Mike Ekstrom: Determined Pitcher Still Pursuing His Goals

Getting to the major leagues can be a monumental task, but staying there can be just as difficult. Just ask pitcher Mike Ekstrom, who has alternately pitched on baseball’s biggest stage and in the high minors for the past six seasons. The right-hander pitched collegiately at Oregon State and Point Loma Nazarene University before becoming […]

An Allegorical Name to Remember

Hey baseball fans! There are only 24 pitchers with at least 300 career wins, but there are only two who have won exactly 300. However, I will not be talking about Lefty Grove. Instead, I will be talking about the other exactly 300-game winner: Early Wynn! Just like his name states (and it is the name that […]

The Most Discouraging Franchises of the Last Decade

This idea isn’t as much about the worst teams over the 2004-2013 span as it is about the franchises that have done the most to strip away hope from their fans in the last decade. The surest way to do it is by losing games, but a franchise can also achieve it by lying to […]

With 58-21 Record and Shelf Full of Awards, Josh Lowey Is Still Looking for a Major League Organization

It is a never-ending question why some players get their contract picked up by a major league organization while others with decidedly better credentials do not. Our focus today is on pitcher Josh Lowey. Start with the fact the right-hander has put together a 58-21 record the last five seasons in three separate Independent leagues.  […]

Pitchers Who Can Hit? WHAAAAAAATTTTTT?

Hey baseball fans! Most pitchers in baseball history are meant for pitching (obviously). However, before the creation of the designated hitter rule in 1973, pitchers on every single team in the MLB had to have a pitcher somewhere in the lineup. Even though every American League team has to have a DH in the lineup […]

Mr. Wrigley’s Ball Club, Chicago & the Cubs During the Jazz Age

The Cubs used to be good.  Seriously.  You just have to reach really far back. It was a time before the Internet, Twitter, TV and World War II.  It was the Jazz Age, when America was putting the First World War – “The Great War” – behind it, drinking gin despite Prohibition, enjoying new things […]

2013: A year to remember

Napoleon Lajoie A Milwaukee Brewer — Only An Owner’s Dream

My main research project at present is the detailed history of the 1902 and 1903 seasons of the two Milwaukee minor league baseball teams—Brewers in the American Association, and Creams of the Western League. I have come across some interesting and unusual happenings. The following is one I think is worth sharing with baseball history […]

An Interview with Shoeless Joe Jackson (Sort of)

Hey baseball fans!I’m back with another interview! This time, it is with Shoeless Joe Jackson! I know what you are thinking: “How could you have gotten in touch with a ballplayer who died in 1951?” Well, my answer to you all is this: just like my Babe Ruth interview, a few days ago I sent in questions to Peter […]

Multi-Position Regulars

With Miguel Cabrera having won his second consecutive MVP and finishing in the top 5 the three years before that, it is worth pondering, at what position should he take up residence as one of MLB’s all-time greats, his having shifted from third to first and back again in his career.  This Baseball Historical Insight […]

ML”what would”B: What if Sandy Koufax Was Never Plagued With Arthritis?

Hey baseball fans! I just put up another ML”what would”B post on More Than a Fan. In every ML”what would”B alternative history post, I discuss what would have happened if a famous event in baseball history had gone differently than it did in reality. For my latest post, I wrote about what would have happened […]

Danny Bethea: Boston Red Sox Catching Prospect Answers Some Questions

There is fierce competition in the farm system of the Boston Red Sox simply because of the impressive collection of talent the team has amassed in recent seasons. In particular, catcher is a position of great depth, as Ryan Lavarnway, Dan Butler, Jon Denney, Blake Swihart and Christian Vasquez are just a few of the […]

The Hitting Version of Sandy Koufax

Hey baseball fans! There were many stars in baseball in the 1940s and ’50s that came out of the Giants, Cardinals, Braves, Yankees, Red Sox and Tigers. But this post is about a very underrated Hall of Famer who played mainly on the Pirates. He had a very short career, but is considered one of […]

What Could Bring the Scherzer Rumors to Life

The GM meetings this coming week will likely just be a first chance for some of the first off-season rumors to get wings or disappear. One that has a chance to grow is the notion that the Tigers would trade Max Scherzer. Rumors about Scherzer’s departure have been met generally with skepticism. Why mess with […]

Long After Surgery, Top Independent Find Sherrill ‘Hoping Track Record’ Will Lead to New Opportunity

It is very easy to have a soft spot toward George Sherrill because he has been one of Independent Baseball’s greatest finds, right up there with Kevin Millar, Rey Ordonez and Daniel Nava, but the truth is the 36-year-old lefty faces the same predicament as many other free agents on this November day.  He needs […]

The 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Inductees

Hey baseball fans! I recently realized that I never did a post about the 2013 National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum inductees. Now these inductees are not people who you probably recognize. Why? Well, for the first time since 1996, no one got into the Hall of Fame via the Baseball Writers’ Association of […]

Counterintuitively Successful: Boston’s ‘Teen Years–The 1912-18 Red Sox

Our 2013 World Series champion Boston Red Sox have been described as a team that came out the best in the major leagues with more a workman-like, rather than a star-studded, line-up (notwithstanding Big Papi and Dustin Pedroia), almost as though they overachieved for the talent they had–especially after having lost 93 games last year. […]

Adding a P.S. to a 55-Year-Old Love Letter to Baseball

My Dearest Baseball, I found an old love letter written to you on October 8, 1958, by The Sporting News, one you should have taken seriously. In it, your old beau admits to flirting with a cute new thing named the National Football League. Indeed, that particular issue was the first time that a story […]

