Baseball Essays
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April 11, 2020 at 7:00 am
Calling the Pen: When it felt good to be the visiting team
The team we would be competing against played only home games. It seemed to give the players an advantage, but it was not a topic for debate. The softball team for the Baltimore City Detention Center didn’t travel. An inmate had written to the manager of our team, Dick Irwin, asking if...
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April 4, 2020 at 7:00 am
Calling the Pen: Enduring life, and death, one step at a time
When my sister Colleen turned 5, my mom wasn’t home for her birthday. She was in the hospital having our baby sister Val, who had the temerity to be born on Colleen’s birthday, April 4th. It was bad enough that Mom wasn’t there for Colleen’s birthday, but from now on she’d have...
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March 14, 2020 at 7:00 am
Calling the Pen: Mancini reminds us that we need each other
When I first started working part time at the Baltimore News American, I got a ride home one evening from a summer intern whose car was about as old as I was, 18. The brakes might have been just as old. As we crested the Jones Falls Expressway from downtown, traffic was...
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August 31, 2019 at 7:00 am
Calling the Pen: Too much home run derby
I loved playing home run derby as a kid. You needed only two players — the pitcher and the hitter. Anything not hit over the fence was an out, and we struck out a lot because every swing was for the fence. You needed only a Wiffle Ball with the cut-out holes...
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July 27, 2019 at 11:00 am
Calling the Pen: Trying to figure out why the bug for baseball disappeared
Once upon a time, I shared the same feeling many of you who come to this website have about baseball. Playing it, talking about it or watching it were all important parts of life in the summer for me while growing up. Back then, breakfast was cold cereal and intense examinations of...
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July 20, 2019 at 11:00 am
Calling the Pen: Hall of Fame trip lasts a lifetime
“I’ll have what Mr. Feller’s having.” When my dad and I heard those words just a few feet away from us, we knew it was going to be a special night. **** I was 10 years old in 1996, and my enthusiasm for baseball was just starting to heighten. The previous September,...
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July 6, 2019 at 7:00 am
Calling the Pen: No fireworks, but plenty of color on July 4th
The July 4th cookout menu had a healthy portion of baseball talk but not much on the Orioles. Hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken kebabs, baked beans and corn on the cob seemed to add flavor to the baseball-related stories. Discussion of the current team was considered light fare. One story involved Grandmom, as...
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May 25, 2019 at 11:00 am
Calling the Pen: Looking for the good in a bad Orioles team
It was a beautiful Monday evening when my wife, Barb, Katie and I arrived at the Downtown Sailing Center. Katie is a young woman with whom Barb works, and the center provides a sailing experience for those with disabilities. As we started to head toward the dock, one of the leaders told...
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May 12, 2019 at 11:00 am
Calling the Pen: A gift from the past for Mother’s Day
My daughter, Kristin, her husband, Justin, and their son, Noah, will be moving soon to a new house. On Friday, we were packing boxes in the old house, or the one they will be leaving. The one already packed with memories. Kristin handed me one as we were working. It was a...
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April 28, 2019 at 7:00 am
Calling the Pen: High Tides, high hopes — Part 2
Editor’s note: Orioles beat writer Rich Dubroff conducted a question-and-answer session with Norfolk Tides beat writer David Hall. Because of the depth of Hall’s answers and the added importance of the minor leagues in the Orioles’ rebuild, we decided to present the Q&A in two parts. Today, in Part 2, Hall talks...
