Baseball

Plus, why Gavin McInnes is a baddie.

The Sox won 108 games and are the best team in baseball heading into the playoffs. And they're in trouble.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Philip Luke Jeffery reviews an exhibition about America’s pastime and America’s character.

Plus, the best inning of the season?

A town in decline faces another blow.

Plus, Angus King's Instagram book.

A July 27 game between the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers featured a few minutes of pointless delight. Chris White, a Marine veteran, made the unusual decision to remove his trousers and shirt, brandish his Stars-and-Stripes-themed underwear—silkies is the military term—and sprint across the…

Plus, make light bulbs great again!

Hosted by Jim Swift

Plus, when you should leave the ballpark.

Plus, when airline CEOs sit in the cheap seats.

In this latest episode, the Substandard reflects on Stanley Kubrick and the 50th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sonny and JVL wade into the James Gunn tweet controversy. Vic is celebrating Civilization and its contents. Plus ladder golf and Carmine’s portions!

Plus, Chick-fil-A at home?!

Adam J. White on what happens when the commander in chief takes the mound.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

In this latest episode, the Substandard discusses the Rock's latest actioner, Skyscraper, and the disaster flick genre (The Poseidon Adventure > Beyond the Poseidon Adventure). JVL buys a ton of baseball cards. Sonny reappraises The Dark Knight III: The Master Race. And Vic reappraises Neve…

Plus, Elon Musk steps in it.

The rise of sabermetrics makes rational sense—but it has also made the sport less fun to watch.

Plus, Jon Kyl the sherpa.

Hosted by Jonathan V. Last.

In this latest episode, the Substandard discusses Sicario: Day of Soldado. Sonny goes off on all the ways it went wrong. JVL gets ready for a day of baseball with his mystery date. Vic gets ready for a tropical 5K "fun" run. Plus a ranking of best and worst sequels and a dishwasher update!

Plus, why Kelly Cohen is a treasure.

Plus, why Kelly Cohen is a treasure.

While much of America learned this week that Washington, D.C., has a professional hockey team, The Scrapbook was reminded that San Diego still has a Major League Baseball team. At the Braves-Padres game at Petco Park, caught on video that quickly became social-media famous, Braves outfielder Ender…

Plus, is Trump everything Republicans worried Obama was?

In this latest episode, the Substandard continues discussing Solo: A Star Wars Story—a story of a box office disaster. JVL explains exit velocity and Sonny's chair flips over. Vic gets saluted by the Swiss Guard. JVL and Vic explain confession to Sonny. Sonny explains 1337. (There's a lot of…

Seattle Mariners hurler James Paxton is what you would call a “monster” only in the statistical sense. First, he’s from Canada, which has a centuries-old ban on literal monsters, first proposed by Sir John Goodfellow in the 19th-century pamphlet “Apologies, Niceties, and Other Best Traits of Common…

In this twee episode of the Substandard, our hosts discuss Isle of Dogs and the Wes Anderson oeuvre. Sonny gives us rankings. JVL goes back to the minors. Vic orients his kids with Chinese food. Plus "Gene" unleashed!

Plus, the British Virgin Islands Marlins?

Plus, a celebrity gets arrested.

How Kirk Gibson inspired a bunch of future Nationals fans. Since it is Opening Day, we're going to have a few baseball stories. This one from 2016 by Rudy Gersten is worth checking out. It's about Kirk Gibson's's famous 1988 World Series home run, a ball that hit Gersten's aunt Pamela, a fact they…

23 Years Later, Man Returns to Groundskeeping Job With White Sox. This Chicago Tribune story about Nevest Coleman's wrongful conviction is heartbreaking. For a man so wronged, it's heartening to see that the White Sox were eager to offer him his old job back.

I am not typically late for things. Except, one morning in March of last year, I was running late to a doctor’s appointment for my wife and me. She was already there, having let me sleep in since I had been up late the night before. Not for work or anything. But to watch Team Israel in the World…

Farewell, Mostly Weekly! My good friend Andrew Heaton’s web show at Reason comes to an end, like all good things do. In the final episode, Heaton takes on creative destruction, and then destroys his own show. Creative!

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Major League Baseball will expand its experiment of starting extra innings in certain games with a runner at second base.

Will the reboot of 'The Office' be woke? And if so, will it be funny? Reason's Ed Krayewski asks "at what point will The Office become problematic?" Turns out, those thinkpieces have already been written. From February of last year, there's: Unpopular Opinion: “The Office” Is Very Problematic in…

Don't you miss baseball? Yes, the people who update you constantly, starting in November, about how many days until spring training are a little weird, and you should have an offseason, but it's easy to miss something once it's gone. To that end, Bill Kristol announced the two winners of his…

Roy Halladay, one of two pitchers in Major League Baseball history to toss a playoff no-hitter and a two-time Cy Young Award-winner, died in a plane crash Tuesday at age 40.

