Travels with Baseball Bill Chapman

The Decisive Moment.

2011-06-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

If you juxtaposition the Casey Stengel quote, "There comes a time in every man's life and I've had plenty off them" with Garry Winogrand's' "Being a good photographer is no more that finding a good place to stand" then a summary of what I do is near complete. Barry Hannah, the great late writer was recently described as a "postmodern hick." Never having cared about labels, time periods or art curators trying to stay employed by tagging things with one or the other....I buy into me being a hick but I don't know what modern is, let alone the horse that rode in on or what the horse left left behind.

May Harmon Killebrew rest in peace.....

2011-05-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

A good man. A wonder of a ball player. I saw him interact with hundreds of fans last year, including myself. he sat in a sweltering conference room on a Birmingham summer day and continue to sign until he had to leave to catch a plane.We had spoken the night before about his playing days at Fenway Park. I don't gather autographs, that isn't something I do, but a friend had him sign a poster for me that I now covet.

Upload...

2011-04-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

I was so spent by the time that I finally hit the podium, I will have to watch the DVD to remember what I said. The Color of Baseball: From Birmingham to Boston. A presentation at Harvard University on March 30, 2011. One more time, I am convinced that I am going to retire from all of this stuff.....

Homilies at Harvard

2011-03-12T14:28:00.000-08:00

Coming to Harvard university on March 30th at 6:30PM,a panel discussion and a lecture (by Billy Boy, hisself.) When I get everything in line, I will post a in-depth comment about it. Race and baseball have been a large part of my focus for the last ten years and this will be a nice summary of everything that I have photographed and issues that need to be talked about. Reginald Howard, a former Negro League player, will be joing us, coming up from Memphis for the event. Details to follow....

2011-01-08T07:58:00.000-08:00

January 8, 1935 was dead center of the time in American history called "The Depression." Abject poverty, shotgun shacks, breadlines indicated a depression for several reasons. Of the many births and deaths that day, there is one we remember. The most popular entertainer in world history was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. Popularity doesn't account for much. It is more like asteroids blinking on the horizon, particularly in our current age.What made Elvis special and more than a radar blip on an overpopulated screen were many things. Most notably, he was the agent of social change in the 1950s. I have read him referred to as the man who destroyed culture forever. So many things changed after he hit the stage and before he hit the screen. For two, think of Paul Newman and Andy Warhol. For three, think of a crewcutted boy in Brookline looking to stay meek to garner approval but rebel to get out from the weight of his own burdens.

Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch!

2010-12-18T13:58:00.001-08:00

Moesia Davis, my good friend in Birmingham, Alabama...yes, I could have typed AL but some states need to be spelled out. Having been asked to submit my fave pic of the year to a blog, I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more. No, not Moesia..not even Delilah....Every once in awhile, Pops gets up and shows them how it is done....I'm in that soul saving army beating on the big bass drum.

The Baseball Chronicles...

2010-12-12T15:18:00.001-08:00

I find it difficult to still reverberate with the enthusiasm that I had when I started this junket around the American basepaths twenty years ago. In that twenty years, film photography has been thrown out at the plate as have darkrooms available for same. Galleries wither and eighty percent of all photographs are viewed on the web. You no longer get to say, "Nice print." It would update to "Nice photoshop technique." Kodak has morphed into Epson....As I cascade towards being sixty....I should be settling down. Nu-uh. I just haven't figured out what is next.

All Things Must Pass...

2010-11-29T03:55:00.000-08:00

When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes..

2010-11-27T11:01:00.000-08:00

A tumult of a year.My late friend, Marit, said that I have legs like tree trunks and they keep me grounded. Last week, I asked myself, "What next, my house burns down?" The antidote lies in music. "You can't resist it, when it happens to you." Lyle Lovett.

Populism vs. Pop Culture

2010-10-23T11:46:00.001-07:00

Humphrey Bogart seems to have disappeared. As a matter of fact, all of the icons of that time frame seemed to have fallen out of the adoring public’s eye. James Dean, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Jackie K don’t garner headlines or memorabilia sales as they once did. The only one that seems left from that bunch is Elvis and he appears to be slip sliding back into the flower arrangements at Graceland. Is this because everybody that had cherished this crew has passed on or just passed on memorabilia? Or, probably closer to the answer, nobody cares about memorabilia in this day of disposable icons? A Bogie autograph can command up to 10Ks, something that I found on Ebay, with 2 or 3Ks being the norm. A Sheryl Crow will set you back $40 or as Groucho said, for another buck and a half, you could get Minnie.

Culture seemed to evolve around the time of the cave paintings. The Hoi Polloi existed as a Greek form of derision, made popular here in the USA by the Three Stooges as a title for a 1935 film short. Pop culture seemed to spring forward at the time Warhol did and was applied to things both forward and backward in time. Roosevelt’s dog, Fella, was pop culture, FDR was not. Elmer Fudd was, Huckleberry Hound was not.

Sweetest Little Rosebud....

2010-10-23T09:33:00.001-07:00

There is always that nice symetry that baseball has which goes far beyond the actual design of the diamond. THe American League trophy was presented to Nolan Ryan last night by jackie Autry, whose husband owned the California Angels. of course, in addition to being a baseball owner, Gene Autrey was known as the "Singing Cowboy." He recorded "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine," "Frosty the Snowman, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and "The Yellow Rose of Texas." His money from his recordings gave him the do-re-mi to buy the Angels. Nolan Ryan's money came from a golden right arm and integrity. I was glad that the playoffs didn't become a "Win One For George-fest." Besides, they didn't.

Ben Mondor 1925-2010

2010-10-07T12:29:00.001-07:00

My photographs have wound up in a lot of places. Books, galleries, museums, refrigerator magnets, kids rooms....My favorite location is the wall of Ben Mondor's office. When I was kicking and struggling to get back on my feet, the PawSox gave me a chance. I took it and ran with it but the crowning glory was to walk into Ben's office and see five of my photos framed and taking up an entire wall of his office. I had many conversations with him over the years. Sometimes seeing the twinkle in his eyes was enough and spoke innings of knowledge. He liked me and my work. I saw him for the last time about three weeks ago, sitting in his box and he flashed that smile. He did much for many.

Fame is great.....

2010-09-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

I'm shakin' it, Boss. My comments on all of this are overdue. I pity the fool when I do finish them...

