Yes, you can never figure out baseball, To some extent, this may be true for all sports, but perhaps because of the long season, or having teams play three or four game series, it is the most confounding to figure out. I'm glad that I don't do sports betting (or any betting except for the odd bingo night at the parish hall).
If the Guardians somehow miraculously win another AL Central title this year, I would not be surprised if they lost to a wild card team, just as they did last year against the Tigers. Frankly, they are they are masters at leaving runners in scoring position on base, hitting batters who are sitting at 0-2, and they must lead the league in warning-track power and smacking foul-ball home runs. However, like my late father, I watch or listen to nearly every game, shake my head and mutter some mild expletive, and with the demise of local papers, throw some of the junk flyers across the room. While I am sure that many young people enjoy the Progressive commercials about becoming one's parents, for me, that's not a bad thing, as I became my father (for better or worse) many years ago.
So sorry about Westley. We have had cats through our 25 years of marriage, and I had two dogs as a kid. It is never easy. And this week, you have been joined in that sad situation by none other than the Obamas.
Tom Boswell is now writing occasionally for The Washington Sun, with a lot of other former staffers at the former Washington Post, which used to be properly constituted as a newspaper.
Joe, I also want to send you my condolences about your puppy. It’s always so hard when our furry friends. We’ve lost several cats over the years and it’s never been easy. Cried and then looked at memories through pictures. I hope your grief continues as you continue to mourn your loss. Time will help.
Joe calls Tom Boswell's sportswriting career arc as nearly perfect, and maybe that's true, but you gotta feel sad about being a baseball fan in DC during his lifetime. Growing up with a bad team and a miserly owner that moves to Minnesota and suddenly becomes good enough to play in the world series, replaced by another sorry team that failed and moved to Texas, then no MLB franchise for 35 years. By the time the Nationals become a winning team, Boswell is in his sixties. That's an awful lot of losing and disappointment to deal with in a nearly perfect career. Maybe all that losing made him a better sportswriter.
Living here in the DMV for 45 years I grew accustomed to great sports writing. The Washingotn Post of the 80s and 90s was just amazing - Boswell, Richard Justice, Dave Kindred, Dave Sheinen, Kornheiser, David Aldridge, Michael Wilbon, the names go on and on. Then recently Barry Sverluga, Spencer Nusbaum, Jesse Dougherty, and others.
It was a great time to get the paper....and then Jeff Bezos and his cronies blew it up, so I unsubscribed. I haven't missed it. Sad.
Boswell, BTW, has now moved over to the new Washington Sun, which just started as an online newspaper with all the people that got whacked.
I need to start following the Negro League HoF classes more closely. Garr, Matthews, Smith, Thornton. A lot of character in that group. To me, a much more interesting class than Jeff Kent et. al.
And Joe, I hope the Band's classic "Lookout Cleveland" is on your playlist this week.
Maybe the Rays’ lousy record in blowouts is because they’re better at making the this-one-just-isn’t-going-to-happen decision, and thus burn fewer relievers for upcoming games.
Where are we supposed to enter our receipt number to get the bonus content for 50 Seasons? It sounds like there's already a place to do that, but I don't see where.
At the beginning of his post Joe said he is days away from posting the sign-up sheet. I assume that is the link that will allow you to enter our receipts.
I also missed the link to that special place and I think my receipt was tossed in mad cleanup after we had a lot of visitors (I think I can get a copy from the store). Thanks!
Yes, you can never figure out baseball, To some extent, this may be true for all sports, but perhaps because of the long season, or having teams play three or four game series, it is the most confounding to figure out. I'm glad that I don't do sports betting (or any betting except for the odd bingo night at the parish hall).
If the Guardians somehow miraculously win another AL Central title this year, I would not be surprised if they lost to a wild card team, just as they did last year against the Tigers. Frankly, they are they are masters at leaving runners in scoring position on base, hitting batters who are sitting at 0-2, and they must lead the league in warning-track power and smacking foul-ball home runs. However, like my late father, I watch or listen to nearly every game, shake my head and mutter some mild expletive, and with the demise of local papers, throw some of the junk flyers across the room. While I am sure that many young people enjoy the Progressive commercials about becoming one's parents, for me, that's not a bad thing, as I became my father (for better or worse) many years ago.
