Baseball, at its core, is more than a game; it’s a tapestry of moments that capture the human spirit, woven together by the legends who have graced the diamond. Few have left a mark as profound as Willie Mays.

In the annals of baseball history, few names shine as brightly as Brooks Robinson, who passed away yesterday at the age of 86.

As the 2023 World Baseball Classic comes to a close with narrow 3-2 victory by Team Japan over Team USA, Gil's comment could not be more true. If you took the time to tune in to the WBC, even casually, you know what I mean. If you didn't, you missed some excellent baseball.

It wasn't a "comeback", it was just coming back. I recently wrapped up the 2022 Slowpitch season, after nearly a decade away from the field. That wasn't really intentional, but it was a "life gets in the way" reality. We're talking about beer league, hanging with your buddies, nursing injuries, swinging for the fence, smack talking softball.

By now, we all know that the MLB playoff format looks a little bit different this year. Major League Baseball. There is more baseball to be played, and that's a good thing. However, that also means that there is a better chance for a Cinderella story to occur. Some of the better teams, haven't played meaningful games in weeks - or in some cases - months. That can be dangerous.

Last summer, when Joey Gallo was traded from the Texas Rangers to the New York Yankees, I immediately talked to my cousin Pat, a diehard Yankee fan.

Did anyone have a better 2019 than Pete Alonso? First off, we started seeing him referred to as "Pete" rather than "Peter" in Spring Training - which is a great move - and then he broke camp with the big club. That's something we're not...

21 year old Yordan Alvarez didn't join the Houston Astros in 2019 until June 9th. He homered that day. From there, he continued to swing a big stick for the remainder of the 2019 regular season as a fixture in an already championship-caliber Astros lineup.

Fourteen years ago, basestealer extraordinaire Scott Podsednik delivered one of the most unexpected moments in World Series history. This was Game 2 of the 2005 World Series pitting the National League Champion Houston Astros against the American League Champs, the Chicago White Sox. "Pods", who stole 59 bases in the regular season, but hit exactly ZERO home runs...

It's been 1,856 days since the last Seamhead blog post. That's a little over 5 years. That's approximately 29,000 Major League home runs. Sometimes, it's important to take some time away from doing something that you love. I didn't intend for it to be five years, but sometimes life takes on a different speed than your best intentions do. With that, over this past summer...

Baseball isn't, and should never be, real life. I can say I'm personally guilty of it becoming "my life", but it never really takes the place of living - or dying. However, moments that the game creates can help cope with the bad things that happen in life. They can also elevate the good moments in life. That's what a "pastime" should do. That's why baseball is America's game...

As controversial as it may seem to us today, in 1998 it was simply enthralling. That's right folks, we're revisiting when Mark McGwire hit his 62nd home run of the season - breaking the record of 61 held by Roger Maris. That blast, a strangely un-McGwire-esque home run, was a low line drive that just...

In 1998, Chicago Cubs rookie Kerry Wood tossed the filthiest game ever, striking out 20 Houston Astros in the process. The numbers didn't lie...but they also don't do justice to the performance turned in by the then-20 year old. Against future Hall-of-Famers no less...

Today's Daily Dinger takes a look at veteran slugger Darth Vader, and this enormous moonshot, (actually, it's not a moon...it's a space station), that actually left the stadium. Vader always had prodigious power, even as a young child. Whispers of PED's have plagued him for years, but research has...

On May 2, 1939, Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig trotted the lineup card to the umpiring crew. Nothing unusual there, as the Yankee captain he always did that. However, for the first time in 2,130 straight games, his name wasn't in the starting lineup.

Ken Griffey Jr. was the "Player of the 90's", and one of the greatest talents the game has ever seen. A graceful package of offensive and defensive prowess, he had a knack for creating excitement. In this "Daily Dinger", Griffey belts his first big league home run at Seattle's Kingdome - on the first pitch he sees. He was a mere 19 years old.

Phil Plantier swung hard. He hacked. Almost painfully so. Plantier got down in a crouch so low that it almost appeared that he was sitting on a chair. When he launched into his swing, he would come up out of that crouch with a swing so violent that...

