July 2025
-
Joe drank two cups of coffee. It was hot and strong, the way it always tasted best to him. He sat back in his chair, his fingers toying first with his spoon, then drumming noiselessly on the table. But he couldn’t sit still very long, and he arose, rinsed his cup and left it standing Read more
-
THE NEW ROMANTICS by M.A.H. Hinton another perfect lawnno more naturalthan the fauxwrought-iron gateor the little waterfall and pond that bubblethe same empty wateragain and again looking next doorwe see sneaky weedsand wild grassgathering on the edgesof neighboring lawnsready for counter-attack turning our backson so much empty perfectionwe move towardan abandoned lotacross the street our Read more
-
On July 19th, future Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn played in his first Major League game. In his debut, he went 2 for 4, of course. How good was Tony Gwynn? He was a Hitter’s Hitter, a Pro’s Pro. He was the kind of hitting machine we do not see much in today’s game. The closest player Read more
-
Completely satisfactory detectives are extremely rare. Indeed, I only know of three: Sherlock Holmes(Conan Doyle), Inspector French (Freeman Wills Crofts), and Father Brown (Chesterton). The job of the detective is to restore the state of grace in which the aesthetic and the ethical are as one. Since the murderer who caused their disjunction is the aesthetically defiant individual, his opponent, Read more
-
Throwback Thursdays” at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on June 23, 2020. Last week after finishing In Dubious Battle, I continued my Steinbeck-binge by getting The Wayward Bus. Like Cannery Row and In Dubious Battle, this was another book I had first read 45 years Read more
-
On July 16th, 1969, Rod Carew stole home off Chicago’s Jerry Nyman in the Minnesota Twins’ 6-2 victory. It was Carew’s seventh steal of home for the year and last, one shy of the Major League & American League record set by Ty Cobb in 1912. I have only seen one steal of home in person in my Major League Read more
-
On July 15th, 1990, Chicago’s Bobby Thigpen became quickest to reach thirty saves in a season as the White Sox beat New York 8-5. Thigpen is one of those names that just sticks with you. Like: When I played fantasy baseball in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Thigpen was a highly coveted player. In the early Read more
-
I found Big John and Doc on a small flagstone patio that opened off the kitchen. They were seated at a large glass topped, wrought iron table and there was a huge pot of coffee on a hot plate at Big John’s elbow. The view from the patio was of the tumbled mountain range north Read more
-
On July 12th, 1987, Shortstop Walt Weiss played in his first Major League Game. I have said it here before, the most fun I have writing about baseball history on ClimbingSky is when I get to write about below-the-radar players that I think deserve to be more “remembered.” Walt Weiss is one of those kind Read more
ClimbingSky 