The teacher handed me an envelope, and my heart started racing. I never got envelopes. I never got called out. I was very much a background character of my second grade class, putting my books in my bag and thinking about Nintendo. I wondered what it could be. Had I won a prize? Had they…
Reunion answers questions better left alone. What we look like together, on a team again. If the wind has teeth it’s not to bite with but rather scratch from hip down to ankle, to strip one pinstripe away and chill your flank. What ever changed except the date on the calendar. Not you. Still, the…
Look, I’ve got no idea what’s going on at MLB HQ. The Mishandling of Everything Committee is hard at work, turning Rob Manfred mid-sleep night whispers into bylaws. The mascot spaying and neutering division has fallen way behind. People are accidentally ingesting baseball weightlessness serum and floating into ceiling fans. Who knows. All we have…
It has long been told Cincinnati had the first professional baseball team, back in the days when baseball was two words. The name “Reds” was short for “Red Stockings,” referring to the color of the socks. It is very likely that team no longer exists in Cincinnati, given there is already a team in the…
Despite pouring money into improving the product in the off-season, MiLB.tv remains charmingly low-rent, which is exactly how I like it. Give me broadcaster chatter and Power Point slide art and wonky camera angles any day over slickly produced MLB.tv content or that godawful Imagine Dragons song being shouted at me every half-inning through a…
If you let it, hate can get in anywhere.
The rain had started around midday, and it couldn’t have matched the mood more accurately. Bryce Harper‘s return to Washington had been anticipated so much by local fans in a cold, sad way. With no motivation to root for their former star, Nationals fans had enthusiastically embraced Harper’s new villainous role, with many using duct…
Call me a nut, because what I missed most of all were the sounds of baseball. The crack of the bat. The ground rules to enjoying a game, as explained by the hometown players so you know they are not making stuff up. An echoed Deborah Kerr asking “Do you think it will ever take…
Baseball has changed again without asking. They do not know what they have done, but they are about to find out. Inning breaks will be reduced from 2:05 to 2:00 in local games and from 2:25 to 2:00 in national games. Time is needed for us to decompress; to consider what was just shown. When…
Thought experiment: if you could magically add 30 points of on base percentage to any team in baseball, who would you pick? (Ordinarily, I’d add the caveat “excluding your favorite team” but let’s face it…if you’re an MLB fan during this execrable offseason, there’s a 95 percent chance the owner of your favorite team has…
The chant begins the second he steps from the batting cage after his final round: I-chi-ro. I-chi-ro. It comes from Japanese fans who have traveled hundreds or thousands of miles to be here; from American fans wearing worn Ichiro All-Star jerseys; from professional autograph hounds to small children who only know that he is a…
Mickey Callaway on Brandon Nimmo's stomach ailment: "I guess he cooked some chicken, and didn't know how to cook or something. He was throwing up all night. We're going to have to teach him how to cook so he doesn't miss any more games." 🍗 — Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) February 27, 2019 Hello Brandon, welcome…
At some point in every artist’s life, they find a purpose or meaning that forces their hand to make something new, something inspiring. To create something so unique that when people see it for the first time, their imagination lights up. For me, that inspiration started by taking ordinary items that people throw away and…
You didn’t know this, but Derek Jeter has never played in a baseball game on a losing team. When Derek Jeter scratches off a losing lottery ticket, he responds, “No,” and eats it like a hamster. If you are dining with Derek Jeter and finish before him, he quietly orders two more entrees and begins…