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Personal Stories

Take Me Out

By Rachel Van Sickle

Her interest in baseball, tainted by a short-lived romance, might have faded like so many other passing fancies. But an unforgettable afternoon at a Mud Hens game made Rachel Van Sickle a fan for good.

Personal Stories

The Knothole

By Phil Bencomo

Witness the crush of people in front of the 10-foot-wide window into Wrigley Field. Where they congregated before 2006, when the knothole in the outfield wall was carved, I do not know. But they are together now.

Personal Stories

Lost and Found

By MB Coudal

On spectating and a visit to Citi Field with a trio of 12-year-old boys.

Personal Stories

Fathering a Love for the Game

By Daniel Couch

Like so many 14-year-old boys, Couch was contrarian, cocksure and often at odds with his dad. But they could always talk about baseball. A story of City Slickers, Bobby Bragan and fatherhood.

Essays

Ron

By Todd Cosner

A tribute to a legendary Cub, beloved as a player and broadcaster.

Personal Stories

The Spectator

By Todd Cosner

Everyone wants to win, but you can't taste victory without first stepping onto the field. The players aren't alone in donning uniforms, though, and one man finds redemption—and triumph—in the coach's box.

Poetry

The First Practice

By David S. Pointer

"The coach poured the / extra balls out of a / red drawstring bucket / bag, then the kids took / the mini-field forever / shagging long, left, right."

Personal Stories

“Hello, Win Column!”

By Walter Biggins

In their 39th season, the Texas Rangers have reached the World Series at last. Mark Holtz never got the chance to narrate his Rangers through a winning playoff round, but somewhere, wherever he is, the man with a rumble of a voice is beaming.

Fiction

Strike Zone

By Paul Lonardo

Bump hadn't seen him in decades. No one had. He disappeared, as if he'd never existed, just months into a brilliant major league career. But there he was, Ron Flury, sitting three stools away in a Jacksonville bar.

Poetry

Fancy Fielder

By Bryce Martin

Of Eddie Waitkus and 1949.

Fiction

The Man on the Mound

By Tyler Kalmakoff

To him the field is empty. To him it is the field behind his community grade school. There are no stands. There is nothing; just him, the mound, the ball, his glove and his calloused fingers, and the brim of his cap to keep out the sun.

Personal Stories

Sunday Fly

By Joe Benardello

The fly ball looks like a speck in the sky of blue. I drift under it, feet gliding across the grass. The afternoon sun beats on my head. It's the 11th inning, and I hold my glove high.

Reporting

The Once and Future Baseball Man

By Phil Bencomo

Victor Wang hasn't played baseball competitively since he was a kid. He knew, back in elementary school in the '90s, that he'd never reach the pros. That he'd struggle even in Little League. That he simply wasn't very good. So he quit.

Fiction

Barnstormin' with the Babe

By R. A. Cabral

It's late 1927. The Babe just hit 60, Gehrig won the MVP, and the Yankees are on top of the world. The "Mighty Swatsmen" celebrate with a barnstorming tour and a battle for the Copper Cup. An excerpt from a novel.

Personal Stories

Stealing Grass from Safeco Field

By Elliot Robins

"The security worker hadn't even moved. I had frozen him in disbelief." Of summer in the Pacific Northwest, sacrilege and a memento of both.

Personal Stories

Close to Heaven

By Dave Roulston

On the night of April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron needed a single home run more to stand alone as baseball's home run king. For Roulston's father, it was to be nirvana. Hank did his part, but bliss still slipped away.

Personal Stories

A Piece of the Hall of Fame's Inaugural Day

By Al Ottens

He was sifting through thin slices of Americana at a Baltimore stamp and coin shop when something unexpected appeared. The store owner saw it only for the stamp, but Ottens knew the autographed 1939 envelope had a story to tell.

Personal Stories

Pujols Through the Ages

By Michael Webb

Only when it's gone do we truly see the greatness of a thing. A story of a father, a childhood and Albert Pujols.

Fiction

The REAL Baseball Hall of Fame

By Rick Soisson

The premise behind it was simple enough, though it was one Cooperstown never accepted: The numbers are the numbers. And so, in 2020 the REALHOF, as it came to be known, opened its doors—and opened them to all.

Essays

A Response to Bill James' “Cooperstown and the 'Roids"

By Jeb Stewart

Last July, Bill James published an essay of his thoughts on steroid use and baseball's Hall of Fame. Ultimately, James concluded, steroid users of recent decades will not only be enshrined, but also hailed as "pioneers." But James' arguments are less than convincing.

Personal Stories

50 Years a Cubs Fan, Part Three

By Al Ottens

Fifty years ago today, Ottens was a 12-year-old Yankees fan taking in his first game at Wrigley. But four hours and 29 runs later, a Yankee rooter he was no more. In the conclusion to a three-part story, Ottens remembers the game that forever changed his allegiance.

