In 1995, Jerry Seinfeld did a bit that went like this:

“Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify. Because the players are always changing, the team can move to another city, you’re actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it. You know what I mean, you are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city. Fans will be so in love with a player but if he goes to another team, they boo him. This is the same human being in another shirt, they ‘hate’ him now. Boo! Different shirt!! Boo.” [click here to see the video]

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Royals pitchers and catchers reported to spring training today. Game on.

And as we wait to see how that works out…

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Rita and I head to Phoenix later this week to visit friends of long standing, Diana and Larry Brewer. Sixty years ago this month (that would be January of 1958), the #1 record that Diana and I and our classmates were dancing to at Van Horn Teen Town was “At the Hop” by Danny and the Juniors. Three years later, I fixed Diana up on a blind date with my college fraternity brother Larry Brewer. They are still dating (and long married). Continue reading →

As the year ends, I am sending out some odds and ends that have been accumulating in my Hot Stove folder. My editor Rita says it reads like I’m cleaning out my closet. She is very perceptive.

Nerd Alert: For those of you in the “general” audience, feel free to skip the nerd-heavy stats and scroll down to the Statistics-Free Zone – Judging the Royals and Lonnie’s Jukebox.

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When I decided to feature the World Series from 50, 75 and 100 years ago, I thought it was going to be one general post. It turned into five. Just too many good things that a retired lawyer can find with Google. So now for the finale. The 1967 World Series between the Cardinals and the Red Sox.

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Hot Stove #62 covered the 1942 MLB World Series between the Cardinals and Yankees. Now for the counterpart from the Negro Leagues.

1942 – Kansas City Monarchs v. Washington Homestead Grays: Under the cloud of war, the Negro Leagues entered the 1942 season.

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[Below is the next installment on the World Series of 50, 75 and 100 years ago. On Wednesday, Rita and I head to the Atlantic side of Florida, and so I’ll be switching from writing to reading. Hope to finish the biographies of two great artists, Satchel Paige and Leonardo da Vinci. After that, on to Hot Stove #63 (The 1942 Negro League World Series) and Hot Stove #64 (The 1967 World Series.)]

In 1942, with World War II underway, there was some thought that there would not be a baseball season. President Franklin Roosevelt lifted that cloud with his “Green Light” letter that encouraged baseball to continue as a recreational outlet for fans working on the war effort. This also meant there would be a 1942 World Series. Actually, two of them – one for the Major Leagues and one for the Negro Leagues.

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This post interrupts my trilogy of reports on the World Series of 50, 75 and 100 years ago. You have seen the post on 1917, but my 1942 post will need more setup because it is about TWO World Series in the same year. So a little history may help before we get to the games played in 1942.

MLB World Series – A Brief History: The National League was founded in 1876. Other leagues followed, but no other “major” league endured until the American League transitioned to that status in 1901. The American League was able to upgrade by poaching stars from the National League which had a maximum player salary. The two leagues made peace after the 1902 season with an agreement not to raid each other for players. This set the stage for other interleague cooperation.

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