This week on the Kristol Clear Podcast, Weekly Standard editor at large Bill Kristol talks with host Eric Felten about Mueller investigation indictments, the GOP's tax bills, and the worthy World Series.

No matter what happened Wednesday night, this was a World Series for the ages.

The windows one floor up and diagonal from the living room window were illuminated shortly past midnight. We’ve all been there: A child wails, an animal skedaddles, a stomach growls, a phone rings, a bladder pleads, and suddenly you’re ambulant when the rest of the home is prone, wondering why…

Of all the professional sports, Major League baseball has the broadest range of players from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds: In 2015, more than 230 foreign-born players from 17 countries played the game at its highest level.

As the major league playoffs continue on into the World Series, there is lots of talk—complaining, really—about the lengthening time it takes to play, and therefore watch, a baseball game. The average time of a baseball game is now three hours and five minutes. I don’t know if the average time of a…

As the major league playoffs continue on into the World Series, there is lots of talk—complaining, really—about the lengthening time it takes to play, and therefore watch, a baseball game. The average time of a baseball game is now three hours and five minutes. I don’t know if the average time of a…

When George Will was being packed off to graduate school, his father, a professor of philosophy at the University of Illinois, asked him what, or who, he wanted to be in life: Ted Sorensen, Isaiah Berlin, or Murray Kempton? All three men were closely identified with a public trade. Sorensen, as…

The Red Sox and Yankees survived on Sunday, setting up a Columbus Day quadruple-header. Were they lucky or just timely? And what’s in store now?

This summer, the Cleveland Indians won 22 consecutive baseball games—a seemingly impossible streak that elated fans of the team and captivated non-fans. The Indians won large and they won small. They won the 22nd game in a comeback, getting a hit with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the…

Jose Altuve went yard thrice, and Trevor Bauer was not so nice to the Yankees in a dominant Game 1 performance on Thursday. The first day of the MLB Divisional Series round now gives way to a full slate of games Friday—here’s TWS’s Lee Smith and Chris Deaton to break it down.

When George Will was being packed off to graduate school, his father, a professor of philosophy at the University of Illinois, asked him what, or who, he wanted to be in life: Ted Sorensen, Isaiah Berlin, or Murray Kempton? All three men were closely identified with a public trade. Sorensen, as…

This summer, the Cleveland Indians won 22 consecutive baseball games—a seemingly impossible streak that elated fans of the team and captivated non-fans. The Indians won large and they won small. They won the 22nd game in a comeback, getting a hit with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the…

The Yankees won—and Gary Sanchez survived! The Diamondbacks outlasted the Rockies—thanks to a pitcher . . . hitting? Two wacky wild card games are in the books, and the 2017 MLB playoffs are set: It’s the Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks and Nationals vs. Cubs in the National League, and the Indians vs.…

For three joyous seconds last November, I believed the Cleveland Indians were World Series champions.

The Capital Bikeshare killer is here. Bike sharing programs are increasingly popular in big cities, and Washington was an early adopter with its Capital Bikeshare program. (The keys even look like little communist flags!) The program got started with millions in subsidies from the government, and…

Can the former head of the College Democrats win a seat as... a Republican? At POLITICO Magazine, Tim Alberta has a great feature on Wisconsin's Kevin Nicholson. A veteran with a great resume, Nicholson wants to snatch up Sen. Tammy Baldwin's seat. But first, he has to convince GOP voters in…

Bubble-dwellers everywhere in American culture are prone to make comparisons that become hackneyed over time. In music criticism, someone’s going to liken a songwriter to Dylan. In political punditry, someone’s going to call a bad guy Voldemort. And in baseball, someone’s going to compare Joey…

This online psychic cleaned up. Down in Texas, a Democratic state legislator is facing trial for misdemeanor charges for a few of a series of accused fraudulent acts. This story is all kinds of crazy. The legislator is Dawnna Dukes, who is in her 12th term in the Texas House. Here's a taste of the…

About that iPhone presentation... It's been 10 years since Apple deployed its first overhyped phone, so how about a reunion of sorts. (How much money have you given Apple in the last 10 years? Maybe don't overthink that ...) In January of 2007 the iPhone debuted, and Steve Jobs gave a public hype…

We're going to 20! My Cleveland Indians are red hot right now, having won 15 games in a row. Impressively, the Indians also won 14 straight last season. An Ohio roofing and window company celebrating its 15th anniversary thought it'd be a fun contest to offer customers a 100 percent refund on work…

Baseball badassery. A lot of people (wrongly) think baseball is a soft sport. It's true that, unlike football or hockey, there's not a lot of fighting. Of course, getting beaned with a 100 mph fastball is no picnic. But when there is fighting in baseball, it's a big deal. So, yesterday as we put…

Can you hear me now? Unfortunately, not too well if you're one of the diplomats previously stationed in Cuba, due to hearing loss resulting from a covert sonic device. At the Free Beacon, Adam Kredo and Susan Crabtree report that the U.S. government is hiding key details about these mystery attacks.

