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Have you ever wondered how Shibe Park played or just where Connie Mack would wave his scorecard? Wonder no more.  In 1946 and ‘47, Gene Mack of the Boston Globe put together a series of illustrations of all the ballparks which you can check out here. The one thing I always am left to think is, wow, people just 50 years ago could withstand a much more cluttered page. Just glancing at the illustrations makes my head hurt a little.  (via Reddit) 

Have you ever wondered how Shibe Park played or just where Connie Mack would wave his scorecard? Wonder no more. 

In 1946 and ‘47, Gene Mack of the Boston Globe put together a series of illustrations of all the ballparks which you can check out here.

The one thing I always am left to think is, wow, people just 50 years ago could withstand a much more cluttered page. Just glancing at the illustrations makes my head hurt a little. 

(via Reddit) 

It’s not how Jackie Robinson would have done it, but I guess it still works. 

Will Rhymes is the Hero Tampa Deserves

In one of the scarier moments you’ll see on the ballfield, after heading down to first following a hit-by-pitch, Will Rhymes passed out and had to be held up by the first base coach. Fortunately, it turned out to be nothing but some excess adrenalin flowing through his body…or was it. 

When getting to the hospital and being asked his name, Rhymes responded with:”Batman.” 

So while the rest of the world may think Rhymes passed out because of too much adrenaline, we all know the real reason. The Joker was on the loose and Rhymes needed an excuse to slip away and put on his costume. 

How to Properly Field A Ballclub

“You’ve got to have a big set of doberman [expletives] to close.”

- Jonathan Papelbon on closing.

Filling out a depth chart is hard, what with properly maximizing a ballplayers assets while minimizing their weaknesses. I’ve simplified that.

Simply select a player’s greatest skill and his emotional/physical well being, and poof, his true position shall be revealed. 

You’ll agree, it’s a foolproof system with guaranteed success. 

findtheswagger: Fog. (Taken with instagram)

findtheswagger:

Fog. (Taken with instagram)

Because sometimes you just have to go there…

Over at MLB.com., John Schlegel has the latest on the trial of Roger Clemens for perjury. Of course, former trainer Brian McNamee has been a key witness throughout the whole case, and while there’s some entertainment value in the whole sordid affair, it’s one of those things where the more you know, the better it gets (emphasis mine…obviously):

“By the time court had recessed Wednesday at noon ET because of a juror’s commitment, Hardin referenced the chart sparingly, but had gone through numerous questions about what McNamee remembers and doesn’t remember before and after McNamee claims Clemens asked him in the Toronto Blue Jays’ clubhouse around June 1, 1998, to help him with a ‘booty shot’— a term that now has been used dozens of times in the trial.

Through testimony that at times was testy and frustrating for both sides, Hardin questioned the witness about statements McNamee made before Congress and in his direct testimony earlier in the week, attempting to poke holes in McNamee’s credibility.”

Poking holes in the credibility of both Clemens and McNamee doesn’t seem to be too difficult at this point, but let’s be honest. We’re all mature people here. Mature people that love good butt and porn jokes because there are adult film writers that are adapting this trial into a movie as I type this.

Rolling Stone Polls Rockers on Best & Worst MLB Parks →

Rolling Stone polled members of the rock ‘n roll elite for their opinions on the best and worst Major League ball parks. Not surprisingly, both Fenway Park and Wrigley Field pop up a number of times. In my opinion, ska, nu metal, and trance pop are tragically under-represented, but what can you do? That being said, if Rolling Stone was to include the opinions of MLB players and managers on the rockers mentioned in the article?

  • Bryce Harper: ”Who the hell is Alice Cooper?”
  • Jamie Moyer: ”Ben Gibbard? I think I played with his dad in the minors.”
  • Juan Uribe: ”My favorite band is The Promise Ring because they sing to my soul.”
  • Jonathan Papelbon: ”Whichever band is from Philly. Not those Irish dudes.”
  • Ron Gardenhire: “Rolling Stone is for hippies.”

