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Bobbleheads, Baseball Cards and Other Cooperstown Highlights
MLB announces investment in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League
Hi From Cooperstown —
So, here was some super cool news that came out of nowhere:
Why We Love Baseball debuted at No. 11 on the New York Times paperback nonfiction list!
This is very inside baseball (both literally and figuratively), but WWLB is the first book I’ve written that hit the list as both a hardcover and a paperback … that’s a pretty rare double, particularly for a non-celebrity book and even more particularly for a sports book. My cup runneth over.
So, as I’ve mentioned a few times, I’m in Cooperstown — I gave the Cooperstown Symposium keynote address on Wednesday, and it was great fun.
I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to explore Cooperstown (or, alas, the Symposium) because the new book is due in less than five weeks, and this is the time in the process where, as Margo says, my driving starts getting bad. That is to say I get into this mode where I find it hard to think about ANYTHING other than the book. I think about every waking hour and several sleeping hours too. I can’t help it.
BUT … I mean, I’m in Cooperstown, one of my favorite places on earth, so I can’t just completely shut down. Today, I’ll be going to the Women in Baseball seminar and on Wednesday, I did take a few minutes to wander around the museum and snap a few random photos.
Josh
I’ve been to the Hall of Fame so many times, that a while ago I started a tradition of taking a photograph of ONE plaque that moves me. In the past, I’ve taken photos of Koufax’s plaque, Aaron’s plaque, Musial’s plaque, Thome’s plaque and so on. This time, I was moved to snap Josh Gibson’s plaque. I wonder what he’d think about having a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I wonder what he’d think of baseball fans everywhere cherishing his name. |  |
Chelsea
When I was in Cooperstown working on WWLB, I came across this jersey belonging to Chelsea Baker, who threw TWO perfect games in Little League. I’d never heard the story, but I figured that her story belonged in Why We Love Baseball. Of course, I had no way of getting hold of Chelsea. “Try Instagram!” the girls told me. I told them that I didn’t think I should do that. But I did, and Chelsea responded, and we’re friends now, and that might be my favorite chapter in the book. |  |
Bobbleheads
 /im |  |
OK, so there’s a new bobblehead exhibit at the Hall, and it's quite cool … though it’s a little bit of a weird thing. It’s not a HISTORY of bobbleheads as you might expect from the Baseball Hall of Fame. No, this is basically a display of Jeffrey Loria’s immense bobblehead collection. He donated the collection to the Hall, and they decided to stack them in several display cases, somewhat randomly and haphazardly.
This is, in fact, EXACTLY how a bobblehead exhibit should be done.
Especially because the shelves in the display cases MOVE so that the heads are constantly bobbling.
The Hall did commission the gigantic six-foot Willie Mays bobblehead, and its head does bobble, so that’s more awesomeness.
Duane
Oh, by the way, thanks to the bobblehead exhibit, Duane Kuiper is now very much in the Hall of Fame.
The Nationals
I realize that this has become a bit of a fixation for me … but I just cannot get over how rapidly and unsentimentally the Washington Nationals closed up shop. At the Hall of Fame, there is a locker for every team … and the idea is that the locker is celebrating the team TODAY. They’ll have some recent history stuff, obviously, but they’ll also have stuff from the current team. The Nationals, alas, have NOTHING from the current team. Because, I mean, why would they? What would that stuff even be? They’ve got the baseball Howie Kendrick hit off the right field foul pole in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series. They’ve got Kurt Suzuki’s spikes from that series. They’ve got a little Baby Shark stuffy — Baby Shark was the big theme that year for the Nats. |  |
They’ve got Fernando Rodney’s glove from that year, Trea Turner’s shoes, a Juan Soto jersey AND the baseball he homered on in Game 1, they’ve got Howie Kendrick’s bat, they’ve got Anthony Rendon’s bat, they’ve got the jersey Stephen Strasburg wore for his titanic performance in Game 6, they’ve got Max Scherzer’s cap …
I don’t know, the whole thing just made me sad. The Nationals were unlucky after 2019, sure, the next season was the COVID year, and all that. But the way they simply cashed in on that championship still drives me crazy. They did pick up a few promising kids along the way, and I imagine there will be a James Wood item or a MacKenzie Gore item or maybe a Dylan Crews item (once he unwinds from whatever this slump is) added to the locker. But for now, for a Washington fan, seeing this locker in the Hall of Fame is both a look back at what once was good about the Nationals and a reminder that the years go on without them.
Baseball Cards
I truly love the baseball card exhibit at the Hall of Fame. Next to this is a working bicycle; you can actually spin the wheels to hear how it sounds when there’s a card in the spokes. That’s probably the most old-man-yelling-at-clouds thing I know — “when I was young, we put baseball cards in the spokes of our bicycle tires!” But I still feel it.
My favorite part of this display is the baseball card vending machine in the middle. I have no memory of actually seeing one of these — I vividly remember vending machines with stickers and little plastic football helmets and obviously candy — but seeing that and seeing the Willie Mays card in the middle, I IMMEDIATELY wanted to put a quarter in and see what I could get.
I’d recommend that all baseball card companies bring back the vending machine.
👉🏼 Hey, if you’ve been to Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame, I’d love to hear what stuck with you in the comments or over on Discord!
Kathleen’s Korner
Huge news in softball today as MLB announced a “strategic investment” in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League. This will include stories across MLB’s digital platforms, incorporation in the All-Star Game and assistance in business operations. If you aren’t familiar with Athletes Unlimited and their other offerings, it’s a really fun and unique setup.
Brilliant reader Ron pointed out that I misprinted Tyrese Haliburton’s stats from his Game 4 triple-double. They should have been 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds (a career-high). He also pointed out that Haliburton had zero turnovers in the affair. Just unreal numbers to put the Pacers one win away from the NBA Finals.
Brilliant reader Richard posed an interesting question about the Mets’ bizarre baserunning mishap. Feel free to jump in and continue that discussion in #Daily-Discussion.
MLB The Show revealed the list of Negro Leagues players who will be in season three of Storylines: Monte Irvin, William “Judy” Johnson, James “Cool Papa” Bell, Oscar Charleston, James “Biz” Mackey, Leroy Matlock and Wilber “Bullet Joe” Rogan.
From the New Yorker:
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