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Category Archives: Yankees
Joe DiMaggio’s Second-longest Hitting Streak at 70 Years*
As I (Evander) write this on July 16, 2020, it is 79 years since Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak reached its 56th and final game. In the twilight of his proud career the Clipper would enjoy his second-longest consecutive-game batting streak: … Continue reading
The Ol’ Neighborhood Play
The pitcher does a little shuffle: By the time the ball’s released his back foot is ten inches in front of the rubber. The ball whizzing toward the batter is loaded with pine-tar or similar foreign-substance; or the ball’s been … Continue reading
The Baseball Scene
Henry James, for whom no abstraction, no characteristic or gesture, was too subtle to be examined (and examined), qualified and qualified again, is generally credited with a fictional form that was actually pioneered by women, mostly Continental-women writers on to … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Cricket, Right Off the Bat Book, Right Off the Bat Website, Yankees
Tagged Babe Ruth, Bernard Malamud, Boston Red Sox, Charles Dickens, Chicago Cubs, Cricket, designated hitter, Don Bradman, Izaak Walton, Jane Austen, John Updike, Literature, London Stadium, Major League Baseball, Mark Twain, National League, New York Yankees, Ring Lardner, St. Louis Cardinals, Summer Olympics
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Good-bye, Mel
One of my (Evander) heroes, Mel Stottlemyre, is gone. With a 2.97 ERA and possessor of one of the great sinker balls, Mel was headed for the Baseball Hall of Fame if not for shoulder problems. I remember his first … Continue reading
Tab, Joe, Joe, and Joe
The synchronicity of nostalgia. Events that rhyme in time. A circling of the sun. The revolution of the cold-blooded moon. Fantasy and fact orbit one another! It is 60 years ago today, July 21, 2018, that “Joe Boyd, a middle-aged real estate salesman, … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Yankees
Tagged 56 game hitting streak, American League, Damn Yankees, Joe DiMaggio, Literature, Mickey Mantle, Mike Trout, Milwaukee Braves, New York Yankees, The Natural, The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, Washington Nationals, Washington Senators, World Series
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Streaking
Like the proverbial first-small-step of the longest journey, record-MLB streaks begin innocently enough. Each captures the imagination of the public in different ways. The most enthralling streaks occur over the course of a season. A few, equally impressive, are accomplished … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Cricket, Right Off the Bat Book, Right Off the Bat Website, Yankees
Tagged 56 game hitting streak, All-Star Game, Babe Ruth, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Brooklyn Atlantics, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, closers, Cricket, Cricket Rules, Dale Long, Don Drysdale, Don Mattingly, Elias Sports Bureau, Eric Gagne, exit velocity, Ford C. Frick, home run, intentional walk, Joe Krakauskas, Joe Wilhoit, Kansas City Athletics, Ken Keltner, launch angle, Literature, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball, Mickey Mantle, Moneyball, Montreal Expos, National Association, National Baseball Hall of Fame, National League, New York Giants, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, OBP, Orel Hershiser, Pacific Coast League, Pete Rose, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsgurgh Pirates, relief pitchers/firemen, Roger Maris, Sabermetrics, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, San Francisco Seals, Ted Williams, Terry Francona, Wee Willie Keeler, Western League, Whitey Ford, Wichita Jobbers
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Home-run Boom in June
What gives? Has it something to do with $$$? Yuh think? Elias Sports Bureau registers 1,101 home runs slugged in the two major leagues during June 2017. That tops the one-month record (May 2000) by thirty-two. We at Right off … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Right Off the Bat Book, Right Off the Bat Website, Yankees
Tagged Aaron Judge, Alex Gordon, All-Star Game, Babe Ruth, exit velocity, Home Run Derby, Kansas City Royals, launch angle, Major League Baseball, Mark McGwire, Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, Roger Maris, Rookie of the Year Award, Steroids, Yankee Stadium
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Twilight of the Roids
The baseball world has moved on. Unless unforeseen circumstances (e.g., a rainout; another club hoping to catch lightning in a bottle in 2018, or by some arrangement even in 2017) prevail, Alex Rodriguez will not play major-league ball after August … Continue reading
A Memoir of Teenage Obsession and Terrible Cricket
A mere 48 hours away at this writing is the 75th anniversary of the start of Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. How the Yankee Clipper came to accomplish it puzzles the will. I have no intention of soliloquizing: What more … Continue reading
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