So sorry about Westley. We have had cats through our 25 years of marriage, and I had two dogs as a kid. It is never easy. And this week, you have been joined in that sad situation by none other than the Obamas.
Tom Boswell is now writing occasionally for The Washington Sun, with a lot of other former staffers at the former Washington Post, which used to be properly constituted as a newspaper.
Joe, I also want to send you my condolences about your puppy. It’s always so hard when our furry friends. We’ve lost several cats over the years and it’s never been easy. Cried and then looked at memories through pictures. I hope your grief continues as you continue to mourn your loss. Time will help.
Speaking of Buck O'Neil, I went and checked out the award the HoF gives in his honor.
Do you think Francis "Lefty" O'Doul would be a worthy recipient?
"𝘌𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 1932-37, 𝘖'𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘦𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘨, 𝘑𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘹𝘹, 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘎𝘦𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘓𝘦𝘧𝘵𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘻 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘵𝘩, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 1934. 𝘉𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵, 𝘖'𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳.
"𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘎𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘖'𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘬𝘺𝘰 𝘎𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 (𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘶𝘳𝘪 𝘎𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴). 𝘏𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘯 1936. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘕𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘉𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 1950.
https://www.mlb.com/news/lefty-o-doul-great-mlb-hitter-and-ambassador
"𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 1945, 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘉𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘖’𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘭. 𝘓𝘦𝘧𝘵𝘺’𝘴 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘰 𝘚𝘶𝘻𝘶𝘬𝘪, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘖’𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘯 1928 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 1934 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘵𝘩, 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘦𝘧𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺. 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘰’𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘯 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳. 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘍𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘰 𝘒𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯, 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘉𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘖’𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵."
𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳, 𝘎𝘦𝘯. 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘖'𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘯 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 1949. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦.....
𝘍𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘺-𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘫𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘒𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘶𝘦𝘯 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳’𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵—𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
𝘖’𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥—𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴, "𝘛𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘢" - "𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦".
https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-greatest-piece-of-diplomacy-ever-the-1949-tour-of-lefty-odoul-and-the-san-francisco-seals/
Joe calls Tom Boswell's sportswriting career arc as nearly perfect, and maybe that's true, but you gotta feel sad about being a baseball fan in DC during his lifetime. Growing up with a bad team and a miserly owner that moves to Minnesota and suddenly becomes good enough to play in the world series, replaced by another sorry team that failed and moved to Texas, then no MLB franchise for 35 years. By the time the Nationals become a winning team, Boswell is in his sixties. That's an awful lot of losing and disappointment to deal with in a nearly perfect career. Maybe all that losing made him a better sportswriter.
Living here in the DMV for 45 years I grew accustomed to great sports writing. The Washingotn Post of the 80s and 90s was just amazing - Boswell, Richard Justice, Dave Kindred, Dave Sheinen, Kornheiser, David Aldridge, Michael Wilbon, the names go on and on. Then recently Barry Sverluga, Spencer Nusbaum, Jesse Dougherty, and others.
It was a great time to get the paper....and then Jeff Bezos and his cronies blew it up, so I unsubscribed. I haven't missed it. Sad.
Boswell, BTW, has now moved over to the new Washington Sun, which just started as an online newspaper with all the people that got whacked.
I need to start following the Negro League HoF classes more closely. Garr, Matthews, Smith, Thornton. A lot of character in that group. To me, a much more interesting class than Jeff Kent et. al.
And Joe, I hope the Band's classic "Lookout Cleveland" is on your playlist this week.
"Look Out, Cleveland the storm is comin' through
and it's runnin' right up on you
Look out, Houston there'll be thunder on the hill
Bye-bye, baby don't you lie so still"
Did you go to Dromgoole’s? Best pen shop around!
Maybe the Rays’ lousy record in blowouts is because they’re better at making the this-one-just-isn’t-going-to-happen decision, and thus burn fewer relievers for upcoming games.
Where are we supposed to enter our receipt number to get the bonus content for 50 Seasons? It sounds like there's already a place to do that, but I don't see where.
At the beginning of his post Joe said he is days away from posting the sign-up sheet. I assume that is the link that will allow you to enter our receipts.
My guess is it will happen early next week.
I also missed the link to that special place and I think my receipt was tossed in mad cleanup after we had a lot of visitors (I think I can get a copy from the store). Thanks!