There are hundreds of baseball movies. There are hundreds of baseball movie trailers. Entirely too many of them can be viewed on the Internet. However, after intensive study, these six clearly separated themselves from the field. Each stands in its own way as a piece of art unto itself; each so masterfully distills the essence of its film as to make the film all but irrelevant. Enjoy.
I’ve been suffering under a delusion. I had thought of the postgame interview as an exercise in pointless, redundant cliche-mongering. What I had not realized is that these quotes are not meant to be read in English. Return them to their native language, the tongue of Confucius, and their hidden wisdom unfurls like a flower.
Rocky Mountains 8, Dodgers 5
“This is a dream at the scene – and behind you the goods. It makes a tough decision. You walk my woods. The goods are loaded base? He has been so hot, I think I will take things to play.” – Jason Giambi
“He did what he should do. He gave me a hint to your hat.” – Scott Elbert
Notes: Give up a single Betancourt ancient Adam Kennedy started the Bureau, and then removed in the next two batters. Rather than challenge the big fight against Matt Kemp, Betancourt intentionally walked the face of Gordon Dee.
As the calendar turns from April to May, perhaps the biggest surprise in all of baseball has been the batting performance of Colorado Rockie Tyler Chatwood. With an on-base percentage of 1.000, Chatwood is tied for the major league lead– and, a tribute to Chatwood’s extraordinary batting eye, neither of the players he’s tied with has walked even once. This flawless performance by Chatwood was hinted at last season, when he went 2-for-3 with two sacrifice hits in five plate appearances. And, indeed, his 1.333 OPS was among the best in baseball last year. But, without even a single walk to his credit, no one could have been prepared for his amazing performance thus far in 2012. Each of the one times he has been to the plate, he has emerged with a walk. For that, Tyler Chatwood wins the NotGraphs Player Of The Month Award for the month of April. Also, he has one save, which I guess is cool too.
Note to acolytes of “Great” Dayn Perry: I do this with Dayn’s blessing, though he may regret that soon enough…
Young Cal Ripken, Jr., at just eleven years old, was already a shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles.
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What, you ask, allows Mr. Swisher to continue damning the rules with such impunity? Consult the following. Strain to recall the last time one man so thoroughly dominated — no, transcended — his sport. And ask yourself: with an army of 1.5 million at your back, would you feel compelled to return home in the traditional manner?
Courtesy of reader Big Daddy V:
Wikipedia can give you more information about the 1995 episode of The Simpsons that inspired such a thing (“Homer The Great”).
Just to worry Pujols owners and Angels fan a little bit more: through Saturday, there are actually only four players with at least 90 plate appearances and no home runs. Pujols, Daniel Murphy, Rafael Furcal, and Michael Bourn. Have Pujols, Murphy, Furcal and Bourn ever had anything else in common?
Recently, this unfortunate series appeared in my Twitter feed:
On the eve of April 24th, all of the above mentioned young pitchers threw some phenomenal innings. I had intended to point the attentions of my Twitter followers toward these budding stars’ performances; now, however, I fear that I might have actually suggested them as victims for a Count Canseco feeding frenzy. (I’m sure they are all delectable.)
It should be noted that being biten by vampire José Canseco does not result in death, vampirism, or even severe blood loss — any or all of which might be preferable to the actual consequences of said: dramatic increase in synthetic testosterone levels and, thus, unofficial blacklisting from Major League Baseball and/or general respectability — not to mention accompanying issues with sexual performance, anger management, etc.
It’s entirely possible that the baseball careers and personal lives of Milone, Bundy, and Taillon will be ruined in short order.
I blame myself.
Numbers represent averaged wOBAs of all qualifying hitters born in that state/country. Labels represent regional wOBA leaders. Click to embiggen.
I did not expect the deluge of e-mail I received following my Miguel Batista piece on Tuesday. (Okay, it was one e-mail.)
Jon Daly of the excellent Designated Sitter blog linked me to his post about Batista, which reminded me that Batista is a writer– of a novel (with two excellent Amazon reviews), and a book of poetry (currently unavailable). And perhaps more, which we might know about if Batista had renewed the registration on his website domain. Millions of dollars in career earnings and he can’t throw GoDaddy $10 (often even less with a coupon code!).
Here’s an interview with Batista that includes a poem, his first in English, written in the Braves bullpen in 1998. Here’s the first stanza:
Do you remember?
The quiet nights under the moon
The holding hands in late September
The prettiest days of my childhood
I ask myself do you remember?
More on Batista’s writing from the Wall Street Journal last month. And he tweets. But, unfortunately, not very often.
Impressive, although Carson is far more qualified to actually pass critical judgment on the poem than I would be. I’m mostly just impressed by the mere production of writing from someone who is also a professional baseball player. I wish I could be in a writing group with Miguel Batista, Fernando Perez, and R.A. Dickey.
(And, yes, all you need to do to get me to mention your blog on NotGraphs is send me an e-mail.)
I really like it when a baseball bat is referred to as a “wand.” I also like the name “Wandy.” I don’t know why; some words just strike a mind as funny — like honk, or Blastorama, or cheesepipe.
This weekend’s MLB games provided at least two photographic instances wherein a magic-based nickname was particularly applicable:
“Bat, I command you: hover afore my zombie posture!”
Tyler Greene’s Bat, A Metaphor
Neither Photoshop nor any other editing software was used in the construction of these images — though smoke, mirrors, and/or David Blaine might have been.
