Which contemporary pitcher best exemplifies the phrase “life throws you a curveball” when your mother says she’s marrying your uncle?; a review of Ty Kelly’s poem about David Wright; crowd sourcing a take on the three-batter reliever minimum when your writing arm is tired
Last week the baseball world lost a friend, and a lot of essayists lost a mentor and a model: Michael Steinberg; *James Murphy voice* baseball we love you, but you’re bringing us down; please read our screenplay about Robot Rob Manfred: Destroyer of Baseball
Reunion answers questions better left alone. What we look like together, on a team again. If the wind has teeth it’s not to bite with but rather scratch from hip down to ankle, to strip one pinstripe away and chill your flank. What ever changed except the date on the calendar. Not you. Still, the…
(Recently the author made his first visit to Fenway Park, and offers some thoughts) Fenway the Museum: It’s a time capsule, which is very specifically different than traveling back in time. Seeing Fenway in 1920, or 1932, or some other year from the Williams/Yastrzemski/Fisk eras would mean seeing it with all the baggage of the…
“And springtime brought me the frightful laugh of an idiot.” -Arthur Rimbaud And Pat Hughes says: As we pause 10 seconds for station identification. He says mental lapses are a thing of the past. It doesn’t hurt to raise his left arm. There was a playfulness— And Ron Santo says: I’m only eating a hot…
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…
(with apologies to Natasha Trethewey’s “Myth”) The starter is the closer is the opener again, baseball writ by Rilke’s refrain: we must change our lives or suffer being left behind. Adapt or die. Some dislike the new, what’s bad for baseball, bullpen starts. Or: the JUCO prospect who almost didn’t play. Realize the scrap of…
Yesterday, the Dallas Morning News put out this update on the condition of Tim Lincecum, who was shelved with a blister before the season started and was moved to the 60-day disabled list last week. Here are the saddest portions: 5. The phrase “attacked by a raging blister” It’s not just any blister, but an…
(after Updike, and Camus) “Word is the actual attendance at Monday’s #Rays-#White Sox game—people who used tickets to come in—was 974.” –Marc Topkin, Twitter, April 10. We’d had snow, and when the night game was rescheduled for 1:10 due to cold, that cinched it. My parents made me get this job—value of hard work and…
Maybe this is crazy. Maybe it isn't. The Phillies have seen the future. Are we ready? https://t.co/mDMjUPncIw pic.twitter.com/t6OLLCq06o — Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) February 28, 2018 Excerpt From Game Report 05/10/18: Rhys Hoskins, who went 0-for-3 with a walk in the loss to the Giants, gave an emphatic response to one reporter’s question about the play…
(photo credit: © Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports) four months old He doesn’t remember this part, of course, but looking back through the worn baby book that his mother keeps on a shelf near the television—he wonders if this shape, the first shape, was maybe the best one. Really, it wasn’t a shape at all. He’d…
4. Tank, Cyborg, Flybot, and Motorcycle, all tied for fourth. Scabs, the lot of them. 3. (null set) 2. (null set) 1. The human players you can’t play with The 1991 release Cyber Stadium Series: Base Wars is one of several games that assumes in the future some or all (in this case all) human…
For the Cubs, a door closes and a conspiracy theory opens; poetry in wartime between pitchers and mascots; and a small career lost in service.
Kate rekindles some ballpark missed connections, Emma gazes at Michael Martinez and the Indians, while Trevor matches up Eric Young Jr. and destiny.
Jason shares the wealth, Matt shares the fate of an old friend, and Nathan reviews Baseball Highlights 2045.