Fifty-two days until pitchers and catchers … and here’s your daily splash of joy.
Why do you love baseball?
Brilliant Reader Bob Stevens: “Learned to read with the sports pages. Learned math by figuring out batting averages and ERA’s. Got into broadcasting as a teenager because of Vin Scully calling Dodger games.”
Brilliant Reader Gary: “Sitting at Wrigley Field when the wind is blowing out hard and a batter hits a towering fly ball — the outfielder drifts back, and back, and back… and finally runs out of room against the ivy to see the ball sail over his head.”
Brilliant Reader Eric: “Dave Henderson in center field laughing it up with the fans in the $2 bleacher seats at the Oakland Coliseum.”
Brilliant Reader Neal: ER By train, I took my 6-year-old son to his first night game — the first night game at Wrigley Field. We saw the Cubs go ahead 3-1 on Ryne Sandberg’s home run. Then the game was called due to rain. Disappointing? Not when my boy saw the Cubs come out of the dugout and do running, sliding belly flops on the field’s soaked tarp! Unforgettable.
If you would like to send in the reason why you love baseball, we’d love to hear it. And in that spirit, we’re also now collecting photos and artwork too — old snapshots, ballpark scenes, favorite scorecards, kids’ drawings, ticket stubs, whatever captures the joy of the game for you. Some people are sending song lyrics. Some are sending poems. It’s utterly wonderful. Just send along your baseball joy to [email protected].
The Clubhouse
The Clubhouse is where JoeBlogs jumps a little higher and goes a little deeper — today that means ranking the top 50 non–Hall of Famers by their JDI (Joe Dominance Index), with thoughts on each one. Clubhouse members get full access to posts like this every Friday, with lots of fun conversations that grow out of them, and their support is what makes it possible for JoeBlogs to stay open and free. If you’d like to join us, come on in. The door’s open.
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