Even Bob Gibson wasn’t this merciless. In what has to be a new best worst first pitch of all-time, 17-year-old Jordan Leandre plunked a photographer standing several feet behind and to the left of home plate before Wednesday’s game between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway.…

New York Yankees’ rookie sensation Aaron Judge hit nearly four miles’ worth of homers Monday night in Miami to become Major League Baseball’s 2017 Home Run Derby champion. The 25-year old right fielder hit a total of 47 home runs, including 11 in the last round to beat Minnesota Twins’ third…

Years ago the popular sociologist Vance Packard told me that he hated to have one of his books paired with another in a review. “All a review like that ever says is, ‘This book is better than that one,’ ” he complained, “and you can’t use a quote like that in an ad.”

Years ago the popular sociologist Vance Packard told me that he hated to have one of his books paired with another in a review. “All a review like that ever says is, ‘This book is better than that one,’ ” he complained, “and you can’t use a quote like that in an ad.”

Charleston, S.C.

More than eight years after they finished the new Yankee Stadium, I still get confused when I climb out of the subway at 161st and River Ave. Whoa—where did it go? The lot that used to hold the ballpark is empty. The stadium, I forget every time I visit the Bronx, is across the street. It's like a…

I was a late convert to baseball. I never played it growing up—or even watched it, for that matter. I went to one Orioles game my freshman year of college and didn't stick a glove on my left hand until my junior year, when a couple buddies were heading out to have a catch and I tagged along. At…

More than eight years after they finished the new Yankee Stadium, I still get confused when I climb out of the subway at 161st and River Ave. Whoa—where did it go? The lot that used to hold the ballpark is empty. The stadium, I forget every time I visit the Bronx, is across the street. It's like a…

Scooter Gennett hit four home runs on Tuesday night. "Scooter Gennett" is not an anagram for "Mike Trout." Though it is only a "u" short of having the letters to spell "get out" and a "d" short of Scrabbling together his traditional position, "second"—which isn't often associated with power…

Los Angeles County has 14 area codes. Not zip codes, area codes. (It has 320 zip codes.) Its population is larger than that of 42 states, its area larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined. It has two mountain ranges, five rivers, two deserts, six major valleys, and a boundary that runs 70…

Up until opening day, I was wondering what to do with all the extra time that Major League Baseball’s new "Pace of Play" rules were supposed to free up. The commissioner's office and the rules committee wanted to move the game along faster, presumably to appeal to baseball fans with lots of other…

Up until opening day, I was wondering what to do with all the extra time that Major League Baseball’s new "Pace of Play" rules were supposed to free up. The commissioner's office and the rules committee wanted to move the game along faster, presumably to appeal to baseball fans with lots of other…

I had to use my DVR to catch it: the first instance of Major League Baseball's new no-pitch intentional walk.

The year's at the spring, And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hillside's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn: God's in His heaven— All's right with the world! —"Pippa's Song," Robert Browning, 1841 As momentous events like the NCAA basketball finals and Major…

Los Angeles

After going 3-0 in the first round of the World Baseball Classic, Israel moves on to the second round of pool play this weekend in Tokyo when it squares off against international powerhouse Cuba Saturday (10 p.m. EST). The other two teams in Pool E are the Netherlands, whom Israel defeated…

Before the days of Schick and Barbasol, a lithograph from the printmaker Currier and Ives depicted President Lincoln's ZZ Top of a cabinet and the chinstrap in chief holding the Emancipation Proclamation. Over his shoulder was graybeard Gideon Welles, secretary of the navy, and to his left were…

As the seventh game of the World Series continued deep into the night last week, three things happened that were unusual, three things that make baseball the remarkable game it is. They had to do with rain, a meeting, and a player—three reasons the Cubs won the game, and thus the series.

With a three-to-one series lead in the World Series, the Cleveland Indians now face a game seven at home Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs after a 9 to 3 loss Tuesday against ace Jake Arrietta.

When I sit down on a barstool in my favorite watering hole in Peoria, Illinois to watch game 6 of the World Series Tuesday night, I will be proudly wearing the "Chicago Cubs: NL Champs" t-shirt I just bought.

Below is an excerpt from this week's Kristol Clear newsletter, written by WEEKLY STANDARD editor Bill Kristol. Sign up here to receive Kristol Clear in your inbox every Monday morning.

