9-9-18 Hoyt Wilhelm was a remarkable pitcher. His knuckleball is legendary. He also pitched in the majors until he was 49 years old. On top of that he was perhaps the games first true relief specialist. I found some rare footage of Wilhelm pitching during a 1958 interview. Check out the "Rare Footage of the Hoyt Wilhelm Knuckleball". By the way, the audio on the clip is terrible.
9-16-18 Whenever you gather a bunch of guys there are always a few jokers and pranksters. These guys think of ways to joke around no matter what the situation is. And they usually try to outdo the other guys. Baseball is no different. It has its share of pranksters. Here are the "Major League Baseballs Top 4 Pranks of All Time".
9-23-18 The 1919 Chicago White Sox. You probably know them as the Black Sox. In 1919 Baseball was still in its infancy. Baseball did not have a commissioner. Most players only played the game part time and had to do other work to make a decent wage. Gamblers were intimately involved in the game. It was just a matter of time until a potentially tainted World Series. It all came together in 1919. The suspicions caused baseball to hire Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis to become the first commissioner after a trial of members of the White Sox. Ultimately Landis gave lifetime bans to 8 members of the team including Shoeless Joe Jackson. Here is a segment from Ken Burns documentary "Baseball" about the scandal.
9-29-18 As a young baseball player kids are taught to respect the umpires. A lot of little leaguers are even afraid of the ump. But when they both make it to the show and are grown men both know that there is a time to be serious and a time that's okay to joke around Here is a video of "Joking with the Law".
10-7-18 There are few baseball teams that most of us don't think about much. I'm not talking active Major League teams, I mean teams that have faded in history. One such team is the St. Louis Browns. I'm sure most of you did not realize that the Browns were originally the Milwaukee Brewers and that they moved to St. Louis in 1901. Of course they moved out of St. Louis in 1954 and became the Baltimore Orioles. The Browns were Cardinals were too much for St. Louis to support so when Anheuser Busch purchased the Cardinals in 1952 and canceled a predicted move to Texas the Browns moved instead. Check out this "History of the St. Louis Browns" video.
10-14-18 Here is another video on the lighter side. Players goof around alot but don't we all. We just don't have television cameras around all the time pickup up everything we do. Check out "Not So Serious Baseball, Part 1"