Steve Dittmore, PhD

“If she was my 17-year-old daughter, I wouldn’t want her within 5,000 miles of Donald Trump.”

Patiently waiting for the breaking news, emergency Three-Inning Save pod to drop to analyze the Kiké news

A Small University Bet Big on Enrolling Athletes. Now It Will Close. As Lourdes University, a private institution in Ohio, expanded sports teams, it did bring new students to campus. But overall enrollment continued to decline.

www.chronicle.com/article/a-sm...

Is women's flag football poised to be an NCAA Emerging Sport? Will it matter that power conference schools are not adding it?

The NCAA is poised to approve women's flag football as an Emerging Sport for Women this week. Does it matter that Division I schools, especially the power conference institutions, are not adding it? I offer some thoughts on why.
stevedittmore.substack.com/p/is-womens-...

Spent time examining D-III schools with increasing percentages of athletes on campus. Pfeiffer University and Hiram College provide two different approaches to growing enrollment. One is expanding rosters while the other is aggressively adding sports. stevedittmore.substack.com/p/growing-at...

Forgotten Dodger named Best Baseball Nonfiction Book Finalist by The Twin Bill I am beyond grateful to share that Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger was named one of three finalists for the Best Baseball Nonfiction Book by The Twin Bill, a baseball literary site and podcast....

Humbled to share that Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger was named a finalist for the Best Baseball Nonfiction Book by The Twin Bill. I was on Episode 45 of the Twin Bill Baseball Book podcast which dropped June 23. Check out the site if you are a baseball fan.
www.stevedittmore.com/forgotten-do...

Not sure how secret it is those games lose money any more. You and others have pulled that curtain back.

Self-promotion alert! Happy to send a signed copy of @forgottendodger to anyone searching for the perfect holiday gift 😉. Please send me a message! Thank you!

University of Lynchburg is seeking to reduce a deficit and increase revenue. One strategy is, wait for it, adding a women's wrestling team. Adding sports is NOT the solution to a financial deficit.
www.wvtf.org/news/2025-12...

The front covers of two books: on the left, "Before They Wore Dodger Blue," by Eric Vickrey, features a picture of Tommy Lasorda wearingthe jersey of the Spokane Indians; on the right, "Jim Gilliam: the Forgotten Dodger," by Steve Dittmore, shows a picture of the young Gilliam in a Brooklyn Dodger uniform.

Mail call from August Publications! Baseball books from @ericvickrey.bsky.social (his new tome, "Before They Wore Dodger Blue," covers the Dodgers' 1968 draft class, along with the man who managed them in AAA Spokane), along with a biography of Jim Gilliam by @stevedittmore.bsky.social.

Thank you so much, Tim! I hope you enjoy it!

My biography of longtime Dodger Jim Gilliam was published earlier this year by August Publications. Information on my website: www.stevedittmore.com/jim-gilliam-...

Get my contact off my website and I will sell you a signed copy in time for the holidays!

Thank you, Tim!

I have read this. It details how, beginning in the minor leagues, Tommy Lasorda motivated a group of eager, young, and talented players who would reverse the downward trend the Dodger franchise experienced in the late 1960s. Dozens of interviews make this a fun read!

SRU announces women’s flag football as new varsity team - Slippery Rock University Athletics Slippery Rock will launch a fundraising campaign in 2026 to support adding women's flag football as a varsity sport with competitive play anticipated to begin during

Slippery Rock announced it will begin women's flag football in 2027-28. "It will be supported by a fundraising campaign set to launch in early 2026." If an enrollment-driven school does not have the financial resources to begin a sport, why is it adding the sport?
rockathletics.com/news/2025/11...

Quick Top 3:
Fernando Valenzuela
Tom Henke
Kent Tekulve

October 11, 1978 - 47 years ago today - was Jim Gilliam's funeral. It was the morning of Game Two of the Yankees-Dodgers World Series. Here is how I describe the scene in @forgottendodger.bsky.social and images of the funeral program I own. Rev. Jesse Jackson delivered the eulogy.

It was on TNT

Did not have the Dodgers winning with their two runs being scored by Justin Dean and Hyesong Kim. 🤷🏼‍♂️

The Staging of One of Baseball’s Most Famous Images The Steve Gromek/Larry Doby Photo Revisited

Seventy-seven years today, one of baseball's most iconic photos was taken. It features Steve Gromek and Larry Doby embracing after the Cleveland Indians' Game 4 win in the 1948 World Series. But what if the photo had been staged? Here's my newsletter on that: lepplin.substack.com/p/the-stagin...

At 10:55 pm in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 8, 1978 (47 years ago today), Jim Gilliam passed away. His death warranted front page coverage in the next day's Los Angeles Times. His funeral would be three days later, on the morning of Game Two of the Yankees-Dodgers World Series.

All I can think of is the glorious airbrush jobs Topps did with both SEA and TOR expansion teams in the 1977 set.

Not the adjective that popped into my head.

I was thinking O Brother Where Art Thou?

West Alabama Announces the Addition of Women’s Flag Football - University of West Alabama Athletics LIVINGSTON, Ala. - The University of West Alabama Athletic Department announced the addition of Women's Flag Football that will be implemented in the 2026-27 Athletic

This news release is misleading. It claims 43 NCAA D1 schools "carry" women's flag football implies 43 schools have it as a varsity sport. That is simply not the case. By my count, only 4 D1 schools have announced varsity programs - Alabama State, Mount St. Mary's, LIU, and North Alabama.

Ha! That is quite the Venn diagram. We looked at SMCM for my son - beautiful campus. Grassi is a good dude. I enjoyed our interactions with ADU and that group.

What NCAA Division III schools excelled at athletics and academics last year? Is it time for Division III to revisit its structure?

As DIII ADs acknowledge publicly changing dynamics within college sport could increase calls for a Division IV, differences among existing DIII members grows. Slightly more than 10% of DIII excel in academics and athletics, core missions of the division.
stevedittmore.substack.com/p/what-ncaa-...

I spent 14 years at the University of Arkansas - it shaped my academic career. The Mullins Library was integral part of my experience. The interlibrary loan librarians provided amazing support during the writing of @forgottendodger.bsky.social. Hoping for the safety of everyone on campus.

Question from Steve (for podcast - ha!)... Chance Muncy plays second? Freeland has 9 career minor league starts at 2B.

Ed Rakow was a pitcher. Wild.