Joe Buck, the multipurpose Fox sports broadcaster, has called almost every World Series for the last two decades, beginning with the revival of the New York Yankees dynasty in 1996. Ever since, he has been criticized for banality, bias, and boredom, or as I like to call them, the triple Zzz's.…

Bill Kristol, editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, joined Jay Caruso and Neal Dewing of the Fifth Estate podcast to discuss the future of conservatism after the 2016 election, among other topics:

The Cleveland Indians pitching staff was masterful Tuesday night, but they had an awful lot of help from the Cubs, who struck out 15 times. Starter Corey Kluber had nine in six innings, stud reliever Andrew Miller had three over two innings, and closer Cody Allen struck out the side in the ninth.

The World Series this year feels a little like Noah's Ark, or John Woo's Face Off—lots of stuff in twos. Like Theo and Terry. The Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein built the long suffering NL franchise into a winner, just like he did with the Boston Red Sox, which won the…

How do baseball managers pick their own six pack in a liquor store, I wonder? Do they have a designated slot in the cardboard carrier—say, front-left—for the lager, and the ale must be middle-left, and the bottles go 'round in a horseshoe shape until they reach the front-right: the last, the best,…

It's been a heck of postseason so far, with the highlight of course the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw coming out of the bullpen on one day's rest after a 100-pitch-plus start to save the deciding game in the division playoff against the Washington Nationals. (Then, two days after that, Kershaw pitched…

My allegiance to the Chicago Cubs—which may actually bring something other than misery this year—began in earnest when the team hired Harry Caray to announce their games in 1982. My eternal affection for Harry goes beyond his broadcast brilliance: A long time ago, he helped my adoptive grandfather…

My allegiance to the Chicago Cubs—which may actually bring something other than misery this year—began in earnest when the team hired Harry Caray to announce their games in 1982. My eternal affection for Harry goes beyond his broadcast brilliance: A long time ago, he helped my adoptive grandfather…

The next round of October baseball is underway Thursday afternoon with the Texas Rangers hosting the Toronto Blue Jays (the Boston Red Sox are in Cleveland to play the Indians Thursday), but for some people that's not enough. Instead of enjoying the baseball, some folks are sweating the…

In 1965, Michael Novak was a young academic living in Los Angeles when Stanford University hired him for a teaching position. He was a Dodgers fan, and as he wrote in his fine book, The Joy of Sports (1976), he moved his young family to Palo Alto only to discover that he couldn't tune in the…

At the beginning of the baseball season, we announced in the Kristol Clear newsletter a contest in which you had a chance to pick the teams that would make the World Series, and the winner. We've got the entries, are dutifully keeping track as promised, and the payoff will be YUUGE.

Last week in Miami baseball laid one of its youngest stars to rest. Jose Fernandez was a 24-year-old righthanded starter for the Miami Marlins with less than four complete major league seasons to his record. From 2013-2016, he compiled 38 wins and an earned run average of 2.58, while striking out…

Last week in Miami baseball laid one of its youngest stars to rest. Jose Fernandez was a 24-year-old righthanded starter for the Miami Marlins with less than four complete major league seasons to his record. From 2013-2016, he compiled 38 wins and an earned run average of 2.58, while striking out…

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with deputy onlne editor Chris Deaton on why Tim Tebow, Vin Scully, and Dee Gordon all remind us of the narrative power of one of sports' most iconic moments.

What a strange season. Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium a man intended to propose marriage to his girlfriend. But he fumbled the ring like a knuckleball, with no one knowing where the thing would end up. The whole section looked for it. Fans used their cell phones as flashlights, parents sent their…

It was Mickey Mantle's habit to keep his head down after hitting a home run, he said, because "the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases." But there are rare occasions when it is appropriate to violate the unwritten Baseball Code and show emotion after…

Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident Sunday morning. The 24-year-old right-hander was 16-8, with an ERA of 2.86, and he had the second-most strikeouts, 253 in 182.1 innings, in the major leagues. On Wednesday, he pitched 8 innings of shutout baseball against the…

There were seventy reporters credentialed to the New York Mets instructional league in Port St Lucie, Florida, this week. The 29-year-old college-football broadcaster, Christian evangelist and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow was taking his first swings and shagging his first flies as a…

Being a baseball fan, and in particular a fan of the Braves even before they moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta; and being also a fan of Braves pitcher John Smoltz, who joined the team in 1989 and retired in 2009, all but the last of those 21 seasons spent with Atlanta, I could not resist listening to…

"Sean,” said catcher Isaac Wenrich to pitcher Sean Conroy, the first openly gay active player in professional baseball history, "slow down and let me put a dip in my mouth. That wasn't a gay reference. I said dip."

It's always fun when you're winning. It seems like everything is going your way. If you're Nationals ace Max Scherzer going against the local rival Orioles, you get a groundball hit back at you on the mound and you field it between your legs. With your back facing the hitter. Here he is pulling off…

Dansby Swanson went 2-for-4 last night. OK, so who is Swanson, and why am I writing about him?

