What’s Happening in Baseball Today

The First Pitch: January 6, 2025

Cavan Biggio is getting one more shot. The 29-year-old utility player, who along with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette were among a cache of young Toronto players in the late 2010s whose fathers were all famed major leaguers, signs a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals. The career of Craig Biggio’s son has trended downward since his 2019 rookie campaign, performing part-time at best; this past season, he batted a paltry .197 with five home runs over 188 at-bats between the Blue Jays, Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. (He was also briefly with the Giants, but never played.)

It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today

1964: The Kansas City A’s, under owner Charles Finley, announce that they are relocating to Louisville. But AL owners need to approve the deal—and they won’t.

You Say It’s Your Birthday

Toronto pitcher Kevin Gausman is 34; Member of Cincinnati’s Nasty Boys from 1990 Norm Charlton is 62. Born on this date is 1970s Reds pitcher Don Gullett (1951), and Hall-of-Fame ace Early Wynn (1920).

And Now For Something Completely Different From TGG Co-Founder Eric Gouldsberry

From 1975-78, my father, Ray Gouldsberry, took photographs of the original San Jose Earthquakes soccer team, an ingeniously marketed collection of colorful players embraced by a growing, sports-starved community which constantly sold out ancient, cozy Spartan Stadium. Shortly after my father’s passing in 2019, I took the negatives of all the precious, invaluable photos he snapped, scanned them, and put together Our Life & Times with the Earthquakes: Images and Memories from the Glory Days of San Jose’s Original Pro Soccer Team. It’s not only a tribute to the Earthquakes and the North American Soccer League, but to my father for capturing all the wonderful memories we shared during our time as season ticket holders of the team through its entire existence (1974-84).

Much like baseball’s Deadball Era, Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes looks at a similar era in soccer history when the game in America was boldly attempting to blaze its own trail clad in flamboyance and imperfection, giving the NASL vivid character. As with those early times of baseball, historical images from the NASL remain scarce and elusive, making Ray Gouldsberry’s photographic collection of the Earthquakes and other star NASL players all the more cherished.

Although the Earthquakes are the primary focus of Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes, the book also spotlights the vibrant and turbulent history of the NASL and its legendary list of stars such as Pelé, Giorgio Chinaglia and George Best (who briefly played for the Earthquakes), all through my father’s photos and the treasure trove of memorabilia I collected during those years.

Formatted at 8.25” x 8.25”, running 200 pages plus cover and containing over 200 photos and 100 images of memorabilia, Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes is available for purchase on Amazon this week (we’ll keep you posted on the actually release hour). Read and enjoy!

Temporarily Hacked

Our This Great Game Facebook page remains in a frozen state following a recent hack, while we attempt to revive it amid a lack of customer support. (Facebook literally has no customer support. None.) Be aware of receiving any messages from the FB page, until we get it sorted out.

To Whom It May Concern

We are proud of what we have built at This Great Game, but we also admit it is not perfect. Occasionally, fans from all walks of life check in and point out errors, and we are grateful to these external editors. Our site is all the better because of you.

Also, we have had many folks chime in on our various lists in the Lists and Teams sections, many of them disagreeing with some of our choices. Since all lists are made to be argued, this is to be expected. If your arguments are respectful, we will respond in kind and join in a civilized debate—and we’ll often see your viewpoints, since no list should qualify as The Gospel. But if your responses contain the sort of vitriol found so often these days in social media circles, you’re going to get ignored. So please, respond respectfully, engage in polite conversation with us, and enjoy the site!