Category Archives: Sports
Major League Baseball, the Cardinals and the Browns, and the Challenge of “Small Markets”
Not until the 1960s did baseball executives begin to use terms like “small market” to describe the unique challenges of operating a successful major league franchise in an environment that did not generate the type of revenues available to teams … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down”
Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down. By Dave Zirin. New York: The New Press, 2013. Dave Zirin does certainly not have writer’s block. He has been churning out books virtually every year since 2005 when … Continue reading
Opening Day
Well, it’s official! The 2013 major league baseball (MLB) season is here. It started auspiciously on Sunday night, March 31, with a game between the Texas Rangers—a powerhouse in the American League (AL) West Division—and the Houston Astros—a really bad team … Continue reading
Roger’s MLB Power Rankings at the Start of 2013 Spring Training
Major League Baseball is just now beginning Spring Training for the 2013 season. It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter. I’m looking forward to the spring and baseball returning. Accordingly, I thought I would take the time to prepare my … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “A People’s History of Sports in the United States”
A People’s History of Sports in the United States. By Dave Zirin. New York: The New Press, 2008. I have appreciated Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States since I was first exposed to it. I have also been … Continue reading
The Greatest Cardinal of Them All: Remembering Stan Musial (1920-2013)
If you are connected to anything at all you have heard that we lost a legend over the weekend, Stan “The Man” Musial. Both a great baseball player and true gentleman, a gentle man; he strode across the sports scene … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Last King of the Sports Page: The Life and Career of Jim Murray”
Last King of the Sports Page: The Life and Career of Jim Murray. By Ted Geltner. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2012. As the editor of the “Sports and American Culture” series published by the University of Missouri Press, I … Continue reading
2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 170,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about … Continue reading
Does the MLB Commissioner Have the Right to Overturn Owner’s Trades/Sales/Deals?
The question above is one that many people have debated during the last couple of weeks as the Miami Marlins and the Toronto Blue Jays undertook a megadeal that swapped several star players for top prospects. In mid-November 2012 the Marlins … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick”
Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick. By Paul Dickson. New York: Walker and Co., 2012. 448 pages, photographs, acknowledgments, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. Hardcover with dustjacket, ISBN: 978-0-8027-1778-8, $28.00 U.S. Paul Dickson’s Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick is a most welcome … Continue reading
