Johnny Callison

Wikipedia - "John Wesley Callison (March 12, 1939 – October 12, 2006) was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball, best known for his years with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1960 to 1969. He led the National League in triples twice and doubles once, and gained his greatest prominence in a 1964 season in which he was runnerup for the Most Valuable Player Award and was named MVP of the All-Star Game. He also led the NL in outfield assists four consecutive times and in double plays once, and ended his career among the top five Phillies in home runs (185) and triples (84)."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference
SABR: Johnny Callison
Hardball Times
1964 All-Star Game MVP - YouTube: Midsummer Classics (1964)

The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball

"Written by three esteemed baseball statisticians, The Book continues where the legendary Bill James’s Baseball Abstracts and Palmer and Thorn’s The Hidden Game of Baseball left off more than twenty years ago. Continuing in the grand tradition of sabermetrics, the authors provide a revolutionary way to think about baseball with principles that can be applied at every level, from high school to the major leagues. Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman, and Andrew Dolphin cover topics such as batting and pitching matchups, platooning, the benefits and risks of intentional walks and sacrifices, the legitimacy of alleged 'clutch' hitters, and many of baseball’s other theories on hitting, fielding, pitching, and even baserunning. They analyze when a strategy is a good idea and when it’s a bad idea, and how to more closely watch the 'inside' game of baseball."
amazon - The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball
THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball
SI - Excerpt: The Book
FanGraphs: wOBA

Dwayne Brenna - "Split Finger"

Used to throw the screwball
but pronated hands and elbows
don’t make healthy arms
Fernando Valenzuela found this out
too late

Took a while
to stretch my fingers out but I
enjambed a ball
and held it there for weeks
watching Jen on TSN

Then winter came
I threw it in the gym
for six months straight

So what’s it do?
It fades
like memories of Mathewson
It dies
like a wounded skunk
and leaves an odor at your door

When it’s working
no one hits that thang


Spitball

Candlestick Park

Willie McCovey makes the play at 1st base in this 1965 game at Candlestick.
Wikipedia - "Candlestick Park (also commonly referred to as Candlestick or The 'Stick) is an outdoor sports and entertainment stadium located in San Francisco, California, in the Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally built as the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 until moving into Pacific Bell Park (since renamed AT&T Park) in 2000. ... The stadium is situated at Candlestick Point on the western shore of the San Francisco Bay. Due to its location next to the bay, strong winds often swirl down into the stadium, creating unusual playing conditions. At the time of its construction in the late 1950s, the stadium site was one of the few pieces of land available in the city that was suitable for a sports stadium and had space for the 10,000 parking spaces promised to the Giants."
Wikipedia
1958-1994: The Giant Years, Candlestick Swindle
Ballparks of Baseball (Video)
Ballparks
Clem's Baseball Blog
Candlestick Park, a.k.a. 3Com Park
YouTube: Tell it Goodbye, The Giants at Candlestick Park, Moments after the Great Quake of 89, Battle of the Bay

The Best Hitter You've Never Heard Of

"A .453 batting average; .597 on-base percentage; .986 slugging percentage. Thirty-three homers and 93 runs batted in … in 212 at-bats. You look at the numbers, squint, and then look again. These are Baseball Stars numbers, a video game creation, with abilities cranked up to the max. There's no way a professional baseball player could have done this. Except someone did. His name is Jose Abreu. He just might be the best hitter in the world. And you've probably never heard of him. Abreu plays for Cienfuegos in Serie Nacional, Cuba's top baseball league."
Grantland

Behind Left Field Cards

"Behind Left Field Cards is Amelie Mancini, a painter and printmaker originally from France, a terrible, terrible place where baseball does not exist. After moving from Paris to NYC in 2006, she became an avid Mets fan and has produced several paintings on the subject of sports in general, and baseball in particular, all of which can be seen on her personal website." Gary Carter - A Tribute to the Kid. All profits will be donated to The National Brain Tumor Society
Behind Left Field Cards

Tom Clark - "To Al Dark"

Even though you act like "Mary Had A little Lamb"
was your theme song these days,
Al, you were damn fine ballplayer and a hard
nose one at that

I remember you from the days when I was an usher
and you were playing third for the Cubs
in the twilight of your career like they say

