In the past week we’ve seen renewed demands to tear down Confederate monuments and to rename sites and products that uphold racist logics. And just a few days ago the Texas Rangers found themselves implicated, with columnists and fans now debating whether the baseball team should be named after a police force with a documented […]
What’s the Word: Sign-Stealing
Baseball season may still be months away, but that hasn’t kept it out of the headlines these last few weeks. Today on “What’s the Word,” Adam Schuster takes a look at sign-stealing, an age-old practice that’s now at the center of one of the sport’s biggest scandals in recent history.
Hot Stove Baseball with DJ Day Later
It’s been seven weeks since the Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in the 2019 World Series. Baseball’s spring training is still two months away, but the hot stove league — offseason free agent signings and trades — are in full swing. But for baseball addicts, some of the biggest news has taken place far […]
What’s the Word: Baseball
Well the Brewers’ season is officially over, but for many baseball fans the real excitement has just begun. It’s October, and that means we’re inching closer and closer to the “Fall Classic,” the World Series. This week on “What’s the Word,” Adam Schuster takes us back to the origins of the game, what actually goes […]
Women in Baseball: Breaking the Gender Barrier
Professional baseball has traditionally been a sport only for men — and from 1887 to 1946 only for white men. Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in major league baseball in 1947 is well-celebrated, but less well known are the efforts women have made to crack the lineup or pitching rotation of America’s pastime. Leslie […]
Forest Products Laboratory: Building A Durable Baseball Bat
Back in 1910, Wisconsin, home to the legendary lumberman Paul Bunyan, was at the epicenter of America’s insatiable appetite for lumber. Much of Wisconsin’s northern forests had been cleared, and the U.S. Government established the Forest Products Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin Madison to come up ways of using the suddenly scarce resource more […]
