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Stay in the batter’s box, Batter

Here is an early link to my Sunday column about baseball trying to speed up the game. The full text runs below: I hate batting gloves. I take that back. It’s so unfair to batting gloves to generalize like that, batting gloves being inanimate objects without souls or wills of [...]

By | April 11th, 2015|8 Comments

Baseball commish wants to end defensive shifts

Here is a link to my Tuesday column about Rob Manfred's really bad idea. The full text runs below: File this in the Really-Bad-Idea Department. Rob Manfred, the guy who’s been commissioner of baseball for about a minute, went on ESPN the other day and said Major League Baseball should [...]

By | January 27th, 2015|14 Comments

About the ball in baseball

Here is a link to my Friday column. The full text runs below: Let's talk about the ball — the ball in baseball. A while back, Tim Hudson was relaxing in the Giants' clubhouse before one of his starts. It was a day game. About 11 a.m., pitching coach Dave [...]

By | June 20th, 2014|6 Comments

Cynthia Ozick doesn’t like baseball

Cynthia Ozick has a sterling reputation as a writer of fiction and essays. I can't attest to this reputation as I've read none of her fiction and only a handful of her essays. But I believe she's a good writer. Two weeks ago, she wrote an essay about Bernard Malamud [...]

By | March 24th, 2014|19 Comments

Baseball vs. Football, which is better?

Here is a link to my Thursday column. The full text also appears below. Baseball has advantages over football. Baseball is probably a better game. I believe what I just wrote, even though I love covering the NFL and wrote a book about Bill Walsh, by far the most fascinating [...]

By | October 16th, 2013|38 Comments

Major League Baseball goes after the bad guys

Here is the opening to my Thursday column about Baseball's latest attempt to suspend drug cheaters: Major League Baseball is trying to get the bad guys. Good for Major League Baseball. By the bad guys, I don't mean crooks or murderers or spies, nothing as sinister as that. I'm talking [...]

By | June 5th, 2013|21 Comments

Odds to win World Series

Betting service Bovada provided me with these odds on who will win the World Series. I print them for your enjoyment and edification: Odds to win the 2013 World Series          Detroit Tigers                            13/2 Atlanta Braves                           8/1 St. Louis Cardinals                    8/1 Texas Rangers                          17/2 Cincinnati Reds                         [...]

By | June 4th, 2013|4 Comments

I don’t like inter-league games

I'm here at AT&T Park for the finale of the four games between the A's and Giants and I have to say this series has been fun. But I don't like inter-league games. I like keeping the leagues separate. That makes the All Star Game and the World Series more [...]

By | May 30th, 2013|23 Comments

World Baseball Classic, Feh!

I am flying home from Arizona Tuesday, just as the weather down here is heating up. Here is the opening to my Tuesday column about the so-called World Baseball Classic: The World Baseball Classic is all wrong, and as far as I can tell, it isn’t so classic. It’s mostly [...]

By | March 11th, 2013|4 Comments

Spring training is here

Here is the opening to my Tuesday column about spring training, a rather nostalgic look -- I've covered spring training more than 30 times: Spring training is here and spring training is like no other sports tradition. I am talking about Arizona. I don't know about Florida. When Roger Craig [...]

By | February 11th, 2013|19 Comments