For Our Baseball Fans
This is for our baseball fans. IMO it’s apropos considering that today begins the 4th of July weekend.
ESPN has been running a series this year. It’s a fictionalized “diary” by Yankees’ pitcher Myles Thomas concerning their 1927 season.
Thomas was a real individual. As various baseball sites show, he was a journeyman and not a star. But he’s not really the point of the series. The point is to provide background on the individuals involved with that team during the season.
The diary entries appear to be based on real events. Some are entertaining; some are moving. All IMO are well-written.
And some of them are gut-splitting hilarious.
If you’re a baseball fan, IMO you could do much worse than to spend a few minutes reading each of these “diary entries” whenever they’re posted. Enjoy.
And have a great 4th of July.
Category: Baseball
I think I need to find a sporting goods store out here.
I’ve always liked Joe Maddon, and the, “Try Not To Suck” shirts have a certain appeal on a number of levels.
Baseball can be boring, yes. But never try to claim it doesn’t have its fair share of character, and characters.
Bill Lee, Al Hrabosky and Mark Fydrich-and those are just pitchers from the 1970s.
As a serious baseball fan, this sounded interesting right up to the point where you wrote ESPN. Sorry, won’t go there.
Yep, I’m done with espn.
no espn for any reason
Me too.
I’m not even a baseball fan and I found these entertaining, proving once again that a good story transcends setting and provides compelling drama, insight, or humor to tell the story and make it great.
Sounds like someone is ripping off Ring Lardner:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Know_Me_Al
You have to remember this is FICTION – for instance one of the entries is of the ‘first night game’ between Boston and NY in 1927 – the first MLB night game was in 1935. The first REAL night game was put on by the famed Kansas City Monarchs, in 1930 (yes, the Negro Leagues were 5 years ahead of MLB.)
If you like fiction about old baseball, I highly recommend Darryl Brock’s “If I Never Get Back” , in which a modern guy winds up back in time touring with the 1869 Cincinatti Red Stockings, the first touring pro team. Very detailed and really shows the differences between the modern game and the more hairy-chested version of it we once played (no gloves, you could charge ANY of the four basemen, etc.)Very fun book.
Devtun: if you’re talking about this article, I think you need to re-read it. It doesn’t refer to a Boston-NYY game; it refers to a minor league exhibition game played in Lynn, MA. And the event is historically verified – though it wasn’t actually the first minor league exhibition game played “under the lights”.
http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/news/first-night-game-baseball-history-hull-lynn-fort-wayne-grand-rapids-independence-des-moines-wilmington/a8nox2c4xvth19cepmnwom3b4
Thanks Dave. Baseball is America’s game. Got to see Colonel Jerry Coleman and Captain Ted Williams (both USMC) play.
They can do a similar series after my Cubbies win the World Series in October.
Don’t forget to check out Braves-Marlins on Sunday night, 3 July at Fort Bragg.