Nowhere to Run

2010-09-11T10:29:00.001-07:00

That day, I was in the sub-basement of a university art art museum was a likely next target, forced the real ground zero workers there, custodians, operations museum, helping a phone guy do what he does - install telephones. The word trickled down from a security guard, a kid of maybe twenty years old. "There had been an explosion at the World Trade Towers in New York." Fair enough, cars blowing up around major buildings were not quite commonplace but self contained incidents, the most heinous being the 168 deaths at a Federal Building in Oklahoma City at the hands of Timothy McVeigh in 1995. As American tragedies pile up, a sense of sorrow but also a hardening of my spirit has crept over me. BANG! JFK! BANG MLK Jr. BANG! RFK. More news trickled from our guard wearing an uniform and pimples. The phone guy, my age and a vet of Vietnam decided he was going to dye his hair and reenlist to go after the criminals responsible for this deed. American tempers flared, Americans perished and there were new boogey-men. The entire university was dismissed at noon. The whatever his title was that week, "Most Cruel to Those He Deemed Inferior to Him" will suffice, decided that the ground zero workers at the small art museum - custodians, operations people should say in case, after the WTC attacks, a Picasso was next. I complied for an hour or so but decided to walk out. Mr. Prissy was long gone and he was no different than I. If after the attack, bathrooms at the museum weren't clean, well, I am sure that somehow, someway, America would forgive.

A Minor Key

2010-09-06T10:59:00.001-07:00

Constantly changing marketing devices to keep attracting the same dempgraphic group has its challenges. As a given set of people, in this case, fans, grow older, younger ones arrive to fill the vacancies. What would intice people to come to a ballpark 20 or even 10 years ago, no longer sells. McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket was my training ground, my stint in the minors, as it turned out to be. it was quiet, rustic, worn around the edges and condusive to making lifelong friendships.When the new ADA standards and mimimum number of seat requirements , mandated by MILB, were set, the park got a major facelift and renovation. Still, I my voracious appetite for the American experience could still be fed and I shot probably 30-40 games a year there.Things change and I accept that, better than most. Dimples turn to wrinkles and off you go. I went to mcCoy last night to help a buddy with his book and just enjoy the game with my pal, Betsy. An HD scoreboard and a cacophony of noise are the norm now. The place was packed, everyone was in bliss. ice cream was still sold in little plastic helmets. yes, even crazy vanilla, Lulu!

Oink!

2010-08-31T09:42:00.000-07:00

I have attempted to get permission to use this from the Birmingham News photographer but I have not heard back. Not only am I one of the few still shooting film anymore, I am probably one of the only ones that cares about violating copyrights.

Only 41....

2010-08-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Well, Rickwood opened only 41 years before I hit the ground running...A three day tour of the city I now truly consider my second home. Lunch with Lesley Bruinton, PR Director at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a woman on top of her game for sure. A nice chat with Ahmed Ward, the curator of the same fine institution. Dinner with my great photographer pal, Moesia Davis...lunch the next day with Lamar Smith and David Brewer, Friends of Rickwood, then shooting the 100th anniversary events at Rickwood, a spectacular event and dinner at "The Fish Market" with my Rickwood pals and a smattering of wives. Thursday, a tour of the exhibit about Rickwood at the Vulcan Museum and a tour of the Birmingham Public Library. Then lunch with Lamar and David again, this time at the beloved "Rib-It-Up." A plane, then back to Cambridge.
"This is my country. These are my people.And I know them like the back of my own hand." Randy Newman

Clouds above me in a Birmingham sky.

2010-08-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

But it is 7AM and the 100th anniversary celebration at Rickwood Field doesn't start until 3PM. A lot can happen between now in then, in the sky and on the ground. My friend, Bill Robertson remarked that I was the only guy that he knew that would get on an airplane to go and watch a baseball game. Yesterday, I did that to watch a celebration of a baseball field happening today. I don't get wistful or nostalgic but events occur in my mind on a time line..that I can move on and off from like a moving staircase at an airport.Today, I will linger in the 1910 area a bit more than usual and stop, camera in hand, at 1948 and think about a photographer that I knew.

Third Acts....

2010-08-12T06:22:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, I will head to Birmingham for the third time this summer. Wednesday, August 18th will be the actual one hundredth anniversary of the nation's (world's, too, I guess) oldest baseball park, the often written about, Rickwood Field. Chamber of Commerce, book signings, dignitaries and a recreation of the 1910 game are promised. I was ambivalent about going but Dixie tugged the camera strap once again. Imagine! Real film being shot on a real ballfield by a real photographer! What an archaic concept!

The Great I Am...

2010-08-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

"and now, here's something you'll really like." Rocket J. Squirrel

My friend Amy is a good photographer. She has adopted a wonderful boy, Eric, which involved traveling to Vietnam and back. The whole experience, as well as Eric's many hijinks since, have been captured in a loving way by Amy and she recently assembled a couple of Blurb books...or Shutterbug...or one of those myriad companies that dot the photo landscape. The books are remarkable.. I am not particularly fond of portraits of me...I was in art school but outgrew it. This a nice one, however. (Listen up, new photographers, you will out grow self and not so self portaits,too! If not, you will be a Nan Goldin-like footnote to photography.) There is only so much room in your belly button.

Listen Up, America

2010-08-06T14:17:00.001-07:00

Monday, August 9th, 2010 marks the second anniversary of Bernie Mac's death. he is a favorite of mine as his grasp of the gentle and the profane is something I have a command of as well. His movies were made to reach a certain demographic and they did with varying amounts of success. His TV show ricocheted across time slots and was hard to keep track of but I found myself staying home to watch it. When he left the air, it was about the same time that I gave up watching TV shows altogether. I found the show laugh out loud funny and I don't laugh out loud at many things. I laugh inside quite a bit..but a finely tuned guffaw rarely gets heard.

While dressing to attend the wake of my dear friend, Ernest Withers, I found Bernie on Memphis TV and sat in my underwear and watched it.On my last trip to Memphis, I discovered the show was on three times a day. Recently, I was waiting to be interviewed by local TV stations in Birmingham and placed in a "ready" room of sorts. I started flipping channels and yes....there he was. I miss the Mac man...

Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore...

