The baseball season is in full swing (no pun intended), and dedicated statisticians are already looking for new facts, new records, and new heroes. I have a head start on baseball’s stats this year, as someone (I have conveniently forgotten who.) gave Earl one of those 365 page calendars where you tear off today when tomorrow arrives. Each page of this particular calendar is devoted to a baseball fact, and Earl has taken it upon himself to read every single one aloud to me over our morning coffee.
I’m not much of a baseball fan, but I do enjoy an occasional game; and I’ve been to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown NY twice. But the facts in this calendar would never make it into that hallowed establishment.
I guess if they were more interesting, I would be more attentive. But what I’ve learned from four months of baseball trivia is how contrived it can be. For instance, did you that U. L. Washington hit only two home runs in the 1979 season? And that he hit them both in the same game? And he hit one by batting left handed and the other by batting right handed? I didn’t know any of this either. And frankly my life felt complete.
Some days the calendar details the miseries of managers whose pitchers can’t bat or whose other players represent missed opportunities for home runs, strikeouts, and stolen bases. Other days it reaches back the early years of baseball and draws comparisons to today’s game. Most days, it’s pretty dry.
It makes me wonder if all the really good baseball information has already been gobbled up by sport announcers, columnists, and book publishers. About the funniest thing so far is what relief pitcher Dan Quisenberry said: “I have seen the future and it’s much like the present, only longer.” But then he could have said that under a variety of circumstances.
As a courtesy, I plan to listen to the rest of the calendar, but have already alerted Earl that I pick the one we read in 2007. Currently, I am searching for a calendar about ballet terms.
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