Throwback Thursday: The Great American Pastime

"Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer." ~Ted Williams

Photo by Nathan Gonthier on Unsplash

It's a long season. Beginning in the spring, when the birds fly north, you hear the first crack of the bat and hearts going pitter-patter awaiting the season opener... followed by the long weary road as the season wears on. Every day is game day with only the All Star break to interfere. By the time the season nears its end the birds are flying south, and up here in the Northland we wake to find frost on our car windows each morning.

September, just around the corner, is the month when pennant hopes come alive. We see which teams have enough pitchers left who can bring their teams down the stretch, because by this time there are a lot of tired arms out there.

Baseball is a game that has inspired many a poet, journalist, philosopher, artist and story teller. It's a sport that, to some extent, defines the American spirit. Despite numerous strikes that broke many a fan's heart, we still get that "feeling" in September as the days crawl toward the playoffs... At least, I still get that feeling.

I admit that I'm not the fan I used to be, but I still enjoy following the game. There's a ball field in Hermantown that I drive past on the way to the mall, and when I see kids out there playing I occasionally stop and watch a few pitches, watch the way a kid fields a grounder, how they carry themselves. Sometimes I wish I had my camera or think I should do a painting of the sprawling lush green grass, the lime white foul lines, the beige infield.

When I was seven I lied about my age to play in the Little League. This was back when kids went off to play baseball after school and through the evening and parents didn't wonder where we were all hours of the day. The team I played on was called the Mudcats, which came from a pitcher named Mudcat Grant, who was an ace for the Cleveland Indians. This was the spring of '60. Three years later Grant was the only Indian who made the 1963 All Star team which I saw live in old Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

It's hard to say whether life is more like baseball, or that baseball is like life. For sure, baseball has turned more than a few fans into amateur philosophers. Here are some quotes from one of many sources on the internet that collect such pearls, and a few new ones since this was posted in 2012.

"The baseball mania has run its course. It has no future as a professional endeavor." --Cincinnati Gazette, 1879

"When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of the summer afternoon on a river bank, we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him that I wanted to be a real major league baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he'd like to be president of the United States. Neither of us got our wish."--Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Baseball is very big with my people. It figures. It's the only time we can get to shake a bat at a white man without starting a riot."--Dick Gregory, 1962

"Good pitching always stops good hitting, and vice versa."--Bob Veale

"Baseball exemplifies a tension in the American mind, the constant pull between our atomistic individualism and our yearning for community."--George Will

“If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant’s life, she will choose to save the infant’s life without even considering if there is a man on base “--Dave Barry

”Slump ? I ain’t in no slump. I just ain’t hittin’.”--Yogi Berra

”Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many players on the field?“--Jim Bouton

"All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, ‘There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.’”--Ted Williams

"Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things."--Robert Frost

"If it weren't for baseball, many kids wouldn't know what a millionaire looked like."--Phyllis Diller

"Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It's staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in."--Casey Stengel

"The seductiveness of baseball is that almost everyone with an abiding interest in it knows exactly how it should be played. And secretly believes that he could do it, if only God had seen fit to make him just a little bit less clumsy."--George V Higgins 

Well, y'all have a great weekend... whoever you're rootin' for.

Play Ball

Yesterday afternoon I finished watching Ken Burns' ten-plus hours of documentary devoted to the game he loves called, simply, Baseball. As reviewer Dave McCoy at Amazon.com puts it, "Burns doesn't just detail the great players and the memorable plays and games; he also presents baseball as a cultural and social mirror, reflecting the beauty and hypocrisy of the nation that created it."

We love our heroes and we love our distractions, and we love the feeling of being part of something that has a long history, a continuity that precedes us and will extend beyond us as well. No matter what is going on in the outside world, baseball marches on. The game never stopped for World War I or World War II, the Korean War or Viet Nam, though for a moment on 9/11 it did pause for a few days. Nevertheless, for the most part baseball lives inside its own bubble. Salary disputes couldn't kill it. Strikes didn't kill it. Scandals haven't derail it. And based on the dollars flowing into the pockets and bank accounts of both players and owners one wonders how it can continue to so bedazzle this nation of fans.

When talking baseball I have to interject at least one personal anecdote, and his one came to mind because of the some of the new ways a player's value is determined. In Little League I was a star, one of two from our team to be invited to the All Star Game. But the following year, I had a very different experience. Being a late bloomer and not as fully developed for my age, that first year in Pony League proved, well, challenging. And I had a most unusual batting record.

I was a good infielder, so I got to play, but for some reason I had trouble with the faster pitchers. At this level there were some kids actually being scouted by major league teams, so you know what caliber of pitchers I was up against. All this to say I actually went an entire season without ever hitting a fair ball. To my credit, I had a good eye and discipline, so even though my batting average was zero my on base percentage was .500. That's right, I struck out 13 times and walked 13 times. As they say, a walk's as good as a hit. Fortunately my high school numbers only got better from there.

Needless to say, here are a few more quotes on The Game, courtesy QuoteGarden where they were assembled.

You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby

Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer. ~Ted Williams

I'm convinced that every boy, in his heart, would rather steal second base than an automobile. ~Tom Clark

You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too. ~Roy Campanella

No game in the world is as tidy and dramatically neat as baseball, with cause and effect, crime and punishment, motive and result, so cleanly defined. ~Paul Gallico

There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit. ~Al Gallagher, 1971

I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it. ~Rogers Hornsby

Enjoy your day, and cheer for your team if you have one. Tonight, being in Denver, I will cheer for the Colorado Rockies.