2010-08-04T13:55:00.003-07:00

You won't be chasing rainbows, after all. A pal said that I would be the last photographer standing. I am now not so sure. I couldn't get batteries for my Canon EOS cameras. (Film, that is...) Fair enough. I did eventually find some. Then came the blow that knocked the wind out of me...color print film is no longer being made, or if it is, it is of weenie quality. Then while I am struggling to maintain my balance, the little camera store I have entrusted with developing my film and making scans. Ta Ta....Mom and Pop went Mom and Pap Smear. Stay tuned.....a real cliffhanger but having come back twice from the brink of real death....hey, wasn't that a Kodak slogan..Kodak brings good things to life.....

Aretha....

2010-07-11T15:49:00.001-07:00

I got to thinking today that Aretha (no last name needed, just like Jesus and Elvis) is one of the finest Americans this country has produced. A forceful thrust on the keys and off she rhythms her way into a song. Don't Play That Song For Me...the keys squeaking on "I Say a Little Prayer.." You're no good heartbreaker. I am blessed it wasn't me she was after.

This Little Light of Mine...

2010-07-04T15:05:00.001-07:00

A reception at the BCRI in Birmingham with two splendid blessed friends, Moesia Davis and former NLB player and Southern gentleman deluxe, Willie Lee. If Willie's knee holds out, he is going to be flown to Harvard in the fall as a guest of the university. A smooth character, indeed, he asked if he could pick his own escort...he grabbed Moesia. The last five days in my life have been a a culmination of passions and dreams colliding at home plate....Let's play two..

Join Me!

2010-06-29T08:33:00.001-07:00

Join me THursday, July 1st at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for a reception for the exhibit "Rickwood - The Color of Baseball." it contains photographs from my many trips to Rickwood Field, celebrating its 100th anniversary, making it the oldest ballpark in the country. Ahmad Ward and the staff at the BCRI have done a tremendous job coordinating this event. My sincere thanks to everyone at the BCFI. My thanks go out for David Brewer, Lamar Smith and the board of directors of "The Friends of Rickwood." If you can't drop by, send me an email.

Hell yeah....

2010-06-19T03:52:00.001-07:00

After several weeks of feverish activity, I am within shouting distance of shipping my exhibit "Rickwood-the Color of Baseball" to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Do mostly happy photographs of baseball belong in one of the most content disturbing museums in America? Rather than wrangle with that thought, I am just going to go with it and do what I have always have done...do what I do....July 1st there will be a reception. It will be fun. Just like baseball. If it wasn't fun, I wouldn't be able to do what I do....

Old times there....

2010-06-01T11:31:00.000-07:00

His image became a homing device for me.....the safety razor ad at Rickwood Field had been there since to movie "Cobb" was shot in 1991. Painted from "movie paints" that weren't meant to last very long, the old beared Ansel Adams of a figured endured for almost twenty years until a newer ad, a paying ad took its place.....I was mesmerized by the old guy and took many pictures of him. Maybe I will do an exhibit of every single one of them so I can fit in with the mostly spineless photographers of today. He was replaced with the image that you see here....Vulcan, a symbol of old Birminghamm emerging from a baseball.

Rickwood Field - The Color of Baseball

2010-05-15T03:52:00.001-07:00

It is time to put personal tragedy away and concentrate on my upcoming exhibit, "Rickwood Field - The Color of Baseball" which will be presented at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute this summer from July 1st until August 31st. As the world of photography becomes more trivial and regrettable, this will be if not my last stand, an endpaper to a forty year career.

A Place in the Sun,,,,,

2010-04-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

I have met and endless supply of people on my travels. The character trait that most stands out for all of them is pride. If you remove the face painted yahoos,the faux trendy latest pink hat bunch as well as the upper echelon of business people - who frankly, I never see anyway because I inhabit the field and the grandstands - and what remains is a group of America. Arthur Rhodes is as proud and confident and loving as a person can be.

The Green, Green Grass of Home..

2010-04-11T05:11:00.000-07:00

The guy is pushing 59, still shoots film, loves his country and goes to baseball games whenever he can. Twenty years I have been going to McCoy Stadium. I learned the grace of human interaction and the ability to photograph there. Yesterday, I watched as photographers swarmed Dice-K, with his lackey trying to herd everyone around. Good luck with that one. "Dice-K doesn't like his picture taken." Poor guy. Like everything else, an industry has formed around instant news and photos of baseball. One guy was pissing and moaning because wi-fi didn't work in the dugout...another guy was lamenting that the only money to be made in baseball photography was in Little League photos. God done shed his grace on thee..

Good Intentions...

2010-03-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

My mother used to tell me the road to Hell was paved with good intentions....walk in my footsteps as I trundle down those smokey, hot steps. I meant to stay on this blog at least every day but have been caught up in the maelstrom of creating an exhibit at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute this summer. Today is the first "breather" I have had from that and I am hoping it can continue through the weekend. Media Day is in Pawtucket April 6th at 3PM...all is right here in "Bill Chapman Nation.."

Charles Moore, Courage....

2010-03-17T11:47:00.001-07:00

"Powerful Days" is a book I keep by my elbow. It is the the collected group of photographs that Charles Moore shot during the Civil Rights Movement era. Children being swept of their feet by powerful fire hoses, bitten by German Shepherds, Ku Klux Klan rallies, a somber George Wallace. burning crosses, peace marches through the South. Chances are that you have seen many of these and not associated with Moore, who passed away the other day at age 79. With the exception of James Nachtwey and a few others, no person working today has the courage or the sense that new reporting is a duty to disseminate information in a hope that the ills of society may be exposed for thwe greater good. His obit mentioned that his images help usher in a national awareness of racial injustices. He worked out of Birmingham, the most ruthless and cruel of American cites at the time. Photography today, for the most part, has sunk to a level of nonsense. Herds of picture takers running amok with plastic cameras, making pretty, only interesting to each other. I often wish that I could be dropped into a war zone to participate in the type of work that motivated Moore but I am afraid that is never going to happen. His images will never be silenced but sadly, now is he.

It goes something like this.....

2010-03-16T05:14:00.000-07:00

All of the rituals intact and performed. This including splitting up season Red Sox tickets and watching "Bull Durham." Next, testing cameras, etc. Every year I say that I am going to get to more games but never seem to pull it off. My heart does belong to Dixie and I have several trips planned where old times are not forgotten.This summer, I will be in Birmingham at least three times and possibly four. Seeing the Asheville Tourists park, McCormick Field in North Carolina made me want to go back there. A single A park surrounded by a forest, which in turn is surrounded by the Smokey Mountains is just a great place to see a game and enjoy what I am there for in the first place.

