Ron Martriano - Book of Baseball Stuff

A Charlesbridge Imprint

Text and art copyright 2009 by Imagine Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Charlesbridge and colophon are registered trademarks of Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.

An Imagine Book
Published by Charlesbridge
85 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
(617) 926-0329
www.charlesbridge.com

ISBN 978-1-60734-368-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009922013
Designed by Marc Cheshire
All rights reserved

To my one and only love,
my wonderful wife, Erica

What makes baseball work as a pastime is that no matter the standings or the outcome, every game has the potential to connect with the past. Whether its the ballpark tradition or the unexpected play that hasnt been seen in years, for each fan there exists a thread connecting every element of their baseball life. Some see it through the history of their favorite team or player, but its rarely a single side of the game that makes up anyones experience. What brings it all together is the assemblage of random elements and events that each of us collects as we watch season after season. These go beyond the pedestrian facts gleamed off a ballpark scoreboard; they are the stored memories that sometimes only nine innings of ball can resuscitate. While none of us has the same collection, if you bring together a roomful of real fans and get them talking, the excitement over a shared understanding would make like a secret handshake for an exclusive club. Its not the recital of stats or the memorization of lineup cards that grants access, but the sampling of baseball stuff across a wide spectrum.

What you hold in your hands is just that: baseball stuff from every corner of the game. Inside youll find an assortment of stories and forgotten momentsall of the sort that might be told after some excited fan exclaims, Remember the time? Completing that memory are details that most of us forgot we even knew until we were prompted. The game prompts us every night, allowing each of us to dig back to unimaginable depths at unexpected moments. This collection aspires to tap into the shared recesses and retrieve the plays and players we all get excited about.

Perhaps more than anything else, being reminded of that which others might consider obscure, produces a strong reaction in each of usbecause it ultimately brings us back home. After all, who but a diehard fan would celebrate the games that go beyond the championships won? Any bandwagon fan can tune into Game 7 of a postseason series, but its the ins and outs of the 162-game season that get us there. Going back is going home, and its not only fun, but, when all is said and done, its the object of the game.

O UTSIDE of the experiences of frequent-flying, season-ticket holders, most fans are guided through their baseball journey by play-by-play men, color commentators, radio talk-show hosts, sportswriters, and blog moderators. These field-level experts (some more knowledgeable than others) relay and interpret the action while providing a historical context. Harry Carey led Chicago baseball fans on both sides of that citys league divide. Dodger fans in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles have had the time between pitches filled by the great Vin Scully. In Boston, Jerry Remy. Bob Murphy, Tim McCarver, Phil Rizzutto, Keith Hernandez, and John Sterling have all provided the soundtrack for the epic battles engaged by New Yorks fabled teams. We invite these voices into our homes, we read their perspectives on events we have just seen, and we sing along with their battle cries with each long fly ball that is high, that is far, that is sometimes caught.

Oh, its a long one! Its going going its really gone!

Whichever transmission you find yourself on the receiving end of, whichever subscription you devour daily, baseball is a 162-part serial (sometimes 181), repeated year in and year out, and its narrators love to shine a spotlight on those rare or previously unseen moments. What follows are not bookmarks in the record book, but rather footnotes and asterisks. These are the wide world of sports moments, some that live on in rain-delay highlight reels, others tucked away until the next bad hop or errant throw revives them into relevancy.

Nine innings to play (occasionally less and sometimes more), twenty-seven outs per side (twenty-four at the plate on a good night for the home team), three-game series after three-game series (the schedule-teasing two and rarely satisfying four not withstanding)and just as it seems that monotony might be on deck, a bird gets in the way. As Mel Allen used to say, How about that!?

Part of what gives baseball its charm are the characters it draws. The golden age of the game may have been profitable for owners, but the game was not yet big business. More relaxed times allowed for a different standard, and made for some good stories as well.

Some umpires have been accused of a hair-trigger temper when it comes to dealing with those who disagree with their calls. Thankfully, this proved to be furthest from the truth during a potentially deadly dispute during a nineteenth-century game between two local New Jersey teams, Clifton and Little Falls. As the story has been told, one of the pitchers, named Connelly, was feeling squeezed by the umpire, Mahoney. Connelly eventually got so frustrated that, with a bat in hand, he confronted the ump. In response, Mahoney reportedly produced a revolver he had hidden in his inside coat pocket, and shoved it into the hurlers facesuggesting a bad ending would follow if Connelly proceeded. Connelly saw the wisdom of Mahoneys position and returned to the mound.

Go ahead. Make my day.

While Manny Ramirez was once late returning to his position after slipping away inside Bostons Green Monster for a quick bathroom break, he wasnt the first outfielder to find relief behind the outfield wall. Over a century before Manny was Manny, St. Louis Brown outfielder Curt Welch apparently enjoyed nothing more than a cold bottle of suds on hot day. (So much so that he once reportedly dedicated a season to his beverage of choice.) As other players have no doubt learned since, its difficult to get a concession worker into the outfield.

Oops. I better get that.

So, Welch saw a problem and found a solution. The three-time American Association league leader in times hit by pitch hid cases of beer behind the Sportsmans Park billboards. Considering his propensity for getting hit by pitches, perhaps he should have shared.