Found in the Grass

Wednesday night after work, I went to a baseball game. It was the week of publishing deadlines, Wednesday had been a long and often frustrating day, and the Baltimore Redbirds, a team in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League, a summer wooden bat league for college students, was playing their home opener in Towson. ItContinue reading “Found in the Grass”

The Sights and Sounds of Wrigley Field

Diamond Comic Distributor‘s 2017 Retailer Summit was held last week in Chicago, in conjunction with the C2E2 convention. I had long been asking to go on some sort of work trip like this — I wanted to see a different side of the industry and meet the retailers — and this year the production schedulesContinue reading “The Sights and Sounds of Wrigley Field”

Of Stumptown and Opening Day

It’s April. Spring is officially here. Baseball is back. Opening Day is more like “Opening Days” — three games yesterday, a few more today, a few more tomorrow, and then the season and the daily grind begins in earnest on Wednesday. Nothing says baseball more than Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, what with Charlie Brown and hisContinue reading “Of Stumptown and Opening Day”

Joe Buck, a Jeremiad

Last night, I reached my limit with Joe Buck. I’ve never really minded Buck. As broadcasters go, he’s wallpaper to me. I think I even felt a little sympathy toward him because he so often had to share a booth with Tim McCarver and then Harold Reynolds, either of whom was prone to incoherent babble.Continue reading “Joe Buck, a Jeremiad”

Playoff Baseball, Thwarted!

I went to Washington today for the playoff game between the Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Dodgers. As I did two years ago for the Nationals-Giants series, I chose the second home game, which, again like two years ago, turned out to be game two of the National League Division Series. The game wasn’tContinue reading “Playoff Baseball, Thwarted!”

An Ancient Rivalry Resumed

If you were to ask a Chicago Cubs fan who the Cubs’ rival is, most Cubs fans would say it’s the St. Louis Cardinals. There’s some truth to that, especially in the last fifteen years or so with the division realignments and the unbalanced schedule, but that wasn’t always true. If you go back intoContinue reading “An Ancient Rivalry Resumed”

My Wild Card Predictions

This weekend I was rooting for UTTER CHAOS! I wanted a four-way tie for the American League wild card and a three-way tie for the National League wild card. I wanted the Tigers to play a make-up game today. I wanted tiebreaking games 163 and 164. I wanted CHAOS! Instead, the season ended quite calmly.Continue reading “My Wild Card Predictions”

Making Baseball Art

Last month I noticed friends on Facebook and Twitter posting some very interesting images. They were often profile pictures, but they weren’t photographs. Not exactly, anyway. They had the look of paintings in different artistic styles. They were using an iOS app called Prisma, and as an Android user I was a bit jealous. MyContinue reading “Making Baseball Art”

Playoff Baseball in Towson on a Summer’s Night

There’s a reason you play nine innings — in a baseball game, so long as you have outs remaining, no lead is insurmountable. Last night I went into Towson for playoff baseball, my first in-person postseason baseball game since the fateful Game 2 of the 2014 NLDS between the Washington Nationals and the San FranciscoContinue reading “Playoff Baseball in Towson on a Summer’s Night”

In Towson, a Battle of Division Leaders

As baseball games go, last night’s contest between the Baltimore Redbirds and the visiting Bethesda Big Train at Towson’s Carlo Crispino Field was an intense affair. The Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League season is nearing its end, and last night’s game was the penultimate regular season game for the Redbirds. (Next week is the league’sContinue reading “In Towson, a Battle of Division Leaders”