Quote of the day
You don’t just accidentally show up in the World Series.
~Derek Jeter

2023 World Series schedule
This year’s World Series matchup is now set. Congratulations to the Diamondbacks and the Rangers on making it this far! The series is set to begin this Friday, October 27th, and all games are to be broadcast on FOX. Here is how the schedule is looking (all times Eastern):
Friday, Oct. 27
AZ @ TEX, Game 1, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 28
AZ @ TEX, Game 2, 8 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 30
TEX @ AZ, Game 3, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 31
TEX @ AZ, Game 4, 8 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 1
TEX @ AZ, Game 5 (if necessary), 8 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 3
AZ @ TEX, Game 6 (if necessary), 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 4
AZ @ TEX, Game 7 (if necessary), 8 p.m.
This day in baseball: White Sox obtain Nellie Fox
In a trade with the Athletics on October 19, 1949, the Chicago White Sox added second baseman Nellie Fox to their roster, in exchange for catcher Joe Tipton. Fox would go on to lead the league in hits four times, winning the 1959 American League MVP during his fourteen-year tenure with the Sox.

This day in baseball: Formalizing the expansion of 1962
On October 17, 1960, the National League formally awarded franchises to the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc., led by Joan Payson, and a Houston group led by Judge Roy Hofheinz. An expansion draft was held for the two new expansion clubs in 1961, and the New York Mets and the Houston Colt .45s would begin play in 1962.

Quote of the day
All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill.
~Babe Ruth
A Face in the Crowd, by Stephen King and Stewart O’Nan
A Face in the Crowd has been available as an ebook since 2012 and became available in a hardcover physical format just this year. The protagonist of this story/novella is Dean Evers, an elderly widower living in Florida, having moved there with his wife before her passing. Originally a Red Sox fan, Evers has “adopted” the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as his second team and now whiles away his evenings in front of the television watching Rays games.
One evening, Evers notices someone in the seats behind home plate — Young Dr. Young, as Evers’s mother used to call him — Evers’s dentist when he was a boy. But Evers is aware that Dr. Young had passed many years ago, so how could he now be attending a Rays game?
After convincing himself that he’s not going crazy, Evers flips on the television the next night for more baseball, only to see another face in the seats behind home plate. Once again, it is someone from Evers’s past whom he knows to be dead. And it is the same the next game he watches. And the next game.
These appearances understandably affect Evers’s sleep, and he resorts to a cocktail of ambien and scotch to fall asleep each night. Through the story and his reminiscences, we learn a bit about each of the individuals who Evers sees in the stands and, of course, a bit about Evers himself. Finally, a face appears in the stands that leads Evers to finally understand what is going on.
I won’t spoil the ending here, though anyone with a twisted enough imagination can easily deduce the conclusion of this tale. I enjoy Stephen King and, of course, I enjoy baseball, so it’s always a lot of fun when I get the opportunity to read a baseball story written by King. The story is short, only 58 pages in printed format, and it reads quickly. I knocked it out easily in one evening. It’s a worthwhile piece of brief entertainment if have an hour to fill sometime.
“Bad Umpire,” CJ Beatty
While I do have an appreciation for it, hip hop is not my preferred genre of music, so this is the first time I’ve come across this song. I find that I enjoy it quite a bit, and I find the video both disturbing and amusing simultaneously. We’ve all had umpires about which we’ve had these kinds of feelings, which makes this tune very relatable.
This day in baseball: 1925 Chicago Cubs finish last
The 1925 season ended on October 4th of that year, and for the first time in franchise history, the Chicago Cubs finished in eighth and last place in the National League. Managed by Bill Killefer, Rabbit Maranville, and George Gibson, the team compiled a 68-86 record to finish 27.5 games behind the first-place Pirates.

Quote of the day
No matter how many victories you win or how many records you break, the season will eventually come to an end. Take pride in what you achieved and strive for success in your future.
~Babe Ruth