Reading Baseball

It’s Déjà vu for commentator Pete Peterson as he looks at the standings in the National League Central Division and sees the Cubs and the Pirates bringing up the rear.

In this edition of Reading Baseball, Pete looks back on how this was the norm during his childhood in the mid-20th century.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, author of Growing Up With Clemente and editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.

Ernie Banks had a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Cubs.

But, in his latest edition of Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson has a story about how Banks almost became a member of the St. Louis Browns.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, author of Growing Up With Clemente and editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.

Major League Baseball hosted a special game this month in Iowa. The first MLB game ever in the Hawkeye State.

In this edition of Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson looks back on his own Field of Dreams as a youngster and remembers them as far less dreamy than the ones in the Iowa corn field.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, author of Growing Up With Clemente and the editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.

Reading Baseball commentator Pete Peterson got to experience the passing of his baseball playing glory days recently when his youngest grandchildren from California visited southern Illinois.

In this edition of Reading Baseball, Pete explains how their visit made him re-consider the meaning behind the saying “age is just a number.”

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, author of Growing Up With Clemente and the editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.

Tonight (July 30), the St. Louis Cardinals in-stadium promotion for their game with Minnesota is Adult Mystery Alumni Nickname Jersey, where the first 30,000 fans 16 and older receive a jersey featuring the nickname of a former player.

In this edition of Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson looks back the often colorful history of baseball nicknames, especially for the Cardinals’ famous Gas House Gang.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, the author of Growing Up With Clemente and editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.

The U.S. Postal Service recently released its Yogi Berra commemorative stamp.

Berra is only the 30th baseball player to have his picture on a stamp and the first since Lou Gehrig in 1989 to receive an issuance all his own.

In this edition of Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson explains how a recent trip to the post office to buy stamps reminded him of his disdain for Berra, who has won more World Series championships than any other player in baseball history.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, author of Growing Up With Clemente and the editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.

This has been a hard year for everyone – including baseball.

Seven Hall of Famers passed away in 2020 and three more -- Hank Aaron, Don Sutton and Tommy Lasorda -- have died this year.

In the latest edition of Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson celebrates a Hall of Famer who is still with us at the ripe old age of 90.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, author of Growing Up With Clemente and editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.

If you’ve listened over the past 17 years to Reading Baseball, you know Pete Peterson has a competitive spirit when it comes to athletic endeavors. It even manifested itself during his career as an English professor at SIU-Carbondale.

But, in this edition of Reading Baseball, Pete reveals his dark side as a sore loser, which he hopes doesn’t filter down to his grandson, who is starting to play Little League baseball.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard "Pete" Peterson, author of Growing Up With Clemente and editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.

The name Reuben Berman probably doesn’t mean much to most baseball fans.

But, as Pete Peterson explains in his latest edition of Reading Baseball, if you’ve ever been fortunate enough to get your hands on a ball hit into the stands and to take that ball home as a souvenir, you can thank Mr. Berman.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, the author of Growing Up With Clemente and the editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.

A recent Public Television documentary on Ernest Hemingway explores the life and work of the legendary American writer.

In his latest edition of Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson says the 3-part series failed to highlight Hemingway’s love for America’s pastime, which the author highlighted in a Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard “Pete” Peterson, the author of Growing Up With Clemente and the editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.