Earlier today, someone felt compelled to leave me a comment about my anti-neo-Confederate predilection on last night’s post, which was about my second blog, which is about my life-long addiction to Philadelphia’s professional sports teams. What in the world did that have to do with the fact that I feel compelled to fight against neo-Confederate hooey? I simply don’t understand.

Because the comment wasn’t even remotely close to being appropriate to the post, I deleted it. Had it been placed in an appropriate place, I would have permitted it to stand, but it was not even close to being on point to the post where it was left, so I saw no reason to leave it stand.

I have to …

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Tonight, I started a second blog, just for fun. Fear not, it will not detract from this blog, nor will it compete with it.

Those of you who are long-time readers know that I am a Philadelphian by birth, and that I was cursed by being born into a family of Philadelphia sports fans. As I’ve said here more than once, I know pain, and I know suffering. We know all about living with disappointment, and we know to expect to be disappointed. It’s just a fact of life, and it’s an integral part of being a Philadelphia sports fan.

I’ve started a blog called A Philadelphia Phanatic. It can be found here, and will focus upon my addiction …

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I haven’t said anything about this publicly, because I wasn’t sure precisely what I was going to do with it. One thing I’ve learned about myself is that the best way for me to REALLY learn something is to research and write about it. Last year, after leading a tour of the Battles of Kelly’s Ford and Brandy Station for a busload, I realized that I didn’t know Brandy Station quite as well as I wanted. Consequently, I decided to do some more research on Brandy Station and to write about it in more detail than I’ve ever done previously.

My book The Union Cavalry Comes of Age: Hartwood Church to Brandy Station, 1863 contains three chapters, totaling about 21,000 …

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Harry Kalas, the Hall-of-Fame broadcaster whose silvery voice has been the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies since 1971, is gone. From Philly.com:

Phils announcer Harry Kalas dies

BY THE INQUIRER STAFF

Harry Kalas, the Phillies’ Hall of Fame announcer, died at 1:20 p.m. today, the Phillies announced.

Mr. Kalas was 73.

He collapsed in the press box at Nationals Stadium in Washington at about 12:30 p.m. and was rushed to George Washington University Medial Center.

The cause of the death was not announced. Today’s game against the Nationals will be played, but the team will not visit the White House tomorrow.

“We lost Harry today,” David Montgomery, the team president, said. “We lost our voice.”

Mr. Kalas, who was

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Thanks to Charlie Knight for passing this along, from today’s on-line edition of the Hampton Roads Pilot.

Confederate re-enactor pleads not guilty in shooting

The Associated Press
© April 9, 2009
ISLE OF WIGHT

A Confederate re-enactor has pleaded not guilty to reckless handling of a firearm in the accidental shooting of a Union re-enactor during the filming of a Civil War documentary in September.

Joshua Owen Silva of Norfolk appeared in court Wednesday on the misdemeanor charge, which stemmed from the shooting of 72-year-old Thomas Lord Sr. of Suffolk. A June 24 trial date was set, but prosecutors say they hope to reach a plea agreement with Silva before that.

Lord was struck in the right shoulder by

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As Michael has pointed out, the working draft of the baseball book is finished. We now have a complete draft finished. It’s 385 pages and almost 190,000 words in length. We had a great time putting it together, and now it’s time to find a publisher for it, which we’re getting ready to begin doing. I’m just tickled that it’s finally done.

And it also means that I can get back to my normal routine and resume regular posting about the Civil War.

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Many of you are familiar with the incredibly detailed and accurate artwork of Don Troiani. However, you may not be aware of the incredible collection of artifacts–mostly uniform pieces and accouterments–that Don has accumulated over the years.

In an e-mail dialogue with Don over the weekend, I learned that among the items in his collection are one of the bloody gauntlets that Ully Dahglren was wearing when he was killed, as well as his sash. The sash has two bullet holes in it, which tells us where at least two of the fusillade of bullets that killed Ulric Dahlgren found their mark.

Don was kind enough to offer to photograph the gauntlet and sash for me, to give …

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…the accident at Three Mile Island occurred. The accident, whereby Metropolitan Edison’s nuclear reactor nearly melted down, happened two days after my 18th birthday. I was in twelfth grade, eager to graduate and move on. However, the loss of coolant and resulting release of a large amount of radioactivity into the surrounding environment was a big deal. Although nobody died in the accident itself, statistics suggest that there has been an increase in leukemia and other cancers in the surrounding communities situated most closely to the plant, which still operates one reactor to this day.

My parents’ house is just over 60 miles from Three Mile Island, and when the accident occurred and for the next few days, things were …

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The primary reason for the lack of posts the past couple of weeks has been my being tied up finishing up my portion of the baseball project. I’ve been working hard at finishing up the last six team profiles, and now have four of those last six finished. I’ve got two to go, and then the manuscript is finished. I have yet to tackle the 1991 Cleveland Indians and the 2003 Detroit Tigers, who lost 119 games and then went to the World Series three years later.

Along the way, I’ve discovered some nifty trivia that made its way into the book. Try this one on for size. On August 18, 1960, right handed pitcher Lew Burdette, who was a …

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Today is a milestone for the blog for a couple of reasons. First, the proprietor is celebrating (if that’s the correct word) his 48th birthday today. There was a time, seemingly not all that long ago, that the thought of being 48 years old was the same as being as old as the hills but only slightly younger than the dirt. Fortunately, I don’t feel quite that old, but I do have my days…..

Second, and much more important than the 19th anniversary of my 29th birthday, is that this marks the 900th post on this blog. When I started this blog on a whim in September 2005, I never in a million years figured I would still be at …

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