You looked so game-experienced, mean inside, and lowdown Southern tough
I'd never have guessed
you'd wind up going all smarmy and religious

but then you'd probably never have guessed
I'd end up writing books about it


Fan Poems

John McGraw

Wikipedia - "John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934), nicknamed 'Little Napoleon' and 'Muggsy,' was a Major League Baseball player and manager. Much-lauded as a player, McGraw was one of the standard-bearers of dead-ball era major league baseball. Known for having fists as quick as his temper, McGraw used every advantage he could get as both a player and manager. He took full advantage of baseball's initial structure that only provided for one umpire, becoming notorious for tripping, blocking and impeding a baserunner in any way he could while the umpire was distracted by the flight of the ball. His profligacy in employing such tactics may have led to additional umpires being assigned to monitor the basepaths."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference
SABR: John McGraw
Baseball Library
Google: John McGraw, Charles C. Alexander
amazon: John McGraw
Baseball Historian: John McGraw's Trouble at The Lambs: Part I, Part 2
SI: When The Yankees Beat The Giants In The 1923 Series, A New Era Began
YouTube: John McGraw and Christy Mathewson

2011 March: Rolfe Humphries - "Polo Grounds"
2011 December: Frank Deford - The Old Ball Game

Oliver "Ghost" Marcelle

Wikipedia - "Oliver Hazzard Marcelle (June 21, 1895 - June 12, 1949), nicknamed 'Ghost', was an American third baseman in the Negro Leagues for a number of teams around the league from 1918-1931. He also played shortstop. A Creole born in Thibodaux, Louisiana, he batted and threw right-handed. While the Negro Leagues had many statistics recorded in the 1920s, Marcelle put up outstanding numbers. In 1922 with the Bacharach Giants, he posted a .379 batting average. Again in 1924, he hit well, putting up a .352 average for Bacharach and the New York Lincoln Giants. Although 'Ghost' was a top-class hitting infielder, his defensive skills took center stage by comparison."
Wikipedia
Oliver "The Ghost" Marcelle
Baseball Reference
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
The Marcelles – Ghost and Ziggy
The Ghost – Part One, Part Two

Charles Barasch - "Obituary"

By the time Rick Anderson's heart gave out
he weighed over four hundred pounds. He'd been the best
pitcher on his high school team
and a minor league star, but in the majors
he threw only twelve innings, and walked
twice as many batters as he struck out.
After his arm went lame he lived
in a boatyard below Highway One
in a truck trailer with indoor plumbing
and no windows and a picture of himself receiving
the 1971 California state high school championship trophy.
Day and night he heard the ocean, and seagulls,
and downshifting gears, and sometimes
he heard gravel spray in the boatyard or voices
of tourists. His parents came each Christmas.
When his body was discovered he was clutching a letter
containing five dollars and a request for an autographed
baseball card. He was thirty-five years old.


Baseball I Gave You All the Best Years Of My Life

1957 World Series

Squeeze Bunt 1957
Wikipedia - "The 1957 World Series featured the defending champions, the New York Yankees (American League), playing against the Milwaukee Braves (National League). After finishing just one game behind the N.L. Champion Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956, the Braves came back in 1957 to win their first pennant since moving from Boston in 1953. The Braves won the Series in seven games, behind Lew Burdette's three complete game victories, and became the first team to win a championship after relocating."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Baseball World Series 1957 Milwaukee Braves vs New York Yankees, 1958 World Series Footage: Braves vs. Yankees
The Baseball Page
Wes Covington, 1957 World Series hero, was a class act all the way
October 2, 1957 – The 1957 World Series Begins
SI: Series Critique

The Unwritten Rules of Baseball - Paul Dickson

"They have no sanction from the Commissioner, appear nowhere in any official publication, and are generally not posted on any clubhouse wall. They represent a set of time-honored customs, rituals, and good manners that show a respect for the game, one's teammates, and one's opponents. Sometimes they contradict the official rulebook. The fans generally only hear about them when one is bent or broken, and it becomes news for a few days."
amazon: The Unwritten Rules of Baseball - Paul Dickson
Baseball Almanac: The Book of Unwritten Baseball Rules
amazon: The Code - Ross Bernstein
amazon: The Baseball Codes - Jason Turbow

2011 September: The Dickson Baseball Dictionary - Paul Dickson

Hit and Run

Wikipedia - "A hit and run is a high risk/high reward offensive strategy used in baseball. When the offense has a baserunner on first base (more runners may be on base, but there must at least be a runner on first), the runner on first breaks for second as the pitch is thrown. The batter in turn attempts to hit the pitch, and, if he can, to hit the ball through the area that has been vacated by the defender covering second base on the runner's ostensible stolen base attempt."
Wikipedia
Full Windup
In Baseball, What is a Hit and Run?

