Kindred Blue
Baseball lore, columns, videos, comedy, poetry,
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Ron Sokol, longtime columnist, author, and baseball aficionado, tries to keep the hits coming every week. Follow Ron on Twitter at @kindred_blue.
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SOME VINTAGE VIN SCULLY, THE LYRICAL POET OF BASEBALL
KINDRED BLUE RECENT BLOGS
DREAM
All of us dream. We dream as kids. We dream as adults. I think that dreaming, day dreaming mind you, can be a very good thing. I want to say "Tell me what you are dreaming and I think you are on your way to becoming just that..." My earliest dreams were with...
HERBERT JEFEFRIS PENNOCK
Some will tell you that the 1927 New York Yankees, you know the ones with "murderer's row", remain the greatest baseball team of all time. The moniker murderer's row describes the first six hitters in the lineup: Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob...
SECRECY AND SUBVERSION
"Is this the class about how to throw a curveball?" "Yes, you're in the right room." "But, well, what's with this secrecy and subversion stuff?" "You want to throw a curveball, and try to make sure the batter is not aware that's your plan?" "Sure..." "Let's talk about...
ANTICIPATION
So you stand near the track and look out rooting for that horse "Come on baby!" Or you stand in front of the large window as the plane lands and then the passengers come through the walk way there she is! There! Or you know it's the holidays and maybe a bit much but...
WHIFFING IN 2018
Might Casey-itis? Is that what this is? In August 2018, the New York Times wrote: "This could be the first season in major league history to feature more strikeouts than hits, a slowdown that worries many league officials. Thirty years ago, batters compiled nearly...
VINtage
Vin Scully is a unique, lyrical part of baseball. His way of describing the plays before him transformed what may seem to be "just a game" into something quite a bit more, for so many of us. The movie "Field of Dreams" captures the poetic nature of the sport, of the...
ONE ARM
The great composer Ravel (for reasons I have yet to determine) composed a concerto for just the left hand. It is extraordinary. And, just in case you don't quite believe me, here is a You Tube video of the remarkable Yuja Wang. (No, she doesn't play for the Yankees...
MOM WHERE ARE MY BASEBALL CARDS?
According to Wikipedia "A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk or plastic." Wait a second... silk? Let me ask: Do you mean a baseball card, like on your birthday you open it and it reads: "Have a home...
HOLY EXPRESSIONS BAT MAN!
Baseball is important for many reasons. One, it has given us some wonderful expressions we can use at any given moment to describe, to discuss, to opine. Two, as the game continues on its course, there will probably be more useful phrases and slogans ahead. Here...
IS NOSTALGIA TOO NOSTALGIC?
This image was posted on a baseball face book site. Looks like the folks in the stands are quite well dressed. Did you know that in 1927 there was 70,000 at the Yankees' opening game? It was a day game, of course. Baseball used to be played only in the daylight,...
THE MUD, THE MUD!
We know baseball is quirky. Superstitions. Rituals. Hand signals. But to this day there's a certain kind of mud rubbed on the baseballs used in major league games? And no one is to know the location of where the mud can be found? The only thing that seems a...
SO, WHAT’S MAKES A GOOD MANAGER?
Field manager. Not General Manager. The one in the dug out, who saunters onto the field at times. Does things behind the scenes. Figures out who is playing, and at what position, and who pitches to...
Baseball New Year’s Resolutions
Have you made any baseball resolutions for the new year? I have a few, which are influenced by a quotation that you probably have heard before, maybe even said, but somehow one that I managed not to have known about it until now. To play in the big leagues, you have...
SKY
When he stepped into the batter's box When she stood tall on the mound When he swung When she pitched When each played Sky's the limit shimmering like a diamond Their lives showing us their skills their dignity their ability their determination Teaching us by their...