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
THE PICTURE SAYS IT ALL
I write a lot here - of all the items I have posted on Facebook to date, this is the one that received the most likes, the most shares, and the most comments. And yes it is indeed just a photo. A picture of a time.
SAP, JUST PURE SAP
"No offense, but that's more syrup than I put on my waffle this morning..." That remark is one of my favorite comments about a column that posted on this web site. I am sappy. I don't want to be sappy, but it rhymes with happy, so I guess that's ok. And I admit, I...
AND GOD CREATED BASEBALL
"He was so inspired" "How inspired was he?" "He was so inspired he created the sun, the moon, the planets, the stars, oceans, plants, air, music, space, colors, animals, humans, insects, fish, rocks, mountains, prairies, ice, the sun, and baseball." "Wait -- wait a...
DO WE PUNISH JOY?
"CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES... COME ON!" -- Kool & the Gang When something goes well in the ball game, we might high five, fist pump, jump up, hug, yelp with delight, do a dance, I mean, there are a lot of options. But, wait a second... the bat flip is controversial? A...
BASEBALL AND LIFE
Do you have a place you go, or hang out, where you "take five"? I would guess most who go to a baseball game, sit in their seats, browse around a bit, get food, go to the restroom, stretch, but largely stay put, right? That works, but at times I find myself straying....
A TRULY FINE VINTAGE
Serendipity is defined as an unplanned, fortunate discovery. You see, we were in Tennessee. Some of the folks in our group are history buffs, which meant a longish-stop-over at the home of our seventh President, Andrew Jackson (aka "ol' Hickory"). Not the nicest...
SLUGGER, AND THE ENDURING POPULARITY OF BASEBALL
About a third of the way through our tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, our guide Natalie said something that has really stayed with me: "The size of the crowds here on any given day are a testament to the enduring popularity of the game of baseball."...
WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A BASEBALL QUIZ
There's a gentleman named George Will. He is a conservative thinker, commentator, prognosticator, author, as well as a big time baseball fan. Each year for a number of years he has a quiz that is presented with Opening Day. Here it is for 2019. Good luck! And... I...
COME ON – Is Baseball Slow or Fast?
The games lasts 3 hours, at least. Four balls. Four balls until you walk. Not run... walk. Guys come in from the bull pen, so let's all pause. And, it takes three strikes to get rid of a batter. In the mean time how many foul balls will he hit before he succumbs?...
DEAR MIKE TROUT, from your friend Khayyir (or, another reason to like baseball)
Hi, this is Khayyir. I am 10. You are my favorite player. I went to a game and you hit two home runs and made a really good catch in the outfield. My dad, and my mom, like you too. They always say "Mike Trout is a good man, that is a good man..." So I think in...
OH YEAH?
With the season on the horizon, some of us have donned boxing gloves (ok, not really, baseball mitts), but we're ready. We are REDDDDDDD DEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Just in case anyone asks what's such a big deal about baseball, that slow, yawner, boring game where players...
DAD
Dad took me to baseball games slapped my knee when something good happened played catch with me after sometimes at night under the moon On those rare occasions when he was not working he talked to me about baseball players some he really admired Had all sorts of very...
THE BABE’S BIGGEST FAN
Julia Ruth Stevens died recently at the great age of 102 (which is less than one seventh of the home runs hit by her adoptive father George Herman Ruth). Babe married his second wife, actress and model Claire Merritt Hodgson in 1929, and adopted Julia thereafter. She...
ARGUING AGAINST THE KNIFE
Ulnar collateral ligament reconstructions, also known as Tommy John surgery. The first was in 1974, thank you to the remarkable Dr. Franklin Jobe whose patient was indeed Tommy John. When Dr. Jobe did the surgery back then, he projected about a 1 in 100 chance of...