Saturday, February 26, 2011

Strat-O-Matic


Wikipedia - "Strat-O-Matic began as a company in 1961, when Hal Richman, a Bucknell University mathematics student, began selling an early version of his baseball tabletop game out of his basement, buying advertising space in Sports Illustrated to aid sales."
Wikipedia, Strat-O-Matic, amazon, NYT - Strat-O-Matic Devotees Celebrate Its 50th Anniversary, CBS - Video, YouTube

Ebbets Field


Wikipedia - "Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA, on a city block which is now considered to be part of the Crown Heights neighborhood. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League."
Wikipedia, YouTube - The Lost Ball Parks: Ebbets Field

Roy Campanella


Wikipedia - "Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily at the position of catcher, in the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Widely considered to have been one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game, Campanella played for the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1940s and 1950s, as one of the pioneers in breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. His career was cut short in 1958 when he was paralyzed in an automobile accident."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference, YouTube, (2)

Wayne Lanter - "A Fairy Tale"

"The body of a horse, the heart of a boy,"
Campanella claimed, catching four games
a day in the negro leagues - sometimes
losing twenty pounds in the process.
Talented enough to do it,
little boy enough to think it's important,
beyond the money and people shouting,
the pure pleasure of driving a fastball
over the three-eighty sign.
When he objected to her Korean tour,
Monroe lectured )Joltin' Joe.
"You don't know what it's like
to have thirty thousand people cheer
for you." Some time before, sixty thousand watched
him catapult two shots into the seats off Feller.
"Yes, I do," he said.
Even a hundred mile-an-hour fastball has its limits.
Feller warned young pitchers
of "hitters you can't throw it by."
He hadn't seen Dalkowski throw.
Maybe Dave Pope had the fastest hands
of anyone. In the cage or in a game,
turn on it. It turns on that.

In the beat of a boy's heart Campanella
ended up "a horse that couldn't run."
Pulled from a tangle of twisted metal
he sits at home plate in a wheelchair,
the stars and stripes draped across his legs.
For years DiMaggio sold coffee-makers.
Feller and Pope lived on to old age,

old age. Dalkowski simply dropped off
the radar, or so it seems.
Monroe? Everybody knows that story.
How they souped-up the ball,
lowered the mound,
reduced the strike zone,
suspended pitchers for throwing at hitters,
brought in the fences,
yes, they brought in the fences.
Everybody knows that story.


A Season of Long Taters

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Spring training


Wikipedia - "In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play."
Wikipedia, Spring training

1950 World Series


"New York Yankees (4) vs Philadelphia Phillies (0). 'Who Knows We May See This Match Up Again In This Year's World Series'"
YouTube

Jonathan Holden - "Buying A Baseball"

As I turned over in my palm
that glossy little planet
I was going to hand my son
I was wondering how
it could still cost the same
as when I was has age.
Around came the brand:
Rawlings. Made in Haiti.
Like those poor city kids
I'd heard have no idea
that milk came from a cow,
I'd never known before
where baseballs come from.
They were always there
in the stores in bids, stitched
tight as uncracked books,
each with its tiny trademark,
Made in Hell.
We'd test the tough seams
along both fingers' links
to get a thrill of power
remembering how to fake
a staggering grounder out
so it would leaps to the mitt
at our convenience,
how that black magic squeezed
in the core would make it
spark off the bat
with a high, nasty crack
you could mistake for no
other sound in the world.


Into the Temple of Baseball.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Tom Clark - "Baseball & Classicism"

Every day I peruse the box scores for hours
Sometimes I wonder why I do it
Since I am not going to take a test on it
And no one is going to give me money

The pleasure's something like that of codes
Of deciphering an ancient alphabet say
So as brightly to picturize Eurydice
In the Elysian Fields on her perfect day

The day she went 5 for 5 against Vic Raschi


baseball i gave you all the best years of my life. Richard Grossinger and Lisa Conrad

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Bob Gibson


Wikipedia - "Robert 'Bob' Gibson (born November 9, 1935) is a retired American professional baseball player. Nicknamed 'Hoot' and 'Gibby', he was a right-handed pitcher who played his entire 17-year Major League Baseball career with St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1975). A nine-time All-Star selection, Gibson accumulated 3,117 strikeouts during his career, won two Cy Young Awards, was named the National League's Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1968, and was a member of two World Series championship teams. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981, his first year of eligibility."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference, vimeo - Footage of Bob Gibson, YouTube - Bob Gibson's record setting 17K

Hank Kalet - "Sonnet for Bob Gibson"

When he pitched
he had a look that said
he'd just as soon as stab you
as shake your hand;

towering, he would stare
as imposing a figure
as anything the Greeks could conjure;
heíd grip the ball fingers across stitching,

rear back and fire
and the batter would spin and twist,
a spastic ballerina
diving to the dirt and

Gibson would stare, glove hand out
as if this were the natural order of things.