Personal Stories

50 Years a Cubs Fan, Part Two

By Al Ottens

Fifty years ago, Ottens was a 12-year-old Yankees fan living in Chicago. His first trip to Wrigley was an unsettling blur of motion, smell and sound—until, as he walked up the concrete ramp to the field, the dazzling view made it all worthwhile.

Personal Stories

50 Years a Cubs Fan, Part One

By Al Ottens

Fifty years ago, Ottens was a 12-year-old Yankees fan living in Chicago. And he still might be rooting for the Yanks today, had his grandfather on that fateful morning not asked, "Do you want to see the Cubs play?"

Essays

The Greatest Hitter of All Time

By Rick Soisson

Greatness is all in the definition, and hitting greatness is no different. By average, it's Ty Cobb. By streak, it's Joe DiMaggio. But defined another way the greatest hitter ever is: Joe Sewell?

Fiction

The Rocket: A Tall Tale

By John Bartleby

The Clemens-Piazza feud is legendary for its fervor and sublime twists of fate. But is there more to the story? In a playful reimagining, Bartleby says there is.

Essays

Indian Pirates on the High Seas

By Rick Soisson

It may sound like a joke, but sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction: The Pirates really did sign two Indian kids who'd never played baseball. Could the Lucknow Fireballer be coming to a ballpark near you?

Personal Stories

1971 Topps Baseball

By Jeb Stewart

Every card collector has a white whale—a card that proves elusive, a set that defies completion. Stewart is no exception. It took seven years, but he finally found every black-bordered, 1971 Topps card.

Essays

Defending the Indefensible

By Michael Webb

Cheating is an inseparable part of baseball. It has always existed, and it always will. That doesn't make cheating right, but it does make it easier to understand.

Poetry

Yeah? So?

By Ember Nickel

"I am a fan. I have not always been. / But I could not point to the moment when / I became more than just a rider on / A bandwagon whose station is long gone."

Essays

The Mick

By Dennis Feller

Who's the best you've ever seen? For some, there is no more subjective question. For others, it's pure mathematics. Feller answers with a player sure to please both camps.

Personal Stories

A View Like No Other

By Steve Vivona

It was overwhelming, numbing and evocative of something sacred. A story of an unforgettable birthday and a sight never to be seen again.

Personal Stories

October 7, 1977

By Joe Benardello

Sometimes the sweetest things in life are also the forbidden. And, sometimes, that's what makes them so sweet. Benardello remembers a mother's love and a game he shouldn't have been able to see.

Essays

Who's The Best?

By Michael Webb

Who's the best you've ever seen? Webb crosses enemy lines to answer with a batter, but stays closer to home with his pitcher of choice.

Poetry

The Scorekeeper's Dilemma

By Ember Nickel

"We cheer for hits that make their hitters dash / Around the diamond, or that with a splash / Allow the batters access to each base. / Hits are surprises; outs are commonplace."

Personal Stories

Let's Play World Series

By Lincoln Mitchell

For many in San Francisco, 1989 is still synonymous with fulfillment. After a drought of nearly 30 years, the Giants had won the pennant.

Personal Stories

Days of Plastic and Sunshine

By Walter Biggins

There were no crowds, uniforms or even gloves. And a real baseball? Not a chance. No, in his backyard ballpark, Biggins played ball with only plastic and his pals.

Personal Stories

The Boys (and Girls) of Summer

By Cynthia Tyler

As a girl, Tyler brought a glove to all of her brother's baseball games with hopes of snagging a foul ball or playing catch. But she never imagined she'd use it to collect an autograph from Casey Stengel.

Personal Stories

Hooked on Wrigley

By Melody Blass Fisher

During a six-week summer road trip, one traveler found that not even ticket scalpers could ruin a visit to Wrigley Field.

Essays

Shakespeare and the Park

By Eric Nusbaum

Baseball has often been called the most literary of sports, a claim the writer can only support. In a long and winding essay, Nusbaum reflects on his personal reading history—and finds his loves of baseball and literature deeply entwined.

Personal Stories

The Hold of the Table

By Michael Webb

One has gained mainstream acceptance; the other still lingers in the shadows. Millions of people play fantasy baseball, but its tabletop cousin has an allure of its own.

Poetry

An Untitled Poem

By Ember Nickel

"The winners we see, we in time forget. / But we remember some, like those who set / The records that we know cannot be beat. / Most do through victory, some through defeat."

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The Baseball Chronicle is an online magazine that celebrates the narrative. We publish personal stories, essays, journalism and more—great stories, of all varieties, about our favorite game.

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