Richie Ashburn: Philadelphia's favorite Nebraska farm boy

Here's one of my favorite pieces of sports ephemera: An autographed 1952 photo of the Philadelphia Phillies' Richie Ashburn.

My dad was able to get it autographed at a Phillies spring training game we attended in 1984 at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater, Florida. He was able to walk right up to the open-air booth for the announcers and talk with Ashburn, who said this 1952 picture looked just like his son.

Hard to believe that Ashburn and Harry Kalas, the voices of Phillies baseball for my generation, are both gone now.

Today's great baseball link

Michael Weinreb, a former colleague of mine at The Daily Collegian at Penn State, recently authored an outstanding feature story about Statis Pro Baseball for Grantland. Statis Pro was the baseball simulation I played for endless hours in the 1980s, too, before turning my attention to computer games such as MicroLeague Baseball.

I recommend you check out Weinreb's enjoyable piece.

Other "Baseball Tuesdays" posts

• Slats Marion, baseball's best shortstop
• Collection of Phillies ticket stubs
• John Doll's 1929 baseball predictions
• Down memory lane with 1983 Topps Baseball Sticker Album
• An all-star lineup of Camel smokers from 1954
• 1973 Spartanburg Phillies program
• Some super summer baseball reading