DENNIS ECKERSLEY The Eck. A throwback in the truest sense. Shoulder-length hair. Full mustache. Deep manufactured tan. Seemingly fit. Expansive baseball understanding. First Ballot Hall-of-Famer. A language all his own. A self-avowed full-throttle whack job. Way back when. Even now. And “it’s a beautiful thing.” “Walk-off piece.” “Cheese.” “Educated Cheese.” …

MARK FIDRYCH AND DENNIS ECKERSLEY “The Bird”…Eck’s pal… Two more unlikely friends would be hard to find. Not exactly two peas in a pod. But they did share a couple of commonalities. Each could pitch, and both were nuts — as in, batshit crazy. The Eck is in the Hall…

MILLAR AND THE ECK Last week I watched Kevin Millar remotely from Austin, TX., join the broadcasting duo of Dave O’Brien and Dennis Eckersley from Fenway Park, during the Red Sox 6–1 victory over the visiting Oakland A’s. What a pleasure!!! Immediate chemistry and lots of fun. Lots of laughs. …

ADONIS LATTIMORE It is agonizingly difficult to look around, and be grateful for what you have, when your focus is squarely on what you don’t. What you don’t have… Even if your attention is diverted, and you think too much about what’s lost, and not enough about what’s to be…

MADISON CAWTHORN AND TOM BRADY The facial resemblance is uncanny. Remarkable really. Two very handsome fellows. I’m afraid that’s the beginning, middle and end of it. Emphasis on end. Madison Cawthorn, who was paralyzed from the waist down as a passenger in a 2014 Florida car accident, seemingly has made…

BRUCE CASSIDY, CLAUDE JULIEN, CAM NEELY AND DON SWEENEY A .672 winning percentage over 399 career regular-season games. A 36–37 career playoff record with zero Stanley Cups, a game-7 loss to the St. Louis Blues in the 2019 Finals, as agonizingly close as it would come. A roster with not…

HOW COULD JEREMY AND SON CHARLIE JACOBS AND DON SWEENEY AND CAM NEELY BY DEFAULT (BUT HARDLY BLAMELESS) BE SO WEAK? Claude Julien deserved so much better. Way better. Firing Julien on the morning of the Patriots Duck Boat Parade and scheduling a news conference coincidentally at the beginning of…

CHARLOTTE NORTH Some things are clear. Other things, less so. It is clear to me that Charlotte North is not human. Charlotte North is the greatest female lacrosse player of all time. Arguable? Perhaps, but let’s look into it. The graduate student attack, who played her final game in a…

RAY LIOTTA 1954–2022…DEAD. In case we need a reminder of one sort or another, something else always rears its ugly head. Ray Liotta, 67, has died. How is that possible? A kid. Henry Hill. Shoeless Joe Jackson. Matt Wozniak…Woz. Tommy Vercetti in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. …