Random Cooperstown: 10 Obscure Objects to See in the Baseball Hall of Fame

April 19, 2020 By Leave a Comment

There will be a time when museums are open again, and we’ll all be free to enjoy them. That time is not next week, or next month, but it will return. For now, well as Albert Camus wrote on page 67 of The Plague: “once the town gates were shut, every one of us realized that all…were, so to speak, in the same boat, and each would have to adapt himself to the new conditions of life.”

That’s now, the rest of this month, and probably May as well, but in time public events will return and destinations like the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York will re-open. When they do, I highly encourage to get out and roam. Definitely go to Cooperstown! I went last August and I wrote up the experience here and here.

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Filed Under: Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, History, MLB, New York Yankees

Dock Ellis “D”: Story of Pirates Pitcher who Threw a No-Hitter on Acid

March 24, 2020 By Leave a Comment

There have been approximately just 300 no hit games pitched in the history of baseball, a sport that goes all the way back to the 1870s. Of all those no-hitters, only one was achieved while tripping balls on LSD.

Yes, lysergic acid, or “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was one of many controlled substances in the bloodstream of Dock Ellis on June 12, 1970. The Pittsburgh Pirates hurler, known for not never pitching sober in his career, and a frequent user of “greenies,” dexamills and other metamphetamines, tossed a no no that night against the San Diego Padres. Listen below as we tell you the tale, in the 17th episode of “Let’s Get Weird, Sports.”

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Filed Under: History, MLB, New York Yankees

Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Revisiting the Spanish Flu and 1918 World Series (Podcast)

March 11, 2020 By 3 Comments

september 1918

In October of 2018, we published a podcast, “Let’s Get Weird, Sports #5” that focused on the Spanish Flu and the 1918 World Series, in which the Boston Red Sox defeated the Chicago Cubs. The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe in recent history, actually deadlier than World War I, and it was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin.

The Coronavirus outbreak, and the worldwide hysteria it is causing, are drawing a tremendous mount of comparisons to the Spanish Flu, hence we are re-publishing our podcast from 18 months ago, which is embedded and easily accessed below:

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Filed Under: Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, History, MLB, News and Current Events, Social Issues

Super Bowl peaked in 1991 with Buffalo Bills, Whitney Houston

January 22, 2020 By Leave a Comment

scott-norwood-buffalo-bills

As Super Bowl 2020 arrives, it’s time to reflect on the biggest of all the big games. The Buffalo Bills went to four straight Super Bowls and lost all four in the 1990s, but man did they give us the best Super Bowl of all time. Like Tom Petty said, “even the losers- get lucky sometimes.”

Obviously, they never did but sometimes history is better when it’s written be the losers. It wasn’t just the Buffalo Bills who made that Super Bowl so special.

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Filed Under: Business, History, NFL

In Die Hard, What Christmas Eve Bowl Game has Notre Dame vs USC?

December 23, 2019 By 1 Comment

die hard christmas movie

(Editor’s note: re-publishing this holiday season article in advance of Christmas Eve)

This weekend begins the bowl season, and with it the crappy bowl games that very few of us care about. Saturday brings us a cadre of bowl games that are just as awful as whatever bowl game hosted Notre Dame and USC in the classic Christmas film “Die Hard.”

The total number of bowl games has multiplied at an absurd rate these past few decades, but one truth still remains- real bowl games don’t start until after Christmas, and for the most part well after Christmas. Genuinely desirable bowl games still adhere to tradition, and take place on New Year’s. (For a preview of #14 Notre Dame vs #17 LSU go to this link)

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Filed Under: College Football, Entertainment/Media, History, Notre Dame

Revisiting the Michigan vs Ohio Toledo War of 1835, Frostbitten Convention

November 25, 2019 By 11 Comments

toldeo-war

This week is rivalry week in college football. Which conjures up memories of the Toledo War and the Frostbitten Convention. This weekend brings awesome games with cool names like “The Iron Bowl” (Alabama-Auburn) and “The Holy War” (BYU-Utah). But only one of these rivalry games can claim an actual war in the history of its geographic region. That’s the Michigan Wolverines vs. the Ohio State Buckeyes, or “The Game,” as it’s called.

