Month: August 2018

Quote of the day

August 18, 2018

But baseball was different. Schwartz thought of it as Homeric – not a scrum but a series of isolated contests. Batter versus pitcher, fielder versus ball. You couldn’t storm around, snorting and slapping people, the way Schwartz did while playing football.You stood and waited and tried to still your mind. When your moment came, you had to be ready, because if you fucked up, everyone would know whose fault it was. What other sport not only kept a stat as cruel as the error but posted it on the scoreboard for everyone to see?

~Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding

Chad Harbach, January 2012

This day in baseball: Ruth vs. Johnson vs. extra innings

August 15, 2018

At Fenway Park on August 15, 1916, Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth came out victorious over Walter Johnson and the Senators, 1-0 in 13 innings.  Though Johnson managed to keep Boston to four hits over the first twelve innings, he gave up three more hits in the 13th, thus allowing Jack Barry to score the game’s lone run.

Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson
Walter Johnson and Babe Ruth (mlb.com)

This day in baseball: High-hit shutout

August 12, 2018

In the second game of a doubleheader on August 12, 1921, the Phillies’ right-handed pitcher George Smith gave up 12 hits, and yet he still managed to pitch a shutout against the Boston Braves, winning 4-0.  Smith had also started the first game of the doubleheader, but in that game, he gave up three runs on four hits and was taken out in the second inning.

george smith
Baseball Reference

“The Baseball Card Song,” by The Baseball Project

August 10, 2018

Here’s another great song by The Baseball Project.  I owned a few baseball cards as a kid, but not enough to really call it a collection — my parents would have viewed such a compilation as superfluous and wasteful.  As an adult, I’m glad this was the case as the cards would probably have just been boxed away or thrown away when I left for school, but I can certainly appreciate the idea of a card collection.

Quote of the day

August 9, 2018

When you’re in the day-to-day grind, it just seems like it’s another step along the way. But I find joy in the actual process, the journey, the work. It’s not the end event.

~Cal Ripken, Jr.

Cal_Ripken,_Jr_in_1996
“Cal Ripken, Jr in 1996” by Joe Shlabotnik

Distance run per game per sport

August 8, 2018

I don’t think it comes as a surprise that baseball involves the least amount of running of any of these.  I am a bit surprised that a tennis match requires more running than a basketball game.  It looks like the original data came from Runner’s World, though I suppose it would be unfair to include the distance of a marathon in this chart.

Distance run per sport
the18.com