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Author Archives: rightoffthebatbook
Let’s Play Two
Ernie Banks’s enthusiasm was contagious as Covid as he declared, “Let’s play two!” Will the regularly scheduled doubleheader, the double-dip, ever make a comeback in Major League Baseball? Auguring this is a matter of time. Literally. To produce a leaner … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Cricket
Tagged analytics, Ernie Banks, Major League Baseball, Twinight Doubleheader
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Wait ’til Next Year
The drouth was over. It ended the only way it could. A rebarbative, plague-infected, player celebrated along with the still-healthy ones. After six games. Some fans were inside a gleaming hitherto-unused, untested (no pun in this “get-tested” era) stadium: the … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Cricket, IPL, Right Off the Bat Website, Stadiums
Tagged Al Kaline, Amed Rosario, analytics, Aroldis Chapman, Atlanta Braves, Babe Ruth, batting average, Bob Gibson, Boston Red Sox, Buffalo Bisons, Chicago Black Sox scandal, Cricket, designated hitter, doubleheader, exit velocity, Florida Marlins, Globe Life Field, Hal Chase, home run, Horace Clarke, Hot Stove League, Houston Astros, ICC, Joe Morgan, Justin Turner, launch angle, Literature, live-ball era, lively ball, Los Angeles Dodgers, Lou Brock, Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball Players Association, Mark Twain, Mendoza Line, Miami Marlins, minor leagues, National League, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Ronald Reagan, Sabermetrics, Sahlen Field, Spring Training, Steve Cohen, strikeout (K), Subway Series, Summer Olympics, Theo Epstein, Tom Seaver, Tony Clark, Toronto Blue Jays, Whitey Ford, World Series
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Joe DiMaggio’s Second-longest Hitting Streak at 70 Years*
As I (Evander) write this on July 16, 2020, it is 79 years since Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak reached its 56th and final game. In the twilight of his proud career the Clipper would enjoy his second-longest consecutive-game batting streak: … Continue reading
Great Stadiums (12): When No One Shows Up
June 1, 2020, with nary a game played. There is no lockout. There is no players’ union work-stoppage. There has been no declaration of war. There is no paralyzing scandal. What do we do with an empty stadium? As the … Continue reading
Great Stadiums (11): From Blueprints
Credit Rod Kennedy Jr. for a keen perseverance. Pursuant to the story linked to his name, Kennedy unearthed (the right word) the blueprints for Ebbets Field. This is where Kennedy lives in his memories (as all us fans of baseball … Continue reading
The Ol’ Neighborhood Play
The pitcher does a little shuffle: By the time the ball’s released his back foot is ten inches in front of the rubber. The ball whizzing toward the batter is loaded with pine-tar or similar foreign-substance; or the ball’s been … Continue reading
There Used to Be a Ballpark Again
“How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!” (Lamentations) William Carlos Williams is the author of an epic poem about Paterson. It is one of the cities “left behind.” Maybe not anymore. In fall 2019, it was announced … Continue reading
The Baseball Scene
Henry James, for whom no abstraction, no characteristic or gesture, was too subtle to be examined (and examined), qualified and qualified again, is generally credited with a fictional form that was actually pioneered by women, mostly Continental-women writers on to … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Cricket, Right Off the Bat Book, Right Off the Bat Website, Yankees
Tagged Babe Ruth, Bernard Malamud, Boston Red Sox, Charles Dickens, Chicago Cubs, Cricket, designated hitter, Don Bradman, Izaak Walton, Jane Austen, John Updike, Literature, London Stadium, Major League Baseball, Mark Twain, National League, New York Yankees, Ring Lardner, St. Louis Cardinals, Summer Olympics
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Great Stadiums (10): Big Beautiful Shea Stadium
I (Evander) went wild first visiting the then-new home of the New York Mets (short for Metropolitans), something like 55 years ago. Ground was broken for “Flushing Meadow Park Municipal Stadium” on October 28, 1961. Shea was McLuhan-cool. It had … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Right Off the Bat Book, Stadiums
Tagged Astrodome, Bill Shea, Houston Astros, Jane Jarvis, Joe Namath, Literature, Major League Baseball, Mike Piazza, National League Championship Series, New York Mets, Nolan Ryan, Pat Jarvis, Shea Stadium, Stadiums, Tom Seaver, World Series
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Right Off the Bat 