The Southpaw

Link-O-Rama

Lots of goodies piling up at Southpaw HQ.

An awesome vibrant shot of the stands and scoreboard during Game 4 of the 1957 World Series, Braves vs. Yankees in Milwaukee. Complete with fedora hats and the official Longines clock. Click through the thumbnail for a large-size version.

The Secret Lives of Baseball Card Writers [Slate]
"While the text was inescapably repetitive, the stuff I edited was certainly better than the 'Hector's hobbies are eating and sleeping' non sequiturs that made up the Topps backs of my youth. Today's cards top out at 400 characters (including spaces), or about 70 words, and usually take the shape of punchy feature articles."

Audio Portrait: The Negro Leagues [NPR]
"Jordana Gustafson presents a sound portrait of three retired Negro League baseball players: Carl Long, center field for the Birmingham Black Barons and the first African-American to play professional baseball in North Carolina; George 'Smoky' McFadden, pitcher for the Durham Eagles and Durham Rams; and Willie Bradshaw, pitcher for Eagles, the Rams and the Roxboro Colts."

Krazy George celebrates starting the Wave cheer 25 years ago [AP]
"Krazy George Henderson has spent the last quarter-century trying to persuade everyone that he debuted the 'Wave' during an Oakland Athletics' playoff game against the Yankees -- not those Washington football fans who claim the Huskies first performed the now famous cheer."

Jesse Jackson: "We left crying, brokenhearted, trying to see Jackie Robinson"

The History Channel has a short video clip of Jesse Jackson remembering going to see the Dodgers play in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1949.

This is just part of what he has to say:

"The Dodgers were going to play at Meadowbrook Park ... To go and see Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, Campanella …Gil Hodges, Andy Pafko … the Dodgers … All the whites sat under the roof. The African-Americans sat on bleachers…

"Mom and Dad kept my brother and I out of school that day. It started to rain, ever so lightly… It rained a while and of course we got wet in our section. The umpires came out, touched home plate, first base, second .. The umpire touched third base, and it sunk. And daddy said, ‘They’re not gonna let them play today, because they cannot risk that caliber of ball player on this field.’ And then the umpire said, ‘game’s off.’” He just knew it. We never saw them. We left wet, crying, brokenhearted, trying to see Jackie Robinson."

Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, and Roy Campanella

Pesky's Pole and the Hot Dog

One of my favorite historical Web sites is Ballparks.com. It's a treasure trove of information about ballparks of the past and present, and provides pretty good updates on new parks being built (usually you can find better updates on team Web sites, though).

I've been to about half of the current Major League parks, and three or four that are no longer used -- Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Veterans Stadium, and the old Busch Stadium come immediately to mind. I've found the information there to be solid and rich in detail, and have used it to research such things as the now-officially-named Pesky's Pole, which Ballparks.com provides just enough background on:

The right-field stands are only 302 feet from home plate at the foul pole. That foul pole was once nicknamed "Pesky’s Pole." Red Sox pitcher Mel Parnell coined the term, after Pesky hit a home run just beyond the famous pole. That home run was one of only six homers Pesky ever hit at Fenway Park, and it won the game for Parnell.