Quote of the day
Posted: November 30, 2019 Filed under: Quote of the day | Tags: Alvin Dark, Baseball, Major League Baseball, MLB, quotes, sports Leave a commentA trade tells you exactly which side of the hill you’re on. The terms, the numbers, are like billboards. You don’t have to guess.
~Alvin Dark

Wikipedia
Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted: November 28, 2019 Filed under: 21st Century | Tags: Baseball, Holidays, sports, Thanksgiving 4 CommentsTo all who are celebrating today, I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
Mickey Mantle: The Definitive Story
Posted: November 27, 2019 Filed under: 20th Century | Tags: Baseball, biography, documentaries, history, Major League Baseball, Mickey Mantle, MLB, New York Yankees, sports, videos Leave a commentI can’t help but chuckle inwardly a little bit whenever a documentary or book declares itself “definitive” or something similar (really, can any biographical account ever truly be definitive?). Nevertheless, this documentary on Mickey Mantle is a good one, and a person can get a good solid overview of his life and career from it.
Even better, if you find yourself unable to get your hands on a copy, you can watch the film through YouTube.
Stealing signs
Posted: November 26, 2019 Filed under: Experiences and reflections | Tags: Baseball, Houston Astros, Major League Baseball, MLB, Softball, sports 2 CommentsWith the Houston Astros’ sign stealing scheme making the news these last couple weeks, I find myself reminded of one of my own experiences with stealing signs. While my own venture into sign stealing didn’t make any headlines, I can certainly identify with the advantage that it provides.
One summer, when I was playing in a girls’ softball league, the coach of one of the other teams invited me to join his team for a tournament (an experience I also mention in this post). This tournament was external to the league in which we played against one another, and it’s no small compliment when another coach thinks enough of your ability to invite you to join his own team, so I naturally jumped at the opportunity.
While I don’t remember all the details of that particular tournament, there are a couple things that continue to stick out to this day. The first was the birth of my ballplayer nickname, Duke. The second revolved around learning the signs for this team I played with for the duration of the tournament.
Naturally, in order to be an effective part of the team, I needed to know all the signs that might get flashed at me from third base whenever we went on offense: bunt sign, steal sign, take a pitch, etc. I learned the signs, and I played pretty well throughout the tournament. One would also naturally assume that once we all returned to regular league play and I was back on the opposing side, this coach would change his own team’s signs.
The next time my league team faced off against this other coach’s team, I found myself playing third base. Out of curiosity, I found myself watching the team’s coach, who would also serve as the third base coach, out of the corner of my eye. I wouldn’t turn and stare, of course, but I used my periphery vision to the best of my ability to watch what signs he flashed to hitters and runners.
The first time he flashed what I recognized as the bunt sign, I was still wary. If the other team did change their signs, in anticipation of playing against me, I certainly didn’t want to creep up too close to the plate, lest I find myself on the receiving end of a hard line drive to the face. So I took half a step forward, but also made sure to stay on my toes in anticipation of a bunt.
Much to my surprise and delight, the hitter squared around and lay down a bunt that happened to roll up the third baseline. Anticipating the possibility, I was able to get on top of it quickly and threw her out. I couldn’t believe my luck.
The rest of the game, I didn’t hesitate to move up any time I saw that bunt sign flashed. I couldn’t believe that this coach didn’t stop to think about the fact that the opposing third baseman knew their signs because he had given them to me himself. On a couple of occasions, I found myself tempted to yell, “Watch the bunt!” to my teammates, but I knew that would be a dead giveaway, so I kept my mouth shut. I just continued to watch the coach, and they didn’t have a successful bunt attempt all game.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not condoning what the Astros are accused of doing. Even by Major League Baseball standards, what I did was perfectly legal, since I used no technology to steal signs and take advantage. If anything, it was the other team’s blunder in not changing their signs once we returned to regular league play. And I definitely wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity my situation presented.
Quote of the day
Posted: November 25, 2019 Filed under: Quote of the day | Tags: Baseball, Buck O'Neil, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, Negro Leagues, Satchel Paige, sports Leave a commentDepending on how he gripped the ball and how hard he threw it, Satchel Paige had pitches that included the bat-dodger, the two-hump blooper, the four-day creeper, the dipsy-do, the Little Tom, the Long Tom, the bee ball, the wobbly ball, the hurry-up ball and the nothin’ ball.
~Buck O’Neil

Wikipedia
Pride and Perseverance
Posted: November 24, 2019 Filed under: 19th Century, 20th Century | Tags: Baseball, Bob Mitchell, Branch Rickey, Buck O'Neil, Bud Selig, Cool Papa Bell, Dave Winfield, documentaries, history, Jackie Robinson, John Miles, Major League Baseball, MLB, Moses Fleetwood Walker, Negro Leagues, Rube Foster, sports, Ted Radcliffe, Willie Mays 2 CommentsThis weekend I watched a short documentary produced by Major League Baseball, Pride and Perseverance: The Story of the Negro Leagues. While the time period covered in the documentary spans from Moses Fleetwood Walker playing major league ball in the 1880s on up to the induction of Negro League players into the Baseball Hall of Fame starting in 1971, the documentary focuses primarily on the story of the Negro Leagues.
Dave Winfield narrates the documentary, and it includes footage from Negro League games, as well as some Major League games. It also features interviews with Negro Leagues players, including Buck O’Neil, Bob Mitchell, Willie Mays, John “Mule” Miles, Cool Papa Bell, and Ted Radcliffe. The interviews highlight just how good many Negro Leagues players really were, especially compared to white Major Leaguers, and it’s a lot of fun to see how much these guys light up when they talk about the level of talent.
The documentary touches on the racial struggles faced by black players. For example, many players accepted the fact that they would have to go around to the backs of restaurants to get food, and it was not uncommon to sleep on the bus because the hotels in a given town would not give them rooms. Nevertheless, the players talk about how much fun they had traveling and playing ball. The eventual recruitment of Jackie Robinson by Branch Rickey to break the color barrier, of course, receives due attention.
Overall, Pride and Perseverance is a fantastic overview of the history of the Negro Leagues. For a documentary that runs less than an hour long, it manages to cram a lot of interesting information into the film. It’s definitely worth checking out.
This day in baseball: Maury Wills named MVP
Posted: November 23, 2019 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award, Maury Wills, MLB, San Francisco Giants, sports Leave a commentDodger shortstop Maury Wills was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player on November 23, 1962. Wills stole a record 104 bases during the season, leading Los Angeles to 102 victories. Unfortunately, the Dodgers fell short of the pennant in a three-game tie-breaker series against San Francisco, losing two games to one.

Maury Wills (California Historical Society)
CC
Posted: November 22, 2019 Filed under: Pop culture | Tags: Baseball, CC Sabathia, comics, humor, Major League Baseball, MLB, sports Leave a commentI think my dad would identify with this. My dad’s initials are “DDS,” and growing up, I recall we would occasionally get the random phone call from folks thinking they were calling a dentist’s office.

Brevity Comic
Quote of the day
Posted: November 20, 2019 Filed under: Quote of the day | Tags: Baseball, Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio, Major League Baseball, MLB, quotes, sports, Ted Williams 3 CommentsTed Williams was the greatest hitter I ever saw, but DiMaggio was the greatest all around player.
~Bob Feller

Bob Feller (Wikimedia Commons)
84 days until pitchers and catchers report
Posted: November 19, 2019 Filed under: 21st Century | Tags: Baseball, Major League Baseball, MLB, Opening Day, sports, Spring Training Leave a commentAnd 128 days until Opening Day!