Mar 04
You don’t need to be a baseball fan to like the Bill James story. Actually, it may be easier to like him if you’re not a baseball fan. His insights still polarize people. Insights that overthrow established beliefs often do. It’s not uncommon to hear people claim that he wrecked baseball or that he makes it impossible …
Mar 03
Something from the 2010 season stuck in my head. Cito was being asked about Jose Bautista and a city and he said something to the effect of: ‘He likes it there, that’s where his tailor is.’ I can’t remember much more than that. But fuck you. It’s kinda amazing I remember anything. If you recall, …
Nov 08
Ron Washington’s clubhouse speech to his team before Game Seven of the World Series has been leaked. It’s just plain amazing. But who would expect anything less from Mr. Washington? He do what he do. My favorite quotes from it: “Motherfuck golf.” “He pitch ball and ball cross plate, we gonna knock the shit outta it.” “Ain’t …
Aug 12
According to unnamed sources from an opposing team (who threw the world series in 1919) in a far-fetched ESPN article that holds up to neither statistical scrutiny nor commonsense, the Blue Jays have been using a mysterious man in white to steal signs then relay them to their batters. It sounds insane. It is insane. But then we see the photographs …
May 08
pic nicked from here In baseball, safety is separated by ninety feet of danger. Touching the base, you are safe. The moment you lose contact with it, you are in peril. To score a run, you must navigate these ninety foot sections four times. If unsuccessful, you either get out or are stranded. If successful, you arrive back where you started. Home. …
Apr 04
Bases loaded, two out, bottom of the ninth. Blue Jays behind by one run and the clean-up hitter, Adam Lind, at the plate. He hits the first pitch he sees. Softly. To the first baseman. Game over. Blue Jays lose. Final score 4-3. This sets the blogosphere, twitterverse and talk-radio to sudden debate. Should he …
Jan 24
As I child, I’d watch Blue Jays games with Dad. The bat cracked, the ball sent on a line into a gap for a sure double. We’d hold our breath. Devon White loped towards it. Then, somehow, he’s there. Waiting. Never seemed to speed up. Always seemed to jog. But his glove always found the …
Jan 15
The most recent round of inductions to the Hall of Fame has caused some kerfuffle about performance enhancing drugs. What, if any, effect should using these drugs have on the HOF ambitions of the players? It makes me long for the good old days. The days when baseball was no pink tea and mollycoddles but …
Nov 04
“I cannot get rid of the hurt from losing, but after the last out of every loss, I must accept that there will be a tomorrow. In fact, it’s more than there’ll be a tomorrow, it’s that I want there to be a tomorrow. That’s the big difference, I want tomorrow to come.”
