Month: September 2013

“Fastball,” by Dwayne Brenna

September 30, 2013

This poem was Spitball Magazine‘s Baseball Poem of the Month this past April.  I fell in love with it right from the first line.

*

Fastball

sniper fire
from the un-grassy knoll
cocaine high
you see in living colour after that
pure white smoke
and bee bee at the knees
arrives like a punch in the face
or a pail of cold water
and hops and sometimes drops
and sometimes disappers
(ask any ump)
and thwack goes the mitt
a foley artist couldn’t make that sound

statement of unbending bluntness
black and white
and no detente
you on that side
me on this
and hit it if you can

 

~Dwayne Brenna

This day in baseball: The Catch

September 29, 2013

September 1954 proved to be quite a month for baseball legend Willie Mays.  Besides clinching the batting title on the last day of the regular season, during Game One of the 1954 World Series, Mays made a spectacular defensive play now known simply as “The Catch.”

With the score tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning and runners on first and second, Cleveland’s Vic Wertz launched a pitch deep into center field.  Mays, who had been playing shallow, took off in a dead sprint, and managed to make an over-the-shoulder catch while still on the run.  Still aware of the runners, Mays immediately turned and threw the ball back into the infield, and the Giants got out of the inning with no runs given up to the Indians.

The Giants went on, not only to win the game, but to sweep the entire Series.

Quote of the day

September 27, 2013

Only in baseball can a team player be a pure individualist first and a team player second, within the rules and the spirit of the game.

~Branch Rickey

Photo source: BostonArtsDiary.com

Quote of the day

September 23, 2013

Losing steaks are funny. If you lose at the beginning, you got off to a bad start. If you lose in the middle of the season, you’re in a slump. If you lose at the end of the season, you’re choking.

~Gene Mauch

This day in baseball: Dean brothers domination

September 21, 2013

In a doubleheader at Ebbets Field on 21 September 1934, brothers Dizzy Dean and Paul Dean dominated the Dodgers, each starting a game on the mound for the St. Louis Cardinals.  In the first game, Dizzy Dean pitched a two-hit shutout, blanking the Dodgers 13-0.  Not to be outdone, his rookie younger brother, Paul, followed up in game two with a no-hitter, as the Cardinals defeated Brooklyn 3-0.  This performance made Paul Dean only the fifth pitcher in Major League history to throw a no-hitter in his rookie season.

Paul and Dizzy Dean, 22 March 1934 (Photo Source: Baseball-Fever.com)

This day in baseball: Brett’s last day at .400

September 19, 2013

In 1980, Royals third baseman George Brett made a strong run at finishing with a batting average above .400 for the season, an accomplishment last achieved by Ted Williams in 1941.  The last day of the season in which Brett’s average stayed above .400, however, came on September 19th, when he went 2-for-4 against the A’s in Kansas City.  What followed was a 4-for-27 slump, from which Brett could not rebound in time.  He finished the season hitting .390 and won the American League MVP award.

Photo source: MinorLeagueBall.com

Relativistic Baseball, by XKCD

September 17, 2013

If you’re not familiar with the webcomic XKCD, then you are definitely missing out.  Part of the XKCD experience is the What If? blog, which explores a wide range of hypothetical physics questions.  The very first post on the blog was an amusing discussion on “Relativistic Baseball.”  More specifically, it provides us with an answer to the question: What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?

The answer might surprise you — but I’m sure that it will also entertain you.  Click here to read and learn all about it!

Photo source: XKCD