Speculating on the Nationals’ Minor League Affiliations in 2021 and Beyond

Yesterday the New York Yankees announced their minor league affiliations for the 2021 season, and it provided our first glimpse at what MiLB will look like next season and beyond: Statement from the New York Yankees regarding their new Minor League affiliation structure. pic.twitter.com/DN9oPbfdt3 — New York Yankees (@Yankees) November 7, 2020   We’ve knownContinue reading “Speculating on the Nationals’ Minor League Affiliations in 2021 and Beyond”

Talking Grover with a Little Girl

I sat in the Beetle and cried. It wasn’t an ugly cry or an evil cry. Emotion had bubbled to the surface and, like an unstirred pot on the stove, boiled over. “I like your Grover mask,” said a little girl to me when I was leaving the ballpark, and what followed was the perhapsContinue reading “Talking Grover with a Little Girl”

The Sandlot

With the affiliated minor league baseball season cancelled — and, in Pennsylvania, the unaffiliated season, too — my local baseball teams have been having non-baseball activities, including movie nights on the weekends. Sit in the outfield, socially distance, watch a film on the video board. I’ve not done one of these, though I was mildlyContinue reading “The Sandlot”

Harrisburg Baseball, A Century Ago

I love old photographs, especially if they have a baseball connection. Consider my efforts to colorize Swampoodle Grounds, or the collection of women playing baseball in Washington in 1919. This photograph of the Pennsylvania State Capitol, taken from the west shore of the Susquehanna, circa 1906 fits the bill. It’s from a panoramic shot ofContinue reading “Harrisburg Baseball, A Century Ago”

Baseball on the Radio

Last night I listened to a baseball game on the “radio.” Radio goes in quotes. It was Internet streaming audio, but for all intents and purposes, it was a radio broadcast, complete with ads for local business. With the COVID pandemic raging unchecked across the United States, most baseball leagues have cancelled their seasons. MajorContinue reading “Baseball on the Radio”

A Loss in the Lynchburg Baseball Community

This came across my Twitter feed late yesterday afternoon: My mom introduced me to Ronnie Roberts two years ago. I’d driven down from Pennsylvania for a Lynchburg Hillcats game — it was Margaritaville Night, and my brother’s company was the night’s t-shirt giveaway sponsor — and at the table where you picked up the t-shirtContinue reading “A Loss in the Lynchburg Baseball Community”

The Madness of Rob Manfred

Rob Manfred has abandoned reason for madness. For the last few days Major League Baseball has been floating a plan to start baseball next month. At first the plan was for all thirty teams to play in Arizona, making use of spring training facilities, playing in front of empty stadiums. That plan has morphed —Continue reading “The Madness of Rob Manfred”

Women Playing Baseball in the 1910s

Recently while digging around on the Library of Congress website I found a series of photographs of young women playing baseball. The photos were undated; they had a range between 1909 and 1923, nothing more specific. The uniforms resembled those worn by Ida Schnall’s New York Female Giants in 1913, though without the stitched logoContinue reading “Women Playing Baseball in the 1910s”

Revisiting Swampoodle Grounds

A week and a half ago I discovered Adolph Sachse’s “bird’s eye view” map of Washington, DC, circa 1883-1884, and I was able to find where my ancestors lived in Washington from the Civil War to the mid-1880s. There was something else I was interested in. Swampoodle Grounds. Swampoodle Grounds, also known as Capitol Park,Continue reading “Revisiting Swampoodle Grounds”

Starring Snoopy, a World Series T-Shirt

After writing on Tuesday about an unlicensed Monty Python/Beatles t-shirt that amused me, yesterday saw a package stuffed in my mailbox — an unlicensed Washington Nationals World Series t-shirt. After the Nationals won the World Series, my Facebook feed was filled with ads for unofficial Nats World Series merchandise. Especially unofficial t-shirts. I bought anContinue reading “Starring Snoopy, a World Series T-Shirt”