Baseball, Life, and Other Stuff

Baseball in the Bahamas

There are golfers who enjoy playing at as many different courses or in as many different states as possible.  Al and I are pursuing that idea when it comes to baseball.  That is why we took our gloves through customs, on board our cruise ship, and then disembarked with them in Nassau.  We played on a huge soccer field below Fort Charlotte and within 1.5 miles of where our ship was docked.  We also played catch on the beach just to prove that it really was the Bahamas.  We would have played on board ship, but we couldn't find any ceilings high enough.  Of course, looking back, we could have taken turns dropping baseballs from Deck 8 down to Deck 4 in the Centrum, but we didn't think of that at the time.

 
Please view a few more photos of Baseball in the Bahamas by visiting this link.

A Winning Cruise!

Our cruise to Nassau was a fantastic experience.  It also proved to be a winning experience--if you except the $30.00 I dropped at the blackjack table and I don't count that because I actually won two hands anyway.  Besides, we entered two "Name That Tune" contests and were victorious in both.

The first one involved naming Big Band tunes, but it turned out to be more big band/crooner classics.  We named 14/20 which left us tied with another team.  We sent Martha to the stage of Boleros Lounge to compete against the best player from our rivals.  Neither team captain got the first two songs, but Martha recognized "The Way You Look Tonight" and our opponent didn't; therefore, Al, Margo, Martha, and I received victory luggage tags.

Of course, we realized that this might be a pyrrhic victory.  This cruise was supposed to be rejuvenating, but this contest seemed to prove how old we really were!

And now the pressure was on because "Name That Disco Tune" took place two evenings later.  If we won the 40s contest, we had to win the contest from our own era.  When the songs had finished, David, an Italian who was the wildest of the cruise directors, guessed that 11 correct titles would take the contest.  We had 18/20.  Another team had named 15 and was shocked when we cried "higher!" as David counted up the scores.  For our efforts, we won some spiffy Royal Caribbean baseball caps as well as the Glory associated with being the self-proclaimed Music Masters of the Enchantment of the Seas.

What really made this a winning cruise, however, was the time we spent with some wonderful people.  We shared dinner each evening with Kevin and Judy Cannon and Lowell and Sandy Turner.  Never once did a conversation with these folks feel like dreaded small talk; and we never lacked for conversation.  Larry Strawderman, our group leader, shepherded us quite well, and thanks to his efforts in arranging a book signing, 13 more copies of Safe at Home:  A Season in the Valley were sold.  That total reflects the gratifying support of the New Market Rotarians who comprised our group and who were eager to hear a little bit about home while in the middle of the Atlantic.  Then, of course, there was Al & Margo Smith, our cruise companions and with whom we've been sailing through life for years now.  Al got Martha down to our cabin when she became seasick and I was too far along in that direction to do it myself.  Without the Smiths, it would have been a fun cruise, but it wouldn't have been a special one.

Wednesday, I'll have a report on baseball in the Bahamas and a photo or two to post.

Cruisin'

Tomorrow, Martha, Al, Margo, and I, along with a dozen or so other New Market Rebel fans, are to board the Enchantment of the Seas and cruise to Bermuda.  This will be my first cruise and it is in commemoration of our 30th wedding anniversary which actually occurred in 2009 and was spent on the Rebels web cast platform.  You know all about it if you've read Safe at Home:  A Season in the Valley.  We leave the port of Baltimore at 4:30 and we are due to arrive in Bermuda at 7:00 a. m. Monday.  Of course, Hurricane Igor is due to arrive at 8:00 a. m.

For all I care, Royal Caribbean could ride us up and down the Chesapeake Bay as there is so much to do on board that I don't think we could take it all in even if we stayed up 24 hours a day.  And my staying-up-24-hours-a-day days are over.  There's a sports bar, a theater, a shopping mall, a casino, a workout center, a pool, a library, and food 24 hours a day.  We didn't sign up for a cruise to Bermuda anyway; we signed up for a cruise to wherever the ship was going.

. . .  Wait.  This just in (really!) . . . We're being diverted to Nassau, Bahamas AND we're getting a shipboard credit.  This is even better than the original itinerary!  Thanks, Igor.

Where ever we sail to, I will not be posting next week, but I will return on Monday the 27th (hopefully) to regale you with tales of our Caribbean adventure, part of which includes baseball, of course.  Al and I are taking our gloves so that we can say that we played ball in the Bahamas.  Who knows?  Maybe there's a Caribbean Senior Winter League?  If there is, we want to be ready.  In any case, our best to all as you cruise through next week.

Late Summer Fun . . . For a Change!

The Baltimore Orioles are no longer the worst team in the American League and that is amazing.  The Orioles now stand at 57-88, while the Mariners are 55-90.  It's possible that before the season is over, they will have passed Kansas City, Cleveland, Arizona, and Washington.  It's also possible that they will not lose 100 games, which seemed impossible back even at the end of July.

