Whoda thunk it? But according to this piece –“Baseball Meets Horror” — by Bruce Markusen in the “Cooperstown Confidential” portion of The Hardball Times, yep.
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From the category archives:
“Oddballs”
As a “reward” for having my submission on an episode of Deadwood accepted into the Extra Hot Great canon (you can go ahead and skip to about the 37-minute mark), I got to choose a topic for an “EHG mini.” Shouldn’t surprise anyone that I found a way to combine my two favorite pastimes — sports […]
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NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
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A few weeks back I did a review of Chuck Klosterman’s latest book, But What If We’re Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past. Klosterman refereed to The Book of Predictions as an example of just how wrong people can be. It’s fun to look at some of the entries in Predictions — […]
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“The unwritten rules of baseball, courtesy of Goose Gossage and the St. Paul Saints.” I’ll be looking for this on eBay very soon. But wait, if the unwritten rules are written, doesn’t that no longer make them unwritten, which means everything is written now?
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The actor Alan Young passed away at the age of 96 on Thursday. Baseball connection? Several of the Dodgers, including Sandy Koufax, John Roseboro, Willie Davis, and Moose Skowron appeared as themselves, as well as the voice of Vin Scully.
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There has to be something going on on Jeopardy. How else to explain the high number of clues regarding baseball over the past several weeks. It seems like there is at least one reference per week. Sometimes an entire category is devoted to some aspect of the national pastime as in this from last night’s […]
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In posting the weekly best-seller list, I usually include the image of a book making its Bookshelf debut. Notice how Author’s name. To me, it appears to be about 50 percent larger than the title of the book. Why is that? Inquiring minds want to know! Is it because Darling has become a national presence […]
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The new normal in baseball literature is to publish something — anything — that pushes baseball analytics as the only logical way to assemble a team. Michael Lewis’ Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game may may have been the first “official” book to address the concept, but there have been several since its […]
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In addition to the regular reasons — the signaling of the start of summer, the lazy evenings, the smell of the grass, etc. — I love the beginning of the baseball season because of the previews in the newspapers. These have often come in the form of supplements of substantial length and breadth and tailored, […]
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The last page of today’s New York Times‘ art section features several wonderful baseball collectibles. The least expensive is a paperweight commemorating Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit for $19.95 plus shipping. The most expensive: a Pride of the Yankees original movie poster for $4,950. Other items include Jackie Robinson Story original movie poster ($1,950) Vintage baseball […]
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Don’t know how I missed this one. Must have been making dinner.
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Jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding was the guest for Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me‘s Not My Job segment last week. So the writer thought it would be cute… PETER SAGAL: Second base is baseball, the great American pastime. SPALDING: Oh no. SAGAL: One of the worst baseball players ever was one Smead Jolley. Mr. Jolly was […]
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Last night, an entire category devoted to “Ways to reach first base.” The contestants answered each one correctly, although the $200 clue remained on the board after the first round. $400: 4 wide ones (What is a walk?) $600: Craig Biggio had it happen 285 times; ouch! (What is hit by pitch?) $800: A defensive […]
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This time it’s “Moneyball for book publishers.” How long until “moneyball” is added to the OED? No exact match found for “moneyball” in Grammar & usage
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Yesterday on Jeopardy: Then I sat down to do the Times‘ crossword: Crazy, man. One of my Facebook friends suggested there should be a version of Jeopardy devoted solely to the national pastime. Baseball in Jeopardy? You’re welcome.
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Guess I wasn’t born into the right family. You know, the kind that squirrels things away in the attic, totally oblivious to their importance. Case in point: “Family finds not one but 7(!) 100-year-old Ty Cobb baseball cards” “Fortune” indeed.
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is available on Amazon.com,
