The "Baseball Is Fun" Thread
I've stopped reading most of the threads about the Reds problems, partly because it's May 2, and partly because it bums me out. I wanted to have a place where we can link awesome stuff from this baseball season since baseball is the greatest sport man has ever conceived, and it's supposed to be fun. I'll get it started.
The Evan Gattis story is amazing to me. USA Today has a really nice piece about his battle with depression and addiction and how he's bounced back from being a janitor. This is one of the most beautiful parts of the story to me:
Quote:
Gattis, 6-4, 235 pounds, who had played 49 games higher than Class A and none above Class AA, openly wept when Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez told him at the end of spring training that he made the team.
We rely so much on stats and schedules and slumps and lineups, and it's easy to forget that, at it's core, baseball is still about people.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...yself/2122585/
Re: The "Baseball Is Fun" Thread
Donnybrook at Riverfront Stadium
by Lillian Morrison ©
Published: At The Crack Of The Bat (1992)
Oh, what a melee
Oh, what a brawl
Oh, what a slambang
Free-for-all.
Managers, umpires
And 48 players
Rolled on the ground
In knots and layers.
Knight pushed Davis?
Davis shoved Knight?
Boys will be boys.
A bench-clearing fight.
The two were ejected.
Soto, Mitchell, the same.
Pitchers played outfield.
Some baseball game.
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Baseball Fan's Lament
by Jean H. Berkompas ©
Published: Baseball Almanac (1999)
Daily paper's on the rack -
Sporting News is in the back.
Things are really looking black -
Home team's getting off the track.
Everything is out of whack -
Paying players all that jack.
How to get those bats to crack?
Time to try another tack -
Give the manager the sack?
Get another old-time hack -
To be leader of the pack.
Can he teach them to attack?
I don't have the answer, Mac!
Re: The "Baseball Is Fun" Thread
Baseball is fun
I just started playing in an adult baseball league in Seoul. We have 6 teams with 15+ people each playing on the worst field imaginable, and its still baseball. My team is 2-0 and small sample size aside I'm sporting a robust 1.4 OPS, but I digress. We spend a lot of time here talking the game. Those that are still capable, get out there. Knowing more about the game, just makes it better. If you can, play, if not umpire or coach. The game is always amazing.
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I've posted this before but seems like a good place to repost.
"Line-Up for Yesterday" by Ogden Nash, 1949
A is for Alex
The great Alexander;
More Goose eggs he pitched
Than a popular gander.
B is for Bresnahan
Back of the plate;
The Cubs were his love,
and McGraw his hate.
C is for Cobb,
Who grew spikes and not corn,
And made all the basemen
Wish they weren't born.
D is for Dean,
The grammatical Diz,
When they asked, Who's the tops?
Said correctly, I is.
E is for Evers,
His jaw in advance;
Never afraid
To Tinker with Chance.
F is for Fordham
And Frankie and Frisch;
I wish he were back
With the Giants, I wish.
G is for Gehrig,
The Pride of the Stadium;
His record pure gold,
His courage, pure radium.
H is for Hornsby;
When pitching to Rog,
The pitcher would pitch,
Then the pitcher would dodge.
I is for Me,
Not a hard-hitting man,
But an outstanding all-time
Incurable fan.
J is for Johnson
The Big Train in his prime
Was so fast he could throw
Three strikes at a time.
K is for Keeler,
As fresh as green paint,
The fastest and mostest
To hit where they ain't.
L is for Lajoie
Whom Clevelanders love,
Napoleon himself,
With glue in his glove.
M is for Matty,
Who carried a charm
In the form of an extra
brain in his arm.
N is for Newsom,
Bobo's favorite kin.
You ask how he's here,
He talked himself in.
O is for Ott
Of the restless right foot.
When he leaned on the pellet,
The pellet stayed put.
P is for Plank,
The arm of the A's;
When he tangled with Matty
Games lasted for days.
Q is for Don Quixote
Cornelius Mack;
Neither Yankees nor years
Can halt his attack.
R is for Ruth.
To tell you the truth,
There's just no more to be said,
Just R is for Ruth.
S is for Speaker,
Swift center-field tender,
When the ball saw him coming,
It yelled, "I surrender."
T is for Terry
The Giant from Memphis
Whose .400 average
You can't overemphis.
U would be 'Ubell
if Carl were a cockney;
We say Hubbell and Baseball
Like Football and Rockne.
V is for Vance
The Dodger's very own Dazzy;
None of his rivals
Could throw as fast as he.
W is for Wagner,
The bowlegged beauty;
Short was closed to all traffic
With Honus on duty.
X is the first
of two x's in Foxx
Who was right behind Ruth
with his powerful soxx.
Y is for Young
The magnificent Cy;
People battled against him,
But I never knew why.
Z is for Zenith
The summit of fame.
These men are up there.
These men are the game.
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Great philosopher, Foghorn Leghorn.
http://youtu.be/8Vi6rFAlUr4
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Baseball is fun because its the one thing that can make me feel like a kid again. When I cross the gates and into the stadium I feel like I did when I was eight years old and going to my first game at Riverfront Stadium. It puts a smile on my face without realizing it and the entire world feels good. Nothing else does that for me and I hope baseball never stops doing that for me.
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Spot on Cumberlandreds. I can STILL remember how amazed I was at how green the grass was in Riverfront stadium the first time I walked through that tunnel. I didn't know what astroturf was back then...it was grass to me. We had black and white TV's in our house, so that day was the first time I'd seen the Reds and Riverfront in color. And to this day I still get a chill when I walk in a MLB stadium. Simply nothing else like it. The smells, the sounds, that crack of the bat, a 90+ mph heater smacking into the mitt...heaven on earth. :O)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
_Sir_Charles_
Spot on Cumberlandreds. I can STILL remember how amazed I was at how green the grass was in Riverfront stadium the first time I walked through that tunnel. I didn't know what astroturf was back then...it was grass to me. We had black and white TV's in our house, so that day was the first time I'd seen the Reds and Riverfront in color. And to this day I still get a chill when I walk in a MLB stadium. Simply nothing else like it. The smells, the sounds, that crack of the bat, a 90+ mph heater smacking into the mitt...heaven on earth. :O)
You know that was my first thought when I saw Riverfront the first time, How green the grass was. Never forget that as long as I live. :)
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I don't know why I like it so much. I never played (well, 1 year when I was like 10, but was a bench warmer who hardly got in the game). It's one of the few sports where most of the time nothing is happening, and even when things are happening people are failing more often than succeeding. Yet I still enjoy watching it, anticipate the days I get to go see it live, and pray I can bring my two little girls up with a love of the game that so many young people these days just don't seem to have. In the age of immediate gratification, it's nice to take in a relaxing day of baseball.
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I love the fact that so many moments in our lives outside of baseball can be linked to a baseball timeline. The first time I was able to ride a 2 wheel bike without help...it was the same day I got to pitch in a game for the first time. The first game my dad made it to one of my games was also the first game I hit a dinger in. Hotdogs after the team won, suicides, snocones, it just goes on and on. Anyday I'm feelng a little blue or depressed, I can always put in Field of Dreams and I'm smiling and sobbing like a little kid because the game just links so many things in our lives together. Since my dad passed away last February, I keep seeing so many memories that appear so vividly when I'm watching a game. Things I hadn't thought about in years. I wouldn't have remembered them if not for this beautiful game. Play ball!