It’s simple: bring betting into sports, and two things follow.
The criminal element shows up. It’s their business model.
Addicts and thrill-seekers get pulled in. It’s their vulnerability.
Now it’s just easier for those two to find each other.
The criminal element shows up. It’s their business model.
Addicts and thrill-seekers get pulled in. It’s their vulnerability.
Now it’s just easier for those two to find each other.
November 10, 2025 at 2:39 PM
It’s simple: bring betting into sports, and two things follow.
The criminal element shows up. It’s their business model.
Addicts and thrill-seekers get pulled in. It’s their vulnerability.
Now it’s just easier for those two to find each other.
The criminal element shows up. It’s their business model.
Addicts and thrill-seekers get pulled in. It’s their vulnerability.
Now it’s just easier for those two to find each other.
Two swings
two fouls
one woman
twice struck.
The rarest double play of them all.
8/
two fouls
one woman
twice struck.
The rarest double play of them all.
8/
August 17, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Two swings
two fouls
one woman
twice struck.
The rarest double play of them all.
8/
two fouls
one woman
twice struck.
The rarest double play of them all.
8/
Her grandson asked
"Grandma, maybe you should try an Eagles game? See if you can get hit with a football."
Absurdity
chance
family legend
Philadelphia lore.
7/
"Grandma, maybe you should try an Eagles game? See if you can get hit with a football."
Absurdity
chance
family legend
Philadelphia lore.
7/
August 17, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Her grandson asked
"Grandma, maybe you should try an Eagles game? See if you can get hit with a football."
Absurdity
chance
family legend
Philadelphia lore.
7/
"Grandma, maybe you should try an Eagles game? See if you can get hit with a football."
Absurdity
chance
family legend
Philadelphia lore.
7/
Aftermath
The Phillies roll out kindness: tickets, baseballs, clubhouse charm.
Ashburn visits her in the hospital.
They strike up a friendship, decades strong.
But still, she'll later sit in the left-field bleachers
safely beyond his reach.
6/
The Phillies roll out kindness: tickets, baseballs, clubhouse charm.
Ashburn visits her in the hospital.
They strike up a friendship, decades strong.
But still, she'll later sit in the left-field bleachers
safely beyond his reach.
6/
August 17, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Aftermath
The Phillies roll out kindness: tickets, baseballs, clubhouse charm.
Ashburn visits her in the hospital.
They strike up a friendship, decades strong.
But still, she'll later sit in the left-field bleachers
safely beyond his reach.
6/
The Phillies roll out kindness: tickets, baseballs, clubhouse charm.
Ashburn visits her in the hospital.
They strike up a friendship, decades strong.
But still, she'll later sit in the left-field bleachers
safely beyond his reach.
6/
The stadium gasps.
The gods of chance laugh.
Richie Ashburn
Hall of Famer
leadoff artist
eternal Phillie
for a moment
the most accurate marksman in Philadelphia.
5/
The gods of chance laugh.
Richie Ashburn
Hall of Famer
leadoff artist
eternal Phillie
for a moment
the most accurate marksman in Philadelphia.
5/
August 17, 2025 at 12:24 PM
The stadium gasps.
The gods of chance laugh.
Richie Ashburn
Hall of Famer
leadoff artist
eternal Phillie
for a moment
the most accurate marksman in Philadelphia.
5/
The gods of chance laugh.
Richie Ashburn
Hall of Famer
leadoff artist
eternal Phillie
for a moment
the most accurate marksman in Philadelphia.
5/
Next pitch.
Same batter.
Same swing.
Another foul.
The ball finds Alice Roth again
this time on the stretcher.
But this time
just a broken bone in her leg.
4/
Same batter.
Same swing.
Another foul.
The ball finds Alice Roth again
this time on the stretcher.
But this time
just a broken bone in her leg.
4/
August 17, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Next pitch.
Same batter.
Same swing.
Another foul.
The ball finds Alice Roth again
this time on the stretcher.
But this time
just a broken bone in her leg.
4/
Same batter.
Same swing.
Another foul.
The ball finds Alice Roth again
this time on the stretcher.
But this time
just a broken bone in her leg.
4/
Medics rush in, stretcher summoned.
Odds? One in 300,000, they'll say.
Bad luck, cruel geometry
the universe flipping a coin.
But baseball doesn't do half-measures.
3/
Odds? One in 300,000, they'll say.
Bad luck, cruel geometry
the universe flipping a coin.
But baseball doesn't do half-measures.
3/
August 17, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Medics rush in, stretcher summoned.
Odds? One in 300,000, they'll say.
Bad luck, cruel geometry
the universe flipping a coin.
But baseball doesn't do half-measures.
3/
Odds? One in 300,000, they'll say.
Bad luck, cruel geometry
the universe flipping a coin.
But baseball doesn't do half-measures.
3/
August 17, 1957. Connie Mack Stadium, Philadelphia.
Richie Ashburn at the plate
the bat a metronome of fate.
Foul ball.
Into the stands.
It breaks Alice Roth's nose.
2/
Richie Ashburn at the plate
the bat a metronome of fate.
Foul ball.
