Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Baseball and Verse, from Tinker to Evers to Big Papi


Marianne Moore
"Walt Whitman fell for baseball in its first heyday, saying that it had 'the snap, go, fling of the American atmosphere.' He wasn’t the only poet to be drawn to the game. Longfellow reportedly played an early version at college, and even Masaoka Shiki, the 19th-century Japanese haiku master, wrote about its seductive draw:
spring breeze
the green field
tempts me to play catch
(1890, translated by the Shiki-Kinen Museum English Volunteers)"

Poetry Foundation
Poetry Foundation: "Baseball" by Gail Mazur
Poetry Foundation: "The Baseball Players" by Donald Hall
O Holy Cow!: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto (1997)

Mendoza Line


Wikipedia - "The Mendoza Line is an expression in baseball in the United States, deriving from the name of shortstop Mario Mendoza, whose lifetime batting average is taken to define the threshold of incompetent hitting. Even though Mendoza's career batting average over nine seasons (1974-1982) was .215, most often the cutoff point is said to be .200, and, when a position player's batting average falls below that level, the player is said to be below the Mendoza Line."
Wikipedia - Mendoza Line
W - Mario Mendoza
Boston Baseball: The Mendoza Line
Branded for life with 'The Mendoza Line'

Friday, November 25, 2011

The Natural - Bernard Malamud


Wikipedia - "The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball written by Bernard Malamud. The book follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked when he is shot by a woman who seeks to kill arrogant athletes to "better the world". Most of the story concerns itself with his attempts to return to baseball later in life, when he plays for the fictional New York Knights with his legendary bat 'Wonderboy'."
Wikipedia
amazon
NY Times
Google - The Natural
W - The Natural (Film)
amazom: Robert Redford
YouTube: Robert Redford in The Natural - The Final Homerun

Comiskey Park


Wikipedia - "Comiskey Park (35th Street & Shields Avenue, Chicago, Illinois) was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. It was built by Charles Comiskey after a design by Zachary Taylor Davis, and was the site of four World Series (one of which was played by the Chicago Cubs because of a lack of seating at Wrigley Field) and more than 6,000 major league games. The field was also the site of the 1937 heavyweight title match in which Joe Louis defeated then champion James J. Braddock in eight rounds."
Wikipedia
SABR Research Journal Archives
Ballpark History
Comiskey Park
The Encyclopedia of Chicago
Uncle Bob's Ballparks
ballparksofbaseball - YouTube(Video), Old Comiskey Park

Glen Gifford - "Seaver and Stargell"

The pull is strongest late mornings in the Summer.
The sun brings up the light on a sky
Whose promise reaches across decades.
Heat builds outside the plate-glass window,
And I'm ready for hours of sweat-soaked baseball,
Though the schedule says it's an air-conditioned office day.

Since I cannot return, I merely remember:

Two 12-year-old boys, each sharp-boned and scabby-legged,
Face each other from opposite ends
Of the three treeless yards, fed by Artesian wells,
At the crook of their horseshoe street.
One is the league's premier power pitcher,
The other its most feared slugger.

Props are few: Wooden bat, not yet cracked,
An outfielder's glove, almost broken in,
And the remnant of a hardball wrapped in electrical tape.
The breeze off the Atlantic, a mile away, blows in.
The sun spectates, changing position for a better view.
A neighbor's dog umpires from the shade.

The two fall into a pattern they did not create
But infuse with theatrics all their own.
Hit. Field. Throw. Count to three. Count to nine.
Try to stay clear of the cactus and Spanish Bayonet.
Watch out for bad hops on the driveways.
Keep track of the baserunners, stay up on the score.

Game over, they pause to hose off and drink
In long gulps that make their bellies ache.
They bask in the sun's approval of their deeds:
Another 10-strikeout win for one,
Two doubles and a homer for the other.
What you would expect of the league's top players.

In time, the pain in their guts subsides.
They rise slowly, and the sun roars
As they walk back onto the field.