(Source: everyhalloffamer)

thescore: LAWRIE SMASH! You want to know my secret? I’m always angry. 

thescore:

LAWRIE SMASH!

You want to know my secret? I’m always angry. 

mightyflynn: Elissa Goldstone, Untitled (Baseball Drawing – Fly Ball), Paper and cotton thread, 11×16 inches, 2010. Elissa Goldstone: Have you ever read any classic sports writing? The best is always about baseball (Roger Angell, Philip Roth, or John Updike). This is because baseball, more than any other sport, is nostalgia in motion. Even as it’s occurring in real-time, you’re already imagining the moment as a memory, and are contextualizing it as epic. To be sure, most sports have this quality of memorializing, but baseball is designed to be viewed in the past-tense. It’s a long-term relationship, where the present moment or play is completely insignificant without the entire history of the game along side of it. And every play, be it awful or awe-inspiring, has a place in the books. So we buy treasures and proudly don jerseys and hats, and we keep signed bats and balls, all to keep us reliving the moment and, with it, a nostalgia for the game itself. A baseball season is 162 games (not counting spring training and the post-season) and no matter how good your team is this year, or last year, or even for the past decade, you know, with absolute certainty, that winning cannot last. Heartbreak is inevitable. You cannot win every game. You can’t even come close. No team has ever won even seventy-five percent of their regular season games, and those that have come close are memorialized in the books and in the minds and paraphernalia of fans. It won’t last, but we remember—so it does. I know this all sounds fatalistic, but it actually establishes a way to enjoy the minutia of the game. I spend time focusing on the details. The details are beautiful, and there so many. In my artwork, I try to focus on particulars that have a strong visual identity that stretch beyond baseball into American culture. Major League baseball has been played for 125-plus years; this game is ingrained. For example, everyone knows what a baseball looks like… . it’s classic and appealing: white leather with red stitching, symmetrical, and well-crafted. Of course, it exists to be thrown, or caught, or hit. But the ball recalls more than its usefulness. It’s an association to the game through a person, place, or time, and becomes a visual connector to memory. via BOMBLOG

mightyflynn:

Elissa Goldstone, Untitled (Baseball Drawing – Fly Ball), Paper and cotton thread, 11×16 inches, 2010.

Elissa Goldstone: Have you ever read any classic sports writing? The best is always about baseball (Roger Angell, Philip Roth, or John Updike). This is because baseball, more than any other sport, is nostalgia in motion. Even as it’s occurring in real-time, you’re already imagining the moment as a memory, and are contextualizing it as epic.

To be sure, most sports have this quality of memorializing, but baseball is designed to be viewed in the past-tense. It’s a long-term relationship, where the present moment or play is completely insignificant without the entire history of the game along side of it. And every play, be it awful or awe-inspiring, has a place in the books. So we buy treasures and proudly don jerseys and hats, and we keep signed bats and balls, all to keep us reliving the moment and, with it, a nostalgia for the game itself.

A baseball season is 162 games (not counting spring training and the post-season) and no matter how good your team is this year, or last year, or even for the past decade, you know, with absolute certainty, that winning cannot last. Heartbreak is inevitable. You cannot win every game. You can’t even come close. No team has ever won even seventy-five percent of their regular season games, and those that have come close are memorialized in the books and in the minds and paraphernalia of fans. It won’t last, but we remember—so it does.

I know this all sounds fatalistic, but it actually establishes a way to enjoy the minutia of the game. I spend time focusing on the details. The details are beautiful, and there so many. In my artwork, I try to focus on particulars that have a strong visual identity that stretch beyond baseball into American culture. Major League baseball has been played for 125-plus years; this game is ingrained. For example, everyone knows what a baseball looks like… . it’s classic and appealing: white leather with red stitching, symmetrical, and well-crafted. Of course, it exists to be thrown, or caught, or hit. But the ball recalls more than its usefulness. It’s an association to the game through a person, place, or time, and becomes a visual connector to memory.

via BOMBLOG

(via byronic)

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