The Toledo War is one of the many reasons ESPN Classic is running a marathon of past tOSU-UM games today.

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Filed Under: College Football, History, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

VIDEO: First ever “Black Sox,” White Sox-Reds Series footage emerges

October 1, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Editor’s note: re-publishing this from May 2014 as the centennial of the 1919 World Series approaches on Tuesday. 

The Black Sox are one of the most compelling stories in Chicago sports history. The eight members of the Chicago White Sox ex-communicated from baseball forever for throwing the Cincinnati Reds comprise as intriguing and multi-layered scandals as you’ll find anywhere in sports history.

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Filed Under: Entertainment/Media, History, MLB, News and Current Events

1919 Black Sox World Series Centennial Will Likely Go Overlooked

October 1, 2019 By Leave a Comment

black-sox-jameis-winston

Sunday sees the ending of the Chicago White Sox season, with not much of note to show for it, except Tim Anderson winning the batting title. Tuesday marks the centennial of the beginning of the most intriguing and interesting thing the White Sox, or anyone else in sports for that matter, has ever done.

We are referring of course to the 1919 World Series, which will forever be defined by the Black Sox scandal, in which eight ballplayers were forever evicted from the game, due to their conspiring to intentionally suffer defeat.

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Filed Under: Business, History, MLB

Hack Wilson: a Chicago Cubs Story of RBIs, Booze and Brawling

August 29, 2019 By Leave a Comment

There is a brick outside Wrigley Field that honors Hack Wilson; accompanying the flag that flies atop the roof, also glorifying the Great Depression era slugger. Wilson is also enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, largely on the strength of his 56 home run, 191 RBI season of 1930.

His National League single season home run record didn’t fall until the steroid era, and his Major League Baseball single season RBIs record still stands to this day, having made it through the PEDs craziness of the 1990s and 2000s. For a few years, Hack Wilson was legitimately standing eye-to-eye with Babe Ruth. Yet his career end before his mid 30s, with under 250 homers to his name.

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Filed Under: Chicago Cubs, History, MLB

Time to Rethink Black Sox Legacy Amid Field of Dreams Game

August 11, 2019 By Leave a Comment

black-sox-jameis-winston

Shoeless Joe Jackson, and the rest of his teammates banned from baseball due to the Black Sox scandal, are not in the Hall of Fame, but they do have a strong presence in Cooperstown.

On the main level of the baseball hall of fame, you’ll see prominent photos of Shoeless Joe, the 1919 Chicago White Sox, and various artifacts relating to the team and the scandal. The hall has ace pitcher Eddie Cicotte’s pocket watch, manager Kid Gleason’s jersey and the very first ball thrown in the World Series on display.

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Filed Under: Business, History, MLB, Travel

Chicago Cubs Fan Guide to Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown

August 11, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Sometimes for better, often for worse, the Chicago Cubs have a very prominent place in baseball history. This is undeniable, as they are one of the sport’s biggest brands, and their imprint at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York  is expectedly massive.

Let’s take a look at what Cubs fans need to see and experience when they visit the Hall of Fame. First though a little history about why the museum is located where it is.

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Filed Under: Chicago Cubs, History, MLB, New York Yankees, Travel

Chicago White Sox Fan Guide to Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown

August 11, 2019 By 1 Comment

The Chicago White Sox, via Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox affair of the 1919 World Series, brought us the most interesting and captivating moment in baseball history. They, along with the gamblers, also inspired the greatest book and movie in baseball history.

With this in mind, you knew there was going to be representation at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Gambling is big now, especially at uudet nettikasinot, so maybe it’s time to rethink the Black Sox? We’ve covered that in previous post yesterday, which you can read over at this link, so now we’ll take a look at what else White Sox fans need to see and experience when they visit the Hall of Fame.

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Filed Under: Business, History, MLB, Travel
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