BBTF ANNUAL CENTRAL PARK SOFTBALL GAME 2018

Date: August 11
Time: TBA
Field: TBA
Post-game meetup: TBA

I will update the above as we get more details. I don’t know who JE is booking the field, nor when we’ll know. But let’s start talking softball.

Didn’t come up here to read. Came up here to OMNICHATTER, for April 23, 2018.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-23-2018

Toledo News-Bee, April 23, 1918:

Eddie Collins was shooting for a record today. If he completes the White Sox-Tiger game he will hold the record for consecutive games. Yesterday he equaled the mark set by Sam Crawford, former Tiger, with 472.

Meanwhile, a high school student named Lou sits at a Manhattan soda fountain, utterly unimpressed.

OTP 2018 Apr 23: The Dominant-Sport Theory of American Politics

All true, and I have joined in the tut-tutting. Yet I can’t help noticing that the people making these criticisms are mostly a bunch of white guys born in the 1960s. I came along near the start of that decade, so I’ve seen a few cultural shifts in my day, and the first one came via early-1970s headlines proclaiming “Baseball No Longer the National Pastime,” after polls showed that football had become America’s most popular sport. Pundits lamented football’s rise (“violence ...

AT&T Park, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field top list of Rockies’ favorite ballparks

This is a fun story based on a simple idea: Ask the Rockies what ballparks they like or dislike.

“I’m not a big Wrigley guy,” Blackmon said. “I mean, yeah, it’s cool. But I don’t like being cramped, with no (batting) cages, no weight room, none of that stuff. The dugout is small and I hit my head on the top of the dugout — every time.

“And in the bathroom, near the dugout, I can make eye contact with the people in the stands while I’m using the bathroom. So that’s never ...

Forget that one call; Sean Manaea deserves our full attention

Rule 5.09(b)(1): Any runner is out when he runs more than three feet away from his base path to avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runner’s base path is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely.

The play: In the top of the sixth, Benintendi hit a slow chopper up the line that was fielded by Oakland first baseman Matt Olson coming in on the ball. ...

‘Family’ and sense of ‘brotherhood’ has Diamondbacks picking up right where they left off

Ever since Lovullo came aboard, the former bench coach for the Red Sox made it a point to establish core principles with the Diamondbacks revolving around trust, unity and an unbreakable bond of team-wide belief. That’s what carried them through their 93-69 season a year ago, and it’s what helped put them in position to try and become the first NL club since the 2003 Giants to win their first seven series to open a season.
They couldn’t do it without talent, and the Diamondbacks have ...

White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar in critical condition after suffering ruptured aneurysm

The commotion in the White Sox dugout was the first sign something was wrong Friday night.

Sox relief pitcher Danny Farquhar collapsed just minutes after he threw 15 pitches against the Astros in the sixth inning of an eventual 10-0 Sox loss. As the game carried on at Guaranteed Rate Field, Sox trainers and emergency medical technicians quickly surrounded him, carried him into the clubhouse and eventually loaded him in an ambulance.

After performing tests at Rush University Medical Center, ...

NYTimes: Now Batting in Class AA: Biggio, Bichette and Guerrero

Each player has a striking difference or two from his father. Dante Bichette was a muscular outfielder; Bo is a wiry shortstop. Craig Biggio hit right-handed and came up as a catcher; Cavan hits left-handed and has played five positions as a pro, but never catcher. Guerrero is 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, shorter and stockier than his father at the same age. He played the outfield when he signed, like his father, but switched to third base for the Blue Jays.

I didn’t realize the Jays’ AA ...

Callaway says Harvey might not make his next start after performance in 12-4 loss to Braves

Four games is a small sample size, but the early signs are not positive for Harvey as he attempts to rebound in the final year of his contract. The results are all too familiar to the previous two seasons when he struggled while dealing with injuries.

OT - Catch-All Pop Culture Extravaganza (April - June 2018)

The following is previously unseen rehearsal footage of Prince & The Revolution from the summer of 1984.

It was in this very room at Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse in Eden Prairie, Minnesota that Prince created and committed to tape one of his most beloved and iconic compositions, which six years later would become a worldwide hit for Sinead O’Connor.

Prince’s original studio version of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ is presented here for the first time.

Trial to see if there’s sufficient ...

ESPN’s top 50 players

You won’t believe #9!!

Angell: Night Moves

The Mets’ new manager, Mickey Callaway, has so far proved imaginative and unafraid during the first sixteen games of his tenure, encouraging steals and the unexpected extra base in mid-rally. What is needed now to exorcise the bogey-team Nats is for him to emulate Fry’s example. Since baseball’s dimensions are different, he need only pee at the termination of the right- and left-field foul lines, where they meet the wall, and then—in consideration of the heavy in-game traffic around the ...