Cosmic Baseball Association

Sunday, November 20, 2011

The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues


Booklist - "This is a landmark publication in the fields of baseball history and African American history. It documents more than 4,000 players on Negro League teams from 1872 through 1950. According to the publisher, this is the first book to comprehensively cover the careers of all African Americans who played with a team of major-league quality or whose careers had some historical significance. It includes all major-league Hall of Fame players who also played in the Negro League. The author traversed the country, interviewing men who played in the Negro Leagues about their baseball exploits and the careers of their now-deceased teammates. Information was also gathered by analyzing archival resources for contemporary accounts of games and by viewing microfilm reels of black newspapers."
The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues
Blackbaseball's Negro Baseball Leagues

Ernie Harwell


Wikipedia - "William Earnest 'Ernie' Harwell (January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 years, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the action on radio and/or television."
Wikipedia
Ernie Harwell and the story of baseball
Ernie Harwell Audio Clips (Video)
YouTube: Ernie Harwell Remembered - ESPN Video, The Ernie Harwell Story

Friday, November 18, 2011

Baseball: It's all in the Cards


"The Seattle Mariners have some important questions to consider as their new sports stadium is about to open and the answers may lie in the cards. More precisely, the Mariners may want to consult with the Tarot de Cooperstown, the brainchild of Jim Markowich and Paul Kuhrman. This new twist on a very old deck was a natural for the two New York artists who are also avid baseball fans."
"Baseball: It's all in the Cards" by Roberta A. Mayer

Sandra Soto Hatfield - "Riverfront"

Fine drops of rain
run down like young streams from
plastic summer parkas
down the arms of curved chairs
falling from the hair of
three men in row 38B
in row C
an elegant you face intense
carved mahogany, small rivulets
carelessly sliding from aquiline nose
upon a knee
make random patters
merge with cement water then
continue through the human sea
past soggy red-hots Hudepohl and
staggering shells from peanuts delved
now forgotten in one
unanimous need for sun.

billows of tarp begin to wave
rolling tossing toward home plate
slowly moving to the low buzz-sung
stanza of hawkers, families, fans
a man wearing a blue hat
is on the mound
reds near the dug-out
swing various wooden bats
rhythmic oars skimming water from air
beating the haze clear
at last
high up near the flying flags
sings an accented bird-like voice
"vaya, Perez, vaya"
far below a small voice echoes
"let's go Bench"
sun drenches the stands.


Into the Temple of Baseball

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Manny Trillo


Wikipedia - "Jesús Manuel Marcano (Manny) Trillo (born December 25, 1950 in Caripito, Venezuela), also nicknamed 'Indio', is a former professional baseball player who played in the Major Leagues from 1973 to 1989. He played most of his career as a second baseman for the Oakland Athletics (1973-1974), Chicago Cubs (1975-1978, 1986-1988), Philadelphia Phillies (1979-1982), Cleveland Indians (1983), Montreal Expos (1983), San Francisco Giants (1984-1985) and the Cincinnati Reds (1989). He was known as one of the best fielding second basemen of his era with a strong throwing arm."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference
Jack Of All Trades: Manny Trillo
Introducing… Manny Trillo

(Almost) Winning in Milwaukee


Chad Harbach: "On October 16, my father and I drove north from my parents' home in Racine to attend Game 6 of the NLCS — Brewers versus Cardinals. It was my first-ever playoff game, and I felt like an ancient wrong was being redeemed. In 1982, the Brewers appeared in their only World Series, against these same Cards. I was 6, and it was my first season of serious fandom. Someone gave my dad two tickets to Game 5, a Sunday-afternoon game, and my dad, with whom I'd attended many games that season … took my mother. I was baffled. Did she even like baseball? It was unclear. My dad and I had been going all season long, she'd stayed home, and I saw no reason why I'd get demoted now. I consoled myself with the idea that, since it was a rare day game, I'd get to watch the whole thing on TV."
Grantland: (Almost) Winning in Milwaukee

Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Bill James Guide To Baseball Managers


"A decade ago, Bill James published an excellent study of the history of baseball managers, which I happened to re-read recently. It’s a decade-by-decade breakdown of the evolution of baseball, focused sharply on the leading managerial figures along the way. In it, James ranks managers in a variety of ways, including one point-based system he devised to reward achievment of goals that all managers aim for. Without getting into the specific formula here, winning a World Series, pennant or division title drew merits. Likewise, a 100-win season, finishing twenty games over .500 or, simply, a winning record. The beauty of his admittedly imperfect approach was that every manager that earned at 32 points in his system is in the Hall of Fame, while the vast majority of those who fell short are not."
Urban Shocker: Revisiting The Bill James Guide To Baseball Managers
View from the Bleachers
New York Times
amazon