Mike Shannon - "Blind Romantic Love"

Only blind romantic love cold have driven me
To drive me '63 LeSabre all day and night
And finally half off the road into a ditch
Only a good corncob's throw from where you slept.

Our love was still new and as full
As the lush green mountains which hemmed us in
Minimizing all else with their sense of totality.

While you worked, inspecting the diets of the local poor,
I wandered, waiting for your returns:
Down rocky creek, up hilly fields, through ramshackle barns,
Letting my love for you feed on itself;
To be stronger and more impatient at night when
The crickets and bullfrogs would be our only accompaniment.

On Sunday we drove into Brasstown -
Bats and baseball rattling in the big Buick trunk -
Futilely looking for a public TV to watch the All-Star game on.
You felt bad but it wasn't your fault,
Even though our demise can be dated to that single disappointment.


The Mantle-Mays Controversy Solved
The Day Satchel Paige and the Pittsburgh Crawfords Came to Hertford, N.C.

An Open Letter to the Hall of Fame About Dwight Evans - Bill James

"I hope you understand that I would never sacrifice my reputation by arguing that a player belongs in the Hall of Fame if I did not sincerely believe this to be true. Yes, Dwight Evans works for the Red Sox, and I work for the Red Sox, and I'm not saying this is not relevant to why I am writing, but … I wouldn't argue that Dwight Evans had a Hall of Fame quality career if the kinds of analysis that I do all the time did not show this to be true. It's not really that I wouldn't; I couldn't. I've spent years explaining to the public every step I take in evaluating a player. If I didn't follow those steps, the people who have read my stuff over the years would know immediately that I wasn't playing by the rules, and they would tear me a newbie over it right away."
Grantland

Seventh-inning stretch

Yankee Stadium- 7th Inning Stretch
Wikipedia - "In baseball in the United States and Canada, the seventh-inning stretch is a tradition that takes place between the halves of the seventh inning of a game – in the middle of the seventh inning. Fans generally stand up and stretch out their arms and legs and sometimes walk around. It is a popular time to get a late-game snack as well; many vendors end alcohol sales at this point. The stretch also serves as a short break for the players."
Wikipedia
Origin of 7th inning stretch
Baseball Almanac
YouTube: Seventh Inning Stretch, Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona

Roland Fingers

Wikipedia - "Roland Glen Fingers (born August 25, 1946) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During his 18-year baseball career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics (1968–76), San Diego Padres (1977–80) and Milwaukee Brewers (1981–85). He became only the second reliever to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992. Fingers is also one of only a few MLB players to have his number retired by more than one club (Oakland Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers)."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference
SABR: Roland Fingers
AN Interviews Hall-of-Famer Rollie Fingers
YouTube: Baseball Hall of Fame - Biographies: Rollie Fingers

Bill Pauly

country field -
home run rolling
past the headstones


__________


pop foul
ripping through the maple...
whirligigs


__________


the ballplayers
running into dragonflies
marsh grass in left field


___________


taking the field
the home team breathes halos
into moonlight


___________


season over
the outfield ivy
red again



Baseball Haiku

Arizona Zipper

Hopping over the mound
and into the dugout -
the first robin.

_________

A harvest moon
every eye turned
to a running bunt.

_________

Bottom of the ninth
in the dugout
a row of bent beads.

Baseball Haiku

The Glory of Their Times: The Story Of The Early Days Of Baseball Told By The Men Who Played It - Lawrence Ritter

Wikipedia - "The Glory of Their Times: The Story Of The Early Days Of Baseball Told By The Men Who Played It is a book, edited by Lawrence Ritter, telling the stories of early 20th century baseball. It is widely acclaimed as one of the great books written about baseball."
Wikipedia
amazon
Books On Baseball: Baseball’s Oral History: The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter (YouTube)
CultureCartel

Los Barbudos – The “Bearded Ones”