Rickwood...the magic ballpark

2010-03-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

If you know me (and why the hell would you be reading this if you didn't..) you know of my adoration of Rickwood Field. This summer, as "the old girl" as we call it, turns 100, The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will be exhibiting up to 40 of my photographs taken at the park over the past eight years..or is it nine..its baseball..you can look it up. Beside myself? you betcha...Expensive and a pantload of work? That too. I know it will be from July 1st until August 31st with a reception on July 2nd. I even get to pick the caterer. More details as they become available....

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

2009-12-25T06:25:00.001-08:00

Just thinking this Christmas Morning 2009, what I would say if I was asked the best baseball game/event that I have ever seen. A new book is coming out "Baseball's Bucket List - 162 Baseball Things to do Before You Die." (disclaimer: I do have photos in it..)(disclaimer2: and at least 14 other books, 3 coming out this spring...) and lists already being an almost passe craze. Hey, there is no passe craze - you is passe or you ain't...If bucket lists are appearing, then lists must be a passe as Facebook for hip people.

The part of me that swallows the history of the game like plates of home cooking would say seeing Pumpsie Green chatting with Minnie Minoso right in front of me as a kid in 1962. As a photographer and one who has had a lot of access to many on field situations, I would say being the only shooter on the field while Bronson Arroyo threw a perfect game for the PawSox in 2003 would count. I remember that he covered the first base bag for the last out and me standing right there thinking, "I hope I don't get in the way..." The romantic in me would have to admit that I have always wanted to ask someone to go to the World Series with me. Not having many chances for many years, I finally got to do so in 2007....."Hey, Amy..."

I Miss it Already...

2009-11-29T06:11:00.001-08:00

Timi Yuro's "The Big Hurt" could be the soundtrack. As happens every year, baseball disappears into scraps of "new" about who might go where and money deals being suggested that are so beyond a two dollar bleacher seat boys grasp of the world. Every winter, I wrestle with, "Am I done with this..??" and the Grim Reaper swings the scythe that much closer to my camera hand. Hitting the highway for twenty years, shooting because it makes me happy. As my friend, Bill R, remarked, "What else are you going to do?"

Three and Out...

2009-10-25T13:07:00.001-07:00

I went to the final game of the ALDS with my pal, Mickey. he and I are veteran Sox watcher/chronic complainers since we crossed paths in 1970. The game seemed to bring back the old little expensive engine that could...err...should theory. If they won this, then won two more...then...then... However, these were not the Pink Hat Red Sox of 2004. These guys hearkened back to all the teams I had witnessed before that.....going back as far as my memory serves to the 50s...and as far as my game viewing had gone as early as 1962. 67,75,78,86,90,91,93......look out, there is a new dud in town.

Second Season....

2009-10-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

That second season starts for The Sox on Thursday in Anaheim. Depending on football, the time of the first Fenway game on Sunday hasn't been decided yet. I did had a moment of jubilation when the Sox made it but the odds against The World Series being in front of my eyes seem about as thin as the ham in a sandwich at Fenway. Right now, I am just happy that I get to see one more baseball game before hanging up my camera bag for the weekend. The "Baseball Faces" exhibit will be hitting the road next summer with me in tow. A self published book is in the works. Posters, postcards...and a mascot uniform for me are in various stages of production. Good Lord, children..

Social Nitpicking...

2009-09-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

The number of times I have posted here has dropped off drastically. Methinks it might have to do with playing on Facebook but boredom has set in with that, too...so...here I am Moe. This blog shout off the counter at 1600, so I am left with the feeling that I am preaching to the already converted: myself. Now that Facebook has been piled on by older people, I have found that a lot of it marks the departure of my friends into geezerdom, premature or not. There are terrific blogs getting posted, side splitting videos but the majority of it seems to be the "I am cooking dinner" type of post. No problem with that, it is just that my interests lie elsewhere..I work with professors that feel themselves accomplished because their books have sold 500 copies. Really. This, again, is fine, but no cause for entitlement. Pop culture is so fragmented that nobody succeeds anymore on a grand scale. If the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom, the castle has become very, very tiny.

The Rox, RIP

2009-09-19T10:40:00.001-07:00

The Boston Globe is reporting the financial troubles of the Brockton Rox, the indie league team in the "City of Champions," Brockton, MA. Minor League teams are not a stable commodity and we local New Englanders are spoiled by the bedrock teams like the Portland Sea Dogs and the Pawtucket Red Sox. While a pleasant, if bland place to watch a b'ball game, I am sure that when the dollar began wilting, the allure of buying a hot dog with a ten dollar bill wrapped around it became less of a draw. I was quite surprised to see a booth to buy lottery tickets at the park. A friend who grew up in Brockton told me the best advice when you are there is not to look anyone in the eyes, just charming for a photographer....The departure of "Singing Ed Nottle, the manager and storied vocalist must have had an impact as well.

Paradox

2009-09-07T07:37:00.001-07:00

In some sort of paradox, "Baseball Faces," the exhibit at Panopticon Gallery that bears my name ends Wednesday, the Ninth of September, the same day as the Beatles catalogue that has been remastered, is being released on CD. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. A pal gave me some studio speakers that I don't even use because they are so powerful. I intend to hook them up and blare "Taxman" and a few others through them....

Noblesse Oblige

2009-08-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

The Kennedys have been part of my life since I was nine. My sense of noblesse oblige was formed from a caring grandfather, a child's meager understanding of the New Deal and the actions of the Kennedy family. Jack's election, a fellow Irish Catholic from a shared hometown of Brookline, MA at my age of nine and his murder at my age of eleven, followed by Teddy's term in the Senate, Bobby's presidential run and subsequent murder, had a lot of bearing on what I was to adopt as my own political views. No matter what shenanigans Teddy pulled in his life, I was able to ignore them because he was the only chance America had of adopting a national health care possibly. The Clinton's failed terribly at making it a reality, Obama is skirting failure with the same.the same. Had Teddy been elected president, he would have four or possibly eight years to establish his goals. By having stayed as a Senator, he had so many more years to work his programs through to completion. His death is affecting me far more than I thought. There have been only nine years of my life when I have not been represented by a Kennedy. The booming voice...the loud laughter, the dominating presence; yeah, I have those too and guess where they came from...

