Kids and Baseball Cards
.
By a remarkable coink-y-dink, Dr. D was just now talking Detroit Tigers with a transplanted 70-something fan. Just this last weekend. What a joy it was.
He talked about seeing Al Kaline's debut game - Al hit the ground running, had every blinkin' inch an Edgar Martinez slash line at age 20 (!).
He talked about seeing Teddy Ballgame's walkoff homer on the Game of the Week. Not a walkoff of that game; a walkoff of his career. He later wrote that he coulda been mayor of Boston if he'd broken his rule about never giving the fans in Boston a tip of the cap, and "going around 3B, I almost did, but gee, I just couldn't do it." Why? He resented the boo's that much. He thought of all fans as front-runners. All of them. This, gentlemen, is why it is worth making the effort to think of persons, as opposed to thinking of people.
Think of some specific 12-year-old person and the feeling that Williams could have given him.
...
At BJOL -- still a nominal $3 per month:
.
Bill wrote, elsewhere, that these Royals were producing in him a wan nostalgia for his days as a Royal fan ... but as he has adroitly pointed out, you have to stick with them through the losing. It make the winning more fun.
The Mariners do not have Great Grandfathers taking Great Grandsons to ballgames. It is one of the reason that Cardinals' 1882-2014 tapestry is written on thrice-dyed, high-twist worsted wool, and the Mariners' is (literally) written on polyster.
But the Mariners done a G-R-E-A-T job of singling out identifiable players for their fans to love. Griffey, Buhner, and Edgar played together how many seasons? And they'd have paid Alex Rodriguez a kingly sum, by their terms, to play alongside Griffey for another decade. It's the kind of worsted wool that they're willing to weave.
It provided guys like you and me with hope. They shelled out for Felix Hernandez, big time, and leave us not forget the two teams who were drooling in such unseemly fashion right up until the moment the ink dried.
....
This is about 10 degrees off center, but as you know, we live to serve:
If you're interested in a followup of the debate, several volleys followed around the Sept. 22-27 timeframe. Bill of course won. :- )
If you've been following along from Sentence One? The conclusion is easy peasy: OF COURSE YOU SHOULD ROOT FOR FELIX TO RACK UP ANOTHER CY YOUNG.
....
And, as Gordon keeps saying, to sign Kyle Seager long term. I've got my eye on Mike Zunino and Brad Miller, too. Have we ever mentioned that we like that James Paxton kid? He's just as liable to throw 3,000 innings.
The M's made offers real early to Adrian Beltre, Prince Fielder* and Robinson Cano.* Would be cool to see a mega-blockbuster for somebody whose name goes into the worsted wool.
By a happy serendipity, Stars & Scrubs are woven into the Corporate Philosophy. Makes winters warmer 'round here.
Enjoy,
Jeff