Into the stands.
It breaks Alice Roth's nose.
2/
August 17, 2025 at 12:24 PM
August 17, 1957. Connie Mack Stadium, Philadelphia.
Richie Ashburn at the plate
the bat a metronome of fate.
Foul ball.
Into the stands.
It breaks Alice Roth's nose.
2/
Richie Ashburn at the plate
the bat a metronome of fate.
Foul ball.
Into the stands.
It breaks Alice Roth's nose.
2/
Sixty-two years married
Seventy scrapbooks
Sixty-six seasons in baseball
Life stitched from pain, dirt,
and devotion
The game is cruel, the game is holy,
Soot wrote it all down.
6/
Seventy scrapbooks
Sixty-six seasons in baseball
Life stitched from pain, dirt,
and devotion
The game is cruel, the game is holy,
Soot wrote it all down.
6/
August 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Sixty-two years married
Seventy scrapbooks
Sixty-six seasons in baseball
Life stitched from pain, dirt,
and devotion
The game is cruel, the game is holy,
Soot wrote it all down.
6/
Seventy scrapbooks
Sixty-six seasons in baseball
Life stitched from pain, dirt,
and devotion
The game is cruel, the game is holy,
Soot wrote it all down.
6/
Again in '56,
Jeffcoat's fastball.
Retina nearly torn
cheekbone cracked.
Doctors dim the world
more fuzzy and lost days
Soot keeps the small lamp burning
5/
Jeffcoat's fastball.
Retina nearly torn
cheekbone cracked.
Doctors dim the world
more fuzzy and lost days
Soot keeps the small lamp burning
5/
August 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Again in '56,
Jeffcoat's fastball.
Retina nearly torn
cheekbone cracked.
Doctors dim the world
more fuzzy and lost days
Soot keeps the small lamp burning
5/
Jeffcoat's fastball.
Retina nearly torn
cheekbone cracked.
Doctors dim the world
more fuzzy and lost days
Soot keeps the small lamp burning
5/
Then the pitch to the skull, 1953.
Thirteen days erased.
Doctors drill storm drains in his head.
Soot in the hospital chair
guardian
4/
Thirteen days erased.
Doctors drill storm drains in his head.
Soot in the hospital chair
guardian
4/
August 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Then the pitch to the skull, 1953.
Thirteen days erased.
Doctors drill storm drains in his head.
Soot in the hospital chair
guardian
4/
Thirteen days erased.
Doctors drill storm drains in his head.
Soot in the hospital chair
guardian
4/
He goes 3 for 4 that night.
Love and line drives written in the same box score.
Some take vows in a church,
Don knows baseball dust is holier.
3/
Love and line drives written in the same box score.
Some take vows in a church,
Don knows baseball dust is holier.
3/
August 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM
He goes 3 for 4 that night.
Love and line drives written in the same box score.
Some take vows in a church,
Don knows baseball dust is holier.
3/
Love and line drives written in the same box score.
Some take vows in a church,
Don knows baseball dust is holier.
3/
Elmira, 8/15/1951.
Home plate as altar.
Don Zimmer marries Soot with bats crossed above them, three thousand strangers leaning in.
diamond plays chapel
dirt keeps the vows.
2/
Home plate as altar.
Don Zimmer marries Soot with bats crossed above them, three thousand strangers leaning in.
diamond plays chapel
dirt keeps the vows.
2/
August 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Elmira, 8/15/1951.
Home plate as altar.
Don Zimmer marries Soot with bats crossed above them, three thousand strangers leaning in.
diamond plays chapel
dirt keeps the vows.
2/
Home plate as altar.
Don Zimmer marries Soot with bats crossed above them, three thousand strangers leaning in.
diamond plays chapel
dirt keeps the vows.
2/
Pete Rose's career was contradiction made flesh
batting titles and strikeouts, MVPs and empty swings,
the noise of 15,890 plate appearances
and the silence after strike three.
Even kings must tip their hat to failure
sometimes five times in a row.
6/
batting titles and strikeouts, MVPs and empty swings,
the noise of 15,890 plate appearances
and the silence after strike three.
Even kings must tip their hat to failure
sometimes five times in a row.
6/
August 15, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Pete Rose's career was contradiction made flesh
batting titles and strikeouts, MVPs and empty swings,
the noise of 15,890 plate appearances
and the silence after strike three.
Even kings must tip their hat to failure
sometimes five times in a row.
6/
batting titles and strikeouts, MVPs and empty swings,
the noise of 15,890 plate appearances
and the silence after strike three.
Even kings must tip their hat to failure
sometimes five times in a row.
6/
Rose had a golden sombrero too, May 26, 1963, also vs. the Phillies.
1,143 career strikeouts.
159 games with more than one K.
Because in the geometry of the game, even a man who hits everything
still draws spirals in the air some nights.
5/
1,143 career strikeouts.
159 games with more than one K.
Because in the geometry of the game, even a man who hits everything
still draws spirals in the air some nights.
5/
August 15, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Rose had a golden sombrero too, May 26, 1963, also vs. the Phillies.
1,143 career strikeouts.