The Mad Dash

Hey baseball fans!As most of you probably know, the Boston Red Sox just won the World Series, beating the St. Louis Cardinals in six games. However, did you know that the Sox and Cards have squared off before in the World Series? Out of the 13 times the Sox have been to the Fall Classic, […]

So You Think You Can Name World Series Winners

Hey baseball fans! I recently posted a video on YouTube. The video is of me trying to name all of the winners of every single World Series from 1903 (the first ever World Series). To see if I succeeded or not, click here. I hope you enjoy the video and check back in a few days […]

The Man of a Great Hitting Class from Grants Pass

Hey baseball fans! The 1922 St. Louis Browns were one of the greatest teams in baseball history…. that didn’t make the playoffs. However, there were many bright spots on the team, one of them being the first player ever to hit over 30 homers and steal over 30 bases in the same season. I am […]

A Hard Day’s Night And The Crack Of The Bat

The Beatles’ film, A Hard Day’s Night, brings the late Furman Bisher to mind. Furman Bisher?  The legendary Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports columnist? The one on the scene at the first modern Olympics in Athens, Greece? In 1896? How can that be? Furman Bisher and The Beatles commingle in my dexterous (some would say convoluted) mind due to a […]

Will the “Big Marine” Be Running Basic Training for the Washington Nationals Next Spring?

“When he talks, people listen.” Reggie Jackson said that about Sal Bando. Reggie attributed Bando with running a very tight clubhouse for the very contentious but always successful Oakland Athletics in the first half of the 1970’s. Matt Williams–the newly minted manager of the Washington Nationals–has that same reputation. He was a championship caliber third […]

World Series Start Times: MLB’s Shortsighted Gamble

Woe to the child sports fan who has the misfortune of living in the Eastern Time Zone.  The 2013 World Series is only two games old, and I doubt there’s a kid on the East Coast under the age of 16 who’s watched beyond the 8th inning of either game.  Both games began at 8:07PM […]

NJBM: Billy Williams

Hey baseball fans! I just put up my latest post in the Kids’ Hot Korner section of New Jersey Baseball Magazine. This one is about Billy Williams, one of the great Chicago Cubs Hall of Famers in baseball history. If you want to read more about Billy, just click here. I hope you enjoy the article and […]

Should Joe Torre Already Be in the Hall of Fame?

October 22, 2013 Joe Torre will be eligible for baseball’s Hall of Fame as a manager next year and it is the widespread assumption he will be voted in easily, if not unanimously.  A look at Torre’s resume backs this up: he won six pennants and four World Series and his 2,326 victories are fifth […]

My Top Five Favorite Cardinals Hall of Famers

Hey baseball fans! The 2013 World Series week has officially started! This year’s contenders are the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. Considering that I’ve already done a top five favorite Red Sox HoFers post, I decided that the time is right to post my top five Cards Hall of Famers of all […]

Sox Fans, This Is What You’re Seeing

All over Boston, the refrain is the same. “Who could have predicted this?” the pundits say. “Nobody predicted they’d be this good.” Unburdened by false modesty, I will tap my chest and say, “Me! It was me that predicted it! I’m the guy! Why don’t more people listen to View from the Lone Red Seat?!” […]

Touring The Bases With…Mike Hedlund

A native of Dallas, Texas, pitcher Mike “Red” Hedlund was signed as an amateur free agent right out of Arlington High School by the Cleveland Indians in 1964.  After only 25 minor league innings, the righthander made his major league debut on May 8, 1965 at the tender age of 18 and retired future Hall […]

An Interview with Trevor Hoffman

Hey baseball fans! I have another interview for you today! It’s with the great former closer Trevor Hoffman! It was arranged and recorded by the really cool web site, Sqor.com. By the way, Sqor (www.sqor.com) is a new sports and social networking web site that brings athlete content to fans from over 1,200 professional and amateur athletes, […]

It’s Still Farm to Table in St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals secured the right to play for their 12th World Championship on Friday night, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers four games out of six. It was not exactly David and Goliath although the Dodger salaries are almost double those of the Redbirds. More important is the standing of the city itself. The […]

Matty Johnson: The Independent Speedster of the Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox have developed one of the best farm systems in all of baseball. In doing so, they have accumulated a wide array of prospects of varying skills. Outfielder Matty Johnson, at 5’8 and 165 pounds, may be one of the smaller players in the organization but he is not short on talent. […]

MLB and NFL Parity

As the MLB playoffs roll on with the usual suspects, I’ve pondered what has often been passed for conventional wisdom when comparing professional baseball to professional football.  For years, the argument went like this: parity in NFL football allows for more teams to have a chance to win a Super Bowl, therefore generating greater fan […]

Success From Last Year’s Class Bodes Well For Trio of Independent Hurlers in Arizona Fall League

The Arizona Fall League still plays pretty much in anonymity for everyone operating outside of baseball’s talent evaluation offices, but players realize all too well that with an invitation to spend several weeks in the desert they are looked at as real candidates to break into the major leagues in the not-too-distant future.  They can […]

1917 All-Star Series: Junior Circuit Exacts Revenge, Evens Series

AMERICAN LEAGUE BESTS SENIOR CIRCUIT IN EXTRA FRAMES Chapman Poles Five Safeties Speaker Scores Winning Run NEW YORK, July 13.—In a lineup loaded with the game’s biggest stars—from the peerless “Georgia Peach,” Ty Cobb, to Frank “Home Run” Baker to “Cocky” Eddie Collins—it was Indians shortstop Raymond Johnson Chapman that shone the brightest for the […]

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