All posts tagged: Baseball

What’s wrong with sports

Published by

Sports Illustrated had an online article this Friday that in one sentence encapsulates what’s wrong with the modern sports-entertainment complex. In writing that “It’s time to get rid of Wrigley,” Richard Rothschild quotes a Chicago Sun-Times columnist who says the following: “There’s still rust, the concourses still resemble dark alleys and people still have to elbow their way to their seats. … It’s a great park when you look at the field from your seat. It’s not so great on the way to and from your seat.” Isn’t the purpose of the ballpark to look at the field from your seat!?  Can I tell you how many BAD ballparks I’ve sat in where the view of the field was lousy; but hey, we have an arcade to distract the kids (they shouldn’t have to suffer and watch an entire game!), we offer a wide variety of sushi, and we have television screens in the bathrooms and team stores so you don’t really have to go sit in your seat. Jeez! Wrigley Field doesn’t need to …

Got Plans for the Summer?

Published by

My colleague Sarah has a great blog that – like More to Come… – covers her range of interests outside of work.  So I was thrilled when I saw her recent post on top ten things to do this summer at the top of the “best blogs” on Word Press earlier today. Sarah took the idea from The Daily Post.  Her plans looked like such fun that I decided to try my hand at making a list that had an equal smile-inducing factor.  You can be the judge in determining if the DJB list for the summer of 2011 passes the test. 1.  Play more music with friends.  I’ve found a group of guys that I enjoy playing roots music with, but we tend to let it slide over the summer.  I get such joy out of playing with them that I’m going to work on getting everyone together between songwriting and guitar camps.  (Yes, these guys are good!) 2.  Summer in New England.  I’m cheating on this on as I was just in Portland, …

Play Ball!

Published by

My iPod is a genius.  It always knows my moods. Today, as I was unlocking my office door and finishing up the commute to work, what do you think came on the iPod (in shuffle mode, of course)?  Why, none other than Wayne Henderson playing Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Opening Day!  What could be more perfect!! Wayne is a die-hard Red Sox fan, and I’ve included a photo I took of him at Merlefest a couple of years ago to prove it.  If you don’t know about Wayne, check out the book Clapton’s Guitar. I’ve also attached the video of Wayne playing Take Me Out to the Ballgame for all those fans supporting teams today where hope springs eternal.  Go Nats! Enjoy. More to come… DJB

Sign Adam Dunn

Published by

I returned home last evening from the last “Back to School” night of my parenting career in time to catch the last half of a swiftly and beautifully played game between the Philadelphia Phillies, Champions of the National League East, and our home-standing Washington Nationals. There was great pitching between Roy Oswalt and Jason Marquis.  Rookie Danny Espinosa showed once again why he’s becoming a regular in the web gems highlights with a great pick and throw at second base. But the best was saved for last.  On a night when fans received a “Mr. Walk Off” T-Shirt with Ryan Zimmerman’s name down the arm (it was long-sleeved), Adam Dunn did the honors, with a blast as the first batter in the bottom of the ninth to break a 1-1 tie and send everybody home happy. Please tell me why it has taken the Nationals so long to figure out that Adam Dunn can be a great part of their future for the next 3 or more years?  He’s only second in home runs, has …

The Gospel Truth

Published by

I love books that force you to turn page after page because you want to see what comes next. Dirk Hayhurst’s The Bullpen Gospels, which was released this spring, is that type of book. Claire has to read a memoir for school this summer.  I’ve thought about recommending this book…and then I remember the foul language, the sophomoric pranks, and the detailed descriptions of every body part – male and female – known to man.  But seriously, she could do a lot worse than The Bullpen Gospels. Hayhurst is a relief pitcher who has played in the Padres and Blue Jays organizations.  On its face, The Bullpen Gospels is his recounting of the 2007 minor league season, where he played in Single-A and Double-AA ball.  You will laugh your ass off at the antics of ballplayers working to get to The Show.  (Sorry, it is hard to get the language of minor league players out of your mind after reading The Bullpen Gospels.)  Riding home on the train last evening, I laughed out loud twice …

Ouch!

