Short Relief

Short Relief: Slip Slidin’ Away

by Nathan Bishop, Justin Klugh, and Patrick Dubuque 10/17

Violent clashes are a historic part of sport. “Kill! Kill! Kill!” we chant continuously through every televised sporting event, the only sound detectable over our shouts being the opening and closing of the front door as our families leave us for the last time. The attempts to contain the natural brute force and gore of...

Short Relief: Slogan’s Heroes

by Mary Craig, Kate Preusser, and Sydney Bergman 10/16

If “9=8” and “Rocktober” have taught us anything, it’s that, come September and October, the English language is no friend to baseball players. So difficult is it to craft catchy yet sensical slogans, it wasn’t even attempted until the contemporary era. Yet the early stages of professional baseball teemed with dramatic storylines and plucky underdogs...

Short Relief: Bridge to Somewhere

by Holly M Wendt, Jason Wojciechowski, and Mike Bates 10/15

During the top of the 7th inning in Saturday’s Dodgers-Brewers contest, the camera’s gaze took on an increased intensity. After Corbin Burnes walked Max Muncy and gave up singles to Manny Machado and Cody Bellinger, Jeremy Jeffress took the mound for Milwaukee. Joc Pederson served up a single. With the bases loaded and the Dodgers...

Short Relief: The Art of the Hate-Watch

by Justin Klugh and Matt Sussman 10/12

In the old days, autumn was about the stifling, unsurvivable humidity of summer giving way to the brisk breeze of October, which blew gusts of school supplies and various gourds down the streets of our cities, while we cowered inside of our homes, comforted only by the terror and passion of postseason baseball flickering on...

Short Relief: Canto e Vino

by Beth Davies-Stofka and Roger Cormier 10/11

Before composing Canto 34 to conclude his epic poem Inferno, Dante Alighieri was witness to the elimination of all four of his favorite teams in the 1318 National League and American League Division Series. Experts believe that in response, Dante composed a short poem titled, simply, Canto DS, in order to comfort fellow fans in...

Short Relief: One Man’s Trash

by Matt Ellis and Nathan Bishop 10/10

Many popular modern board games feature elegant systems, genius mathematical puzzles, and opportunities to create grand engines of efficiency. In these games, the theming is largely secondary. They are elaborate puzzles, and while you may play them with friends, you will not talk much because all of you will be so focused on being efficient....

Short Relief: The Edge of the Void

by Kate Preusser, Mary Craig, and Sydney Bergman 10/09

After a brief appearance in the majors in 2017, Atlanta sent Max Fried to the Arizona Fall League to continue gaining experience after losing almost two full seasons to Tommy John surgery. The AFL, “prospect graduate school,” is a weird mashup of MiLB and summer camp, flavored with a heavy dose of small sample size....

Short Relief: The Capacity for Change

by Patrick Dubuque, Holly M Wendt, and Jason Wojciechowski 10/08

One of the things I like about being a writer is that you can always keep everything. Artists and sculptors have to mine their own souls, transfer that material into physical form, and then give it away to other people. Musicians and actors can record themselves, sure, but their performances are trapped in that moment...

Short Relief: Night Lose

by Matt Sussman and Mike Bates 10/05

The closest I ever got to possessing a baseball used in a major league setting was PNC Park in 2001. Some Arizona Diamondbacks player drilled a batting practice ball almost to the seats. I was in the outfield first row and reached to grab it. Some player instead caught it right under me, then turned...

Short Relief: Pat and the Playoffs

by Roger Cormier and Beth Davies-Stofka 10/04

The 1999 Mets are haunting me. Mike Kinkade keeps leaping out from corners to shout “Boo!” as I walk with four iced coffees. Jermaine Allensworth whispers my deepest darkest insecurities in my ear every night as I try to sleep. It’s rather rude. I tolerate this because they were members of the first baseball team...

Short Relief: Demand Some Joy

by Justin Klugh, Matt Ellis, and Nathan Bishop 10/03

It’s important to acknowledge what this ad is and is not. It is not a sign of some cultural sea change within the game of baseball, wherein more than a century of stodgy traditionalists, puritan-descendant Northeasterners and barely disguised racists have bludgeoned the exuberance out of the young, reckless and darker skinned. It is an...

Short Relief: Finding Meaning in the Fantastical

by Mary Craig, Sydney Bergman, and Kate Preusser 10/02

As the Dodgers and Rockies began their tiebreaker game, I filed into an auditorium that was both too hot and too cold to listen to Ken Burns give a lecture titled “Sharing The American Experience.” As a baseball fan and somebody who studies American history, Ken Burns has long been a figure that people assume...

Short Relief: Rough Waters

by Holly M Wendt and RJ McDaniel 10/01

Not too far from Williamsport, home of the Little League World Series, lies Ricketts Glen State Park. Covering 13,050 acres (or 4,350 baseball fields) in parts of three counties, it is a jewel of a state park. Its Lake Jean is large enough to accommodate both a busy swimming beach and lily-padded arms and stream-fed...

Short Relief: Let Us Now Praise Joseph Mauer

by Mike Bates, Patrick Dubuque, and Matt Sussman 9/28

With the end of the Major League Baseball regular season coming on Sunday, this may be my last chance to write about Joe Mauer as an active player (and get paid to do it). As a lifelong Twins fan (who appreciates monetary compensation), I would be a fool not to. But what is there to...

Short Relief: What We’re Up Against

by Matt Ellis, Beth Davies-Stofka, and Roger Cormier 9/27

I started playing Civilization recently. I really don’t know why–I’m incredibly busy with work I need to be doing and have little to no time to be spending building faux-historical empires on my computer screen, but one does what they will. It’s been a long time since I’ve played video games, really, since the Nintendo...

Short Relief: Postseason Plans

by Justin Klugh and Nathan Bishop 9/26

Hey everyone! Welcome to our MLB Postseason chat, where you can ask today’s host, [GARY WHEN WE FIND A HOST MAKE SURE TO PUT THEIR NAME IN HERE], all your burning playoff questions! Feel free to ask away starting now! @JudgeJuryXecutioner: how do u see this playoff picture shaking out Mysterious Stranger: Heh heh. You...