Sports Then and Now

Andy Strasberg in 1966 with Roger Maris at The Stadium

As I chatted with Andy Strasberg about his new baseball related venture called Fantography™,  I couldn’t help but hum Rod Stewart’s 1971 anthem, “Every Picture Tells a Story”.

In actuality, however, my musical recap of Strasberg’s photographic venture may be best summarized as Paul Simon’s Kodachrome mixed with a few verses of Take Me Out to The Ball Game.

Fantography™ is Strasberg’s recently unveiled undertaking, whose goal it is to harvest centuries of baseball photographs and the wonderful stories that go along with them. These are the photographs, taken not by professional photographers, but by the fans, themselves.

Strasberg sees Fantography™ as the offspring of his five decade love affair with the sport of baseball, a love affair that is not unique to him, but is shared by fans throughout the globe. The project will allow fans to upload their personal baseball memories onto the Fantography™ website to be stored forever and shared with other fans of the game.

“It’s more than just a box score,” explains Strasberg, the former VP of Marketing for the San Diego Padres. “It’s the love affair between a fan and the game of baseball as seen through the lens of a camera.” Read the rest of this entry →

Mike Coolbaugh checking out the sitaution with his two boys

As a writer who seems to specialize in the “xoxo” of the game, I often set out on a journalistic journey of sorts when I put words to paper. Although my intention is a good one, the motive often becomes a concentrated effort to elicit a certain response.

I’m not sure if it is a gift or simply the willingness to open up my heart, but more often than not, my goal is to make my audience feel the sorrow associated with an event. To warm the heart by moistening the heart. To make my readers feel the pain that the participants in the story felt themselves and to relate it to their own life.

And then sometimes, the story is so incredibly sad all on it’s own, that I don’t need to say a word. I simply need to recount the events and let the reader feel on their own. Read the rest of this entry →

Bernie Williams: The latest member of the A Glove of Their Own team

When any baseball fan hears the name Bernie Williams, a distinct image immediately comes to mind.  Brimming with class, a confident smile, and, of course, dressed in pinstripes, Williams is to the Yankees what The Stadium is to the Yankees—forever connected until the very end of time.

Williams, however, possesses the undeniable character traits which transcend the uniform and are universally admired by fans from New York, Chicago and yes, even Boston, whenever his name is mentioned.

“Bernie Williams is a class act,” explains Bob Salomon, coach of the award-winning children’s story A Glove of Their Own. “I guarantee you that every teammate, every opponent, and every fan of baseball describes him in much the same way. A kind and caring family man, who also happened to be one hell of a baseball player.” Read the rest of this entry →

To be honest, I’m not very sure how legit this is or who this person’s source is, but the Spanish language web site DominicanosHOY.com has had on its site since late June an article that  includes a list of 103 major league baseball players that are supposedly names on the infamous “Steroid List”

Personally I hope it is the list and we can finally know the players in the “steroid era” that have tested positive in the past. This would end all the stupid steroid speculation on the list and end all of the he said/she said rumors of who is on the list and who isn’t.

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While hanging around Fenway Park one afternoon last month, I found myself with an hour or so to kill before the Cask n’ Flagon opened for business. I spent a few minutes talking to my buddy Mike at the Sausage King and then moseyed over to do some shopping time with one of the street corner t-shirt entrepreneurs.

Once I was done thumbing through t-shirts that explained what A-Rod allegedly does to Jeter and what Jeter then in turn does to Teixeira, I spotted a less explicit dud which read, “Caution Yankees: Objects in Rear View Mirror Are Closer Than They May Appear”.

I chuckled and knew this fine looking, 100% cotton dud would find it’s new home to be smack dab in the middle of a bunch of previous “must haves”.

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