“Never a Bad Game,” which chronicled the first 50 years of the Southern League, has been updated and re-released. (Ordering information below). Over the coming weeks, I’ll present excerpts from 10 of my favorites of the 50 stories told in the book. He was the winningest manager in the first 50 years of the Southern … Continue reading Book excerpt: Phillip Wellman, much more than three minutes of video infamy

“Never a Bad Game,” which chronicled the first 50 years of the Southern League, has been updated and re-released. (Ordering information below). Over the coming weeks, I’ll present excerpts from 10 of my favorites of the 50 stories told in the book. On a partly cloudy, 85-degree fall day in central Florida, Jose Canseco did … Continue reading Book excerpt: Jose Canseco, character and caricature

Seven thoughts, as I hope we’re headed to a seven-game World Series if they’re as dramatic as Game 7 of the NLCS. Two former third basemen discussing their craft in the late 1980s 1. I’m thrilled with the Dodgers vs. the Rays. They were the two best teams in baseball all season. Though I’m rooting … Continue reading World Series thoughts, memories … and a prediction

Don Mincher did many great things in baseball. Among those, 55 years ago today, he hit a home run off Don Drysdale in his first World Series at-bat. So it’s appropriate for me to retell this highlight moment of a man I was honored to consider one of the closest friends I made in this … Continue reading The anniversary of Don Mincher’s first World Series homer: ‘You’ve still got to hit it when a Hall of Famer throws it’

Being less than enthralled with traffic jams, I’d arrive at the race track five or so hours before the green flag. That was back when traffic was still a factor, before NASCAR started walking head-down, looking for every bit of spare change dropped onto a sidewalk, and didn’t pay attention to what was coming. I’d … Continue reading Of Dale and ‘Dega

Smack dab in the middle of the Stanley Cup finals, I thought it’d be a fun reminder that the Nashville Predators’ first game was in Huntsville, Ala. – smack dab in the middle of football season. Full disclosure: I am enthralled by post-season hockey. It’s been background noise in my den much of the last … Continue reading A Huntsville home game for the Nashville Predators

I got thrown out of a game while minding my own business in a press box. Thrown out by Joe West. The whole press box got thrown out, in fact. Which doesn't exactly put us in select company. West has spent 44 years as a big league umpire, carrying a hefty ego and a quick … Continue reading Of “Three Blind Mice” and Joe West and a press-box ejection

Today would be the 100th birthday for my father, Frank McCarter. That’s mind-boggling in so many ways. First, to accept the fact that someone I think of daily has not been alive since April 4, 2007. Here's the cover of "My First 85 Years" Second, to realize that my mother, whose Alzheimer’s disease we believe … Continue reading On the occasion of my hero’s 100th birthday

The title of this blog site comes from a book title, and the title of the book comes from an obituary. Now, most anybody with a keyboard can write an obituary. As long as it doesn’t suggest the dearly departed drowned kittens for a hobby or served as a fry-cook for the Taliban, most folks … Continue reading How an obit became a book title, and how you can read the book

I can say with relative certainty that I was the only journalist to cover both the Republican National Convention and the Brickyard 400 in the same week in 2000. The winners were a pair of Texas guys. Both were emerging from the shadows cast by more imposing members of their own families -- George W. … Continue reading Recalling a low-tech visit during a high-tech political convention