The Obsession

I've started to mentally break up The Baseball Project into segments. The first segment is, obviously, Spring Training. For the last few weeks, I've read, watched, absorbed and analyzed nothing but baseball. I've watched Ken Burns Baseball. I've read baseball books about the various players. I've read articles about the up-coming season. I've even started … Continue reading The Obsession →

The Numbers

.406 56 714 1.82 511 61 73 I knew there were numbers in Baseball. That's kind of Baseball's thing. It even has its own math associated with it. But, holy moley, I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed. For the pitcher alone there are dozens of stats that you can follow. There's the pitcher's ERA … Continue reading The Numbers →

The Hat

As part of my baseball learnin', I wanted to buy something that would mark me as a fan of the Red Sox. You can't really call yourself a fan until you wander around with a clear label identifying yourself as such. That way, if you see someone wearing a, say, Yankees cap, you can loudly … Continue reading The Hat →

Outside the Fence

I have a tendency to stay away from groups. I try not to belong to things. It's equal parts introversion and orneriness. If you're on the outside, you're free of the constraints of that group. You don't have to meet every Wednesday night and discuss Russian literature. You don't have to speak some weird, hidden … Continue reading Outside the Fence →

The Ball

I bought a baseball the other day. The lengths I went to get it were more than one might expect, seeing as how Baseball is out of season. I finally managed to find one right near Fenway Park, an obvious place to buy a ball really. There's something intrinsically and inexplicably soothing about holding it. … Continue reading The Ball →

The Lost

When learning about baseball's history, it is impossible to ignore the forty years that African Americans were not allowed to play, regardless of ability. Any attempt by a black american to play ball was rejected by Major League Baseball. They were shut out and forced to form their own leagues. There debates, even now, about … Continue reading The Lost →

Preparations

As I may have mentioned, I'm getting prepared to watch baseball from season's beginning to season's end. The only problem is, I'm not entirely sure what I should do to prepare for this. I'm trying to get caught up to speed on the subject, but I'm not sure where I should go, what I should … Continue reading Preparations →

The Stories of Baseball

For me, the sport in and of itself is not the draw. The draw is the people. It's why boxing always held more interest for me than any team sport. It was the individual who made the sport what it was. The fire and sheer ballsyness of Jack Johnson, the lightning style and class of … Continue reading The Stories of Baseball →

A Sporting Attempt

Living in Boston means living with sports. In Durham, sports talk was mainly limited to people yelling about college basketball, because that was the biggest game in town. Sure, we had the Durham Bulls, but they don't inspire the same level of fanaticism as, say, the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics or Bruins. There are four … Continue reading A Sporting Attempt →

Angry and Lovin’ It

I've been noticing more and more lately that I'm getting more and more angry and aggressive and it's the city that's doing it. It's not Boston in particular, it's just...living in a big city where people can be rude and thoughtless and exceedingly annoying. I don't think cities especially attract awful people; the same percentage … Continue reading Angry and Lovin’ It →