Stuck in the Middle

2009-08-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hot, humid....the day after a horrible beating at the hands of the Yankees...and I am off to my grandstand seats of twenty three years. After the Sox finally won the whole damn thing, my interest in them has waned precipitously. I was there...and now there is no there....there...Twice in my life have I had Sox press passes. Once in 1996, when a woman made a mistake and granted me one for ten games (this explains young Jeter) and once for the 2004 season. Who knew at lunch with Charles Steinburg in March of 2004, I would have all season access to Fenway. I still keep the cramped Section 24 grandstand seats that I have had so long, well, because..there are people out there that the Sox matter to and I supply them when I can.

And the days dwindle down..

2009-08-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Yup, throwing in the towel? I am. How can you expect to compete with a team that spent $420 million on three players and we counter with Smoltz and Penny.....Some days, you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you. It almost seems that the knew Yankee Stadium was the last nail in my coffin of ignoring the majors. The qualities of the minor league parks are being replaced with mini-HOK spots. The last major release of CDs (the remastered Beatles) are the death knell for that recording medium. My film cameras are falling apart...Bitter? No, just amused....

The Sox Offense

2009-08-15T09:23:00.001-07:00

Young Mister Porter was as bored as the rest of us with the invisible Sox Offense.

Daredevil 2

2009-08-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

Eric Porter hit his first Sox game last Thursday. The Bud Pavillion was dripping with celebs that day and a congenial Ben Afleck posed with Eric and his mom. It struck us as odd tht Afleck commented to Amy that Eric was entirely too young to be brought to a baseball game. I guess you can add child psychologist to his many titles. I eagerly look forward to "Daredevil 2" which will probably will make even less at the box office than our seats cost.

Baseball Faces Opening Night!

2009-07-19T12:43:00.001-07:00

Amy Porter joins Bill Chapman at the opening for "Baseball Faces" at the Panopticon Gallery in Boston. To say I was flattered by the size of the crowd would be an understatement. Everybody from a kindergarten chum to some of my most recent friends came to have a grog, shout "HAWG" and see some of the great photographs of Ernest Withers and Jose Luis Villegas. I had such fun, maybe I will have a closing as well.....

Baseball Faces, Redux...

2009-07-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

More shameless selfpromotion from your old pal, Baseball Bill! Panopticon, Thursday night. 5-7:30. Three baseball photographers. Latin America, the Negro Leagues and the North American Minors all shot by three (or at least two) noted and well published photographers. Come by and tell me two things that "BBB" stand for and win a prize! Have a grog, kiss a frog....jump up and down and then yell, "HAWG!"

Eric and NOMIE!

2009-07-06T11:19:00.001-07:00

In honor of the return of Nomar Garciaparra to Boston tonight, I post this picture of Eric Porter wearing a t-shirt that I shot the photo for in 1996. I was told it is an oddity because Nomar never smiles for photographs! This is in quite a contrast to Eric, who, for the most part, finds the world very amusing.

Baseball Faces

2009-06-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Panopticon Gallery will present an exhibit entitles "Baseball Faces" with photographs by Jose Luis Villegas, Ernest Withers and your not so humble servant from July 1st,2009 until September 8th, 2009. Images from the Boston Public Library Archives will also be on display. There will be an opening on July 16th from 5PM until 7PM. Each photographer will display 14-20 images each. Putting the three of us together is an idea that I have had for many years and was finally given the chance to pull it off.Hope to see you there!

The Old Man

2009-05-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Birmingham is called "The Magic City." I have been sitting at Rickwood Field for the better parts of two days with the annual "Classic" and my reason to be here occupying tomorrow. Squint your eyes and a cavelcade of baseball history does a conga like through your field of vision.

The Old Girl..

2009-05-26T07:28:00.001-07:00

Another trip to Rickwood. Old friends, old South......and a soggy day before the game. Sitting around in a motel, waiting for a ride to the annual and quite traditional lunch with David Brewer at the Rib-It-Up......Today, at least right now, it is pouring. Tomorrow, we can only hope for sun and enough of a break in the weather to let the old field drain a bit.

It's one o'clock somewhere in the world....

2009-05-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

I just went to check to see if which teams were playing a one o'clock game today. Zippo. Zilch. The first MLB game on a Spring afternoon is at 3:40 - Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay. Slip sliding away are the days when baseball was the thing to do on a weekend afternoon. Many baseball executives and TV people are misreading the market. Anyone enjoy the rain delay of the Sox game the other night so that ESPN could get their game in?

Same as it ever was.....

2009-04-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

Stealing home? Never saw that....now have. Ellsbury caught the corner of my eye and in the proverbial flash...he was tailights.

...and you may ask yourself..how do I work this?

2009-04-26T04:05:00.000-07:00

Fenway Park is inviting and repulsive simultaneously. The wonder of a place I have been attending since 1962 with its parcel of history dragging behind it has an allure to me I can't escape. The gross and vile commercialization of it all, which I realize is part of the times we live in, precedes any entrance to the park and continues until the last note of "Dirty Water" buzzes in your ears. THe two dollar "Boston Baseball" is by far the best bargain at the park. (Disclaimer: I shoot for it and have for 18 years.) Yesterday, I did something that I never do, in that I went to a bar and watched the end of the Sox/Yankees game. Tonight, I venture to the bandbox...but no $4.75 hotdogs for me.

46.2 Miles

2009-04-07T05:54:00.000-07:00

A 50 minute bus ride and I am at McCoy Stadium for Media Day. Looking at last years photos, it reinforces the fact that somebodies status in the Minors is never permanent. If any body knows what I can do with pictures of Brandon Moss and Craig Hanson...drop me a line.This photo from several years ago is Manny being $18,000 earring.

The Sun Came Out Today...