Louis Phillips - "William Shakespeare Celebrates the Return of the Spaldeen"

"Two decades after Spalding discontinued the spongy hollow ball that inspired the urban pastime of stickball, stores will start selling it again." -The New York Times, May 5, 1999

How like 20 yrs. hath your absence been
From NY streets, while your true lovers-Sal, Dean,
Tommy Davis, et al. (oh what dark days seen!)
Lust for your return Spaldeen. Spaldeen!

Soft pink hollow ball that means Summer Time,
& even if I missed making All Dean's
list because of too much stickball in my Prime-
Oh gods call down your blessings on Spaldeen!

Yet, this fortunate return has set sorrow free,
Tho your long absence had cast a pall keen.
Two decades lost! But what new games await thee!
Without you our broomstick bats were mute, Spaldeen!

Only tenured philosophers know what this might all mean-
The glorious return of the spongy ball Spaldeen.


Elysian Fields Quarterly

Friday, November 11, 2011

Batting order


Wikipedia - "The batting order, or batting lineup, in baseball is the sequence in which the nine members of the offense take their turns in batting against the pitcher. The batting order is the main component of a team's offensive strategy. The batting order is set by the manager before the game begins (although substitutions may subsequently take place). If a team bats out of order, it is a violation of baseball's rules and subject to penalty. When the whole batting order makes plate appearances in a single inning, it is called 'batting around.' In modern American baseball, some batting positions have nicknames: 'leadoff' for first, 'cleanup' for fourth, and 'last' for ninth."
Wikipedia
Baseball Reference
FanGraphs: How Significant Is Batting Order?

Jarry Park Stadium


Wikipedia - "Jarry Park Stadium ... is a former baseball stadium in Montreal which served as home to the Montreal Expos, Major League Baseball's first Canadian franchise, from 1969–1976. It served as a temporary home (for 8 seasons) until the domed Olympic Stadium was finished and made available to the Expos. The ballpark was typically called simply (and incorrectly) 'Jarry Park' within baseball circles."
Wikipedia
BallParks of Baseball
Ballpark Digest
Ball Parks
Andrew G. Clem

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

When The Bronx Was Burning


"I recently finished reading Jonathan Mahler's book The Bronx is Burning, the companion piece to ESPN's miniseries of the same name concluding tonight (which I have not had the opportunity to watch). The title comes from the final collision between Yankee mayhem and civic disorder, when Howard Cosell intoned 'There it is, ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning,' as a massive fire raged in view of the TV cameras during Game Two of the 1977 World Series at Yankee Stadium."
Baseball Crank
amazon: The Bronx is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City
amazon: The Bronx Is Burning (2007)
Wikipedia
NYT: Mini-Series Revisits the Yankees’ Melodrama During the Summer of ’77
YouTube: FDNY The Bronx is Burning 1972 documentary (Video)
YouTube: The Bronx is Burning, 2007 (Video)

Donald Hall - "The Baseball Players"

Against the bright
grass the white-knickered
players tense, seize,
and attend. A moment
ago, outfielders
and infielders adjusted
their clothing, glanced
at the sun and settled
forward, hands on knees;
the pitcher walked back
of the hill, established
his cap and returned;
the catcher twitched
a forefinger; the batter
rotated his bat
in a slow circle. But now
they pause: wary,
exact, suspended while
abiding moonrise
lightens the angel
of the overgrown
garden, and Walter Blake
Adams, who died
at fourteen, waits
under the footbridge.


