Fifty years ago today was one of the most famous Cooperstown induction days of them all. On July 13, 1962, the Baseball Hall of Fame welcomed through its doors two of the games biggest stars: Bob Feller and Jackie Robinson. Their claims to fame were rather obvious. Feller was a star fireballer who made the […]

With the central New York weather rating nearly a perfect 10, it was only fitting that emotions reached a similarly high level on Induction Day in Cooperstown. Vicki Santo, the widow of Ron Santo, gave one of the most stirring induction speeches in memory, while Barry Larkin delivered a talk high on energy and enthusiasm. […]

We already know that Yu Darvish makes pitch classification fun. His curveball will be of particular intrigue today. If you average all his hooks together, you’ll get a velocity of around 75 or 76 mph. But, as Harry Pavlidis noted in March, Darvish clearly throws two distinct kinds of curves: If you look through Darvish’s […]

If you ask baseball fans of a certain age to name the best defensive catcher they’ve ever seen, more than a few will tell you Ivan Rodriguez. Older fans might say Jim Sundberg or Johnny Bench, who is one of 45 Hall of Famers in Cooperstown for this year’s induction weekend. A few of those […]

One of the pleasures of Hall of Fame Weekend is simply walking up and down Main Street and watching people. Sometimes you run into a man like Paul Marshall of Portland, Maine, who has been coming to Cooperstown every year since 1972. He just wants to talk about baseball, and talk about this wonderful village. […]

Red Sox 3, White Sox 1: All Cody Ross does is hit three-run homers. The walkoff one here was his third in two days. Mets 9, Nationals 5: David Wright hits a two-run and a three-run homer. He’s like a poor-man’s Cody Ross! R.A. Dickey is the first player in the NL to notch 13 […]

Better late than never. This weekend, at the annual Hall of Fame Cooperstown induction ceremony, the late former Cubs third baseman Ron Santo will gain his plaque. When a player has a such a high honor for his career, it’s nice to look back on his playing days. I did something like this for Barry […]

5,000 days ago, a rather impressive baseball trade went down. Two teams swapped players—both of whom turned out to have rather impressive careers. At the time, neither were big names by any means. One was a prospect trying to break into the majors. The other was still trying to prove he could hit well enough […]

Although Ron Santo died nearly two years ago, his spirit is the one that most pervades this year’s Hall of Fame Induction Weekend. As someone who has long argued for Santo to make the Hall of Fame, it’s especially satisfying for me to see him finally receive the honor, even if it has to come […]

This year’s Hall of Fame Induction Weekend, a week earlier than usual to avoid conflict with the Olympics, may produce an oddity. There may be more people attending for the deceased inductee (Ron Santo) than the living one (Barry Larkin). That’s not a shot at the deserving Larkin; it’s simply a testament to the sustaining […]