It can hardly be a coincidence that just as the emperor of Japan hinted at abdicating his throne this past weekend, the island nation’s greatest baseball player ascended to a kind of diamond royalty. Ichiro Suzuki, a 42-year-old outfielder with 16 major league seasons under his belt (Seattle…

Last week the Associated Press announced that it will begin using automated writing for its coverage of minor league baseball. The AP has reported minor league game recaps before, but didn't have enough manpower for the full schedule, which comprises 142 ball clubs across 13 leagues. But now,…

If you’re in the Northeast, it's a pretty good day for a late-afternoon nap, and not just because of the daunting heat on this first day of summer. You're going to want to rest up so you can catch the match-up of the week tonight with a 10 p.m. EST first pitch, when the Los Angeles Dodgers host the…

With nearly a third of the schedule already over, baseball is rushing toward the long grind. It’s these three months, June, July, and August, where seasons are built or squandered, with September a berserkers' challenge to what's been earned here. Fans and scribes are right to romanticize the…

You don't want to miss the long Memorial Day weekend's big matchup Sunday night, when Dodgers' ace Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to take the mound in Queens, N.Y. to duel with Mets' ageless wonder Bartolo Colon, aka "Big Sexy." Kershaw's coming off his third shutout of the year, a two-hitter against…

Thanks again, Rick Monday, forty years on! It was exactly four decades ago today, when playing centerfield for the Cubs Monday executed what many think of as one of the greatest plays in baseball history: He saved the American flag from being burned. Just as the bottom of the 4th inning was…

In honor of Opening Day, I had a short discussion of baseball in yesterday's weekly newsletter (yes, you can get it--it's easy, just sign up here. And yes, it's free!) But I'll admit last night's Villanova-North Carolina game could call into question my endorsement of the superiority of baseball.…

They're not saying "Gooooose"—they're booing. Yes, baseball fans are booing Hall of Fame reliever Rich "Goose" Gossage for his crazy broadside on sports talk radio last week against the game he loves. He ripped ballplayers and management in what can only be considered a rearguard action in…

Goose Gossage is still a flamethrower. Even at age 64, many years removed from the mound, the former Yankees closer is throwing heat at hitters, just with his mouth instead of his arm. And true to a hurler's style, he's prone to be erratic.

As a long-suffering Cubs fan who's developed an affection for the Nationals, I am nauseated that Dusty Baker is the team's new manager. In a season or two, I suspect that fellow Nats fans will share my nausea.

From Iowa to New Hampshire and down to the South, the candidates go from coffee shop to restaurant to overcrowded debate stage, tweaking their positions in the field, taking swings at each other and searching for their best fastball. It's a Darwinian contest, these primaries. They begin with a…

On Thursday, Dusty Baker was introduced as the Washington Nationals' new manager. The 66-year-old former all-star outfielder was named manager of the year three times (1993, 1997, and 2000) with the San Francisco Giants (1993-2002), and then went on to lead the Chicago Cubs (2003-2006), and the…

Now that playoff baseball has returned with the onset of autumn, and baseball becomes more intense, more excellent, and more precious, I’m thinking again about Harvey Dorfman. Little known to most casual fans, he was one of the great men of baseball, for he taught his students and friends and all…

I largely agree with Lee Smith’s take on the collision between Ruben Tejada and Chase Utley in the bottom of the 7th inning at beautiful Dodger Stadium on Saturday.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Utley isn’t “to blame for Tejada’s injury”— to me, Utley’s excessively late slide deserves a…

Last night Major League Baseball’s chief baseball officer, Joe Torre announced that Dodgers infielder Chase Utley was suspended for game three and four of the National League Division Series. In the seventh inning of Saturday night’s game, Utley went hard into second base to break up a double play,…

Mismanaging a baseball team will do it.  As James Wagner reports in the Washington Post:

The Washington Nationals ended the home campaign of their 2015 season on a high-note Monday with Max Scherzer taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning before giving up a single. Manager Matt Williams pulled Scherzer soon after, with the right-hander striking out ten and getting credit for the 5-1 win…

Baseball fans continue to pay their respects to Lawrence Peter Berra, aka “Yogi,” the legendary Yankees catcher, big league manager and coach, and homespun philosopher, who died Tuesday at age 90. “What I really liked about him is that he was such a stand-up guy,” one mourner standing outside the…

Nearly 14 years ago, President George W. Bush took to the mound at Yankee Stadium to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in Game 3 of the World Series. This was weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Bush's down-the-middle-strike was a triumphant moment that helped unite the country.

The Boston Red Sox are nearing the end of a woeful season, running last in their division, thirteen-and-a-half out of first, leaving the taste of wormwood and gall in the mouth of every member of Red Sox nation. 

The Yankees’s C.C. Sabathia is not having a stellar season.  With a 4-9 record and a 5.24 ERA he could be forgiven for feeling a sense of frustration. Even one serious enough to get him into a near brawl with fans in, of all places, Toronto. 

