Veteran baseball writer Dick Trust reminds us that there was a day when a teenage fan could form a relationship with a major league player and even be invited into the clubhouse! Pedro Ramos was a cigar-smoking Cuban right-handed pitcher with the Washington Senators when I met him in early summer 1959. After I got his autograph outside the Hotel Kenmore, it [...]
In the winter of 1956 Jack Nichols was the center for the Boston Celtics when Bill Russell was acquired for that team. Russell could stand flat-footed and jump straight up and touch the rim with both elbows. Jack was no fool and opted for finishing dental school and promised Red Auerbach he would be available for the games, but not practice. He told Red hi [...]
When you think of Ted Williams and his Boston Red Sox playing career, you think of the Kid, the Splendid Splinter, Teddy Ballgame, You think of .406 in 1941, .388 in 1957, the last of his 521 home runs in his last at-bat in 1960. That career was star-studded aplenty: 18 All-Star Games, two Triple Crowns, two MVP awards, six batting championships, four home r [...]
Sometimes the good old days weren't nearly as good as we would like to think. But as you will read in Dick Trust's wonderful story, sometimes they were even better! There was a time not so long ago when a young baseball fan could ride in a taxi to Fenway Park with a couple of major league ballplayers. I know because I was a young fan who did so. Early in th [...]
More than 100 years ago the Boston Braves earned their place in Boston baseball history as the glorious “Miracle Braves.” Boston Braves Historical Association president Bob Brady tells their story: "As the president of the Boston Braves Historical Association, I’ve taken on the challenging assignment of keeping alive the memory of a ball club that abandoned [...]