Poetry Foundation

Monday, November 7, 2011

Tommy Davis


"Herman Thomas Davis, Jr. (born March 21, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American former Major League Baseball left fielder and third baseman. He played from 1959-1976 for ten different teams, but he is best known for his years with the Los Angeles Dodgers. During an 18-year baseball career, Davis batted .294 with 153 home runs, 2,121 hits and 1,052 runs batted in. He was also one of the most proficient pinch-hitters in baseball history with a .320 batting average (63-for-197) – the highest in major league history upon his retirement, breaking the .312 mark of Frenchy Bordagaray."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference
SABR

Weaver on Strategy


"If you had to pick one topic that British baseball fans might need some help with, in-game strategy would be near the top of the list. Many of us have never really played the game, never mind spent our childhood playing ball with friends and neighbours. The knowledge that Americans pick up over many years needs to be learned somehow. There is no better teacher than Earl Weaver and no better teaching manual than Weaver on Strategy."
Baseball GB
Book Review: Weaver on Strategy
SoSH
amazon

Saturday, November 5, 2011

1964 World Series


Bob Gibson
Wikipedia - "The 1964 World Series pitted the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals against the American League champion New York Yankees, with the Cardinals prevailing in seven games. St. Louis won their seventh world championship, while the Yankees, who had appeared in 14 of 16 World Series since 1949, did not play in the Series again until 1976. In an unusual twist, the Yankees fired Yogi Berra after the Series ended, replacing him with Johnny Keane, who had resigned from the Cardinals after the Series. His job had been threatened by Cardinals management, and it was unexpectedly saved by the Cardinals' dramatic pennant drive."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference
I-70 Baseball
SI: The story behind Mickey Mantle's 1964 walkoff Series home run
Roger Launius's Blog
YouTube: Cardinals Win the World Series 1964
Critical Past: World Series Baseball matches

Sarah Freligh - "North of Saginaw"

North of Saginaw, south of somewhere
Al's never heard of,
a ball club in Michigan
needs pitchers. Pay stinks,
a couple hundred a week.
Seven-hour rides
in a school bus. A junkyard
for old men, their tattered arms;
smoke-throwing kids with no control,
the misfits with the jumpy
eyes of serial killers.
Still grass, lights, applause, him
and the hitter.

In the Garden of Eden,
there were snakes.


Sort of Gone

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World’s Finest Private Collections


"As every baseball collector knows, few things can parallel the powerful memories and emotions that are evoked when we hold a ball that has been signed by Ty Cobb, run our hands over the barrel of a bat once swung by Babe Ruth, or touch a jersey that had actually been worn by Lou Gehrig. Lifelong collector Stephen Wong knows that as well as anyone. He also knows that these treasured items can do much more than simply stir memories and emotions - they can possess inspiring, life changing qualities. On September 27, 2005, Smithsonian Books and HarperCollins Publishers will release Wong's book, Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World's Finest Private Collections, that chronicles his two and a half year odyssey, in which Wong left the high powered corporate world to seek out twenty-one of baseball's most devoted collectors."
The Odyssey of Stephen Wong
amazon

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Walter Johnson


Wikipedia - "Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed 'Barney' and 'The Big Train', was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Washington Senators (1907–1927). He would later serve as manager of the Senators from 1929–1932 and for the Cleveland Indians from 1933–1935. One of the most celebrated and dominating players in baseball history, Johnson established several pitching records, some of which remain unbroken. He remains by far the all-time career leader in shutouts with 110, second in wins with 417, and fourth in complete games with 531. He once held the career record in strikeouts with 3,509 and was the only player in the 3,000 strikeout club for over 50 years until Bob Gibson recorded his 3,000th strikeout in 1974."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference.
SABR: Charles Carey
Walter Johnson - The Official Web Site
amazon: Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train
vimeo: Walter Johnson game footage

Karen Zaborowski - "World Series, Game 5"

Even God, I think, is here,
so high up in the stands
with my ten-year-old daughter and me
we can almost touch the X
from Schmidty's old home run,
probably the two worst seats at the Vet
but right where the whole world
wants to be.
I let her drink real Coke,
eat Milky Ways and dance with stangers
at 11:30 on a school night and still
ninety minutes from home.
The Philles and we are in control.
For now, the world has stopped worrying
about players who might be traded,
moods that might swing and miss.
There are no thoughts about new uniforms
and the boys who will wear them.
Tonight she is here and finds it easy
to love me for this end-of-season
home game.
We are those jumping red dots
in the center of the universe, my daughter
and me and a baseball game
that is perfect and no more meaningless
than anything else.


Line Drives