Article Archives: Bumps in the Night

Bob Feller’s Happy Mother’s Day

May 8, 2025 | by Al Hunter

So what did you get for Mother’s Day this year? I hope it was something fun, delicious, or useful, but just in case the answer was nothing, this article might make you feel a little better. Every year, as the boys of summer take the field, I try to dig … Read More

Gypsy Ghosts in Terry Hot

May 1, 2025 | by Al Hunter

This column first appeared in May 2014. When you hear the term Gypsy, what comes to mind? A vagabond road wanderer? A classic motorcycle? Maybe a Cher song? Let me share with you a gypsy story from a century ago from just up the National Road in Terre Haute. On … Read More

Robert Rayford: America’s First AIDS Victim

April 24, 2025 | by Al Hunter

This column first appeared in May 2014. On May 16,1969, the face of modern medicine changed forever when 15-year-old Robert Rayford, sometimes identified as “Robert R.” due to his age, died in a St. Louis, Missouri hospital. He was a slender, uncommunicative street kid whose condition left doctors distressed, perplexed … Read More

The Polo Grounds’ Indianapolis Connection, Part 2

April 17, 2025 | by Al Hunter

On Sunday, September 29, 1957, a crowd of 11,606 came to the Polo Grounds to see Willie Mays play his last game for the New York Giants. Based on the illustrious baseball legacy of the New York Giants, you’d think that all 54,555 seats in the old Polo Grounds on … Read More

The Polo Grounds’ Indianapolis Connection, Part 1

April 10, 2025 | by Al Hunter

This column first appeared in April 2014. Fifty years ago this month, an American baseball shrine breathed it’s last breath. On April 10, 1964, a two-ton steel wrecking ball crashed into the side of the Polo Grounds located beneath Coogan’s Bluff in upper Manhattan. The walls came crashing down under … Read More