Socializing versus baseball
Posted: October 8, 2018 Filed under: 21st Century, Experiences and reflections | Tags: Baseball, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, life, Lorenzo Cain, Major League Baseball, Mike Moustakas, Milwaukee Brewers, MLB, sports 6 CommentsEvery now and then, I’ll go out and do things with other people, whether it be for a work function or just hanging out with friends or colleagues in general. Certainly this partaking in social rituals is a normal part of being a member of society and the human race, although, introvert that I am, I often do so begrudgingly and with a sense of discomfort and dread.
I went out for dinner on Friday evening with some folks from work, though I was actually looking forward to this particular outing. It had been a high stress week on the job, so the thought of some good food and a cocktail out with some company struck me as appealing.
The catch to this, I realize in retrospect, is that I am not the kind of person who can go out with just anybody solely for the sake of going out with somebody. Granted, this is not a brand new epiphany that has only occurred to me in the last couple days — when it comes to dating, for example, I won’t just go out with anyone who happens to be available. There has to be some level of interest already established, and my date certainly won’t be reaching any metaphorical bases until I deem an appropriate level of worthiness. In non-dating scenarios, ironically, it becomes a bit more complicated. Agreeing to go out for a casual not-date drink with a colleague or acquaintance does not generally come with the implication that someone might be looking for more. It’s just about “hanging out” or “blowing off steam” or whatever-you-want-to-call-it.
The reason I find this more difficult is because it makes it harder to say no. Saying no to a proposed date is socially acceptable. If you don’t meet my standards, then I won’t date you, period. Most people respect that equation. Simply hanging out, however, comes with a more lax set of expectations. It is a societal norm to hang out with folks even when we aren’t all that close to them. We meet old acquaintances for lunch or we go out with co-workers during happy hour, even though we may not even like them. If you say no to these invitations, you are dubbed “antisocial” or “unfriendly” or, most confusing of all, “stuck up.”
All that said, I agreed to this outing on Friday evening primarily due to the appeal of potentially letting go of the tensions brought about by the workweek. I should have known better than to go out with a couple of co-workers in the attempt to accomplish this. I wish I could say there was a high point to the conversation that commenced, but there really wasn’t. I’ll own up to the fact that I didn’t do much to help matters: I made no effort to try to redirect the conversation, merely eating my food and sipping on my whiskey and Coke in relative silence. As a quiet individual, I find that trying to steer a conversation being dominated by two or more other, louder people often feels like more effort than it’s worth.
Fortunately for me, we had decided on meeting at a local sports bar, which meant that Game Two of the NLDS was playing soundlessly on all the televisions in the establishment. So while the conversation devolved from the exasperations of online dating to an all-out gossip/bitchfest about work (that topic I was hoping so much to avoid), I frequently glanced over to see how the Rockies and the Brewers were doing. I confess that I had largely stopped watching the Royals as their 58-104 season dragged on — even as things started to pick up for them in September, I couldn’t bring myself to watch. But no matter how distant my relationship with the game might seem at times, baseball always holds a greater appeal for me than listening to negativity from other humans.
I have family members living in Wisconsin. Combine that with the opportunity to watch former Royals Lorenzo Cain and Mike Moustakas, I defaulted to rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers. I was pleased to see that they were up 1-0, and the score remained that way until our dinner outing (thankfully) ended. It made me smile a little to see that they did go on to win the game, and it was good to see both Cain and Moustakas at the plate again. I miss having them in Kansas City, but I can’t help but be happy for them and their opportunity to play some more October baseball. I hope the Brewers continue to do well.
All this, I guess, is just a long way of me saying that I like baseball infinitely better than I like most people, even though baseball obviously wouldn’t exist without people. I meant to write a lot more about baseball itself here, which clearly did not happen, but at least I can still say that the “moral” of this post is that baseball continues to provide a nice escape whenever our lives throw us into these somewhat uncomfortable situations, no matter how distant we might feel from the game.
This day in baseball
Posted: August 19, 2017 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Chicago White Sox, Connie Mack, Major League Baseball, Milwaukee Brewers, MLB, Rube Waddell, sports 1 CommentOn August 19, 1900, Milwaukee pitcher Rube Waddell pitched two complete games in both contests of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox. He threw 17 innings in the first game, then was coaxed (with a promise of a few days off to go fishing) by manager Connie Mack to pitch the nightcap, in which Waddell threw a five-inning one-hitter. Milwaukee won both games, 2-1 and 1-0.

National Baseball Hall of Fame
Martin Maldonado knocks cover off a baseball
Posted: October 18, 2015 Filed under: 21st Century | Tags: Baseball, Major League Baseball, Martin Maldonado, Milwaukee Brewers, Pedro Alvarez, Pittsburgh Pirates 3 CommentsIn 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!
“What To Do, Brew Crew?” by Stuart Shea
Posted: May 20, 2015 Filed under: 21st Century, Pop culture | Tags: Baseball, Major League Baseball, Milwaukee Brewers, poetry, Stuart Shea 3 CommentsGiven how well they started the season last year, the way the Brewers’ second half of 2014 and the way this season has been going so far has, on more than one occasion, caused me to shake my head in disbelief. But that’s baseball, right? Stuart Shea’s poem below captures the frustration that I’m sure all Brewers fans are experiencing these days.
*
The team wasn’t good
Before Lucroy went down.
Then they fired the skipper
In hopes of a rebound.
But it’s all in vain,
It’s rebuild time again,
Let’s burn the whole thing to the ground.
Trade Garza, Segura,
Ramirez, and Lind,
And think about Braun,
If a deal’s in the wind.
But just don’t deal Scooter,
There ain’t no one cuter,
And as far as we know, he ain’t sinned.
Go Go You Pilots
Posted: November 29, 2014 Filed under: 20th Century | Tags: Baseball, history, Major League Baseball, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle, Seattle Pilots Leave a commentSteve clued me in to the existence of some songs about the Seattle Pilots, and while it has proven difficult to locate these songs in a format that I can post here, my digging around did uncover this little gem from BaseballHistoryShorts.com. It appears to be a promotional video, created following the 1969 season, talking up the future of the Pilots. The clip even mentions the potential for championship series, World Series, All-Star Games, and so forth. The voice over talks about the team’s various promotions and other exciting events from the past season; and yet, much to my amusement, the video itself seems to be more of a highlight reel of all the team’s brawls during the 1969 season. Nevertheless, given the politics and economics surrounding the debate over the team’s stay in Seattle, I doubt that a better promotional reel would have done the team any good, and after only one season, they became the Milwaukee Brewers.
This day in baseball: Ripken’s 300th home run
Posted: May 24, 2014 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baltimore Orioles, Baseball, Cal Ripken Jr, County Stadium, history, Major League Baseball, Milwaukee Brewers, MLB, sports, Teddy Higuera 4 CommentsThe Iron Man, Cal Ripken, Jr., hit his 300th career home run on May 24, 1994 as the Orioles defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 13-6 at County Stadium. The three-run homer came off Teddy Higuera in the third inning, producing three of Ripken’s six RBIs for the game.

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