Category Archives: Baseball

Coming Attractions: Society for American Baseball Research Convention

Posted on June 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

 A post by Baseball Toaster alum Bob Timmermann (in private life he’s a librarian at LAPL) alerted me to the upcoming convention of the Society for American Baseball Research, July 6-10 at the Long Beach Hilton. The group plans a … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, June 8, 1961

Posted on June 8, 2011 by lmharnisch

            June 8, 1961: Danny Murtaugh is like the Pirates. Tough, blue-bearded, underslung jaw, he looks like a sulfurous-tempered truck driver. Actually, he is shy and modest and the kind of worrier whose biggest fear … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, June 4, 1961

Posted on June 4, 2011 by lmharnisch

          June 4, 1961: Jim Murray puts in a call to Casey Stengel and says: "I realized I was listening to the Voice of Baseball again. And what it is doing in a bank vault in … Continue reading →

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Yankee Legend Lou Gehrig Dies at 37

Posted on June 3, 2011 by lmharnisch

              une 3, 1941: Until he lapsed into a coma, New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig, the “Iron Horse” of baseball, was sure he would win against the rare disease that was slowly … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 28, 1961

Posted on May 28, 2011 by lmharnisch

          May 28, 1961: On the battlefields of baseball this year it has become quite evident that the Los Angeles Angels are the Serbs of the American League. They do not have the firepower to win … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 26, 1961

Posted on May 26, 2011 by lmharnisch

            May 26, 1961: There was in our midst this week a young man whom the pressures of baseball exploded like a too-tightly wound clock. Jim Piersall has lived out his baseball career on the … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 25, 1961

Posted on May 25, 2011 by lmharnisch

            May 25, 1961: Baseball fans may be a superstitious lot, but they’re nothing compared to the players and their mystic rites. Jim Murray says: “You can always tell a ball team on a winning … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 23, 1961

Posted on May 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

        May 23, 1961: The Angels, who have a clear track to 10th place at the moment, are even ready for desperate measures. They are encouraging people to come out and root AGAINST them. I tested this … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 22, 1961

Posted on May 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

        May 22, 1961: A horse, left to his own devices, would no more run a race for his daily oats than you would wrestle the butcher two out of three for a pork chop. It's that … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 17, 1961

Posted on May 17, 2011 by lmharnisch

        May 17, 1961: John F. "Pep" Lemon, an old-time catcher, is superintendent of parks in the city of Fullerton and his job is trees and shrubs and lawns. But it's also kids. Pep never had a … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 16, 1961

Posted on May 16, 2011 by lmharnisch

        May 16, 1961: A batter who has only to tell a real curve from a slider has an easy job compared to the general manager who has to straighten out the curve balls thrown at him … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 14, 1961

Posted on May 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

            May 14, 1961: Rinold George Duren, is the victim — or the beneficiary, if you want to look at it that way — of the most monumental case of nearsightedness in the annals of … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 10, 1961

Posted on May 10, 2011 by lmharnisch

        May 10, 1961: Things have gotten so desperate the Yankees have taken to trading four of their players for two Angels, a ratio, which, if it holds up, will ultimately mean the whole New York franchise … Continue reading →

Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, art and artists, Baseball, Columnists, Comics, Sports | 1 Comment

Jim Murray, May 9, 1961

Posted on May 9, 2011 by lmharnisch

            May 9, 1961: Unfortunately for the ladies — and probably Alejandro Lavorante too — this Latin lover will be doing his tango with the No. 3 heavyweight of the world, Zora Folley, Thursday night … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 8, 1961

Posted on May 8, 2011 by lmharnisch

        May 8, 1961: I was rooting hard for old John  Longden on Saturday. You knew it was his last long ride around Churchill Downs. John has won races under all kinds of conditions, including three at … Continue reading →

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From the Stacks — ‘The Long Season’

Posted on May 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

    I haven’t read a baseball book since my mother gave away my trading cards of the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Braves. No, I’m not quite that old. I got them from a neighbor lady who was surreptitiously … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, May 5, 1961

Posted on May 5, 2011 by lmharnisch

        May 5, 1961: The strange story of Gene Littler illustrates the elusiveness of golf. Seven years ago, this calm, compact young man was almost everybody's best bet to corner the game of golf altogether….  The top … Continue reading →

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