Author Archive

New York Yankees: Bad for the Bronx, Bad for Baseball

Posted: 22nd September 2009 by Illya Harrell in MLB
In the not so distant past the New York Yankees embodied everything good about baseball and America.  Slowly that faded.  Yankee lore officially died on August 19, 2006—ground breaking day of New Yankee Stadium. This is a story about corporate greed, political cronyism, and arrogant negligence to the neighborhood where the ghosts of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, and Thurman Munson occasionally pitch tent and drink beers with ghost fans ...

Eating Another Plate of Crow

Posted: 16th September 2009 by Illya Harrell in MLB
Eating crow is a fine meal when it benefits one's team.  Scott Rolen has been nothing short of fantastic since joining the Reds.  And all I did was whine and complain when first hearing the trade rumors.  There are times I love being wrong. After one hit in his first 13 at bats, Rolen has hit a solid .289 as a Red.  A far cry from Edwin Encarnacion who is ...

Yankee Fans 1935: Celebrating Almost 75 Years of No Class

Posted: 14th September 2009 by Illya Harrell in MLB
Yankee Stadium, Sept. 14, 1935, the Detroit Tigers came to town for a double header.  Hank Greenberg, a native New Yorker, and the first formidable Jewish baseball player did not gather a hit in either game and struck out five times. In the 1998 film The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, his son Stephen detailed the indescribable sadness his father felt upon returning from the host stadium of his childhood ...

Innocent Joy: Opening a Fresh Pack Of Cards

Posted: 10th September 2009 by Illya Harrell in MLB
Is that not the most incredible Eric Davis baseball card ever?  Man, I loved that guy, easily my all-time favorite Reds' player. "The Class and the Ass" was the immediate title that came to mind when I saw the Don Mattingly and Mark McGwire card. During the warm months, on the first Thursday, the city shuts down the street below my apartment building and holds an outdoor concert. Vendors fill ...