№39: Bob Gibson

I was planning on writing a new piece on Bob Gibson for this series … but I find that almost everything I want to say is in this…

№38: Eddie Mathews

On January 16, 1974, Eddie Mathews called home to his wife after he got word that he was not elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. In truth, he had not even come close. Of the many curiosities in the history of Hall of Fame voting, this might be the strangest.

Things I learned from Strat-o-Matic

Strat-o-Matic was not the first tabletop baseball game I ever played. No, first was this game…

№36: Carl Yastrzemski

One of the joys of baseball is that it can prompt fury about stuff that doesn’t matter at all. And by “stuff that doesn’t matter at all,” I mean that literally — I’m not talking about arguments like “Who was better, Roberto Clemente or Al Kaline?” I don’t mean arguments like, “How good…

Dear Elizabeth

Dear Elizabeth,

The last thing you want at this point in your life is Dad advice. I didn’t want any when I was 14 either. So … don’t think of this advice. Think of this as a story about a kid I met. Well, Jarryd Wallace is 25. He’s a kid to me.

A Baseball Story

When Bobby Bragan was young, people used to call him “Nig.” He was of a darker complexion than most. He liked the nickname. Bobby Bragan grew up in Alabama. The only black people he knew served food and worked for his father’s construction company. He did not even consider that his nickname might…

Goodbye Parks

Three or four years ago, we went to California as a family and one of the cool things we got to do was go to the Parks and Recreation…

Billy Casper’s Last Masters

Ten years ago, Billy Casper stalked his putt on the last green at Augusta National, a tricky five footer for double bogey, and the putt meant nothing while meaning everything. In the gallery was Shirley, his wife of more than a half century. In the gallery were 17 other Casper…

Jerry Tarkanian

For some reason, in 1996 the Kansas City Star sent me to Fresno to write a piece about then Fresno State coach Jerry Tarkanian. I honestly forget why. What I do remember was riding around town with Tark, going to watch him getting fitted for a suit, going with him to a Rotary Club meeting, just…