By Charlie Danrick

My wonderful wife Iris and I raised a son and a daughter, now both in their 30s and many years gone from the “nest.”

Rick was born in Apr.1968 and we subcribed to cable in 1975 so obviously the kid was quite baseball conscious at age seven. But something went awry. We live in North Jersey and within not too great a distance lie Yankee and Shea Stadiums. So it would figure that the kid would favor at least one of the corrersponding clubs. No such thing-Cable dictated otherwise because one of the stations being piped down here was WSBK, Channel 38,the Red Sox flagship. [Read more →]

The Red Sox are off to the second best start in franchise history, 21-7. Only the 1946 version started better with a 23-5 mark.

The Sox proved two things:

1) They can wallop the Orioles, Devil Rays, Blue Jays, and Royals anytime they play,

2) If they stay healthy, they have their best team in years.

Now, with their next 19 games against the A’s, Mariners, White Sox, and Yankees, they have a chance to quiet the naysayers who are downplaying their early season success built against the weak sisters of the AL.

Tonight, it’s Pedro Martinez versus Cory Lidle, the questions are

“Is Pedro back to his Cy Young form?”

“Can Cory Lidle stop the Sox?”

Let’s see. [Read more →]

By Charlie Danrick

It happened in the summer of 1957-the Dodgers last year in Brooklyn. I doubt if it was the last time I saw the Brooklyn team in person since I used to go into Jersey City to watch them in Roosevelt Stadium. Peter O’Malley simply wanted to prepare the people of Brooklyn in ’57 that their beloved Bums were on shaky ground in their Ebbets Field temple of great times. Never had there been greater treachery in our national pastime; never will we see anything as treacherous. [Read more →]

Watching the Giants play the last week brought a question to mind.

Is it easier for Art Howe to manage the A’s or does Dusty Baker have less stress managing the Giants?

Here’s the way I see it. [Read more →]

In the 1950’s, the Pacific Coast League played a seven game series each week, ending the set with a doubleheader on Sunday between such teams as the Hollywood Stars, the Sacramento Solons, the San Francisco Seals, or the Oakland Oaks to name a few.

Sunday, still brings that rush of anticipation of the big weekend finale, even though the twin bill is a thing of the past.

It’s the last chance to win a game before the week closes and the teams move on to the next city.

Here’s what’s in store today.

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Former Reds manager, ESPN TV analyst, and 1986 World Series hero, Ray Knight joins Marty on Right Off The Bat, Sunday morning at 9:50 AM Pacific. Knight talks about his baseball career recalling “the Big Red Machine” teams of the 70’s. Listen to the show live right here on LOTGP.com, the A’s website, or KFRC 610 AM in Northern California. [Read more →]

Nationally known baseball writer, Hal McCoy came within one vote of being named the J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner in 2002, losing out to Detroit writer Joe Falls, in the vote for enshrinement into the Writer’s Wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. McCoy covers the Cincinnati Reds for the Dayton Daily News and is Marty’s guest, Saturday on Right

Off The Bat at 2:50 PM Pacific right here on LOTGP.com, the A’s website, or 610 AM KFRC. [Read more →]

BY ALAN GOLDFARB

IN DEFENSE OF BASEBALL

As a kid growing up in New York in the ’50s, baseball was our game. Why wouldn’t it be? We were a three-team town then. We had the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants in the National League, and the Yankees in the American. We had Duke, the Mick, and Willie. We had Jackie. We had Eoisk, the Scoonge, Campy, the Lip, Yogi, the Barber, and Moose. [Read more →]

Mike Cameron leads the Mariners into Yankee Stadium. How many more homers can he hit over this weekend?

Cameron wrote his name into the record books with a four homer game against the White Sox Thursday.

What will the weekend bring?

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The A’s go into Chicago to face the shell shocked White Sox who were bombed on Thursday night by the Mariners. Going to the hill for the Sox is tonight’s guest on Right Off The Bat, Mark Buehrle. The young lefty is one of the top pitchers in the league and he tells Marty how it all happened. Tune in at 3:50 PM Pacific right here on LOTGP.com, The A’s website, or 610 KFRC in Northern California for the show. [Read more →]