Monthly Archives: March 2011

Who Is Doris from Rego Park? What Is She that All Our Fans Commend Her?

The New York Times has a wonderful tribute to Doris Bauer. Who she? For the rest who don’t follow New York City-sports call-in radio, Doris from Rego Park, who died in 2003 (Could it be that long?), was the staunchest … Continue reading

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The Japanese Jackie Robinson

Who has heard of Kaname (Wally) Yonamine? He is the surprising Jackie Robinson of Japanese baseball.

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The Cleveland Kafkaesque Indians

Franz Kafka‘s poor, more-acted-upon-than-acting, Gregor Samsa woke up one morning after a night of bad dreams to find he had been been turned into a giant crawling insect. I know how he feels. I woke up this morning to find … Continue reading

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What Have I Learned….

OK, so working on Right Off the Bat (It ought to have an exclamation mark there; we’ll talk to our publisher about it.) was not exactly a return to U of T (University of Toronto, during my year of apostasy … Continue reading

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“Willie, Mickey, and the Duke” (and Probably in that Order)

The New York Times obituary portrays a self-lacerating Duke Snider. I had no idea. Snider’s career (1947–64) overlapped my early following baseball only on the late side. I therefore had a slight connection to this member of the New York City … Continue reading

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Why Irish Eyes Are Smiling

The Irish cricket team have just pulled off the unthinkable. Not only have they beaten England—generally fancied as the much better team—but they’ve done so in style, and staging the largest ever run chase in World Cup history: 328. They … Continue reading

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Malinga the Marauder: The Bringer of Yorkers

What can one say about the Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga, deliverer of torment to batsmen everywhere through his mastery of one of most deadly weapons in a bowler’s arsenal: the yorker? This is a ball that is speared right at … Continue reading

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Out and Not Out

Every cricket team has members who get out, but not many have cricketers who are out, even when they’re still in—at least not openly. I refer, of course, to Steve Davies, the sometime England wicketkeeper/batsman, who’s publicly announced that he’s … Continue reading

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