The Lost Art of Baseball Humor
I think a lot of this book is lost on me. While Petrone obviously did a tremendous amount of research in compiling The Lost Art, much of it is not, in fact, humorous.
What it is is a amazing and studious look into the writing style in an age when the sport was young and those who reported on it were learning on the job. Imagine, no television, no 24/7 cable highlight shows, no radio reports; newspapers were the sole source of news.
A couple of asides, speaking of baseball and humor in the late 1800s.
There’s a scene from the “Amalgamation and Capital” episode of Deadwood, one of my favorite programs of all time, in which Dan Dorrity, henchman to the criminally expert saloon owner Al Swearengen, complains to the editor of the local newspaper that “I’d like the ball scores a little more f***** prompt.
Even more profane is comedian Greg Proops — a hardcore baseball fan — as he entertains his audience (back in 2013) with tales of some of the more foul language used by ballplayers of that era You can listen to that here at about the 11:25 mark. But I warn you, do it with earbuds in private.
Now that’s funny.
Now back to our regularly scheduled entry…
It’s kind of like movies. I don’t know if you could make something like Casablanca or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington these days. Not enough explosions or nudity. Times change. It’s the same for baseball humor; this stuff was probably hugely comical back in the day. Now, it’s mildly amusing to see what passed for funny. Like “dad jokes,” only 100 years older.
On the back of the book, we see “[T]hough these writing styles have faded away like so much dust on the base paths, the pages herein contain numerous samples to ponder for baseball historians and casual fans alike.” True enough and more than justification to browse The Lost Art of Baseball Humor.
is available on Amazon.com,
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