Courtesy of The Niagara Gazette Base Paths vividly remembers the Niagara Power’s first New York State Collegiate League game. He was 200 miles away, busting buttons at a grandson’s high school graduation. He returned to a pressboxful of skeptics who were sizing up the puny attendance and predicting with unanimity that the team would never last. Last month the graduate … [Read more...] about Base Paths makes a trip to the Dark Side
Base Paths
Base Paths surveys Buffalo’s city series
Courtesy of the Niagara Gazette Extending a scouting report by Woody Allen, bad baseball is the fourth best thing in the world. And Base Paths enjoyed a lot of it last week on sabbatical to Buffalo’s city series. The players were Middle Early College and Buffalo Performing Arts, their stage the Cy Williams diamond at Delaware Park. Middle Early College is a … [Read more...] about Base Paths surveys Buffalo’s city series
Base Paths in the woods of Caroline
By Doug Smith Courtesy of the Niagara Gazette A Durham Bulls Athletic Park crowd of nearly 10,000 cheered last Saturday as Wilson High (Niagara County) grad Steve Geltz stilled the Norfolk Tide, a strike and an out away from closing out the game. Then Oriole prospect L. J. Hoes ripped a drive that ricocheted off him into the hands of the third baseman, who fired to first … [Read more...] about Base Paths in the woods of Caroline
Base Paths chance encounter with Phil Plantier
Courtesy of the Niagara Gazette By Doug Smith A chance encounter in the rain gave Base Paths a peak into the heart of Purple Eagle baseball, Niagara University’s under-appreciated stepchild. Under the eaves of the pressbox at Cornell University’s Hoy Field, he figured out that his fellow refugees were Californians. “What, don’t we have local accents?” the woman said. … [Read more...] about Base Paths chance encounter with Phil Plantier
Base Paths and ten baseball movies of those struggling for acceptance
By Doug Smith Courtesy of The Niagara Gazette More than 120 motion pictures, dating back nearly 100 years, have centered on baseball. Here’s a lineup of 10, listed alphabetically,which focused on “outsiders’” struggling to find acceptance: “The Bad News Bears,” 1976, Walter Matthau rallying a band of ragamuffins nobody else wants. Later … [Read more...] about Base Paths and ten baseball movies of those struggling for acceptance