“Teams make handshake deals with players as young as 11 while moneylenders prey on their families. The industry is corrupt, but Major League Baseball and the players union have done little about it.”
baseball
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Bottom of the Ninth
“In baseball and in life, there is a cost to our pursuit of an error-free existence.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
When Baseball Threw Physics a Curve
“Sports, science, and collective delusion.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
They Stole Yogi Berra’s World Series Rings. Then They Did Something Really Crazy.
The childhood friends behind the most audacious string of sports-memorabilia heists in American history.
Posted inEditor's Pick
No One Wanted Them to Win: Texas’ First Baseball Champions
“They could feel their accomplishment slowly being forgotten. The memory of their championship dying with them.”
Posted inCuration
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories by Willa Köerner, Robyn Ross, Ariel Sabar, Julian Lucas, and Dan Moore.
Posted inEditor's Pick
How to Start a Professional Sports Team, Win Games, and Save the Town
“After the A’s announced they were leaving Oakland, a pair of lifelong fans set out to do something audacious: start a beloved pro baseball team of their own. Remarkably, they pulled it off. Now the Oakland Ballers need to survive.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
“It’s Time to Play Ball, British Style”
“A hot dog, a Pimm’s cup and two national anthems: The cultural dissonance of watching America’s pastime in London.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Racial Slur and a Fort Myers High Baseball Team Torn Apart
“The avalanche of broken relationships within this baseball community at Fort Myers High . . . served as a microcosm for a polarized country.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Long, Strange History of the Baseball Cap
“How did it become both the quintessential piece of a ballplayer’s uniform, as well as the go-to wardrobe accessory for stars, artists, and the common person?”