A Whole New Ballgame

Welcome.

I'm the author of "A Whole New Ballgame: The 1969 Washington Senators." 1969 AL ERA Champion Dick Bosman, the ace pitcher on Ted Williams' staff that season, wrote a wonderful foreword for the 50th anniversary edition, published last April. It's received many great reviews on Amazon, where it's also available for purchase in paperback or Kindle versions.

The book includes quotes from interviews with more than 20 people associated with the team, from Pitching Coach Sid Hudson to one of the team's bat boys. The new version also includes some rare photos of Picture Day in July 1969 when kids could, for free, have their photo taken with one of the Senators. My blog profile is from that day, featuring Joe Coleman and a young fan.

A Whole New Ballgame tells stories of redemption:

• Of players often dismissed a losers, chokers or not good enough to play Major League Baseball
• Of a team written off as baseball's worst before the season started, then shocked everyone by winning 86 games, the only winning season in Expansion Senators history.
• Of a city, written off as a poor baseball town, who showed up in droves at RFK Stadium, nearly a million strong, to hail their new heroes.

If you've ever experienced being written off, patronized, dismissed or underestimated, you'll identify with these people and this story.

Photo: The 1969 Washington Senators, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, NY

Here in this blog, you'll read about this team, the reigning World Champion Washington Nationals, some baseball analysis I'm doing (one in progress in comparing the performances of Stephen Strasburg post-2012 shutdown and some similar pitchers from other teams that were handled differently), updates on my Strat-O-Matic baseball projects, and, from time-to-time, other musings about DC sports, especially the Capitals and Wizards and sports in general.

I'll post as often as I can, but don't expect daily updates. I've got a day job, too. If you like the blog, please tell your friends who you know will enjoy these topics. My purpose in writing this is to give others joy through fun and thought-provoking posts and conversations.

I hope you're staying safe and sane in these times when the COVID-19 virus is wreakng havoc on our lives and economy.