Apparently, when the Buck stopped in Baltimore, so did the losing.  Since Buck Showalter has become manager, the Orioles are 25-15, a .625 winning percentage that, projected over 162 games equals 101 wins.  In their last three series, the Birds have taken two out of three from Tampa Bay, the Yankees (in New York), and Detroit.  As of last night, they have won two games against Toronto--their first two victories versus the Blue Jays all season--with a chance to sweep tonight.

What is truly amazing to Oriole fans is that this winning is occurring at the end of the season.  The Birds have suffered through some horrific Augusts and Septembers over the last 13 seasons including 2002 when, after reaching .500 on August 23rd, they promptly went 4-32 the rest of the season.

Out of the parched wilderness that has been this summer, my faith in the Orioles has been watered, and is starting to renew itself.  Bring on Opening Day, 2011!

Informational Gluttony

Have you ever gone to a smorgasbord where all your favorite foods were gathered together, and they looked so good, and you ate so much that you ended up uncomfortably stuffed?  And by "uncomfortably stuffed" I mean that you felt as if your leather belt was about to burst, sending buckle shrapnel all over the restaurant about two seconds after you shoved that last bite of chocolate cream pie into your chocolate cream pie hole?

These days, all of us seem to be uncomfortably stuffed with information.  We keep filling up our plates with SportsCenter highlights, breaking news, the latest analysis, and the Internet; we fill it up with e-mails, Facebook posts, tweets, and blogs.  And we can do it all on the go, from a million "aps" on our mobile phones.  Rarely do we give ourselves time to digest what we have consumed before we start wolfing down the next morsel of information.

It seems to me that we are killing ourselves with such gluttony.  We weren't designed to process this much information and so we are losing our ability to distinguish the important from the ridiculous, the meaningful from the empty, the poetic from the pretentious.  Make no mistake:  Words create reality and we are creating a reality for ourselves in which Love, Self, Right, Moral, Loyal, Patriotic, Justice and a whole host of other truths mean nothing because they are uttered constantly and with no concern for their meaning or context.  The mere act of communicating has become the communication itself.

We have far greater means of communication and far less to say to one another than ever before.  Just empty conversational calories.  We must back away from the information buffet and put ourselves on a diet of a few sincere words, a face-to-face conversation, a shared experience for which words are not necessary.  Maybe if we get ourselves in informational shape, we'll then be able to truly Love, to intimately know our Selves, to do Right, to be Moral, to stay Loyal, to demonstrate Patriotism, and to act Justly.  Otherwise, there will be no information on how to save us from ourselves.

Baseball and Jim Thorpe

I mentioned in my last entry that family folklore has my grandfather playing football against Jim Thorpe when both were in college, and it occurred to me that Thorpe's athletic career is a testament to a sports fact that I have really come to appreciate these last few years.  That is, baseball is a very difficult game to play!

Consider that Thorpe is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Professional Football Hall of Fame; he is an Olympic pentathlon and decathlon champion and ABC's Wide World of Sports named him the Athlete of the Century.  Thorpe also played six seasons in the major leagues from 1913-1919, and had a career batting average of . . . .252.  He never amassed more than 251 at-bats in a season.  In other words, the Athlete of the Century was a mediocre part-timer in the game of baseball.

I am not trying to minimize Thorpe's accomplishment.  Indeed, Thorpe's numbers are actually a testament TO his athletic ability; that he could simply walk onto the baseball diamond and perform at such a level.  It just goes to show, however, the ability and effort required for a solid, much less a Hall of Fame, career in baseball.  Perhaps only Bo Jackson, among other professional athletes had a career in baseball and football that surpassed Thorpe's.

In any case, Jim Thorpe is at the center of a great baseball story, the kind that only occur in the National Pastime.  According to the "Fast Facts" section of the Jim Thorpe website, Thorpe hit three home runs in one game and each landed in a different state.  Playing in a Texas ballpark in the very northeast corner of the state, Jim hit his first over the left-field fence and into Oklahoma.  His next sailed over the right field fence and into Arkansas.  His final round-tripper was an inside the park shot that never left the state of Texas.  Now, that's legendary!

Football in the Family

In honor of the 2010 NFL season, which commences tomorrow night, I present to you a family football
story.  The photo is my grandfather in his Dickinson College uniform.  The family story has always been that Edward Gisriel played against Jim Thorpe when the former was at Dickinson and the latter was at the Carlisle Indian School.  Thorpe began his athletic career at Carlisle in 1907 according to an annotated Wikipedia statement.  This is problematic because according to my cousin, who is a serious genealogist, Grandpa had already left Dickinson by then.  Indeed, he graduated from Taylor University in 1906 and attended Drew before that.  Thorpe arrived at Carlisle in 1904, so it's possible that they did indeed play against each other that year.  In fact, I am going to stop my research and allow this possibility to stand as a testament to virtual verisimilitude.  There is no need to allow one measly fact to interfere with the truth as one knows it.  And you can be sure now, that I'm going no where near the story that my grandfather was offered a contract to play with the International League Baltimore Orioles, but his mother would not allow him to do so because professional baseball was played on Sundays.  I cherish that story and intend to let not a single fact tarnish its veracity.  As for my grandfather, he became a Methodist minister, but his obituary, published in the 1959 Methodist Minutes states that "His enthusiasm for sports was to last throughout his life."  And that's a fact. 