2009-04-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

Can't say that I am born again but there is new grass on the field....I went to 30 consecutive Opening Days. 1976-2005. After watching the giving of the World Series rings in 2005 and appalled by the crass commercialism involving Fenway, I waved my PawSox hat and bid consecutive Opening Days adios...and rode off on a Bonanza bus for points unknown. Do I miss it? Not really....Tuesday will be Media Day in Pawtucket. It is almost 20 years that I have been hanging around there shooting. It is there that I honed my craft. All I ever wanted to be (after the astronaut years) was to be as close to baseball as possible. Ernest Withers once said to me, "I find no fault with your pictures of baseball." Oh yeah, that is Jeff Suppan, circa 1993

The Big Chill...err.....Shill

2009-03-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

Love 'em or hate 'em.....he did waht he was rewarded to do......bring a World Series victory to Boston. x deuce. Never have I cared what a player said off of the field and if rascism still exists, it doesn't make it to the press....in that case I would change my ideas about someone. You say Bush fan? I say World Series ring.

Willie Lee

2009-03-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

My dear friend, Willie Lee, formerly of the KC Monarchs and Birmingham Black Barons, turned 74 yesterday. He is as kind and genuine a man as I have ever met. His story of being on the cusp of the Majors and praying that the Red Sox didn't pick him because of the racial climate in Boston at the time is chilling but not unusual for players of that era. He wound up in the Tigers system, got hurt and played softball in Canada for awhile. I hope to get his story on tape in Birmingham this Spring. My pal, Willie, driving around Birmingham in a big ass burgundy Mercury.So perfect.

What's it gonna be?

2009-03-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

No, not the meatloaf refrain...Of course, most Sox fans do love them forever...THere is nothing like trudging through the 162 game season. Every day is a different story. Not every day, I have the blues. If the Sox hadn't done it yet....twice...every day we would have the blues. I went to 30 consecutive Opening Days, 1976-2005 and after seeing the rings presented, I thought, that is it....I am done. I have always wanted to saY to someone, hey...do you want to go to the World Series, which is where this picture is from in 2007. Done that now, too....now, a Negro League tribute at Fenway...may I live that long.

He's Back....

2009-03-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

Hiatus? Maybe....I have felt like a bull waiting to be released at a rodeo. Baseball is within shouting distance now....every winter I brood and sit around counting the days until my feet hit the concrete, then the gravel and then........the green, green grass around home...so far, I already have Salem, VA, Pawtucket, Portland, ME and Birmingham on my to do list....My book proposal is at an agent....my refrigerator has so many magnets from the (mostly) baseball cites I have been in, I am running out of room. Spell check tried to turn Pawtucket into Puckett...Kirby, anyone?

Not Soon Enough...

2009-02-24T07:14:00.000-08:00

A photo from the next to last game at "The Old Boneyard" as my pal, Tunes and I have called it for years. It has been a cold and impersonal winter. The weather doesn't care who it inconveniences. We got heated up over Texiera and then got frozen out once more by the Spankees...I have been busy writing a proposal for my book.....yes, after 18 years on the baseball road, I am finally ready to join the overpopulated market of baseball books.....I look around the crowd at Fenway sometimes and wonder who would buy it. My answer is five people, and I would know four of them...

An HGH Hangover..

2009-02-13T14:21:00.001-08:00

I haven't felt much like thinking about baseball this week. The kick in the fans groin known as A-Rod has taken its toll. I guess the choice is clear. You can go to the majors and see drug stuffed clowns or to the minors and see people stuffed into uniforms acting like clowns.

A-Rod and Aretha

2009-02-09T06:57:00.000-08:00

A friend remarked that at the Inauguration, "Aretha wasn't very good." Lets see, a 66 year old woman, after sitting in the cold for a couple of hours...and miracle of miracle, she actually sang her own vocals and didn't use backing tapes!" I thought it was fab to hear and see her and let it go at that. In this American Idol universe, no one sings live, no one plays live and for awhile there, not everyone hit home runs without enhancement. Since the Texas Rangers have never been a threat to most other teams, what joy-boy was doing in 2003 didn't cross my nose. Let he who is without sin throw out the first needle.

So little time...

2009-02-07T17:25:00.001-08:00

so many to prosecute...A-Rod joins the tainted. Of course, he didn't lie to a grand jury or Congress as the other lunkheads did...but it is still a shame. Is there nothing believable in Major League Baseball? I had hoped that A-Rod (or somebody) would break Bonds HR record so it could be reclaimed for the real people. With the economy is a death march, sports is a nice diversion. Now, instead of Spring Training chatter, A-Rod will dominate the news. I need baseball. It dominates my life for months. I go to games, I photograph it. I have friends all over the country. I revel in the Minors. Who sang that.."They Can't Take That Away From Me...?" Every so often, I announce I will chuck all of this stuff. To be honest, it is all I know.

More Snow....

2009-02-03T13:11:00.000-08:00

Not a lot, mind you...but enough to make your chest heave and count the days until that you can see the green, green grass of home....It has been a long and slow winter. The NPR poofs seem to have stopped chanting "global warming" and have merely extolling "Slumdog Millionaire" which looks to be as much of a dud as year's "Little Miss Sunshine." For all of the synchophants that march behind Fox News and their broadcasts, there is something more zombie-like about the NPR crew...

Is It Spring Yet?

2009-01-28T07:06:00.000-08:00

Boston is getting quasi-clobbered with snow this winter. I say "quasi" because the news media sends everyone into a panic with three inches of snow due...when I was a boy.......we used to walk ten miles to school every day and on cold days, we had baked potatoes in our pockets to keep our hands warm. If our family was to poor to buy potatoes, we had hot bricks.

This is my country....

2009-01-21T06:34:00.000-08:00

"This is my country...these are my people..." Randy Newman. Every single one of them....from skin to shining skin....what an American tune baseball sings.....

Dream

2009-01-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

January 19, 2009

2009-01-19T06:20:00.000-08:00

I had never seen this image uncropped until recently. A college boy took the picture but couldn't be trusted to develop it. Into the darkroom of Ernest Withers it went.

Not in Brookline

2009-01-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

The summer before last, I shot some pictures of Lars Anderson, prospect of the future. Being a Brookline, MA native and having participated in many activities at Larz Anderson Park there, I asked him if he was related to the philanthropist that donated the park to the town. He was not and apologized for never having heard of him. Lars, the ballplayer, seems as highly touted as Nomah was...and that is an exciting thing.

Gates of Heaven

2009-01-11T16:45:00.000-08:00

A Shotgun Shack....

2009-01-07T11:27:00.001-08:00

Seventy four years ago a baby was born. And it wasn't a cold and grey Chicago morn....

