Month: October 2015

Martin Maldonado knocks cover off a baseball

October 18, 2015

In April of last year, Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado hit a ground ball to third in a game against the Pirates.  Third baseman Pedro Alvarez noticed something was off about the ball as soon as he fielded it, but had the presence of mind to throw to first anyways.  Unfortunately for Alvarez, Maldonado’s hit had literally caused the cover of the ball to peel back, which prevented him from being able to put any speed on his throw.  As the broadcasters point out, Maldonado had literally knocked the cover off the ball!

Electric baseball reproducer

October 17, 2015

In Eric Rolfe Greenberg’s novel The Celebrant, Jackie Kapp mentions hanging out on the streets to track New York Giants games on boards designed to allow fans to follow the action.  I wondered what this kind of board would look like.  I had a picture formed in my head, but then I found this photo the other day that blows that picture out of the water.  This is a photo of a “baseball game reproducer” board on the streets of Washington in October 1912, operating during the World Series between New York and Boston.  I have to say, if I was living during that time period, with no radio and no TV, I could live with this option for tracking a game.  It’s like an early twentieth-century version of MLB.com Gameday.

shorpy.com
shorpy.com

Quote of the day

October 15, 2015

The beauty of the game is that there are no absolutes. It’s all nuances and anticipation, not like football, which is all about vectors and forces.

~Sandy Alderson

(Chamber of Fear - Flickr)
(Chamber of Fear – Flickr)

This day in baseball: Boston wins the first World Series

October 13, 2015

The final game of the first-ever World Series was played in October 13, 1903 between the Boston Americans (Red Sox) and the Pittsburgh Pirates.  In Game 8 of the best-of-nine Series, Boston defeated Pittsburgh, 3-0, to take the championship 5 games to 3.  Boston’s Bill Dinneen earned the victory over Deacon Phillippe of the Pirates.

Bill Dinneen (The Sporting News)
Bill Dinneen (The Sporting News)

“Subway,” by Jim Nuzzo

October 12, 2015

This song made me smile as I listened to it.  I love the moments of history that he mentions, and you can feel the nostalgia oozing out of every beat.  There’s such a great, full sound to this song, and it reminds me of why I love this game so much.  This tune became especially popular during the 2000 World Series, when the Mets and the Yankees represented their respective leagues in a crosstown match-up.

Quote of the day

October 11, 2015

To be a pitcher! I thought. A pitcher, standing at the axis of event, or a catcher with the God-view of the play all before him; to be a shortstop, lord of the infield, or a center fielder with unchallenged claim to all the territory one’s speed and skill could command; to perform the spontaneous acrobatics of the third baseman or the practiced ballet of the man at second, or to run and throw with the absolute commitment of the outfielder! And to live in a world without grays, where all decisions were final: ball or strike, safe or out, the game won or lost beyond question or appeal.

~Eric Rolfe Greenberg, The Celebrant

Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf

Ryne Sandberg’s Hall of Fame induction speech

October 9, 2015

Ryne Sandberg’s Hall of Fame induction speech is arguably one of the best that I’ve listened to thus far.  I particularly enjoyed his discussion of the proliferation of home runs in the game.  Even I can’t deny that home runs are exciting, but small ball, in my opinion, is much more of an art form.  Sandberg was inducted in to the Hall of Fame as a Cubs second baseman in 2005.

This day in baseball: 1908 NL pennant race

October 8, 2015

Approximately two week’s after Merkle’s Boner took place, the Cubs faced off once again against the New York Giants on October 8, 1908.  The two teams had finished the season tied in the race, so the tie game that resulted from Fred Merkle’s base-running blunder was replayed in order to determine a National League pennant winner.  In the makeup game, Christy Mathewson was out-pitched by Three Finger Brown as the Cubs defeated the Giants, 4-2.

Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown (Library of Congress)
Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown (Library of Congress)

Wednesday jokes

October 7, 2015

Here are a couple jokes for this Hump Day morning. They’re both a little hokey, but still amusing in their own way.  Enjoy!

*

A baseball player is sitting on the bench along with the coach.

Suddenly, the coach starts saying, “Germany, Italy, Spain, Britain.”

The guy looks at him and says, “Huh?”

To which the coach replies … “Eur-up!”

~*~

A doctor at an insane asylum decided to take his inmates to a baseball game. For weeks in advance, he coached his patients to respond to his commands. When the day of the game arrived, everything seemed to be going well.

As the national anthem started, the doctor yelled, “Up, nuts!” And the inmates complied by standing up.

After the anthem he yelled, “Down, nuts!” And they all sat. After a home run he yelled, “Cheer, nuts!” And they all broke into applause and cheers.

Thinking things were going very well, he decided to go get a beer and a hot dog, leaving his assistant in charge.

When he returned there was a riot in progress. Finding his assistant, he asked what happened.

The assistant replied, “Well, everything was fine until some guy walked by and yelled, ‘Peanuts!’ “

Quote of the day

October 6, 2015

Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen, my friend, there’s no man alive who can throw harder than Joe Wood.

~Walter Johnson

Walter Johnson (Library of Congress)
Walter Johnson (Library of Congress)