Stay updated with breaking news from Al campanis. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Andrew Maraniss delivers a home run with ‘Singled Out’ New biography on Major League Baseball’s first openly gay player is already a hit March 15, 2021 7:00 AM Doug Moe Updated: Courtesy of Andrew Maraniss Andrew Maraniss is the author of a new biography on Glenn Burke, Major League Baseball s first openly gay player. Unearthing a sports story that lends itself to book-length narrative nonfiction and involves a significant social issue isn’t easy. Madison native Andrew Maraniss had already done it twice. His first book, “Strong Inside” a prize-wining biography of Perry Wallace, the first African American basketball player in the Southeastern Conference was followed by “Games of Deception,” an account of the first United States Olympic basketball team, which played in Nazi Germany in 1936. ....
Hank Aaron s lasting impact is measured in more than home runs play Howard Bryant shares lasting memories of Hank Aaron (3:00) Howard Bryant reflects on the moments he shared with Hank Aaron while writing a biography of the Hall of Famer. (3:00) Author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron Author of Juicing the Game Henry Aaron, who rose up from the depths of Southern poverty to become one of the towering figures in baseball history as well as a bittersweet symbol of both American racial intolerance and triumph, has died. He was 86. When he retired in 1976 after a 23-year major league career with the National League Braves (spending 1954 to 1965 in Milwaukee, 1966-74 in Atlanta) before playing his final two seasons with the American League Milwaukee Brewers, Aaron had amassed staggering offensive numbers, holding the career records for most home runs (755), RBIs (2,297), total bases (6,856), games played (3,298), at-bats (12,364) and plate appeara ....
January 12, 2021 On the heels of a year in which a record seven Hall of Famers died, the baseball world couldn’t get a full week into 2021 without losing another. Tommy Lasorda, the charismatic and voluble manager who piloted the Dodgers to four National League pennants and two championships during a run of 19 full seasons (1977-95) and two partial ones, died of cardiopulmonary arrest on January 7. The 93-year-old Lasorda had returned home earlier in the week after being hospitalized since mid-November due to a heart condition. He had been the oldest living Hall of Famer since Red Schoendienst passed away on June 6, 2018; that title now belongs to 89-year-old Willie Mays. ....
Updated 1/8/2021 2:28 PM Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda died in his home at the age of 93. He managed the Dodgers from 1976 to 1996, winning two World Series titles, four National League pennants and eight division crowns. He was named NL Manager of the Year twice and won 1,599 career games. In this Oct. 3, 1983, file photo, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda starts a team meeting in the clubhouse at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. San Diego Padres infielder Kurt Bevacqua learned the hard way when he suggested the fat little Italian should have been fined when Dodgers reliever Tom Niedenfuer was dinged by MLB for throwing at San Diego s Joe Lefebvre in 1983. An ordinary pitcher during his brief stint in the majors, Lasorda took a shot at Bevacqua s struggles at the plate (he was a .236 hitter) saying he would send a limousine to pick Bevacqua up to make sure Bevacqua was in the lineup so he could kick Bevacqua s (behind) any day of the week. ....
Tommy Lasorda s Legacy Includes Silence Over HIV and His Gay Son January 08 2021 9:23 PM EST I was a rabid baseball fan growing up. I even won baseball trivia contests. I could name every MVP in history, both American and National leagues, Cy Young winners, World Series winners. I was an encyclopedia and my young head was chock full of statistics. First and foremost, since I was from Pittsburgh, I was a Pirates fan. And, after Pirates’ great Roberto Clemente died, I had to search for new favorite ballplayer, and a year or two after Clemente’s death, Steve Garvey, the first baseman of the Los Angeles Dodgers burst onto the scene, becoming the first write-in to earn a spot on the All-Star team mid-season in 1974, and at the end of the year, garnering the MVP award. ....