Lipman Emanuel (“Lip”) Pike was baseball’s first Jewish superstar and arguably the game’s first professional player. “The Big Book of Jewish Baseball” wrote that in 1866 Pike agreed to accept $20 per week to play third base for the Philadelphia Athletics. Before he turned professional, Pike debuted with the Brooklyn Athletics in 1865, one of […]

I was reminded the other day of a phrase: “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” Out of curiosity, I thought it would be interesting to see if I could invent similar aphorisms. How about: “The crow calling the raven too dark.” “The sea accuses the beach of being sandy.” “The hammer […]

Our visits always ended with her standing abruptly. “Harold will be coming home,” she’d always say. “Sorry. you have to leave. I’ve got to be ready for him.” Ready? “Oh Gloria, not again,” I griped. Well, it’s different in your home,” she said. “You have a normal husband.” And then, “Oh my, what did I […]

It’s often said there’s nothing new under the sun, and when it comes to politics, there usually isn’t.  Yet this fall there’s something that truly hasn’t been seen before: networks of Republicans for Kamala Harris, both state and national. In our time, supposedly, of uniquely partisan politics, it’s a doubly surprising development, though not according […]

“Too close to call.”  That’s the election mantra for the presidential and House elections. Even the Senate races show some uncertainty.  The notion that these races will come down to the wire is just what the media likes. It attracts viewers and readers, excites the partisans and keeps political reporters, pundits and pollsters in the […]

Behind the justified outcry following the recent chemical spill at Brunswick Landing is a smaller, but no less potent story of loss and waste. Eighty percent of the Landing’s stormwater drains into a stormwater system that sends its flow into a chain of ponds — Pond A, Pond B, Pond Area C and Picnic Pond […]