Published by

I usually love to listen to baseball on the radio. Tonight was not usual. On the drive home from BWI Airport following a quick trip to Nashville, I tuned in to the 7th inning of the Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves game.  According to the announcers, the first six innings were well-played and scoreless. The seventh was neither (well-played nor scoreless). For all the T-ball aged readers of More to Come… here are things you’ll learn when you make it to Little League.  (Apparently the Nats skipped that level of baseball development.) First, when the #6 hitter has a lead-off double and you are the #7 hitter, you do not sacrifice bunt.  By bunting you put all the pressure on the #8 hitter because the pitcher bats in the #9 hole.  Of course, for the Nats tonight the #7 hitter bunts for a sacrifice in that situation, then the #8 hitter makes an out (a likely occurence for all #8 hitters – there’s a reason they are there) and all of a sudden the pitcher – who is throwing …

Playing Favorites

Published by

I picked up Top of the Order:  25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Player during the Politics & Prose sale a couple of weeks ago.  Only a handful of the writers were familiar and the inclusion of Michael Jordan (yes, that MJ) and the fictional Crash Davis in the list of favorites indicated this anthology was going to take a different tack from the typical list of baseball’s greatest hits. Top of the Order is, at best, uneven.  I couldn’t wait to get through some of the self-indulgent essays (see Pat Jordan on Tom Seaver) which were more about the author than I cared to read.  At their best, some of the essays captured the special nature of fandom (see the obsessive Darin Strauss on Mariano Rivera) where you didn’t mind the intrusion of the writer.  Steve Almond leads off with a strong piece on Rickey Henderson that hooks the reader into this quirky collection.  Neal Pollack writes a terrific essay on Greg Maddux that demonstrates how dominant Mad Dog was through so many years …

An Act of Human Failing Followed by Colossal Grace

Published by

The June 4, 2010 posting from Baseball Musings entitled An Umpire’s Perspective led to an article on umpire-turned-poet Herm Card. The full article is worth reading, but the ending is simply sublime: We live in a time, Card said, in which people want instant replays, “do-agains,” the quick fix. But baseball has never lent itself to painless answers. “You’ve got to step back,” Card said, “and appreciate the larger sense of what this was.” It was an act of human failing followed by colossal grace, which Card sees as proof enough of a perfect game. Perfect indeed. More to come… DJB

Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend

Published by

We’ve been blessed with two recent books about the greatest baseball player of all time – Willie Mays.  I wrote about the first, Willie’s Boys, in a post in January.  I’ve just finished the second, Willie Mays:  The Life, The Legend, and found it is as satisfying as a well-played game on a warm summer evening.  (Although at 556 pages it takes a bit longer to complete.) Author James Hirsch, who never saw Mays play live, has nonetheless captured the essence of a deeply private, and in many ways unknowable, larger-than-life legend.   Mays is one of those people who touched so many people in so many ways.  As Hirsch notes, “If you write a book that allows you to talk to Bill Clinton, Woody Allen, Hank Aaron, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sandy Koufax, and Tom Seaver, you’ve probably got a pretty good subject.”  Bill Clinton says that Willie Mays, “…lives his life with more than talent – he has the mind and heart of a champion.”  Woody Allen, in the movie Manhattan, said Willie Mays was one …

A View from Home Plate

Published by

I’ve been to countless Major League Baseball games in my life, beginning with Wrigley Field in 1964 to see the Cubs vs. the Cardinals.  But I’ve never seen a game in the front row behind home plate. Until last night. Thanks to a local friend and colleague, who heard of my plan to visit all the MLB ballparks, a group of 12 – in town for today’s launch of Partners in Preservation and a National Trust Council meeting – headed out to Seattle’s  Safeco Field last evening to see the hometown Mariners take on the Oakland A’s.  Kevin told us the seats were great.  He wasn’t kidding. On a beautiful cool evening we saw the Mariners top the A’s 4-2.  And when I say we saw it, we took it all in from the first few rows behind home plate.  You know the seats…the ones you see every night on television when the pitcher glares in on the batter.  I started out four rows back on the first base side, only a few bat-lengths away …