baseball

Quote of the Day

“Baseball?  It’s just a game – as simple as a ball and a bat.  Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes.  It’s a sport, business – and sometimes even religion.”  ~Ernie Harwell, “The Game for All America,” 1955

At the Ball Game

Sunday was Girl Scout Day at Busch Stadium, so we took the children to their first ever Major League Baseball game, and my first game at the new stadium. Ryan’s parents were able to join us, which was really fun, and also really helpful, since we had two extra pairs of hands and eyes to help out!

Our seats were up in the clouds, which I wasn’t a big fan of, but the children didn’t seem to mind being up so high, or being away from the action on the field. Anyway, we definitely had a great view of the whole ballpark!

Turkey was, not surprisingly, the child most interested in the game. He spent most of the time we were there worrying that the Cardinals weren’t going to win, but come the end of the game, he was a very happy camper. He even decided that the Cards had decided to intentionally play a suspenseful game, so that they could have a big win in the ninth.

Bunny decided she was done with the game around the third inning, and spent the rest of our time there thinking about going home and playing with her birthday presents that she received the day before. She did perk up whenever the crowd got excited, but she certainly didn’t enjoy the game the way her brother did.

I think Moose had total sensory overload, which is a good thing for him, because it kept him occupied. Between all the sights, sounds, and smells of the ballpark, there was no end of things to look at and listen to. His favorite part, though, seemed to be spending so much time with Grandpa!

Ladybug…well, I know she didn’t care about the game, but she loved Fredbird! She also loved all the clapping and cheering and shouting. Oh, and playing musical chairs. If anyone got out of their seat (especially Bunny), she promptly stole it. Couldn’t decide who she wanted to sit by to save her life, so she sat by just about everybody at one point or another. She also got a cute new hat out of the deal!

It was a great way to spend what started out as a stormy Sunday, but ended up being really nice, and not even too hot!

“Saints in Limbo”/”Stealing Home” Blog Book Tour

saints-in-limbo

I really wanted to like Saints in Limbo by River Jordan, but to be honest, I just couldn’t get into it.  The prologue (which I’m generally not a fan of in books, anyway–just get right to the point!), didn’t draw me in, and the characters did not gain my sympathy from the beginning (or at all, for that matter).  That best I can do is share a short summary of the book–perhaps it will be more appealing to other audiences than it was to me.

Ever since her husband Joe died, Velma True’s world has been limited to what she can see while clinging to one of the multicolored threads tied to the porch railing of her home outside Echo, Florida.

When a mysterious stranger appears at her door on her birthday and presents Velma with a special gift, she is rattled by the object’s ability to take her into her memories–a place where Joe still lives, her son Rudy is still young, unaffected by the world’s hardness, and the beginning is closer than the end. As secrets old and new come to light, Velma wonders if it’s possible to be unmoored from the past’s deep roots and find a reason to hope again.

stealing-home

Stealing Home by Allison Pittman is a pretty unique book in terms of setting and plot.

It’s 1905 and the Chicago Cubs are banking on superstar Donald “Duke” Dennison’s golden arm to help them win the pennant.

I don’t think I’ve seen too many books about a baseball player that take place around the turn of the 20th century. Maybe I’m just overlooking a genre of book, but I really enjoyed this, both because of the characters, and because of the unique subject matter.  I especially enjoyed the small town of Picksville–it really seemed like the kind of place you’d want to visit and take in a ball game.

Only one thing stands between Duke and an unprecedented ten thousand dollar contract: alcohol.

That’s when sportswriter David Voyant whisks Duke to the one-horse town of Picksville, Missouri, so he can sober up in anonymity. He bides his time flirting with Ellie Jane Voyant, his unofficial chaperone, who would rather hide herself in the railway station ticket booth than face the echoes of childhood taunts.

Ned Clovis, the feed store clerk, has secretly loved Ellie Jane since childhood, but he loves baseball and the Duke almost as much–until he notices Ellie Jane may be succumbing to the star’s charm.

Then there’s Morris, a twelve-year-old Negro boy, whose only dream is to break away from Picksville. When Duke discovers his innate talent for throwing a baseball, Morris might just have found his way out.

Four individuals, each living in haunted isolation, each harboring a secret passion. Providence brings them together. Tragedy threatens to tear them apart. Will love be enough to bring them home?

It wasn’t necessarily the happiest book I ever read, but it is enjoyable and thought-provoking!

Quote of the Day

Batter all, hear that call. The time has come for one & all… To play ball. We are the members of the All American League. We come from cities near & far. We have got Canadians, Irish ones & Swedes. We are all for one, we are one for all, we are all American. Each girl stands, her head so proudly high. Her motto “Do or Die”. She is not the one to use or need an alibi. Our chaperones are not too soft, they are not too tough. Our managers are on the ball. We have got a president who really knows his stuff. We are all for one, we are one for all, we are all American.   A League of Their Own

Quote of the Day

Man, I did love this game. I’d have played for food money. It was the game… The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?…I used to love travelling on the trains from town to town. The hotels… brass spittoons in the lobbies, brass beds in the rooms. It was the crowd, rising to their feet when the ball was hit deep. Shoot, I’d play for nothing!  Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams

Quote of the Day

This week, on “The World of sports”: When the boys are overseas, and off to war, baseball pitches in for the war effort. Trading bats for bullets, Yankees star Joe DiMaggio promises to give those Nazis a jolt. Ace fire baller, Bob Feller, has traded Cleveland gray for navy blue. Baseball biggest stars say: Look out Mr. Hitler, the Yanks are coming, not to mention the Indians, Red Sox, and Tigers.  Radio Sportscaster in A League of Their Own

Quote of the Day

Ray, people will come Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won’t mind if you look around, you’ll say. It’s only $20 per person. They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they’ll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh… people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.   James Earl Jones as Terence Mann in Field of Dreams