The Wimps of Summer
When I dip into life’s memory bank for moments of unalloyed joy, the afternoon of October 9, 1966, quickly surfaces. On a brilliant autumnal Sunday, I was sitting with my
A Catholic Gentleman Behind the Plate
As Major League Baseball begins its post-season, let us pause and remember the late, great Bill Freehan of the Detroit Tigers, who died this past August 19: a Catholic gentleman
Skin in the Game: Pro Athletes and Education
It would be churlish to describe as yet another exercise in political correctness last week’s strikes in which professional athletes, by refusing to play scheduled games, tried to signal their
As “the League” Begins Its Centennial Season
By the Gargantuan standards of the 21st-century National Football League, Gino Marchetti, who died April 29, was undersized at 6-foot-4 and a mere 245 pounds. But he was arguably the
Ferocity, Courage, and Grace — Remembering the Great Frank Robinson
Hard as it may be for those who know them only from their recent woes, the Baltimore Orioles won more games than any other team in baseball’s major leagues for
Baseball and Synod 2018
I trust it won’t cause heartburn among the editors of Commonweal if I confess to having cheered at a recent article they posted, “Quit Trying to ‘Fix’ Baseball.” Therein, Professor Gregory Hillis
Pork Roll, Lent, and Catholic Identity
A few weeks before Ash Wednesday, an Associated Press squib with Lenten implications appeared in the Washington Post sports section: YANKEES: New York’s Class AA affiliate in Trenton, N.J., will change its
Recompense for a Serious Mistake
I won’t venture into classical Roman literature, which is not my forte, but I will say with assurance that the greatest modern Latin pun was the result of a schoolgirl prank.
The Importance of Jackie Robinson
In the history of the modern American civil rights movement, three iconic moments are typically cited. May 17, 1954: The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Brown v.
A New Lenten Discipline
For Lent 2016, I adopted a new Forty Days discipline in addition to intensified prayer, daily almsgiving, and letting my liver have its annual vacation: I quit sports talk radio,
Golden Memories of a Golden Anniversary
After Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium was torn down in the old hometown in 2002, I began describing the vast empty space left behind as “the abomination of desolation.” Things are a
Remembering Number 84
He scored forty times in an eight-year NFL career, best known, now, for the touchdown he didn’t score, as the sun set over Yankee Stadium on Dec. 28, 1958. His
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