Look at the size of this WEEKEND OMNICHATTER!, for April 21-22, 2018

Why the drop in home runs in 2018? Major League Baseball had better hope it’s the weather.

The article is behind the Washington Post Paywall.  Some interesting thoughts and factoids about the evolution of the game the last few years.

“I actually really like the game,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said last year. “But it’s not what I like — the issue is what do the fans want to see. [And] our research suggests the home run is actually a popular play in baseball.”

Keep up the good work Rob.

Frankly, my dear, I don’t give an OMNICHATTER, for April 20, 2018.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-20-2018

Chicago Eagle, April 20, 1918:

Agitation against the use of the so-called “freak” deliveries in baseball will have no effect on the most unusual style of boxmanship of Benjamin Pellowitz, Philadelphia school boy, whose unique pitching is natural.

Pellowitz is fifteen years old. That old saying about the awkward boy, “His fingers are all thumbs,” acts with reverse English in this case, for it is on his two thumbs that Benny depends on for his success in pitching. One is a growth of the other ...

Bryan Price dismissed as Reds manager | MLB.com

The Bryan Price era is over.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-19-2018

Toledo News-Bee, April 19, 1918:

It is reported [in Boston] that Ed Barrow won’t last long as the Red Sox boss. He and Johnny Evers have had a blowout, Heinie Wagner replacing the little second sacker as utility man and coach. It seems Evers told Barrow that he believed 10 years at a desk had ruined his bench judgment. Evers is backed by several of the Red Sox regulars.

One can only hope that Barrow responded by telling Evers that all those Fudge Orgies and Nicotine Sprees had ruined Johnny’s ...

It’s not just ownership that’s keeping Jose Reyes a Met

It’s all good when your team is winning.

At long last, have you no sense of OMNICHATTER for March 19, 2018

Braves sign Jose Bautista to a minor-league contract, will play third base

The Braves announced an agreement with infielder Jose Bautista on a one-year, minor-league contract Wednesday. Bautista has reported to the team’s extended spring training in Florida.

The Braves announced he would play third base. Bautista manned third in eight games last season (38 innings), but hasn’t consistently played there since 2007, when he appeared in 126 games at the hot corner for the Pirates.

Update: Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo calls his shorter-season, pay-cut comments ‘my opinion’

No thank you.

Leave the gun, take the OMNICHATTER for April 16, 2018

Diamondbacks’ Taijuan Walker diagnosed with “UCL injury”

Lovullo was pressed on multiple occasions as to whether Walker’s ligament was torn or not, but he repeatedly said he didn’t know. Asked what else it could be if it wasn’t torn or frayed to some extent, he said, “I don’t know that answer. We’re optimistic that it’s going to be as good as possible.”

One thing seems certain: If Walker has a full tear of the ligament, flying to New York for a second opinion wouldn’t make any sense.

“I guess you could say that,” Lovullo said. ...

Ready Player One

Anyone who’s ever tried to explain baseball to someone genuinely encountering it for the first time knows how hard it is to put the game into words. But I noticed something else about how I told the story. It was entirely about the batter and his brave adventure. It’s a strange decision, given that the batter is only half of the equation. In some sense, it’s understandable. When trying to explain any game, it’s a good idea to start with one of the universal features of competitive ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-18-2018

Oklahoma City Times, April 18, 1918:

An English sportsman, who was resting at Mineral Wells, Texas, was much interested in the Chicago White Sox, and in Eddie Cicotte especially. He had heard that Cicotte was the leading pitcher in the American league last season, and couldn’t understand why an athlete, apparently so short, could be such a marvel.
...
[The Englishman asked Cicotte] “And may I inquire if you ever play cricket?”

“Cricket! That’s a bug game,” responded Cicotte.

To this day the ...

Deadspin: The Mets Previewed A Dark, Mets-y Future Last Night

When he trotted out for the eighth inning, Jacob deGrom became the first Mets starter to throw a pitch that late in a game this season. That lack of length hadn’t mattered much, as the team’s bullpen had been virtually spotless over the season’s first two weeks. DeGrom allowed two singles and struck out Michael A. Taylor, and Mickey Callaway made his move. The Mets co-ace left after 103 pitches and with what looked like ample cushion for a win. The bullpen needed only to get five outs ...

Was it over when the Germans bombed OMNICHATTER, for April 17, 2018

Royals’ Blaine Boyer took wheel of team bus after chunk of ice smashed windshield

Royals strength and conditioning coach Ryan Stoneberg shared what happened on Instagram.

“While driving from the airport to the hotel through brutal cold conditions, ice from the roof of the staff bus flew off and hit the windshield of the trailing bus,” Stoneberg wrote. “The windshield was smashed, glass flew in the face of the driver, and one of our players had to assist with steering the bus to safety on the highway. I am so glad that all our players are safe due to quick action of our team ...