A New Baseball Introduced At Spring Training 1931

Manager Connie Mack Shows Pitchers The New Baseball To Be Used For The 1931 Season

Connie Shows His Men How The New Ball Works
Fort Myers, Fla: Connie Mack, veteran chief of the Philadelphia Athletics explains the new ball to Walberg, Grove, Rommel and Shores as spring training gets under way here. 3/5/1931 photo International Newsreel

With a new lively baseball introduced after 1920, it was no surprise that balls started to travel further. But as the 1920s progressed and hitters kept hitting more and more home runs, baseball writers, fans and those within the game felt that the hitters had achieved too much of an advantage. So after a decade of increasing run production, the National and American Leagues made the decision to try and curb the scoring by changing to a new baseball.

Big Numbers

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It’s Gone! Yankees Say Goodbye To George Steinbrenner’s Facial Hair Rules

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

After 50+ Years Yankees FINALLY Get Rid Of Facial Hair Policy

A 2026 free agent, Cousin Itt  could now sign a Yankee contract. First he must clarify is that is facial or head hair.

After more than 50 years of enforcing a no long hair or beards policy, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said on February 21, 2025  they would discontinue the facial hair ban.

Seven years ago we told the complete fascinating, tangled story of how George Steinbrenner implemented his no long hair or beards rule and the controversies that erupted since then.

Some media outlets are saying the ban started in 1976. It did not. The ban began Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #178 – Elevated At Eighth Avenue & 110th St

View Of Eighth Avenue At 110th Street – 1906

Our Detroit Publishing Co. photograph is from 1906 and shows Eighth Avenue looking north.  It is at this juncture the Ninth Avenue elevated completes its turn from Ninth avenue to Eighth Avenue at 110th Street and proceeds uptown.

As usual there was a postcard issued that almost certainly came from this photograph. The advertising and perspective are exactly the same, but the postcard contains many alterations.

For dramatic effect Continue reading

The Problem Of Mass Transit In New York 1903

1903 – Transit Traffic In New York City As Seen By Harry Grant Dart

Satire from artist Harry Grant Dart showing what he captioned “The luxury of travel in New York.” (click illustration to see details).

The cartoon is from the January 22, 1903 Life magazine. The subway was still more than a year away from opening. The situation on the four New York elevated train lines was Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #177 – Schiller Monument, Central Park Lake & The Dakota Apartment Building 1891

The Central Park Lake As Seen From The Schiller Monument 1891

We are returning to another unique New York view taken for The Albertype Company in 1891.

Featured is the Central Park Lake. Beyond the lake along Central Park West we see the Dakota Apartment building (left) between 72nd and 73rd Streets. Two blocks away, partially seen is the nearly completed Hotel San Remo between 74th and 75th Streets.

Though it initially appears there are two boys in the photo, there are actually four boys. Here’s a closer look.

The photograph’s location is described as “Lake View From Schiller Statue.”

The Schiller Monument is currently near Central Park’s  Mall opposite the Naumburg Bandshell. This would be a location anachronism as this view of the lake would be nowhere near the mall.

Schiller Monument 1942 photo: Marjory Collins

But, originally the Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller monument was placed in The Ramble opposite 76th Street in 1859.

Schiller monument in Ramble c. 1870

Schiller monument (on right) with Lake view

Ask a thousand people visiting Central Park and I would think not one would know who Schiller was. In addition, it is doubtful anyone would know that this was the first sculpture installed in Central Park.

Schiller (1759–1805) was a German historian, naturalist and writer of the plays Wilhelm TellMary Stuart, and Wallenstein. Central Park’s website says “both Schiller’s literary and human rights work were admired at home and abroad”

On the original granite pedestal the following was engraved in German:

SCHILLER
ZUR
HUNDERTJAHRIGEN
GEBURTSTAGSFEIER
DEN 9TH NOVEMBER, 1859
DIE DEUTSCHEN IN NEW YORK

translated:

SCHILLER
ON THE
CENTENARY
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
ON NOVEMBER 9TH, 1859
THE GERMANS IN NEW YORK

When the monument was moved to its current location in 1954 the original base was replaced with a new inscription.

JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER
1759 – 1805
POET
DRAMATIST
HISTORIAN

Classic Hollywood #173 – River Phoenix & Marlee Matlin

River Phoenix With Marlee Matlin At Ed Debevic’s Restaurant – 1988

River Phoenix and his date Marlee Matlin at Ed Debevic’s Restaurant in Beverly Hills for their first birthday party and a sixth anniversary bash in honor of The Starlight Foundation.  September 22, 1988. Photo: John Paschal Celebrity Photo

A few weeks ago when my daughter and her college age friends were searching for a movie to watch I asked if they had ever seen Stand By Me (1986)? The answer was a resounding no. And when describing the film I asked a silly question: if they had ever heard of River Phoenix? Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #176 – Park Row 1890

Looking South Along Park Row / Newspaper Row -1890

This Albertype Company photograph was taken from the German language Staats-Zeitung newspaper building at the confluence of Centre Stret and Park Row.

We’re looking south along Park Row at the New York terminus of the Brooklyn Bridge. This busy district was Continue reading

Roger Maris Displays His 60th Home Run Ball

Roger Maris Ties Babe Ruth’s Home Run Record, But Not “Officially”  – 1961

Yankee Stadium, N.Y.: Yankee slugger Roger Maris holds up the baseball that he hit for home run number 60 in the third inning of the game with the Baltimore orioles, Sept. 26. Maris hit his 60th homer of the season off pitcher Jack Fisher to tie Babe Ruth in home runs hit in a baseball season. But Maris’ 60th came in game number 158 and therefore doesn’t qualify to tie the record according to baseball commissioner Ford Frick’s ruling. credit: UPI 9/26/61

What the photo slug does not say is how Maris got the baseball back.

Unlike Maris’s 61st home run on October 1, which would set off a melee in the right field stands for the baseball, the retrieval of the 60th was relatively simple. Continue reading

Classic Hollywood #172 – Humphrey Bogart Lauren Bacall & Son Stevie

Lauren Bacall & Son Stevie Visit Humphrey Bogart On The Set – 1951

Bogy, Baby & Boy
Humphrey Bogart’s wife, Lauren Bacall, known to the public as “Baby”, and their son Stevie, pay Bogart a visit on the set at 20th Century-Fox where he is starring in the newspaper story, “Deadline U.S.A.” Little Stevie takes an active interest in movie production, since he plans to be a movie star like his daddy when he grows up. credit: 20th Century-Fox December 27, 1951

When Humphrey Bogart made Deadline U.S.A. for 20th Century-Fox he was on loan from Warner Bros. to Fox. Maybe that is why the Fox publicity department did not care if they spelled Bogart’s nickname, “Bogey” correctly or not. In September of 1953 Bogart finally ended his long association with Warner Bros. having previously formed his own production company, Santana Productions to make independent productions including six films with Columbia Pictures between 1949 – 1951.

Steohen Humphrey Bogart (born January 6, 1949) did not follow in his father’s footsteps. Continue reading