Elysian Fields Quarterly

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Homestead Grays


Wikipedia - "The Homestead Grays were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro Leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 by Cumberland Posey, and would remain in continuous operation for 38 seasons. The team was based in Homestead, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh."
Wikipedia, The Homestead Grays, MLB - Video, "Negro Leagues: Pittsburgh"

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Carlton Fisk


Wikipedia - "Carlton Ernest Fisk (born December 26, 1947), nicknamed 'Pudge' or 'The Commander', is a former Major League Baseball catcher. During a 24-year baseball career, he played for both the Boston Red Sox (1969, 1971–1980) and Chicago White Sox (1981–1993). Fisk was known by the nickname 'Pudge' due to his 6'2", 220 lb frame. He was the first player to be unanimously voted American League Rookie of the Year (1972). Fisk is best known for 'waving fair' his game-winning home run in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, one of the greatest moments in World Series history."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference, MLB - BB Moments: Fisk Waves It Fair

Jonathan Williams - "O For A Muse Of Fire!"

Date: Tuesday, May 13, 1958 -
a date previously memorable in history for the birth of
Joe Lewis (1914),
the Empress Maria Theresa (1717),
and the beheading of
Johan Van Olden Barnveldt (1619)
Place: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
Time: 3:06 P.M.; warm and sunny; breeze steady, right to left
Attendance: 5,692 (paid)
Situation: top of the sixth; Cardinals trailing the Cubs, 3-1; one out; Gene Green on 2nd
Public Address: "Batting for Jones, #6, Stan Musial!"

The Muse muscles up; Stan the Man stands ... and
O, Hosanna, Hosanna, Ozanna's boy, Moe Drabowsky comes

2 and 2
"a curve ball, outside corner, higher
than intended -
I figured he'd hit it in the ground"

("it felt fine!")

a line shot to left, down the line,
rolling deep for a double...

("it felt fine!")

Say, Stan, baby, how's it feel to hit 3000?

"Uh, it feels fine"


_____________
Only six major-league players in baseball history had hit safely 3000 times prior to this occasion. The density of the information surrounding the event continues to surpise me, rather belies Tocqueville's assertion than Americans cannot concentrate.

Into the Temple of Baseball. Edited by Richard Grossinger & Kevin Kerrane

Monday, February 7, 2011

Harry "Harry the Hat" Walker


Wikipedia - "Harry William Walker, known to baseball fans of the middle 20th century as 'Harry the Hat' (October 22, 1916 — August 8, 1999), was an American baseball player, manager and coach. Born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Harry was a member of a distinguished baseball family. He was the son of former Washington Senators pitcher Ewart 'Dixie' Walker and the brother of Fred 'Dixie' Walker, like Harry an outfielder, left-handed hitter, and one-time National League batting champion. He was also the nephew of fellow Major Leaguer Ernie Walker."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference

Go-Go Sox


"Go-Go-Sox" by Pall Mall and the Bleacher Boys!
"This is a look back at the memorable 1959 Chicago White Sox, who until 2005, were the last Chicago team to make it to the World Series. When the Sox clinched the pennant, city officials sounded the air raid sirens. Many celebrated. Others thought the Russians were coming."
YouTube

Visit to the pressbox - Baltimore Orioles


"Follow Seattle Times baseball writer Geoff Baker to Camden Yards in Baltimore, where he takes you inside the pressbox and down to the field priot to a game between the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles. Video footage shot on April 5, 2008 in Baltimore, MD."
Visit to the pressbox

Louis Phillips - "The Baseball Counting Song: A Brief History of the New York Yankees Under George"

Ten New York Yankees standing in line.
One criticized the owner; now there are nine.

Nine New York Yankees strode to home plate.
One struck out swinging; now there are eight.

Eight Yankee relievers, sweet as heaven.
Until one blew a close lead; now there are seven.

Seven New York Yankees hated their critics.
One complained to a sportswriter; now there are six.

Six New York Yankees keep hopes alive.
One manager lost six straight; now there are five.

Five New York Yankees made the crowds roar.
George labeled one "Mr. May"; now there are four.

Four New York Yankees out on a spree.
One drank like a fish; now there are three.

Three New York Yankees hit, caught, and threw.
One played the harmonica; now there are two.

Two New York Yankees thought baseball was fun.
One was called "a fat toad"; now there's just one.

One New York Yankee? A superstar! A winner!
No. One New York Yankee named Steinbrenner.


Elysian Fields Quarterly