The Washington Nationals’s winning streak ended Thursday night in Colorado. After two games. But when recent performance includes a six game losing streak that helped the team fall from first place, by 4 and a half games in their division, to trailing the Mets by four, then you take what you can…

Another big-headed candidate is running for president. And no, this one isn’t vying for the GOP nomination.  

One of the great July 4th speeches was delivered by a shy man who played baseball for a living. Lou Gehrig played every day, never took a game off, until he was told, at age 35, that he was dying.  More than 60,000 fans and former teammates came out to Yankee Stadium to honor him.  Between the two…

The Baltimore Orioles will play tomorrow's baseball game at an empty stadium. It will be closed to the public due to ongoing riots in Baltimore. 

Most of us at The Weekly Standard are baseball fans. Like all human institutions we are imperfect, so we have a few colleagues who superciliously disdain sports, and a few others who vulgarly prefer football or basketball. But we ignore the naysayers and carpers in our midst. We’re proud to endorse…

Gregg Ritchie, head coach at George Washington University, says that the Royals have more of their game-changers going into tonight’s game than the Giants do. With pitching, as my former GW teammate explains, the two clubs are basically even. Royals’ starter Jeremy Guthrie and his Giants…

The fact that the Royals and the Giants have pushed the World Series to a game seven is evidence the two clubs are very evenly matched. Even tonight’s probable starters, Tim Hudson for the Giants and Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals, are similar style pitchers. Top velocity for both is around 90-92…

Last week Gregg Ritchie, head baseball coach at George Washington University, was talking about what happens when a baseball team strikes out more than seven times in a game. The more you whiff the less chance you have of winning, explained Ritchie. Sunday night’s game showed just how accurate that…

Baseball heals. That’s the only way The Scrapbook can explain Keith Olbermann’s transformation. How else did Bush Derangement Syndrome’s patient zero wind up complimenting the 43rd president? After nearly a decade of insulting George W. Bush, Olbermann now says he’s a fan. Actually his praise was…

Now with the Royals tying the World Series Wednesday night 1-1, things are really getting hot: Two San Francisco radio stations have removed the song “Royals” from their play lists. The smash hit from the seventeen-year-old Kiwi songbird Lorde was inspired by a 1976 photo of Royals’ hall-of-fame…

With the World Series opening tonight in Kansas City, the Giants are no doubt feeling their oats. They’re coming off of a three-homerun performance in their game five win over the St. Louis Cardinals, which landed them their third World Series appearance in five years. However, the Giants should be…

Don’t be surprised if the Giants-Royals World Series is decided by 90 feet. After all, baseball is a series of contests for 90 feet—the distance from home to first, first to second, second to third, and third to home again. The two teams are bidding for the same property for nine innings, both when…

The Kansas City Royals are hot. With eight straight wins in the postseason, the Royals have the air of a team of destiny. The reality of course is much less magical. The Kansas City club moved on to the World Series for the first time in 29 years not because of divine intervention but because…

Sometime in mid-February, after the long winter, baseball fans are delighted to read, usually over a two-paragraph-long story buried beneath the fold in the sports pages, the tag line Pitchers and Catchers Report. They are reporting, of course, to spring training two or three weeks ahead of the…

The Washington Nationals ended their regular season in spectacular fashion when 28-year-old ace Jordan Zimmerman pitched a no-hitter Sunday night. Even the final out wasn't without drama. Left fielder Stephen Souza made a miraculous diving catch on a pop fly to the outfield that secured Zimmerman's…

Maybe you won’t be surprised to hear that The Scrapbook wishes Keith Olbermann had never gotten into political commentary. But don’t misunderstand: The problem isn’t his terminal case of Bush Derangement Syndrome, or his feud with Bill O’Reilly, or his unintentionally hilarious and pompous policy…

Keith Olbermann’s derisive reference to the “designated kraken” reminds The Scrapbook of a classic anti-designated-hitter article by Christopher Caldwell, published in these pages in April 1998. Longtime readers may yet remember it: “A DHuMB Idea at 25.” It’s still a great read, all these years…

For the last couple years, the boss has recommended a few important speeches on and about July 4 from Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Lou Gehrig. All are worth revisiting, but earning special mention this year is Gehrig's July 4 farewell speech at Yankee Stadium. On this day 75 years ago,…

Last night, Manny Ramirez hit his first home run as a member of the Cubs—not the Chicago Cubs, but the Iowa Cubs. Manny, one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time, finds himself in Des Moines, playing for the Cubs' top minor league team. He's in Iowa because he has no where else to go.

