As we near Induction Weekend at the Baseball Hall of Fame, this week’s Old News column, while referencing many whose plaques adorn the gallery in Cooperstown, focuses on the game’s lesser lights. It is men like Joe Borden and Victory Faust and Hank Borowy and John Blanchard who provide a special pleasure of recollection, for their brief entries into baseball lore are what oldtimers like myself love to share with a newer generation of fans. Who would believe the circumstances of even a relatively recent event like the Pine Tar Game if it had not provided such a flash of theatrics and lingering controversy? These, by the way, are lovingly recounted in Filip Bondy’s new book titled, unsurprisingly, The Pine Tar Game, published this week by Scribner.

July 24

1911: An American League all-star team plays a benefit game against the Naps in Cleveland‚ raising $12‚914 for the late Addie…