The Other White Presley

2008-12-30T13:41:00.001-08:00

It seems tragic to me. Tourists are given audio headphones, tour Graceland at a breakneck clip and are deposited at the graves of Elvis, his mother, his father, his Aunt Minnie and his stillborn brother, Jesse. To die an addicted person at age 42 is a tragedy for anyone. To not have your associates and family reach out to at least try to intervene is a disgrace. Skinny Elvis. Fat Elvis. Dead Elvis. As he was so squarely in the public eye, the squalor of his death is public as well. And a tour costs only $28 dollars.

Down in the Valley...

2008-12-21T15:11:00.000-08:00

Graceland looks like a drug hallucination. This isn't a complaint but an observation from a former observer of that scene. I find Elvis' life a tragedy. His death at 42 and how it was a human tragedy, essentially alone, is never talked about. The man lived a Rocket 88 trip to the top of the American Dream slipped, stumbled and fell all the way back down. Somebody said that after awhile, Elvis was the first Elvis impersonator.

and after Lennon?

2008-12-20T06:27:00.000-08:00

And after Lennon? 90-95% of what Elvis produced in his life was pure schlock. His output was so prodigious that it overshadows what he did accomplish. It is easy to think of him as he declined into a pool of drugs and incoherant mumbles. Thinking back to the fire of "Baby Lets Play House" makes sifting through it all worthwhile.

What would Elvis have thought of..

2008-12-18T17:16:00.000-08:00

Elton John. Not much, I am sure. Graceland sure is purdy....but empty. It is almost like someone died. They did but here that is what attracts people.

Son of Santa......

2008-12-17T12:56:00.000-08:00

and to all......

2008-12-14T06:54:00.000-08:00

It is a funky year to be an American at Christmas....gloom and doom about...hey, I don't have to tell you guys, you are going through the same things. Last July,the Greensboro Grasshoppers in North Carolina, celebrated "Xmas in July" at their ball park. White foam was spread on the outfield berm for kids to snow/skateboard. Santa roamed around....As I have a long standing tradition of being at ballparks on my birthday....and this was the date of the event, off I went. It was nice being in a place where you can actually have some fun without somebody looking over your shoulder telling you that Santa is un-PC. Just like the ones I used to know...

15 Degrees and Falling

2008-12-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

My pal, Amy D, has just adopted a wonderful and engaging baby boy, Eric. Her laments suits the way a lot of us feel.Yesterday the weather was Arctic frigid, today it is pouring,so why couldn't her maternity leave have coincided with summer...while she could spend three months watching Eric learn to walk, gurgle and everything else babies do, as she watched all of the baseball she wanted? Since he has baseball hats, dolls, jackets, bibs and even a framed picture of mine of Nomah in his room, he is off to a good start. All I had was a beat up radio and if I was lucky, baseball cards. Tough choice over comic books in those days...

If you loved me..

2008-12-05T14:27:00.000-08:00

half as much as I loved you.....Hank. Another causualty of an empty bottle and a broken heart.....at an early age. I visited the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, AL. Small. The focus being the Caddy that he died in, lots of sheet music, birth, death certificate. His music is the legacy. This makes him different than Elvis, whose voice was the legacy. Off to Memphis in a couple of weeks. Christmas at Graceland. Probably one of the most tacky events in America, next to the Green campaign..and I am the man to capture it.

Is it Spring yet?

2008-11-30T07:42:00.000-08:00

Even though the Internet has up to the nano-second news, it is still a quiet time in the world of baseball. I only posted a couple of times in November because, well, Lord have mercy, I didn't have a lot to say. A stint on the DL for me pulled me away from my usual stream of nonsense. As publishing houses are starting to feel the pressure of a country not buying books (Houghton-Miflin is not accepting new titles) I am naturally trying to finish my long theatened book. It has been 18 years and lots of film and lots of story telling and gathering. I sit at Fenway sometimes and wonder if I did publish a book, who in the crowd would buy it. My answer is five people and I would know four of them. On a blustery day, the photo of Ernest and Tony warms me up.

The Mahatma

2008-11-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

I am reading "Branch Rickey, Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman" by Lee Lowenfish. Mr. Rickey,of course, is the man responsible for establishing the minor league system but most importantly, signing Jackie Robinson to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Perhaps, just perhaps, Robinson began the process of integration which led to our electing a black president 61 years later. Rickey has been called a humanitarian for his efforts to integrate baseball but by others, a hustling greedy sort who did it to sell tickets. To me, if he did both, doesn't that make him an American? I met his grandson, Branch, couple of times. The likeness is uncanny. Mr. Rickey told me his grandpa would have loved my pictures. I usually don't get stopped in my tracks by any sort of compliment but that was one of them. Maybe "The Mahatma of Baseball Photographers" would suit me.....I pontificate, am large, wear glasses....now smoking the stogie part....

Coco is Butter...err...Toast...

2008-11-19T08:46:00.000-08:00

I actually liked the guy....and before Ellsbury's bat sputtered and his trade value dropped like a prom dress, I would have traded him and kept The Coke. Coco seemed to make so many "spectacular" catches, you wonder if he wasn't a step or two behind to begin with. Well, one thing for certain..he will enjoy better barbecue than we do.

D-How Lowe Can You Go?

2008-11-15T10:26:00.001-08:00

The stove of hot is everywhere. D-Lowe wants to come back here. The Yankees are going to make a pitch...Don't let anyone tell you different, his off field behavior got him a one way ticket out of here the first time. Maybe age has matured him? Maybe his diminishing talent has????? Bludgeoning your way to the playoffs is something I lament but it is like being upset about no real prizes in crackerjacks any more. There was the thought that the Sox only feel the need to compete every few years, the pink hats with debit cards don't know the difference.....if they stand pat, this is correct.

Why Can't Every Day Be Just Like Christmas?

2008-11-12T07:37:00.000-08:00

I have not been to Memphis since my pal, Ernest Withers, passed in October of last year. The pull of the King and his many courts is too strong and I am off the week before Christmas. Christmas shopping at Graceland. Place your orders early....This is the sign-in desk at the Days Inn across the street from Graceland. Each room has a KING size bed (natch!) and a large screen TV playing, among other things, 2 24 hour a day channels of Elvis movies. This takes up time when I am not out by the guitar shaped pool, listening to Elvis music over the PA.