Recently at a funeral for a catcher dead too young at the age of 55, his college teammates recalled his showboating antics. One game, they recalled, the catcher homered his first time up. Watching the ball sail off into the distance, he tossed the bat away dramatically, embarked on an emphatic…

Over at Powerline, Paul Mirengoff asks, “Who was that cranky old man and why did he ice Kevin Durant?” That “cranky old man” would be Joey Crawford, the 62-year-old referee who grabbed the ball and ran over to the scorers’ table Tuesday night after Durant hit his first free throw with 27 seconds…

As I noted a few weeks ago, the introduction of widespread instant replay into major league baseball threatened to do serious damage to how the game is played and enjoyed. That damage arrives in ways that replay's proponents simply failed—or refused—to countenance.

Do we really need another book about Pete Rose?

As the Boston Red Sox collected their World Series rings last Friday, Boston faithful had much to be thankful for. And among those to whom they owed more than a little thanks was Bill James, the team's official analytical guru, who enjoyed an increased role in team decision-making after the team…

In The Great Debate and elsewhere, Yuval Levin describes the fundamental difference between conservatives and progressives, rooted in the debates of Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine:

Salena Zito, writing about baseball, in honor of Opening Day:

Everyone could use a nice government subsidy and bailouts aren’t just for broke car companies and derelict banks anymore.  Baseball teams need that same kind of taxpayer love.  No surprise then, as Mark Segraves of NBC’s channel 4 in Washington reports:

What if everything we think we know about the history of baseball is wrong? What if despite the carefully cultivated image of its manly origins—long mustachios and tobacco-juice-stained vests—it was a game played by women as well as men? What if the game was invented 100 years before Abner…

Of the 39 most awesome jobs in America, only the nine members of the Supreme Court have lifetime tenure. Major League Baseball’s 30 shortstops, on the other hand, are always looking over their shoulder. Every ground ball in the hole, every slow roller dribbling past the mound, every relay throw…

Tom Walsh of the Detroit Free Press, writes about some of the obstacles in Detroit's way if it is to show its best face come the "invasion by the nation’s media in October for baseball playoffs and, hopefully, a World Series."

For decades, the lords of big-league baseball scrambled to protect their antitrust exemption, warning that the professional game would fall apart if the owners could not conspire against free markets to run it their way. Most of all, they wanted to protect the reserve clause, under which a player…

Monday night, Alex Rodriguez singled in his first at-bat of the season—which for Rodriguez may end as early as Thursday, when Major League baseball intends to enforce its 211-game suspension of him that will include the remainder of the 2013 campaign and all of 2014. With the 12-time All-Star…

To first place.  In baseball, that is.

Baseball has a way of distracting us, at least momentarily, from the routine stuff.  Both the boring and the distressing.  Santiago found it easier to bear all those fishless days by reading about the "Great DiMaggio" who, as all fans know, was famous for going so many days hitting safely.

Adam J. White, inspired by the boss's baseball post, takes a break from perusing Supreme Court opinions and reflecting on the greatness of Justice Alito, to write: 

"Because of the way in which baseball links the generations it has been a channel through which vital traits of American character are instilled. The health of baseball concerns all of America, and the health of ­America — perhaps especially the American family — finds itself reflected in the state…

While half the country is obsessed with the cases that the Supreme Court is about to decide—not to mention the cases that the Court may or may not take up next—Justice Alito left the Beltway this week for greener pastures. Specifically, he headed south to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, and…

Thanks to our friends at Powerline for featuring Clark Griffith's recent perceptive meditation on "Baseball's Timeless Appeal." In their spirit, I'll also recommend to one and all the exchange in the Fall 1990 Public Interest between Donald Kagan ("George Will's baseball—a conservative critique")…

If you lived in the decade following World War II in the American Southwest or a goodly portion of the South and were a baseball fan, there is a good chance you were a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. And if you were a Cardinals fan during this period, you almost certainly thought that Stan “the…

What to watch tonight?  There is the debate, of course, upon which hangs the fate of the nation if not the world.  That's important.  And, then, there is the seventh game of the National League playoffs, with the winner going to the World Series.  And, on Monday Night Football we have the Chicago…

When The Decline and Fall of the American Republic is written centuries hence, the date October 17, 2012, will occupy a prominent place in the narrative. On this day, a playoff game between the Yankees and the Tigers in Detroit was called not because of rain, but because of ... the threat of rain.…

No less a student of the game than George Will calls the debate:

It couldn’t look darker for the Yankees with the American League Championship Series on the line. Down two games to none, they head into Detroit tonight to face stopper Justin Verlander (17-8 record in the regular season and a 2.64 ERA). The Tigers’ ace breezed through the Oakland A’s in the first…

Joe Biden was aggressive, condescending, and shamelessly demagogic. Paul Ryan was earnest, youthful, and perhaps a bit over-scripted. The upshot was a vice presidential debate that was occasionally entertaining for partisans on both sides, but was mostly unenlightening. Ultimately, I suspect, it…

In news that shocked absolutely nobody in the entire sports world, Bobby Valentine has been fired as manager of the Boston Red Sox.  Valentine “went 69-93 in his only year in Boston, the ballclub's worst in almost 50 years.”

