Baseball Purist
“For Love of the Game”
Baseball Purist in the News: Click on the audio link to hear our own Bill Coleman (not pictured), who was interviewed by Tim McArthur on Long Island New Radio (103.9 FM) and which aired on September 1, 2026.
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When Baseball Was Still “Base Ball” – Part II
Note: This is the second half of a two part post. Read the first part here. By: Bill Coleman Baseball Before It Became a Business There is another reason that vintage base ball played under the direction of the Vintage Base Ball Association (VBBA) can feel almost surreal to modern fans. The game exists outside…
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When Baseball Was Still “Base Ball” – Part I
Note: This is a two part post with the second half found here. By Bill Coleman Inside the Vintage Base Ball Association—and the remarkable movement bringing the 19th century’s game back to life On a summer afternoon, the baseball field looks almost right. There are nine men in the field, a batter waits at home…
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Going Bananas: How Savannah Turned Baseball Into the Greatest Show on Dirt
By Bill Coleman They dance. They slide. They steal first base. Fans can catch a foul ball for an out. And somehow, in an age when baseball has struggled to hold the attention of casual fans, the Savannah Bananas have people lining up to watch. There was a time when baseball was supposed to be…
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The Baseball Attendance Myth
“Statistics do not lie but liars use statistics” Major League Baseball has continued to promote that it is back and better than ever, mostly by stating that rules changes employed in 2022 have helped to increase attendance at ballparks. Those rule changes included the implementation of the pitch clock, extra inning ghost runner, and the limitation…
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The Bird Who Captured Baseball
By Bill Coleman The Unforgettable Summer of Mark Fidrych By the summer of 1976, baseball needed something unexpected. Free agency was arriving. Television was changing sports. Attendance in some cities felt flat. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a young pitcher with blond curls, endless energy and a habit of talking to baseballs became the most…
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Next Stop: The Ballpark
By: Bill Coleman When Major League Baseball Players Skip the Luxury Car and Take the Train! Professional baseball players are often associated with luxury SUVs, chauffeured town cars and gated communities. Yet throughout Major League Baseball history, a surprising number of stars have preferred something much more ordinary: public transportation. Whether it’s the New York…
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Stolen Bases*
The number of stolen bases in baseball has fluctuated greatly over time. Some of those periods and the causes of those fluctuations include: The latest change in stolen base activity occurred with the introduction of analytics into the game in the early 2000’s. Prior to that, in the 1990’s there were regularly more than 3,000 successful…
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Did Boston’s Greatest Baseball Miracle Get a Little Help From Some Cambridge Nerds?
By Bill Coleman The MIT Conspiracy The following story is fictional. To date, no evidence exists that the Boston Red Sox hacked another team’s communication system, employed MIT graduates to steal pitch signs or did anything improper during their 2026 winning streak. There are hot streaks. There are unbelievable hot streaks. And then there is…
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When the Money Reached the Diamond: MLB’s Biggest Gambling Scandals
By Bill Coleman For more than a century, Major League Baseball has treated gambling as its greatest threat to competitive integrity. While players have battled performance-enhancing drugs, sign-stealing controversies, and labor disputes, nothing has frightened baseball executives more than the possibility that the outcome of games could be influenced by betting interests. From the infamous…
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Ed Kranepool – The Original Mr. Met
By Stephen Kohn I met Ed Kranepool in the late 60’s at an autograph event in my hometown on Long Island. I was an avid Mets fan since 1965 and meeting him was a real thrill. He was one of the original New York Mets and his jersey number 7 became my favorite number throughout…
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Fidel Castro and the Island Game: Power, Politics and a Lifelong Love of Baseball
By Bill Coleman Few political figures of the 20th century are as tightly bound to a single sport as Fidel Castro was to baseball. In Cuba, baseball is not just a pastime, it is a cultural language, a shared rhythm and Castro spoke it fluently. Long before he became the face of revolution, he was a tall,…
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The Final Days of Roberto Clemente
A Hall of Famer’s Last Mission Became His Greatest Act of Humanity By Bill Coleman On a warm autumn afternoon in 1972, baseball fans watched one of the game’s greatest players achieve a milestone that seemed to seal a perfect career. Just three months later, he would be gone. The story of Roberto Clemente is…
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