Say Hey! The Catch, 1954
Original photo by NY Daily News, colorized by John Turney for Uni-Watch
I’ve said before I always think of baseball differently from most of the other sports; that I think of baseball as a companion and a friend more than an event. A baseball game holds the same expected pleasure as meeting your oldest friend for a drink after work. It’s not unusual, and it probably won’t be life-changing. And yet it’s that very quality, that expectedness and smallness, that works its way into your life and makes this game a part of you. Familiarity only breeds contempt when there’s no love to keep it special.
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| — | The Red Baron, Viva el Birdos (Opening Day) |
new desultory baseball’s meaningless predictions for the 2012 MLB season:
AL division winners: Boston, Cleveland, Texas
AL Wild Card winners: Tampa Bay, LA Angels
NL division winners: Philadelphia, Cincinnati, LA Dodgers
NL Wild Card winners: Milwaukee, Arizona
World Series: Texas over…
“In contrast to the unwieldy world which we hold in common, baseball offers a kingdom built to human scale. Its problems and questions are exactly our size. Here we come when we feel a need for a rooted point of reference… Baseball isn’t necessarily an escape from reality, though it can be; it’s merely one of our many refuges within the real where we try to create a sense of order on our own terms. Born to an age where horror has become commonplace, where tragedy has, by its monotonous repetition, become a parody of sorrow, we need to fence off a few parks where humans try to be fair, where skill has some hope of reward, where absurdity has a harder time than usual getting a ticket.”
- Thomas Boswell, Why Time Begins on Opening Day
I cherish a theory I once heard propounded by G.Q. Durham that professional baseball is inherently antiwar. The most overlooked cause of war, his theory runs, is that it’s so damned interesting. It takes hard effort, skill, love and a little luck to make times of peace consistently interesting. About all it takes to make war interesting is a life. The appeal of trying to kill others without being killed yourself, according to Gale, is that it brings suspense, terror, honor, disgrace, rage, tragedy, treachery and occasionally even heroism within range of guys who, in times of peace, might lead lives of unmitigated blandness. But baseball, he says, is one activity that is able to generate suspense and excitement on a national scale, just like war. And baseball can only be played in peace. Hence G.Q.’s thesis that pro ball-players—little as some of them may want to hear it—are basically just a bunch of unusually well-coordinated guys working hard and artfully to prevent wars, by making peace more interesting.
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| — | David James Duncan, The Brothers K (via mshedden) |
Stars of Cuba team from 1912, which included Cuban baseball legend Jose Mendez seated in center of the second row.
The others in the photo, which is now up for auction at Hakes Americana and Collectibles, are listed (from left to right starting with the back row) as: Jabuco, Niessen, Sueya, Jones and R. Valdes, J. Munoz, Pelayo Chacon, A. Cabahas, P. Pereda, Govantes, N. Villa and Figarola.
But even those who recognize the necessity of the moment know it just won’t be the same without him around. His retirement feels like the end of something bigger than the end of a single admirable career. Like Carlton Fisk a generation before, Varitek was not just the backstop, but the ballclub’s backbone. He will never join Pudge in Cooperstown nor should he, but he is a pivotal, beloved figure in Red Sox lore, so essential in the affirming championships of 2004 and ‘07.
- Chad Finn, Boston Globe
Read the rest: “Jason Varitek’s one-hit wonders”
(photo: Getty Images)
Registration is Open
June 27th - July 1st
Minneapolis, Minnesota
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I’m hosting an unofficial SABR happy hour the week of the convention (details TBA).
Negro leagues star and Hall of Famer Monte Irvin from one of four 1948-49 Trinidad y Hno. booklets — one for each team in the Cuban League.
Irvin, who was born on this date (Feb.25) in 1919, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. in 1973 and to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.
The former Newark Eagles and New York Giants star outfielder played two seasons for Almendares.
In the 1948-49 season, Irvin led the Cuban League with 10 home runs, while driving in 53 runs, as he helped lead Almendares to the pennant by eight games over Habana.
Irvin also was instrumental in Cuba’s Caribbean Series victory following the winter league. He batted .389 and led the Series with two homers and 11 RBI as Almendares, representing Cuba, went 6-0 to win the inaugural Caribbean Series against Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Panama.
