What’s Happening in Baseball Today

The First Pitch: July 10-13, 2025

The First Pitch is taking a second extended summer weekend, returning on Monday, July 14. (There will be a third long weekend, but that’s not until late August.) During our first break, we highlighted some of the site’s most popular pages as determined by you, our visitors—repeat or otherwise. This weekend, we’re featuring some of the favorite pages written by me, Eric Gouldsberry. Hope you enjoy the pages as much as I enjoyed writing them.

The Yearly Reader: 1930 and 1968

One year was baseball’s zenith of hitting; the other, the zenith of pitching. I got such a kick researching and telling the stories behind some of the craziest numbers and statistical extremes seen in major league history.

The Ballparks: Baker Bowl

I’ve always enjoyed writing about major league ballparks and truly feel that our section on them is second to none in providing the political, aesthetic and historical details and stories for each of them. None of these stories were as entertaining as Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl, one of the more dubious ballparks ever to be used in the majors with its crazy tales, bandbox-like field dimensions and hazardous structure that led to a number of nasty accidents involving the few fans who showed up.

The 10 Most Notable Omissions from Our Top 10 Lists

I’ve gotten some grief for the various Top 10 lists that populate This Great Game, so in response I came up with another list that explains 10 players who many of our readers felt got snubbed—and why they’re kept off the lists in question.

The Interviews: Orlando Cepeda

Of the nearly 100 interviews on This Great Game from my late pal and site co-creator Ed Attanasio, this one in which he gets some honest, emotional responses from the late Hall-of-Fame slugger ranks as my tip for the top.

The TGG Movie Review: “The Sandlot”

Some 10 years ago, Ed and I played Siskel & Ebert and reviewed 10 memorable baseball movies. I enjoyed writing about The Sandlot more than the others, because it was one of the precious few on our list that I hadn’t previously seen—and since my kids had already watched and loved it, I had to get in on the action and form my own opinion. Which I did.

Join Us on X and BlueSky

Besides our growing and active presence on X, TGG has spread its social media wings to BlueSky for those who’ve found the X culture too toxic. For those who are wondering, we provide the same posts on both platforms, and they’re non-political. We’re just talking baseball.

Meanwhile, we’ve given up our fight trying to reactivate our Facebook page, which was hacked last year. The page remains up but is frozen in time, as we are unable to access it—and Facebook, in all its infinite lack of wisdom, continues to provide absolutely no customer support in the matter as they literally have none. All the more reason to join us on X and BlueSky.

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, 100 images of memorabilia, and a foreword by former Quake and U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Johnny Moore, Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes is available for purchase on Amazon. Read and enjoy!

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!