book was written because I believe sports provide many opportunities for parents to teach life lessons to their kids. Sometimes, […]

Touring the Bases With…Carmen Fanzone

A former versatile infielder turned accomplished musician who once played the “Star Spangled Banner” before a game at Wrigley Field, Fanzone–a flugelhorn player–was originally signed by the Red Sox and spent five years in the majors from 1970-1975, four of them with the Chicago Cubs.  Click here to watch a video of a conversation I had […]

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