Teddy Roosevelt finally won the Presidents Race at the Washington Nationals' final game of the regular season Wednesday. Previously, Teddy (rather, a costumed version of the 26th president) had never won since the Nationals first came to D.C. in 2005. But in the middle of the fourth inning, the…

He kept a diary—a friend, a boy we knew when we were young, all those years ago—and at the end of most entries he would assign himself a line from a baseball box score, defining each day as though it were part of some classic pennant race against .  .  . well, who knows? The general malevolence of…

Yesterday, after witnessing Paul Ryan make an electrifying campaign stop in Colorado, I made the case that his campaign skills and force of personality could turn the election. Well, I stress again that it's too early to get cocky, and Ryan still has a lot to prove. But when campaigns are clicking,…

Despite its Luddite tendencies, The Scrapbook is sufficiently au courant to be aware that many of its readers are no longer packing canvas bags of paperbacks for their summer vacations but loading up their e-readers of choice. So let us recommend to the non-Luddites that they download contributing…

During Major League Baseball’s All-Star game Home Run Derby last night, hometown Kansas City fans booed Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano with such gusto one could be forgiven for supposing there’s still a lively rivalry between the New York and Kansas City franchises—like there was back in the…

For those of us who think baseball is part of American greatness ("May the sun never set on American baseball"—Harry Truman), and who've worried about the declining status of baseball in American life (see Diana Schaub's "America at the Bat" in the Winter 2010 National Affairs), June has been a…

In trying to make the case that the Spanish national soccer team (“La Roja”) is having the greatest 5-year run of any team — in any sport — in history, the Wall Street Journal dismisses Casey Stengel’s 1949-53 Yankees because those squads, which won five straight World Series, “won only 71% of…

Paul Mirengoff at Powerline has a post in his series, "This Day in Baseball History," reminding us that it was fifty years ago yesterday, May 26, 1962, that the Detroit Tigers defeated the Yankees 2-1 at Yankee Stadium: 

In June 2010, the nation’s capital was atwitter with stories of the Washington Nationals rookie Stephen Strasburg, a starting pitcher who threw 100 miles per hour with a wicked changeup. On days when he pitched, attendance doubled; television sports shows asked their panelists to weigh in on…

“This is the last time this person talks about politics.”

A decade ago I found myself in a town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, being given a tour of the local soccer stadium by the town’s mayor. During the tour he evinced great pride in their community’s support for the team despite the fact that it had not won a championship since the 1950s—the…

For five memorable seasons, Sandy Koufax dominated baseball as no other major league pitcher ever had before. From 1962 to 1966, Koufax led the National League in earned run average, the only pitcher ever to do that. At the same time, he compiled a record of 111-34, a winning percentage of .766,…

Should we care that Chris Christie is fat?

Talking Points Memo: Elizabeth Warren will announce her run for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts--against Scott Brown--tomorrow.

We human beings seem to crave creation myths. The tale of Adam and Eve moved people for millennia, and still seems thrilling and sad, even though we know all about natural selection. And we still talk, however jokingly, about Abner Doubleday as the inventor of baseball. The Doubleday myth sprang…

If I were smarter than I am I might be able to argue myself into believing that there’s hope for the Washington Nationals. If I were more realistic than I am I would define “hope” downward to mean merely the possibility, however remote, that the team could win almost as many games as they lose this…

The Last Boy

Hank Greenberg The Hero Who Didn’t Want to Be One by Mark Kurlansky Yale, 192 pp., $25

In recent months, THE WEEKLY STANDARD discussed the military service of Hank Greenberg and Bob Feller during World War II. The latter piece addressed an important issue germane to Feller and other major league players who lost playing time during that conflict: “He might have put up even better…

Terry Eastland reviews In the Time of Bobby Cox by sportswriter and Atlanta Braves fan Lang Whitaker. The book chronicles the Cox era in Atlanta, when the Braves won a record 14 consecutive divisional titles and Cox solidified himself as, among other things, the most ejected manager in major league…

Duke Snider is gone, slipping away at age 84. Most fans today never saw him play. How could they? He retired all the way back in 1964, and even that was after a pair of lost final seasons: first with the Mets, which was a joke, and then with the Giants, which, for a Dodger, is almost a sacrilege.…

In one of the last interviews with Bob Feller before he died last week at the age of 92, the hall-of-famer said that, “trying to sneak a fastball by Ted Williams was like trying to sneak a sunbeam by a rooster.” The interview with Feller is part of the New York Times’s video feature “The Last…

Ben Smith reports: "The Emergency Committee for Israel, which has been pounding away at Democratic candidates -- notably Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania -- has launched a new independent expenditure PAC that can solicit unlimited contributions and and play even more directly in elections."