159 games with more than one K.
Because in the geometry of the game, even a man who hits everything
still draws spirals in the air some nights.
5/
1,143 career strikeouts.
159 games with more than one K.
Because in the geometry of the game, even a man who hits everything
still draws spirals in the air some nights.
5/
The term "platinum sombrero" was coined by Bill Scherrer.
It's also called "Olympic rings."
Both sound like something you'd win at a traveling carnival
where the prizes are useless hats
and the games are rigged by the baseball gods.
4/
It's also called "Olympic rings."
Both sound like something you'd win at a traveling carnival
where the prizes are useless hats
and the games are rigged by the baseball gods.
4/
August 15, 2025 at 9:10 PM
The term "platinum sombrero" was coined by Bill Scherrer.
It's also called "Olympic rings."
Both sound like something you'd win at a traveling carnival
where the prizes are useless hats
and the games are rigged by the baseball gods.
4/
It's also called "Olympic rings."
Both sound like something you'd win at a traveling carnival
where the prizes are useless hats
and the games are rigged by the baseball gods.
4/
It happened in Philadelphia.
Rose went 0-for-7, whiffing five straight times.
Five perfect arcs of air where the bat met nothing.
And yet, baseball's cruel poetry, the Reds still won 5–4.
3/
Rose went 0-for-7, whiffing five straight times.
Five perfect arcs of air where the bat met nothing.
And yet, baseball's cruel poetry, the Reds still won 5–4.
3/
August 15, 2025 at 9:10 PM
It happened in Philadelphia.
Rose went 0-for-7, whiffing five straight times.
Five perfect arcs of air where the bat met nothing.
And yet, baseball's cruel poetry, the Reds still won 5–4.
3/
Rose went 0-for-7, whiffing five straight times.
Five perfect arcs of air where the bat met nothing.
And yet, baseball's cruel poetry, the Reds still won 5–4.
3/
Pete Rose
The man who bent time into 4,256 hits.
The Hit King who kept stepping into the box as if the game would never end.
But one day, the cosmos handed him a different crown
A platinum sombrero, forged from five pure strikeouts.
2/
The man who bent time into 4,256 hits.
The Hit King who kept stepping into the box as if the game would never end.
But one day, the cosmos handed him a different crown
A platinum sombrero, forged from five pure strikeouts.
2/
August 15, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Pete Rose
The man who bent time into 4,256 hits.
The Hit King who kept stepping into the box as if the game would never end.
But one day, the cosmos handed him a different crown
A platinum sombrero, forged from five pure strikeouts.
2/
The man who bent time into 4,256 hits.
The Hit King who kept stepping into the box as if the game would never end.
But one day, the cosmos handed him a different crown
A platinum sombrero, forged from five pure strikeouts.
2/
Two games. Two shutouts.
137 minutes of glorious baseball.
6/
137 minutes of glorious baseball.
6/
August 14, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Two games. Two shutouts.
137 minutes of glorious baseball.
6/
137 minutes of glorious baseball.
6/
This was the Deadball Era, a time when the baseball was soft, the runs were rare, and “small-ball” wasn’t a tactic, it was the air everyone breathed.
No launch angles, no replay reviews, just pitchers throwing until the shadows took over.
5/
No launch angles, no replay reviews, just pitchers throwing until the shadows took over.
5/
August 14, 2025 at 9:08 PM
This was the Deadball Era, a time when the baseball was soft, the runs were rare, and “small-ball” wasn’t a tactic, it was the air everyone breathed.
No launch angles, no replay reviews, just pitchers throwing until the shadows took over.
5/
No launch angles, no replay reviews, just pitchers throwing until the shadows took over.
5/
Game two: Leon Cadore, whose claim to fame would be pitching 26 innings in a single game the next year, takes the hill.
A 1-0 shutout in 1 hour, 7 minutes.
The Cubs offense now clinically pronounced dead until spring.
4/
A 1-0 shutout in 1 hour, 7 minutes.
The Cubs offense now clinically pronounced dead until spring.
4/
August 14, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Game two: Leon Cadore, whose claim to fame would be pitching 26 innings in a single game the next year, takes the hill.
A 1-0 shutout in 1 hour, 7 minutes.
The Cubs offense now clinically pronounced dead until spring.
4/
A 1-0 shutout in 1 hour, 7 minutes.
The Cubs offense now clinically pronounced dead until spring.
4/
Game one: Grover Cleveland Alexander, "Old Pete," "Alexander the Great", a man who could paint corners like Cézanne and did it in 1 hour, 10 minutes flat.
Cubs 2, Robins 0.
No fuss, no filler, just clean baseball oxygen.
3/
Cubs 2, Robins 0.
No fuss, no filler, just clean baseball oxygen.
3/
August 14, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Game one: Grover Cleveland Alexander, "Old Pete," "Alexander the Great", a man who could paint corners like Cézanne and did it in 1 hour, 10 minutes flat.
Cubs 2, Robins 0.
No fuss, no filler, just clean baseball oxygen.
3/
Cubs 2, Robins 0.
No fuss, no filler, just clean baseball oxygen.
3/