I don’t think of myself as bigoted. I view myself as one of those tree-hugging, goodie-goodie liberals whom Archie Bunker’s son-in-law, Mike Stivic, would be proud to share a picket line with. But it’s come to my attention that people of color don’t like it when White guys such as myself criticize one of their […]
Mr. Clark, Well, it’s happened again. I just learned that another of the pre-1980 players without pensions, George Spriggs, recently passed away. He was 83-years-od at the time of his death. So like The Queen song says, another one bites the dust. That makes 525 men left. When do you say enough is enough? When do […]
Four years after they first compiled a record of what they believed was the penultimate list of the names of every past big leaguer who accrued at least one game day of service on an active Major League Baseball (MLB) roster since 1947 — the year the players’ pension fund was established – two lifelong […]
The resume of David Machemer, a Benton Harbor resident who attended Central Michigan University, boasts more than 1,000 victories as a minor league manager for such organizations as the San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles, and Montreal Expos. Machemer, whose minor league service isn’t pension creditable, is also one of 607 men currently not receiving an […]
Lucas Giolito may be a great pitcher, but does he have any appreciation for what former South Side pitchers Gerry Janeski and Rich Hinton are going through? Tim Anderson may be one the most exciting players in baseball, a social justice warrior with the Players Alliance, and a natural showman whose bat flips are fun […]
Seventy-one-year-old Roy Staiger, who lives in Lebanon, Missouri, played for the New York Mets from 1975 through 1977 and the New York Yankees in 1979. He appeared in 152 career games, came up to bat 457 times, collected 104 hits, including four home runs, one triple and 29 doubles, scored 42 runs and had 38 […]
The great South African cleric and anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu once said that “if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. “If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality,” […]
Believe it or not, there are 618 former players being hosed out of pensions by Major League Baseball and the union representing the players, the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). Who doesn’t receive a pension from MLB you’re wondering? Well, there are men like Donald Edward Reynolds, a former San Diego Padre who resides […]
To get back on the field, or not get back on the field. That is the question facing both the owners and players of Major League Baseball this holiday weekend. On Tuesday, it is expected that the owners will take another stab at getting the game back on the diamond sometime this summer. Their first […]