A Few JFK Quotes

His reputation was large. I remember hearing, while doing the Evelyn Wood training for speed reading with comprehension in sixth grade, that John F. Kennedy could read 2000 words a minute. This seemed astonishing to me. Equally astonishing was the assassination which occurred just months before.

Without doubt he became our 35th president at a very dicey time. The Cold War was hot, and the times were a-changin'. The Russians appeared to be ahead in "the Space Race" and the Civil Rights movement was in full bloom with nothing as yet resolved.

He called himself “an idealist without illusions” which feels like a pretty apt moniker. Raised from a vantage point inside the corridors of power, there's no doubt he had ample opportunity to get jaded... but somehow managed to inspire a generation to step up to the plate and make a mark in history. Despite his brief time in office, his shadow has stretched long.

The following are a few pointed and pithy thoughts from the heart of a president who's life was indeed cut short in its prime.

"A child miseducated is a child lost."

"A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on."

"A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."

"And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

"Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both."

"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."

"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men."

"Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

"For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future."

"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."

"I just received the following wire from my generous Daddy; Dear Jack, Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide."

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

"Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."

"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future."

"Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind."

"Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process."

"Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

It's easy to see without reading too far how witty the man was, or perhaps talented his team of writers. If you enjoyed these, a Google search will bring you plenty more to chew on.

In the meantime, have a great day... and make a difference.

Car Quotes

"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do." ~Jason Love

Last night the AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour was in town, passing through on the third leg of its eight scheduled week-long road tours for 2009. More than 300 local folks brought their classic cars as well to make it the second annual event at the AMSOIL Center in Superior, Wisconsin.

In honor of the occasion I thought a few car quotes would be in order. Funny thing is that when you look up Hemingway Quotes in Google, you get quotes by Hemingway, and when you look up Quotes Suffering you get proverbial wisdom about suffering. But when you type in Car Quotes, you get pages of sites dedicated to pricing your ride, or someone else's vehicle. It takes a little more work to pull up quotes about cars.

Nevertheless, I achieved my aim and thought a few of these worth sharing.

"The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it." ~Dudley Moore

"Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly." ~Author Unknown

"Car sickness is the feeling you get when the monthly payment is due." ~Author Unknown

"The shortest distance between two points is under construction." ~Noelie Altito

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." ~George Best

"When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot." ~Larry Lujack

"In less enlightened times, the best way to impress women was to own a hot car. But women wised up and realized it was better to buy their own hot cars so they wouldn't have to ride around with jerks." ~Scott Adams

"The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires." ~Dorothy Parker

Enjoy your day, and and joy your ride.

A Few Baseball Quotes

It's a long season. Beginning in the spring, when the birds fly north, you hear the first crack of the bat and hearts going pitter-patter awaiting the season opener... followed by the long weary road as the season wears on. Every day is game day with only the All Star break to interfere.

Now, it's September. Pennant hopes come alive, and we see which teams have enough pitchers left who can bring them home, because now there are a lot of tired arms out there.

Baseball is a game that has inspired many a poet, journalist, philosopher and story teller. It's a sport that, to some extent, defines the American spirit. Despite numerous strikes that broke many a fan's heart, we still get that feeling in September as the days crawl toward the playoffs... At least, I still get that feeling.

I admit that I'm not the fan I used to be, but I still enjoy following the game. For several years I have played Fantasy Baseball as a way of connecting with my brother, and because I am somewhat competitive (some would call that an understatement) I study pitching stats and stay current with who's hot and who's not. The name of my team, the Munger Mudcats, comes from a pitcher named Mudcat Grant, who was an ace for the Cleveland Indians when I was a kid. Grant was the only Indian who made the 1963 All Star team which I saw live in old Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Munger is the community I live in now.

It's hard to say whether life is more like baseball, or that baseball is like life. Here are some quotes from one of many sources on the internet that collect such pearls.

“If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant’s life, she will choose to save the infant’s life without even considering if there is a man on base “
~ Dave Barry

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere; and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing; and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville-- mighty Casey has struck out.
~ Ernest Lawrence Thayer, Casey at the Bat

"You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.”
~ Joe DiMaggio, on Opening Day

”Slump ? I ain’t in no slump. I just ain’t hittin’.”
~ Yogi Berra

”Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many players on the field?“
~ Jim Boulton

"All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, ‘There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.’”
~ Ted Williams

"Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young.”
~ Roger Angell

"Cub fans, by consensus, are the best in baseball. Year after year, in good times and (mostly) bad, they turn out in vociferous numbers, sustaining themselves with a heavenly choir that combines loyalty, criticism, cheerfulness, durability, rage, beer and hope, in exquisite proportions.” (Note: Maybe this will be their year? Go, Cubs!)
~ Roger Angell

"Trying to sneak a fastball past Hank Aaron is like trying to sneak the sunrise past a rooster.”
~ Joe Adcock

“They were starting to hit the dry side of the ball.”
~ Lew Burdette, on when he knew it was time to retire

“It’s designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything is new again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops, and leaves you to face the fall alone.”
~ A. Bartlett Giamatti, Comissioner of Baseball, 1989

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”
~ Rogers Hornsby, Hall of Famer

“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.”
~ Bob Feller

“I’d walk through hell in a gasoline suit to keep playing baseball.”
~ Pete Rose

“When you’re in a slump, It’s almost as if you look out at the field and it’s one big glove.”
~ Vance Law

“The game has a cleanness. If you do a good job, the numbers say so. You don’t have to ask anyone or play politics. You don’t have to wait for the reviews.”
~ Sandy Koufax

“Nothing flatters me more than to have it assumed that I could write prose--unless it be to have it assumed that I once pitched a baseball with distinction.”
~ Robert Frost