John W. Miller is a freelance writer and baseball coach living in Pittsburgh.
An Ear for Music and Life
On a Tuesday morning in Squirrel Hill, Ceinwen (pronounced Kine-Win) King-Smith taps out notes on her piano. I stumble along, up and down the scale, straining my voice to match pitches. Ceinwen listens. She’s been blind since birth, and is so good at listening that according to her daughter she could hear from downstairs what …
Our Changing Pastime
On a snowy night, I’m tossing winter batting practice in a gym to nine-year-old boys who play for Steel City Select, an elite Pittsburgh travel baseball club. We’re getting ready for the 2018 season, another chapter in the history of a game invented by Americans almost two centuries ago, and which has deep roots in …