Mike Marando
1964: A Neighbor Kid, A Snapshot In Time, And A World Series That Wasn’t
By the time September 15 came around, the Phils were on a roll. They had owned first place since July 17. It appeared a World Series berth was merely a formality. The Phillies’ front office had that ticket availability plan – however unusual.
Read moreWorld Series Reflections and Highlights
The Freddie Freeman walk-off homer was a crowd-pleaser; and yes Shohei Otani was otherworldly in reaching base in all nine plate appearances with an epic night. But had it not been for a gutsy relief outing by a guy few outside of Dodgertown have even heard of, all this would have gone for naught. Had you ever heard of Will Klein?
Read moreHas Baseball Turned Into Nothing More Than a Home Run and Strikeout Showcase?
Fans could not get enough of the home run. And why not? They were seemingly drenched ad nauseum by giddy announcers and a plethora of analysts ballyhooing all kinds of metrics such as Exit Velocities, Launch Angles, and Expected Home Run Rate, or xHR%. The players themselves were given to cartoonish theatrics after hitting one out, from fancy bat-flips to the perfunctory pointing, glaring and glittering of bling as they sashayed around the bases.
Read moreBaseball In Sacramento: Seven Decades Ago
Mantle, who had not yet officially made the ballclub, launched the game’s most prolific wallop – an 8th-inning home run that vapored high over the left field wall. If exit velocity were measured back then, it would have been a three-figure blast.
Read moreTime to Jettison Some Of Baseball’s New Rules
It’s time for Major League Baseball to truly get into the 21st Century, with a bow to its storied past, and make changes that make sense.
Read moreSI: The End
It almost seemed like this was destined to happen eventually. I, for one, had never been able to make the jump to the online version. The internet had already begun to infringe on the willingness of readers to wait until Tuesday to read about events they could find online today…and that was before Covid.
Read moreBaseball Is Teetering On Boredom. Here’s How To Fix It.
(Bunting is) another lost art, yet another skill that has been swallowed up faster than a mom-and-pop wiped out by a new big-box store.
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