Shortly after finishing his (likely flawed) translation apropos Wladimir Balentien’s pursuit of Japan’s single-season home-run record, the present author pointed his internet browser to YouTube, intent on consuming footage of that same gigantic Dutchman hitting at least one of his 52 home runs this season.

With a view both to (a) giving the reader a head start in his/her own pursuit and also (b) producing content out of almost nothing at all, the author has embedded here above-average video of Balentin’s eighth home run this season, from back at the end of April.

Regard:

Read the rest of this entry »

Barring any inconsistencies among his travel documents — an entirely real contingency, that — the author is relocating for about a year to Paris beginning in the middle of September. In preparation for said move — and in a gesture of supreme self-interest — he has resolved to publish in this space a brief, almost daily French exercise concerning base-and-ball.

What follows is such an exercise — featuring, in this case, a passage from Montreal’s La Presse regarding former major-leaguer Wladimir Balentien’s pursuit of Japan’s single-season home-run record.

For each paragraph, the author has produced a (likely flawed) translation. At the bottom, there’s commentary regarding certain words or phrases of note (and which are marked by an asterisk) either because (a) those words and phrases are particularly difficult, but the author has grasped their meaning or (b) they are particularly difficult and the author has abandoned all attempts to make sense of them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured: multitudes within multitudes within still more multitudes.

The reader is invited to indulge of the following paragraphs, which await the reader not unlike a sexy Helvetica-shaped coed awaiting the reader.

Ever get nostalgic for 1970s youth hostel decor? Look no further — the trappings of table football, board games and musty old books have all been slavishly recreated here. One of the cheapest places in the city, it’s also a local canteen, complete with sticky table-tops and the tenacious smell of stale beer that bears witness to many a debauched evening. The décor is an incoherent mixture of second-hand furniture with some good pieces, and of bent wood hat stands with peeling wallpaper.

One perches uncomfortably on chairs or on a knackered old sofa, knocking back jugs of beer or rum mixers and mopping it all up with a cheap charcuterie board. During the day the place is tranquil… Always full in the evenings, it gets busiest when the gigs start, mostly with locals. A decidedly blue collar venue, but none the worse for that.

Read the rest of this entry »

A brief episode observed by the author this afternoon, during the pre-game hours at Fenway Park.

Artwork by the actual Pedro Martinez himself, courtesy Nick Taveras.

Generationally talented and now retired right-hander Pedro Martinez, in town for a local fundraising event, is giving an interview to an elderly reporter in the loge boxes on Fenway Park’s first-base side.

Read the rest of this entry »

Derek Jeter’s appeal is universal.

While almost entirely devoid of baseball coverage, per se, French (and other francophone) news media appear to have discovered one means of driving traffic already popular in the United States — namely, by invoking the name of popular Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

One finds, by way of illustration, that the shortstop’s surname appears in numerous French-language headlines whose attendant articles/posts concern neither baseball, nor the Yankees, nor the longtime shortstop himself.

Below are five recent examples of instances in which French news media have exploited Derek Jeter’s popularity to attract readers to otherwise entirely unrelated pieces.

Title: BlackBerry Prêt à Jeter l’Éponge (link).
Source: Le Vif.
Subject: A popular smartphone manufacturer.
Mentions of Derek Jeter: None.

Read the rest of this entry »

Barring any inconsistencies among his travel documents — an entirely real contingency, that — the author is relocating for about a year to Paris beginning in the middle of September. In preparation for said move — and in a gesture of supreme self-interest — he has resolved to publish in this space a brief, daily French exercise concerning base-and-ball.

What follows is such an exercise — featuring, in this case, a passage from Canoe regarding the New York Yankees’ recent sweep of Toronto.

For each paragraph, the author has produced a (likely flawed) translation. At the bottom, there’s commentary regarding certain words or phrases of note (and which are marked by an asterisk) either because (a) those words and phrases are particularly difficult, but the author has grasped their meaning or (b) they are particularly difficult and the author has abandoned all attempts to make sense of them.

Read the rest of this entry »

For 30 years now, writer and public-broadcasting personality Rick Steves has published Europe Through the Back Door, a series of annual guidebooks designed for travelers interested in moving beyond Europe’s most obvious (and expensive) tourist activities and experiencing the continent more like a native might.

One senses from the animated GIFs below — of Jose Fernandez striking out batters to end the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings of his Saturday start, all on curveballs looking — that, were the young Cuban émigré to write a guidebook designed to acquaint readers more intimately with the proper use of a championship breaking ball, that he would likely advocate more of a front-door approach.

Read the rest of this entry »

Click to embiggen.

Contrary to the reader’s poorly formed beliefs and deeply-held values, the image here is not the product of an hour’s worth of belabored photo-editing, but rather a real screencap of a real website regarding men’s hairstyles found recently by the author on Her Majesty’s secret internet.

Barring any inconsistencies among his travel documents — an entirely real contingency, that — the author is relocating for about a year to Paris beginning in the middle of September. In preparation for said move — and in a gesture of supreme self-interest — he has resolved to publish in this space a brief, daily French exercise concerning base-and-ball.

What follows is such an exercise — featuring, in this case, a passage from French-language Canadian daily La Presse regarding Ichiro Suzuki’s 4000th hit. The author has included commentary regarding certain words or phrases of note either because (a) those words and phrases are particularly difficult, but the author has grasped their meaning or (b) they are particularly difficult and the author has abandoned all attempts to make sense of them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dayn Perry and the present author are recording a Question Time™ edition of FanGraphs Audio at 1:30pm ET tomorrow (Friday).

The reader is invited to submit a question for Perry — who is probably drunk and should definitely go home — in the comment section below.