Kindred Blue
Baseball lore, columns, videos, comedy, poetry,
photos, history, a dab of Dodgers and more.
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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
A SMALL MONUMENTAL MOMENT
Fred is a good friend, many years, turning 60 years young in just a short while. Has been to countless baseball games, countless, but never managed to get a ball. That changed this past Sunday. I happened to take a quick break beginning of the fourth inning,...
HOT DOG!
BASEBALL IS MORE POPULAR THAN EVER
Talk about fake news! I keep hearing and reading that baseball's popularity is on the down swing. A number of teams are struggling for suitable fan attendance, the pundits insist. Well, those naysayers are very dogged, but not dogged enough. Here is proof positive...
THE FINE ART OF HECKLING
HeckleDepot.com. Give it a look. You have choices from Umpire heckles to Bull Pen heckles to General Heckles and even Fan Signs. HeckleDepot.com is proof positive the internet is a wonderful place to really educate those of us in need of a little bit of coaching....
BASEBALL, AND WHAT REALLY COUNTS
If you're a bit like me, it aggravates you no end if the manager takes the pitcher out, puts in a reliever, who then blows the game all together. Or, there are runners on first and third, one out, the hitter just needs a sacrifice fly, or even a soft grounder, to...
WINE AND BASEBALL – GLOVE AND BALL
Baseball has a lot in common with wine. Baseball and wine are like crackers and cheese -- very simpatico. For example, you go to a wine tasting, and you choose from a variety offered. A number of different types of wines are evaluated. Each has some benefit,...
OK, I AM MAKING A PITCH HERE
Stamina – the ability to endure, to keep going, to get a second maybe even a third wind. Nolan Ryan once threw 235 pitches in a game for the then-California Angels. It was not all that long ago, 1974. That was early in his career, and he went on to pitch for 27...
NOW THAT’S REALLY ODD!
Baseball has so many uniquenesses. Here are just a few in case you're at the ball park, or watching on the telly, or at a cocktail party and want to impress or at least amuse with your vast array of knowledge: Virgil "Fire" Trucks pitched in 1952 for the...
ABSOLUTE PROOF OF BASEBALL PURITY
In our judicial system, for a civil claim, you have a burden of proof to demonstrate the case by a preponderance of the evidence. This means "more likely than not", or roughly 51/49 in your favor. In many states 9 out of 12 jurors is satisfactory for you to prevail...
I JUST WANT TO GO HOME
So there's a famous book "You Can't Go Home Again", written by Thomas Wolfe but published after his death. Maybe that explains the title. The Beatles sang a very touching song "Two of Us", which originally was called "On Our Way Home..." It has such a sweet melody....
SALUTE!
Over 200 years ago, a gentleman named Francis Scott Key wrote a poem "The Defence of Fort McHenry". We know it today as the Star Spangled Banner. In time a bit of a joke has arisen: "What are the last two words of the National Anthem?" "Play Ball!" History says the...
COMIC STRIPS THAT PLAY BALL (or, so I’m a relic, so what)
"Who in their right mind gets the newspaper delivered anymore?" "I do...." "Oh, then you probably still like baseball too." "Well, yeah!" "Man, incredible, you are a true relic. Have they offered you a spot in the Smithsonian?" "Aren't you nice... For the record,...
SOMEONE SAID THERE’S A BASEBALL SPIRIT
Somebody said there's a baseball spirit who sets the table who spruces the whole place up and puts the bats there the balls the mitts the uniforms chalks the lines just right gets the umps focused and keen who opens the gates and says: "Come on in everybody they're...
SO STRONG YET BROKEN
Awhile back I wrote an article here about Lou Gehrig entitled The Irony of the Iron Horse. The man who played in more consecutive games than anyone has a disease named after him that gradually dismantles and removes people from earth (in physical form anyway). Bill...