Tomato Trickle

A little over a year ago, I wrote about the red horde of tomatoes that appears at this time of the season.  Even 6 tomato plants is enough to yield bushels of tomatoes.  Not this year.  Our six tomato plants have yielded 5 tomatoes total, it's been that hot and dry.  In fact, I haven't had to hoe the garden for two months and if the weeds won't even grow, you know it's bad!

Last Thursday's Herald-Mail confirmed that this has been the hottest summer on record, breaking the mark set in 1995 and the second driest summer on record coming in at 4.96 inches of rain, just .47 inches behind 1966.  That's a bad combination as illustrated by another number that will put this in perspective:  My friend Kurt, who farms 200 acres here in Williamsport estimates his crop loss at 90%.  If you live in an area where the tomatoes are plentiful, then enjoy them thoroughly and eat an extra slice for us.

Speaking of hot, Oriole outfielder Nick Markakis has reached the 40 double mark for the 4th straight season.  (See what I did there, segue fans?)  The only other outfielders to put together such a string are Joe Medwick with 7 straight seasons and Harry Heilman with 5.  Tris Speaker also put together four consecutive seasons with 40 doubles or more.  Medwick, Heilman, and Speaker are all in the Hall of Fame and the most recent streak was Medwick's which ended in 1939.

Speaking of baseball (there I go again) Winchester Royals broadcaster and all-around good guy Mark Sawyer is now hosting a talk show on WSVG AM790 in Mt. Jackson, Virginia on Saturdays from noon until 2:00.  He'll be talking Valley League baseball, sports, and about anything you'd like to call in and talk about, so give Mark a listen while you're washing the car.  Or canning tomatoes.  (Back to the beginning and done.)

A Day in the Park

I was out running errands on Wednesday and stopped by a deli in Maugensville, northwest of Hagerstown to get a sub and eat it in the town park, which happens to be right next to their Little League complex.  And there, playing baseball was a father and son.  Dad was throwing to the little guy in the bullpen and challenged him to hit one over the screen that stood behind the mound.  He did it on occasion, too.

I judged that the boy was 4 years old, a fact later confirmed by his father and I marveled at his ability and coordination.   What I marveled at even more was a kid who wanted to be outside playing ball rather than inside playing video games or watching TV.  The Maugansville bank sign read 100 degrees, but it didn't phase the little ballplayer at all.  At one point, he took his stance (just as Mo Weber prescribes, by the way) and his Dad asked, "Are you thirsty?"  He shook his head no.  "Are you hot?" was the next question.  Again, he shook his head no, never coming out of his stance either time.  He hit one over the fence and began to round imaginary bases, ending with a slide across the bullpen plate.

By the time this shirtless tyke slid into home, he was about pantless, too; the elastic waistband was still north of his knees, but not too far north.  I'm sure his mom wondered that night how a boy could get his underwear dusty.

At another point, the boy stepped into the batter's box, but not before knocking imaginary mud from his tennis shoes.  There's a kid who has really watched baseball!  I was transported back to the world I grew up in and I stayed in that world for half an hour or more just watching this father and son.

I hope that 40 years from now, that little boy remembers that day in the park with his father.  A day with no school, no responsibilities, no cares.  A day on which he enjoyed his abilities for their own sake.  He'll need a touchstone day like that when he's the dad with work, and responsibilites, and cares. 

I hope all my readers have an entire collection of them and that you continue to add to it.

  

Sure Glad Buck Stopped Where He Did

There is some pretty solid statistical evidence that managers have little influence on the outcome of a game and, therefore, of a team's seasonal won-loss record.  In fact, most managers, from the Valley League to the major leagues, over-manage.  As Mo Weber is fond of saying, you have to let the game play itself.

Nevertheless, the psychological intangibles that a manager brings to a team cannot be underestimated and the Baltimore Orioles under Buck Showalter are a case in point.  The Orioles are 17-10 under Showalter and finished the month of August 17-11 overall.   That represents the Birds first winning month since June of 2008 (that's a lot of losing folks, let me assure you!) and their first winning August since 1997 when they were wire-to-wire winners.

Granted, Showalter began with the Orioles at about the same time Brian Roberts, Felix Pie, and Mike Gonzalez returned to the lineup, but is that enough talent to make the (formerly) worst team in baseball suddenly go 17-10?  Again, that was Roberts, Pie, and Gonzalez, not Ryne Sandberg, Willie Mays, and Walter Johnson.

One on-field difference is that Showalter is letting his starters pitch longer in games and you don't have to be Earl Weaver to know that generally speaking, if the guy in the bullpen were as good as the guy on the mound then HE'd be starting.  Second, the Orioles aren't beating themselves (for a refreshing change) and they are taking advantage of the other teams mistakes.

Granted 27 games is a small statistical sample, but there is no doubt Buck Showalter is having a profound effect upon the Orioles.  If this keeps up through September when the Birds play New York, Boston, and Tampa, then hope will indeed be reborn in Baltimore.