Baseball Metaphor Watch: Norm Macdonald on Conan, 1997

One of the most important skills a person can cultivate towards the end of becoming (and, of course, also remaining) an internet baseball writer is his or her capacity for recycling media that’s almost 20 years old in a manner that seems nearly relevant to the contemporary reader.

The means by which the author has attempted to do that here is to begin a series of posts called Baseball Metaphor Watch, in which he (i.e. that same author) identifies occasions — both past and also present — upon which notable personalities have utilized the Pastime for metaphorical purposes.

In this case, specifically: Conan O’Brien characterizing the nature of a joke Norm Macdonald has just told, in 1997. The full, very long video of the interview is available here.

The relevant quote is here:

That was amazing. You pulled it out. I was worried about you for a minute. I thought you were in deep trouble. I thought you might get backed into a corner, have a lot more pressure on you, and then not have anything. But the pitch came in low and towards the middle, and you put it out of the park.