Tag Archives: baseball
After all
Though we know everything is bounded by time, there is, after all, baseball, in which time has its function, but does not rule. — from the poem “National Pastime“ by Bill Mayer Break free of time today, or sometime soon, even if only for a few minutes. A baseball park is an ideal place to do …
The most exciting play
“The triple is the most exciting play in baseball. Home runs win a lot of games, but I never understood why fans are so obsessed with them.” — Hank Aaron In typical fashion, Aaron turns the spotlight away from himself to voice an opinion I was relieved to read. I thought I was the only one …
In the yard
“My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass.’ ‘We’re not raising grass,’ Dad would reply. ‘We’re raising boys.’” — Harmon Killebrew This is a perfect time of year for this quote. The All-Star break is coming up, and many lawns …
You fall in love
“You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat. Losing after great striving is the story of man, who was born to sorrow, whose sweetest songs tell of saddest thought, and who, if he is a hero, does nothing in life as becomingly as leaving it.” ― …
Made for kids
“Baseball was made for kids, and grown-ups only screw it up.” — Bob Lemon Those of us who admire the complexity of baseball — or maybe only imagine that we do — might think Lemon has oversimplified things with this statement. But he has far more authority on the subject than I do, and in …
To look forward
We interrupt these regularly scheduled repeat postings to bring you a tribute I published here back in 2017. Rest in peace, Mr. Aaron. Unlike so many tarnished sports heroes, your legacy will always shine. We will always remember you. “I didn’t have particular baseball heroes in those days…I didn’t relate to baseball players, even though …
A playful utopia
“Baseball is a harbor, a seclusion from failure that really matters, a playful utopia in which virtuosity can be savored to the third decimal place of a batting average.” — Mark Kramer “Baseball is reassuring. It makes me feel as if the world is not going to blow up.” — Sharon Olds To borrow the …
To look forward
“I didn’t have particular baseball heroes in those days…I didn’t relate to baseball players, even though I played the game myself, because I knew I had nothing to look forward to. There was no hope for me to play in the big leagues back then because I was black.” — Hank Aaron Wow. Talk about defeating …
After all
Though we know everything is bounded by time, there is, after all, baseball, in which time has its function, but does not rule. — from the poem “National Pastime“ by Bill Mayer Break free of time today, or sometime soon, even if only for a few minutes. A baseball park is an ideal place to do …
The most exciting play
“The triple is the most exciting play in baseball. Home runs win a lot of games, but I never understood why fans are so obsessed with them.” — Hank Aaron In typical fashion, Aaron turns the spotlight away from himself to voice an opinion I was relieved to read. I thought I was the only one …
In the yard
“My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass.’ ‘We’re not raising grass,’ Dad would reply. ‘We’re raising boys.’” — Harmon Killebrew This is a perfect time of year for this quote. The All-Star break is coming up, and many lawns …
You fall in love
“You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat. Losing after great striving is the story of man, who was born to sorrow, whose sweetest songs tell of saddest thought, and who, if he is a hero, does nothing in life as becomingly as leaving it.” ― …
Made for kids
“Baseball was made for kids, and grown-ups only screw it up.” — Bob Lemon Those of us who admire the complexity of baseball — or maybe only imagine that we do — might think Lemon has oversimplified things with this statement. But he has far more authority on the subject than I do, and in …
A playful utopia
“Baseball is a harbor, a seclusion from failure that really matters, a playful utopia in which virtuosity can be savored to the third decimal place of a batting average.” — Mark Kramer “Baseball is reassuring. It makes me feel as if the world is not going to blow up.” — Sharon Olds To borrow the …
Try again
“Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” — Samuel Beckett I have always loved this quote. It acknowledges the predominance of failure along with the crucial importance of tenacity. From the early explorers, to Abraham Lincoln, to Thomas Edison and countless other examples, world history teaches us that the ability to fail repeatedly without giving up …
Defeat Despair 