Fenway Park (web photo courtesy of bostoncalendar) American-Based by Chath pierSath The batter spits. Shoves his left foot against the diamond. He makes eye contact with the pitcher. He tilts down the right edge of his cap to buckle it tight to each strand of his hair. It’s…
Read More »
Today’s Baseball Week post combines two items from August 2013, the first by me, the second by Paul, both of us fans of Red Sox rightfielder Tony Conigliaro, a Massachusetts native who reached professional stardom at a young age and whose potential seemed limitless – until the evening of August…
Read More »
Jack McDonough of Tewksbury, Mass., wrote for United Press International, New England Telephone, Brandeis University, and UMass Lowell in his career as a reporter and editor. He’s a baseball fan from way back, and played his share of ballgames: “good glove-good stick.” We always appreciate his contributions to this publication. …
Read More »
Geoffrey Douglas is an American author, journalist, and former adjunct professor of writing at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. His most recent nonfiction book is The Grifter, The Poet, and The Runaway Train (2019), a collection of his stories in Yankee magazine. Other books include The Game of Their Lives (1996,…
Read More »
Suzanne Dion: She Loved the Game By Prudence Brighton LeLacheur Park was Suzanne Dion’s summer haven–a place to celebrate the Lowell Spinners’ victories, to grieve their losses and to simply enjoy nearly 20 summers of minor league baseball just 10 minutes from her home. Suzanne was a highly intelligent woman…
Read More »
A Review of John Boyle O’Reilly: The Apprentice from Drogheda by Kevin Gallagher (Red Fox Press, 2020). $26 USD/22 Eu By Paul Marion Drawn back from history’s mist in the form of a splendid rose-colored chapbook made in Ireland, John Boyle O’Reilly is a substantial Boston writer who needs a…
Read More »
North & South Ireland: Before Good Friday & The Celtic Tiger by James Higgins with an Introduction by Stephen O’Connor, 78 pages, $25 (Loom Press, 2020). A review by Mike McCormick James Higgins’ handsome new book of black-and-white photography captures the Emerald Isle that parents and grandparents of Irish-American baby…
Read More »
Historian Paul Hudon is the author The Valley & Its Peoples: An Illustrated History of the Lower Merrimack and a collection of poems, All in Good Time. A former college professor and museum curator, he lives in Lowell. For nine weeks he has been sending his diary entries to the…
Read More »
Frank Wagner sends his poems to the Howe blog from his home in Texas. He’s a retired radio newsman. Going Home After Basketball By Frank Wagner Going home after basketball practice meant walking home in the dark. During those months, after the thrill of starting school in the steaming heat…
Read More »
Eagle River Virus By Mike McCormick I’m sitting on my deck listening to the ebullient calls of ruby-crowned kinglets as they flit from branch to branch high atop birch and spruce trees. My wife Katy is transplanting geraniums from inside our arctic entry room to outdoor flower boxes. We are…
Read More »