MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports It was an enormous weekend for University of Maryland athletics, as the baseball team was selected as the No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament as well as the top seed and the host school for one of the first-round regionals, the College Park Regional, for the first time in…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports We talked about some of the great, and not so great, big-league ballparks out there here on Thursday and kind of left it hanging for today to touch base with three of the very best and, certainly, most historic and grand – Fenway Park in Boston, Wrigley Field in Chicago…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports I am very fortunate to have been able to visit many big-league ballparks, and many of the best ballparks in the big leagues, in my time – two in Baltimore, two in Pittsburgh, two in Washington, two in Cleveland, two in Philadelphia, Yankee Stadium, Fenway, Wrigley, Kansas City, St. Louis,…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The $10 bleacher seats for last Thursday’s Yankees-Orioles matinee at Oriole Park were sold out, so our very able ticket purchaser instead secured us two Bob Uecker seats in one — dead center field, but also in the front rowwww … Overlooking the playing field atop the batter’s eye wall…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports Brooks Robinson never had Marilyn Monroe sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. Third Baseman” to him on his birthday. Brooks Robinson has always had his family and friends, and a million little kids from the Wonder Years wish him a happy birthday, even as those same little kids are now in our…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports It was a very appropriate touch made by the NBA last week when it announced the Most Valuable Player awards in the Eastern Conference finals and the Western Conference finals would, effective immediately, be the Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson MVP awards respectively. In addition, the Eastern and Western…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports How poorly are things going for the Cincinnati Reds these days? Very poorly, as witnessed by their mere 9 wins through the first 35 games of the season. A lot of us around here can certainly empathize. A lot of us can even say we’ve seen worse – much worse;…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The Baltimore Orioles decided to move the left-field wall at Oriole Park at Camden Yards back roughly 30 feet and raise the height of the wall to 13 feet from the previous seven feet. It seemed like a good idea at the time and, truthfully, remains a good idea. The…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports Sunday, of course, is Mother’s Day, and I shall raise my glass and count my blessings for the joy of having lived my life in what my mother called her “Sphere of Influence.” Which is to say I live on planet Earth. My mother was Colleen, but once you had…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports You’re watching a lot of Major League Baseball these days? You’re watching some? If you are you’ve noticed a lot of hard-hit balls, or, as the new analytics vernacular has it, “barreled up” at high “exit velocity,” die in the air like a kite and gently fall into an outfielder’s…
