Baseball

Baseball season is upon us again, and a new exhibition in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts that opens next month explores Berkshire County’s rich history with America’s pastime.

It is the wrap-up of Baseball’s Spring training in the Cactus League in Arizona and the Grapefruit League in Florida. In Clearwater, Florida at the BayCare Ballpark, Joe Donahue sat down with the voice of the Phillies and one of the best sports broadcasters working today, Tom McCarthy.

Keith O’Brien has written a new biography of a flawed legend—baseball’s tragic character—the man who could never return to the game he lived to play in his new book: “CHARLIE HUSTLE: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball.”

Baseball writer and YES Network analyst Jack Curry thinks the 1998 Yankees are the best ever. His new book on this 25th anniversary of that team, which won 125 games, is called “The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever.

Jim Kaat was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 24, in Cooperstown, New York after being elected by the Golden Days Era Committee.He played 15 seasons for the Minnesota Twins and he wears the Twins cap on his plaque that hangs in the hall. Kaat pitched for a total of five organizations in a 25 year run in the majors, winning 283 games, 16 Gold Glove awards as the best fielder at his position in the major leagues, mostly with the Minnesota Twins. He also played for the Chicago White Sox, the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Yankees, and the St. Louis Cardinals. He was part of the 1982 World Series championship there 40 years ago. He was with us a few months ago, but a lot has happened since then he is now an inducted member into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His new book "Good as Gold: My Eight Decades in Baseball" is a hit.

Bull Durham, the breakthrough 1988 film about a minor league baseball team, is widely revered as the best sports movie of all time. But back in 1987, Ron Shelton was a first-time director and no one was willing to finance a movie about baseball—especially a story set in the minors. But something miraculous happened and the new book, "The Church of Baseball" attempts to capture why.

Bestselling author Wade Rouse finds solace with his dying father through their shared love of baseball in "Magic Season: A Son's Story" (Hanover Square Press) - a poignant, illuminating memoir of family and forgiveness.

I don’t know a lot about Oakland. I’ve been there, spent a few nights with a cousin many years ago when I traipsed across the country and back with my sister on a grand adventure. But mostly, when I think of Oakland, I think of baseball.

Jim Kaat spent 25 years in the majors, pitching in the 50s and the 80s, and never really left, also working as a coach and broadcaster. And now, at age 83, the 16-time Gold Glover and winner of 283 games is finally being inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in July.

Tim Kurkjian has spent his life in baseball, and now he’ll be part of baseball history forever. Kurkjian has just received the top award for a baseball writer from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, and will be honored at July’s induction ceremony.