Camilo Cienfuegos, Raul Castro & Fidel Castro
"What do you do when you have just overthrown the Cuban government? If you are Fidel Castro – you start a barnstorming baseball team! Five days after Castro had seized power in Cuba, members of Castro’s guerilla army - known as the 26th of July Movement - were invited to attend a Havana Cuba Sugar Kings game for free. These guerillas were known as 'Barbudos' – the bearded ones – and beard length was a point of pride as it was used to determine length of time served in the movement. The crowd stood to sing the July 26 movement’s anthem and gave a long standing ovation to the guerrillas. Soldiers and players mingled."
Mop Up Duty

Tim Peeler - "Linear History"

He comes at the pitch
Like a lion with red mane,
On a line
You could diagram,
With his back foot
The stationary leg of a compass,
He sweeps through
With the full power
Of the perfect circle,
Sending the spheres
Into an orbit of flasher.
They line up
Just to see him practice,
Lines of articles
Intersect with reality
Sometime in September.
In another sixty years
The grass will go brown
On his grave.


Touching All the Bases

Colt Stadium

Wikipedia - "Colt Stadium was a Major League baseball stadium that formerly stood in Houston, Texas. It was the home of the Houston Colt .45s. It was their temporary home from 1962-1964 while the Astrodome was being built, just to the south of it. The stadium consisted of an uncovered grandstand stretching from foul pole to foul pole and small bleacher stands in right and left field. One baseball annual published just before the 1962 season referred to it as 'a barn-like thing'. It is best remembered for the horribly hot and humid weather (and attendant mosquito population) that had necessitated building the first domed stadium."
Wikipedia
ballparksofbaseball
Clem's Baseball
Ballparks
1962 - Season Recap, 1963 - Season Recap, (QuickTime)
Colt .45s Video: "Without a Doubt, Houston's Usherettes Are the Living End" (YouTube>
Houston Colt .45s/Astros in the 1960s
Blast From The Past: The Houston Colt 45s
The Bardball Times - Franchises at Birth: The Colt .45s and the Mets
The Story of Baseball in Houston
Before the Colt .45s - A brief history of Houston baseball 1861-1961

Strikeout

Alex Rodriguez reacts after a recent strike out.
Wikipedia - "In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out (denoted by SO or K) occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters. Pitchers want to throw as many strikeouts as possible, while batters attempt to minimize striking out themselves. While strikeouts are associated with dominance on the part of the pitcher, it is recognized that the style of swing that generates home runs also leaves the batter somewhat susceptible to striking out. Some of the greatest home run hitters of all time – such as Reggie Jackson and Sammy Sosa – were notorious for striking out."
Wikipedia
W - List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions
Baseball Almanac: Strikeout Records
Baseball Reference: Career Leaders & Records for Strikeouts
YouTube: Steve Carlton Strikeout Montage, Tim Lincecum Strikeout Montage

Mikhail Horowitz (cont.)

Vladimir MAD DOG MAYAKOVSKY was an infamous hitman for Boston Bolsheviks & a well-red Red for the Red Sox. His Stentorian batting-stance revolutionized the game's rhetoric. Primarily a borscht-stop, he also played extreme left field.

Guillaume DANDY APOLLINAIRE was a pioneer of the modern game who Once designed a Cubist Bullpen. A batsman tres bizarre, he could hit with power to any Zone.

MICKEY MAO kept a Little Red Book on pitchers and was famous for hitting "Chinese Homers" off the Great Wall at Yangtze Stadium. A nearly invincible pitcher himself, his Long March from the bullpen to the mound manged the Red Guards, and taught Tai Chi to Ty Cobb.

Pablo CHOOCHOO NERUDA, was a macho pitcher for Macchu Picchu. He set many Marx and was never struck out by the Fascists.

Ezra TY POUND - "Il Miglior Fungo" - was one of the All Time Greats. An arresting Imaigst, he often led the league in stolen biases, and was the game's first Designated Hitler. In addition, he was an excellent coach, and his ABC of Hitting remains an invaluable treatise.


Big League Poets

"Fifties Baseball" by George F. Will

Ted Williams
"In the 1950s, America was at the wheel of the world and Americans were at the wheels of two-toned (and sometimes even more-toned) cars, tail-finned, high-powered, soft-sprung rolling sofas. One car was the most fiftyish of them all. A Buick had those — what? — gun ports along the hood, and a grille that looked like Teddy Roosevelt's teeth when he was in full grin over some whomping big-stick exercise of American might."
pbs: Fifties Baseball by George F. Will
amazon: Baseball: An Illustrated History