The Cincinnati Reds open with a home game every year. Many people know that it is a tribute to the Redlegs' place in history as the first professional baseball team. It is tradition that baseball has rightfully kept alive since the late 1800's. The exact reason, "why" the tradition started is somewhat fuzzy.

Bryce Harper is a perfect example of a player who has "worn me down". That is meant to be a compliment. What can be said about Harper and his once-in-a-lifetime talent that hasn't already been written? I'm not just talking about his two solid MLB seasons, but the kid has been a legend in the amateur circuit for years. He's a genuine star, and will be for a long time. Get used to him.

Today's Daily Dinger is very simple: it's Mickey Mantle. It's Mickey Mantle's 500th career home run. The swing itself isn't particularly notable. It literally looks like The Mick just lays on this ball and it goes out. He hobbles around the bases as was telltale by the amount of injuries he had suffered by this point in his career.

As we approach another glorious Opening Day, it can be hard to believe how many of them have flown by. Does it seem like 20 years since the infamous player's strike? It doesn't to me. Twenty years is a long time. To put it in perspective, Bryce Harper was a year old in 1994. The '94 season will always life in infamy, because it ended on August 11th, due to the strike. For the first time since 1904, no World Series was played.

Ted Williams was arguably the greatest hitter who ever lived. This is one of the few times you'll hear me say "arguably" because it is a word that baseball writers beat to death. In this case, I have to say "arguably" because I never actually saw him play. I have to take the word of his impressive stats and the millions of words written about Teddy Ballgame over the years.

A largely forgotten blast from the early 1980's, Reggie Jackson absolutely destroys this offering from Yankee hurler Ron Guidry. Jackson, who earned the well-deserved nickname "Mr. October" with a blistering 3 HR performance in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series as a Yankee, homers into the upper deck at Yankee Stadium.

Pittsburgh's Pedro Alvarez is the man behind this Daily Dinger - showcasing his power vs. the Houston Astros by dunking a ball in the Allegheny River. In this shot from 5/17/13, "El Toro" ties the game in the 8th inning with this mammoth home run.

"And then? And then when I walked down the street people would've looked and they would've said there goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in this game." A take on something that Ted Williams actually said, that theatrical quote pretty much sums it up. Short and sweet...this is the best home run scene ever filmed, from one of the best baseball movies ever produced - 1984's "The Natural", starring Robert Redford as #9, Roy Hobbs.

Today's Daily Dinger is courtesy of a May 2013 encounter between Wright, and Atlanta's hard-throwing (and rich) closer, Craig Kimbrel. I love watching Wright play baseball because he not only plays hard, he plays with excellent fundamentals and balance. This hack is a perfect demonstration of that.

Few people have done things in life that have created a dogpile. Warren Morris is one of those dudes. Morris hit this walk-off tater to win the College World Series in 1996 for Louisiana State University. LSU downed Miami, as a laying down Alex Cora will demonstrate.

Today's Daily Dinger is a nod to my personal favorite, and the greatest hitting catcher, (note the "not one of" level of commitment), of all time, Mike Piazza. In this jack from September 1997, Piazza clears the roof in left field at Dodger Stadium. Piazza's power always came from unbelievable arm extension, and you'll see that on display here.

Oh the 1986 Mets. What's not to love? Doc, Nails, Mookie, The Kid, Mex, Davey and...Straw. While everyone remembers the Game 6 theatrics that made a highlight out of Mookie Wilson's worm-killer - and ruined the legacy of a very good player - many forget that the Sox actually still had a chance to win the Series in Game 7. Darryl Strawberry's epic blast at Shea Stadium helped seal their doom.

This January, SB Nation's Grant Brisbee attempted to rank all 30 MLB ballparks by home-run aesthetics, to answer the question, "where do home runs look best". What followed, was a fascinating seam-head worthy journey into why we love home runs, and frankly...why some look better than others. It was early January, and his timing couldn't have been better.