Last weekend, a 100-year-old piece of Clifton history had a moment. Clifton is my adopted hometown. Like Yogi Berra, I’ve settled in northern New Jersey, not too far from New York City. (That Berra came from St. Louis and I came from the Jersey Shore — and he was a bit better at baseball — is irrelevant.) Since moving… View Post
Some years ago, I searched and tracked each team’s selection for the season-opening logos they decided to paint onto the field for the first games of the season. MLB provides three choices, and it seems the teams decide which one to go with: Opening Day, Opening Series or Opening Week. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason… View Post
To no one’s surprise, Noah Syndergaard will be the Mets’ Opening Day starter this year. What I find more significant is that he’s the seventh different pitcher to start the first game in the last seven seasons, a record for the franchise. The previous record of six was set from 1980-85 and the pitchers, starting in ’80, were Craig Swan, Pat… View Post
Bill McKechnie, a Hall of Famer manager who won World Series with the Pirates and Reds and had two other Fall Classic appearances (guiding the Cardinals and Reds), had long been remembered with his name on a ballpark. The Pirates’ spring training home in Bradenton, Fla., had been named McKechnie Field since 1962 — three years before its namesake died… View Post
Sometime during the first week of April, Bartolo Colon will begin his 20th season in the Major Leagues. Then, somewhere around his ninth or 10th start (based on his outings last year), he’ll turn 44 years old (his birthday is May 24). His first start, unless he’s one of Atlanta’s top three starters (unlikely), will come in Pittsburgh or Miami…. View Post