A club, to be a winner, should have a corking good catcher, a star at either short or second, and one in center field. Give a team three such men in those positions and it is bound to be successful.
~Fielder Jones
This poem is from The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly: Poems Collected and New, published in 1995. I like how the entire poem is written in lowercase, adding to the dreamlike sensation when reading the piece. The italicized portions add a phantasmagorical element, capturing the multitude of sensations that can take place in a brief moment of time.
*
for years the scenes bustled
through him as he dreamed he was
alive. then he felt real, and slammed
awake in the wet sheets screaming
too fast, everything moves
too fast, and the edges of things
are gone. four blocks away
a baseball was a dot against
the sky, and he thought, my
glove is too big, i will
drop the ball and it will be
a home run. the snow falls
too fast from the clouds,
and night is dropped and
snatched back like a huge
joke. is that the ball, or is
it just a bird, and the ball is
somewhere else, and i will
miss it? and the edges are gone, my
hands melt into the walls, my
hands do not end where the wall
begins. should i move
forward, or back, or will the ball
come right to me? i know i will
miss, because i always miss when it
takes so long. the wall has no
surface, no edge, the wall
fades into the air and the air is
my hand, and i am the wall. my
arm is the syringe and thus i
become the nurse, i am you,
nurse. if he gets
around the bases before the
ball comes down, is it a home
run, even if i catch it? if we could
slow down, and stop, we
would be one fused mass careening
at too great a speed through
the emptiness. if i catch
the ball, our side will
be up, and i will have to bat,
and i might strike out.
The New York Mets made their National League debut on April 11, 1962 in St. Louis. The game finally took place after being rained out the previous night. The Mets lost to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, 11-4. Gil Hodges and Charlie Neal did, at least, provide a positive side for the Mets, hitting the first two home runs in the new franchise’s history.
This story came out a couple days ago, describing the use of virtual reality for batting practice by the Tampa Bay Rays. The team is using a simulator called the iCube through which players can take swings against a virtual pitcher that mimics a variety of human MLB pitchers.
I would love to see the perspective that the batter himself has in using the system. Without a doubt, the experience would be far more realistic than the one I have taking batting practice against my Wii (and certainly much more difficult). It’ll be fascinating to see how technology like this will ultimately impact training and the game itself.
You can read the story here.
This guy from L.A. sits down next to me, and he goes, “You like baseball?” I said, “Oh, man, I love baseball.” He goes, “Did you know that, if Jesus had played ball, he’d have been the greatest ball player ever?” Like I’m gonna argue that point. So I sat there for a second, I turned to him, and I said, “Did you know that if Babe Ruth had been the Messiah, the Catholics would have beer and hot dogs at Communion?” He left.
~Bill Engvall
The first officially-recorded save took place on April 7, 1969 by Bill Singer as the Dodgers defeated Cincinnati, 3-2, in the season opener at Crosley Field. The game had started with Don Drysdale giving up two back-to-back home runs on the first two pitches he threw for the season to Pete Rose and Bobby Tolan. Drysdale managed to calm down enough for the Dodgers to make a comeback, and Singer did not give up a hit in the final three innings to close out the game.
While I root against the Cardinals on principle, it is difficult to deny the Wizard. I found his speech quite eloquent, and I love how he took apart a baseball and to create his metaphors.
This is a cool piece put out by the New York Times, which revolves around this photo taken during Game 5 of last year’s World Series, when Eric Hosmer made his now-infamous mad dash to the plate to tie the game.
The Times managed to track down eleven of the folks sitting in the stands in this photo and asked for their perspectives on how it all went down. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I think that definitely applies in this case. All the same, I still find it interesting to explore the responses of the fans that the Times managed to interview.
You can see the frustration on our faces. It was just: ‘I can’t believe this just happened.’ Everyone was in the same shocked state of mind. This can’t be! It just can’t be! The game should be over.
~Sal Monaco
You can find the complete collection of interviews, including audio recordings, here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/01/sports/baseball/ny-mets-kansas-city-royals-opener.html
Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.
~Barry Switzer
At the age of seventeen, Chattanooga Lookouts pitcher Jackie Mitchell struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game on April 2, 1931. After taking a ball, Ruth swung and missed at the next two pitches, and then Mitchell’s fourth pitch to Ruth was a called third strike. Gehrig then swung through the first three pitches to strike out.
Mitchell was one of the first female pitchers in professional baseball history. Shortly after the exhibition game, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided her contract and forbid the signing of women.