Tik-Tek

2008-11-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Well, the dude did provide some stellar guidance for Sox pitchers over the years but the decline (see:Gedman, Rich) is happening so quickly that a four year contract would be preposterous. Even carrying a .220 average for another two years seems not right. He has done a lot for challenged kids and for that I admire him the most.

Election Day, 2008

2008-11-04T12:07:00.000-08:00

Write your own blurb. I don't discuss politics with anyone. Religion, as well.

Wart Hogs, wonder or not....

2008-11-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Ernie Shore Field, Winston-Salem, NC. The home of the beloved Wart Hogs. To be more precise, it is the former home of the now defunct Wart Hogs. Next year, Winston Salem will open a new park, a new team (yet to be named) in a different location. Another older minor league parks rides the train to oblivion. I attended a noon time game there and being generous, there were 400 people there and most of them were from local schools. To me, a park like this is a place of joy. Kids whooping it up. Everybody there for the game and oblivious to the wrecking ball, hanging over the place like a fat curveball. Places like this are disappearing faster than I can get to them. I feel like I am on the edge of an ice floe, crumbling under my feet.

Zip......

2008-10-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

Zimmer.....oh how we ranted and went beserk with madness over this guy when he was first bench coach and then manager of the Former World Champion Red Sox. Damn, he has had a job in baseball almost as long as I have been a sparkle in Mr. Chapman's eyes. Still around, in some woebegone capacity with Tampa Bay, he is about as old school (rude and not very bright) as it gets but he lives to chaw another day. He absolutely exploded at me when I asked if I could take his picture. At that point, I figured he could get just as mad as he wanted.......and took it anyway. Screw him. I had a job to do, too....

Hearts are made to be broken.....

2008-10-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." Bart Giamatti. Source: The Green Fields of the Mind (Yale Alumni Magazine, November 1977)

Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch..

2008-10-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

The magnificent Levi Stubbs has moved on. Life ends, as Ernest Withers put it. My fascination with R and B music would earn me a cuff to the head and an admonition about "crazy ni**er music" as a child. It didn't stop me from listening, not by any means. I had written Motown off as silly plastic sounds made to sell to white kids. Stax and Atlantic were the dual standards of the epitome of fabulous. That Motown bunch vs. Booker T and the MGs and the Memphis Horns..kiss my ass. even a white middle class teenager from Boston knew that Duck Dunn could move the Earth...However, when I heard "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) bust out of my Motorola's small speaker....it wiped even the Beatles from my world. I still play it a lot....a sad break up song..but sung with such power and confidence. In the pic, from top left, Obie Benson, Abul Fakir, Lawrence Payton and they call him......Levi Stubbs. I can't help myself.....

Darn those SOX!

2008-10-18T13:02:00.001-07:00

One more time, Lazarus and the Red Sox go to the well. You can't write off any lopsided score in baseball as a sure victory or loss. If El Boyos of Summer can come back after Thursday's sure debacle....anything can and is possible. Will I be strolling through these gates again on Wednesday or no? Believe, cuz I believe....

Babes in Leftyland

2008-10-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

I admit that I was wrong. As wrong as I have ever been about any up and coming young ball player. Jon Lester became the Real Deal. I am slinking off to Fenway this afternoon to pay my respects. At least I was right about NOMAH!

Curt and His Mistress

2008-10-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

2004 found Curt schilling (ouch!) for the Republican Party. I don't care what a baseball player thinks. What he does between the white lines is what I pay to see. Here The Schill escorted Barbara Bush around Fenway Park. Or maybe it was the locker room there and that is why her eyes are bulging out. No, this is as published and not photoshopped.

The Original F-Rod.....

2008-10-07T13:29:00.001-07:00

Back in the 90's, The Sox drafted shortstop Frankie Rodriquez. it was decided that he would make a better pitcher than ss, so they recast him in that role. He never seemed comfortable and to my eyes, never had the concentration needed. Brian Rose was another guy I felt the same way about. Rodriquez wound up muddling around the Sox for awhile and wound up in Minnesota, muddling all the way. An old instructor of mine stated that there were no great baseball pictures, because no one actually captured the moment. Here was my answer to him....

Three and out tonight?

2008-10-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Off to "The Boneyard" as my life long pal Tunes and I have called it for let's see..how many years? ...pick a number over 50... I have mentioned Frank Malzone before, having seen him play when I was a kid and being introduced to him in Pawtucket. As much of a crass, bombarding ballpark Fenway has become, it is still not hard to sit there and think back and back and back. I still think of it as empty, banging seats and hearing the echo from that reverberate all over the park. Sure, that noise started that rally, didn't it? The Monster, Yaz, Freddie Swampscott, Dewey, Luis,Spaceman,The Rocket..stop me here...and Malzie....

Cheesiest....

2008-10-01T05:58:00.000-07:00

The cheesiest ball park that I have ever been to? It took some soul searching, a lot of mediation and prayer to guide me to the coveted Most Cheesy Ballpark Award. While Riverwalk Stadium, home of the Montgomery Biscuits deserve an honorable mention for cheese well melted, there is a shred less of grated Kraft Parmesan than at Merchants Auto Stadium, home of the NH Fisher Cats, in Manchester NH. Even the sign welcoming you to "Fisher Cats Entertainment Experience" is a supreme tipoff. I thought I was going to a baseball game! I have never seen more between inning interruptions anywhere than at this park. While the Hot Dog cannon and Biscuit Bazooka have their charms, the guy in the ostrich suit whipping hot dogs into the crowd in NH wins the coveted package of Kraft Individualy Wrapped Slices Award. American, of course.

Almost in the books...

2008-09-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

Another season is almost in the books. Another summer has been swept away by rain and cooler weather. I am already thinking about April and where I can travel next year. The Midwest seems to be sending out its siren call. Montana has been a lure that I just haven't taken the bait for. There will be the annual trip to Birmingham for Rickwood's fundraiser. I need to spend more time at McCoy, which I have been saying for several years......and so it goes...is it April yet?

..and in the end.

2008-09-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

I doubt that the home team will get very far into the playoffs. Of course, I have been wrong before and they certainly did come back against the Spankees in the 2004 series. After going to my last regular season game the other night, I still have at least one playoff game left. As October sets in, Bart Giamatti comes to mind. "It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone."