BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: BASEBALL #4

ABOUT THE MOVIE ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD (1951)

For the top of the 9th inning, the Pirates are shown taking the field but without wearing baseball gloves/mitts. It was common practice until the mid-1950s for major league baseball players to leave their baseball gloves on the field at the end of a half inning instead of taking them back to the dugout. A new ruling in 1954 specifically stipulated that ballplayers cannot leave equipment on the field. As this film was released in 1951, it pre-dates the 1954 ruling and, thus, the players leaving the dugout and taking the field 'gloveless' is accurate.

iDMb Trivia
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“DANCING ON MY OWN” & THE BOSTON RED SOX’

“Even though the song is such a critically acclaimed
hit that it ranks No 20 on Rolling Stone’s 2021
edition of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,
“Dancing on My Own” is the most unexpected
update to the  Red Sox’ 21st century song catalog,
which includes mainstays like Neil Diamond’s 
“Sweet Caroline,” which Fenway Park has played
in the middle of the eighth inning, and the Standelis’
“Dirty Water,”: which is played after every win”

Joe Lemire. “Sorry, Caroline, The Red Sox Have
Moved On,” in The New York Times (October 17,2021)

*If the song is played after every Red Sox win, the song
is not played that often.
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ALL -TIME BATTING AVERAGE LEADERS (revised in 2024 to include statistics from the Negro Leagues)

l. Josh Gibson       .372       6. Turkey Stearnes.  .348
2. Ty Cobb           .367       7.Ed Delahanty       .346
3. Oscar Charleston  .363       8. Buck Leonard      .345
4. Rogers Hornsby.   .358       9. Tris Speaker      .345
5. Jud Wilson        .350       10. Ted Williams     .344
                        
major league baseball
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"Catching a fly ball is a pleasure. But knowing what to do with it after you catch it is a business."
            Tommy Henrich (Yankee outfielder)
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First known photo of flipping the bird in US.
The first visually documented use of the finger—the man standing in the back row, far left side. Photo by unknown, public domain.
Linguist Jesse Sheidlower traces the gesture's development in the United States to the 1890s. According to anthropologist Desmond Morris, the gesture probably came to the United States via Italian immigrants. The first documented appearance of the finger in the United States was in 1886, when Old Hoss Radbourn, a baseball pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters, was photographed giving it to a member of their rival the New York Giants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_finger#:~:text=The%20first%20documented%20appearance%20of,rival%20the%20New%20York%20Giants.
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EDGAR GUEST'S TRIBUTE TO HANK GREENBERG

When Hank Greenberg, the Tiger's Jewish star chose not to play on Yom Kippur, in the heat of a pennant race ,  Edgar Guest, the syndicated newspaper poet,  wrote: 

The Irish didn't like it when they heard of Greenberg`s fame
For they thought a good first baseman should possess an Irish name;
And the Murphys and Mulrooneys said they never dreamed they`d see
A Jewish boy from Bronxville out where Casey used to be.
In the early days of April not a Dugan tipped his hat
Or prayed to see a ''double'' when Hank Greenberg came to bat.
In July, the Irish wondered where he`d ever learned to play'
'He makes me think of Casey!'' Old Man Murphy dared to say:
And with 57 doubles and a score of homers made
The respect they had for Greenberg was openly displayed.
But on the Jewish New Year when Hank Greenberg came to bat
And made two home runs off Pitcher Rhodes-they cheered like mad for that. 
Came Yom Kippur-holy fast day worldwide over to the Jews-
And Hank Greenberg to his teaching and the old tradition true
Spent the day among his people and he didn't come to play.
Said Murphy to Mulrooney, ''We shall lose the game today!
We shall miss him on the infield and shall miss him at the bat
But he`s true to his religion and I honor him for that!' 
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LOU GEHRIG & ROCKY GRAZIANO

"Gehrig, forced to stop playing in 1939 by neuromuscular disease, worked in retirement as a parole board official.
In early 1941, when the twenty-two-year-old Graziano appears 
before him for violating parole, Gehrig sends him back to
reform school. Graziano's response to the Pride of the
Yankees: 'Go to hell, Mr. Gehrig."

Jon Krampner. Ernest Lehman: The Sweet Smell of Success 
(Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2022)*

* Jon Krampner's book is dedicated to Willie Mays.
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FIRST GAME DEBUTS

Forrest Jacobs: "In his major league debut, Jacobs got four
straight hits. This is the major league that Delino DeShields tied 36 years later in 1990. Interestingly, Jacobs and DeShields lived 18 miles apart in Delaware."

Burnham Holmes. One Shining Moment: Sports Heroes For a Day
(New York: HarperTorch, 2003)
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BIG LEAGUE POETRY

 “Ted Williams is better known than any of our poets.”          Jim Bouton in Ball Four  

When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Slud into 2nd base,
Pound, the Umpire,
Bellowed “Out!” 
60,000 of us were stomping,
Shouting “Explicate the Ump!"
We were playing for the Champ- 
ionship when R. Frost was called upon
To pinch-hit.“Geezus,” we sd. 
The manager is a lst-class chump.
We need a soupcon of a single, 
To bring the Belle of Amherst
Home from third. & Frost won’t bunt."

The manager, a pint-sized Caesar, a runt
Whose head is a muddle Of moldy caesuras.” 
The league's leading reliever--
Edgar Guest -more popular than ever--
Was called from the bull-
Pen. Ogden Nash was sent the showers.
Many fans feared the wors-
t when Frost Swung at the lst pitch,
A  dribbler,a squib, 
Nash grabbed it like a hot squab,
Got rid of it too fast,   
Tossed The ball a way past 
T.S. Eliot who was covering lst base.
The ball ended up in The Waste Land,
& Emily Dickinson --
Dashed home with The winning run.
 
I know I am biase- 
d, but isn’t Poetry base- 
ball 
   in-cred ble!   

 Louis Phillips

With Yogi running out to the mound,
To leap & hug & shout.

When we think on the glory
Of your perfect game
Does it make us young again?
Nah! But we wd like
To think so.

Louis Phillips

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