This has been a truly crappy couple of weeks for baseball: Longtime Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas has died at age 73. Team president David Montgomery announced the death Monday a short time after Kalas passed out in the broadcast booth before a game in Washington against the Nationals. Montogomery’s voice was cracking as he […]

The Phillies are said to be interested in Gary Sheffield and/or Andruw Jones. Signing either of those guys would likely require the release of postseason hero Matt Stairs. Which is something you only do if the player coming in actually has a good shot at bringing something more to the table. Signing Sheffield (bad shoulder, […]

The defending World Series champions, now have a bullseye on their chest. How did new GM Ruben Amaro fare in building the 2009 Phillies?

It wasn’t much in doubt, but now it’s official: Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling says he’s retiring from baseball. The right-hander who won World Series championships with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox announced on his blog Monday that he’s leaving after 23 years with “zero regrets.” Thank God Schilling has been relieved […]

Last week The New York Times ran an article about how the Republican Party is trying to derail Jim Bunning’s potential 2010 reelection campaign. Seems Bunning has become a cranky loose cannon, and even in the presumably safe state of Kentucky, his record, behavior, and temperament have folks worried that he’ll lose. As all hacky […]

On Feb. 23, 1960, demolition began on Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Nearly 50 years later, demolition is nearly finished on Shea Stadium, the home of New York’s most recent National League franchise. Richard looks back at other past stadium sites.

Phillies’ owner Bill Giles: All right, Scott, how much do you need? Scott Eyre (doggedly): Two hundred and forty-two dollars! Giles (pleading): Aw, Scott, just enough to tide you over till the bank reopens. Eyre: I’ll take two hundred and forty-two dollars. Giles starts rapidly to count out the money. Eyre throws his passbook on […]

No more arbitration for Big Ryan: Ryan Howard just wanted to concentrate on baseball this spring. No squabbles over his contract. No daily questions about his future. The big slugger got his wish — and a hefty raise, too. Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies agreed to a $54 million, three-year contract on Sunday, avoiding a […]

Lots of moves occurred this past week: the Chicago Cubs dumped off two pitchers while the Philadelphia Phillies locked up Ryan Howard for three years.

For those of you who don’t scroll down much, you may not have seen that I had a rare Sunday post yesterday. Subject: Rick Reilly’s story about a guy who crashed the Phillies’ World Series celebration. While I devoted most of the post to the notion that, if you look like you belong, you can […]