“I thoroughly enjoy both Right Off the Bat and Memories of the Game. You have a knack of drawing out your guest, and allowing him to be the main event instead of featuring yourself (unlike a long-time annoyance on KNBR who shall remain nameless–Ralph Barbieri). When you do have the air to yourself, your observations and opinions are also enjoyable. Thanks for the good work.”

– Fan from AOL [Read more →]

Did you see the small article in the paper about all the old Kerouac papers the family has donated to a museum? The Sacramento Bee only mentioned in passing that the papers included a complicated baseball game he invented, but the Eureka paper (I was up there meeting my grandaughter) had a full story. [Read more →]

One of the things I like most about Marty Lurie, who hosts the baseball show “Right Off the Bat,” before every Oakland Athletics game, is that he loves the game in a way I rarely see these days. [Read more →]

By Paul Hirsch

Dodgers move to LA

Few men in sports history have been vilified to the degree that Walter O’Malley was when he moved the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1957. In some quarters, that vilification has not ceased. Countless trees have died supporting the contention that he ripped the franchise from the bosom of a borough that has never recovered its identity or self esteem. Also in existence are clinically detailed accounts of the battles between the Dodgers and New York officials who refused to believe that what happened in Philadelphia, St. Louis and Boston could happen in the unofficial capitol of the world. For the next 800 or so words the reader is asked to put himself in the shoes of Walter O’Malley musing his options shortly after the 1956 World Series, and then answer the question, What would you do?. [Read more →]

By Jerry Feitelberg

Boston Red Sox

The game of baseball has always been part of my life ever since I was 7 years old . My first memories are those of listening on the radio to the 1946 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St.Louis Cardinals. Boston is my hometown and my father and I were hoping that the Red Sox would win the Series and become World Champs. [Read more →]

Mark Mauro is an umpire in the Eastern League. The reason that’s important for this particular story is that he’s the reason I was able to visit Miller Park in Milwaukee, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Comerica Park in Detroit, and old-time favorite Wrigley Field in Chicago. [Read more →]

by George Devine, Sr.

Ernie Harwell…..

2001 marks Ernie Harwell’s 63rd season broadcasting, and we wish many more for this walking, talking baseball classic. Last week, when the Detroit Tigers visited the Athletics at Oakland, I mustered the courage to ask him if I could stand in the door at the rear of the visiting radio booth to listen to his play-by-play account. [Read more →]

By David M. Jordan

Crash Davis

One of the most popular player-members of the As Historical Society, and a very welcome guest whenever he has visited, is Lawrence Crash Davis, the pride of Greensboro, North Carolina. [Read more →]

By David M. Jordan

Emory Nicholas Bubba Church

On Monday evening, September 17, 2001, Emory Nicholas Bubba Church died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Birmingham, Alabama. Bubba Church was one of the key members of the 1950 Phillies Whiz Kids, and that fact alone makes his death a sad piece of news for Philadelphias baseball fans. Konstanty, Ennis, Ashburn, Jones, Waitkus, Hamner – the list of departed heroes from that team grows ever longer. For members of the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society, the passing of Bubba Church means even more. For, while Bubba never pitched for the As, he has been a longtime and faithful friend of the Society. The day before his death, Bubba spoke with Society general manager Ernie Montella about his eagerness to attend the Society’s breakfast reunion on October 21. [Read more →]

Oakland, California, February 5, 2002 – Marty Lurie today announced that he has coordinated the production of a popular baseball pre-game show, Right Off The Bat, for a fifth consecutive season. The show (20 minutes in length), airing directly prior to each pre-game show of the Oakland Athletic baseball broadcast, is carried on KFRC 610 AM radio of San Francisco, and hosted by Lurie. [Read more →]