Of Red Sox Milestones and Three Opening Days of Tony Conigliaro
Funny how certain milestones of Red Sox history are marked in an undeniably cosmic pattern by the careers of two incredible hitters and characters, one a right-handed slugger, the other a lefty.
The KG Factor, Past and Present
The force of nature, the human laser beam that is Kevin Maurice Garnett had an immediate and palpable effect on not only the personnel of Boston Celtics and TD Garden, but the entire city of Boston in the autumn of 2007.
Willie O’Ree / Against The Odds
Consider the formidable obstacles confronting Willie O’Ree in 1958 as he contemplated the possibility of his being the first black player to skate in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Boston, First and Last
It seemed only fitting that the city of colonial martyr Crispus Attucks and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison would be the setting for the integration of at least one major league sport.
The Life and Legend of Cannonball Jackman
While perusing the contents of one of the many banker’s boxes that contained our first archival acquisitions, I came upon a photograph of then Boston Mayor Kevin White presenting a Revere Bowl to Jackman at a ceremony honoring Boston’s greatest athletes as part of Boston’s 350th anniversary celebration in 1970.
Louise Stokes, The Malden Meteor
Just as Jackie Robinson should have broken baseball’s color barrier in the uniform of the Boston Red Sox, Malden’s Louise Stokes should have been America’s first African-American female Olympian at the 1932 Summer Games.
The Best of the Best – Remembering Ray Fitzgerald
One of the few benefits of being quarantined is the opportunity to paw through one’s book shelf and revisit volumes best described as old friends. Such was the case the other day when I spent several hours in the company of legendary Boston Globe sports-columnist Ray Fitzgerald, the recipient of 11 Massachusetts Sportswriter Awards, symbolic of the highest honor bestowed by his peers.
The Promise of Opening Day
As we contemplate the promise of better days to come on what would have been the opening week-end of the 2020 Red Sox season, let’s look back to an opening day held in the midst of the Great Depression.
From Slow Time to Show Time
Long before the National Basketball Association morphed into today’s multi billion dollar international conglomerate that trails only FIFA in global scope it struggled to survive in outposts like Fort Wayne Indiana, Providence, Rochester and Syracuse.
The Goal
The dream call for any curator is one in which a donor not only offers a priceless artifact but also
shares a wonderful story. Such was the case twenty years ago when a north shore woman
called to offer the donation of the net in which Bobby Orr scored the most famous goal in
Bruins and possibly hockey history.
