Category: Dan Rodricks

Trey Mancini, leader of the struggling, losing, rebuilding Baltimore Orioles, was already the best story in professional sports, and then he put on a show in the home run derby on the eve of the Major League All-Star game. Amazing. Last year at this time, he was just a couple of months from finishing his … Continue reading Trey Mancini: Courage, strength and the gift of medical science

My Sunday column — available at baltimoresun.com — is the second one I've written since meeting Matthew King, founding president of the Harlem Park Community Development Corp. and one of Baltimore's most determined citizens. He and his collaborators have taken on a big challenge — redeveloping and repopulating a once-thriving neighborhood that tells the long, … Continue reading Reckoning with the past: The potential of a Harlem Park Renaissance in Baltimore

Of all the absurdities we have suffered in this country since Trump came down the escalator and announced he was running for president, none beats this: The refusal of millions of Republicans — not just a few stupid thousand, but millions — to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Nearly half of Republicans told the Washington Post-ABC … Continue reading The absurd anti-vaxxers have been drenched in a 40-year flood of toxic rhetoric and lies

Chicken thighs marinated in peri-peri and grilled with rosemary sprigs To make the peri-peri: Six cloves garlic One red bell pepper cut into slices, seeds removed. (You can also use a hot red pepper or two for this; it’s up to you.) One half red onion cut into chunks Put these ingredients in a food … Continue reading Dan’s Portuguese Grilled Chicken

I learned long ago in the news business that anecdotes never tell the whole story, that most people regard the world through their own experiences or that of their peers, and that many successful people fail to understand why so many others come up short in American society. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan right now is … Continue reading Larry Hogan takes a stand on Mount Reagan

I have had this feeling for some time — that our sport fishing season in the Mid-Atlantic is getting shorter with climate change, that the only time to practice catch-and-release fishing is in the colder weather, October through maybe Memorial Day. Those who maintain a tradition of sport fishing in summer — whether on the … Continue reading It’s summer. Time top stop fishing, not start

The stubborn, contented or willfully ignorant American is a particular problem right now.

Always a gentleman, always professional, always encouraging, always interested in the work and experiences of others, always offering insight, always ready to provide perspective on Baltimore, Maryland and national politics, always thinking and writing, always at work on a book, always a role model for other journalists. Always tall, always smiling and happy to see … Continue reading Always Fraser Smith

How did this happen? How much will the defendant pay? And who is that anyway? Who is to blame? What will the damages be? Lives crushed, the shock of unbelievable, tremors felt in blood lines, immeasurable pain turned goddamn angry, families condemned to heirloom nightmares. Are we not exceptional? How did this happen? Are we … Continue reading Collapse

You might call this wishful thinking — it’s certainly the wish of many small business owners like the ones I met in Baltimore’s Pigtown neighborhood the other day — but, as stated in today's Sun column, I think the death of brick-and-mortar retail has been exaggerated. I suspect that, coming out of the pandemic, people … Continue reading Retail won’t be what it was but it ain’t dead