Althouse: Knocking the cover off the baseball, literally.

April 19, 2014

Knocking the cover off the baseball, literally.

Not a metaphor.

13 comments:

m stone said...: A real kicker to anyone to saw it live and loves the game.

Apparently, the cover came off when hit during a game in the '70s too.

Roy Hobbs lives!; 4/19/14, 8:30 AM
Ann Althouse said...: We were watching live. At least Meade was, yelled, and replayed it for me. Then they replayed it about 12 times and talked and talked about it. It was really funny, especially since it helped our side. Poor Pirates.; 4/19/14, 8:40 AM
Ann Althouse said...: The final catch of the game was great and didn't get the attention it would have otherwise received, so check that out too.; 4/19/14, 8:42 AM
Ann Althouse said...: If the Pirates come up one game short at the end of the season, they should sue the manufacturer of the ball.

How is that anything but a defective ball?

Did Maldonado get credited with a hit? It's an error on the ball manufacturer.

A very entertaining error.; 4/19/14, 8:45 AM
Cornroaster said...: There is also the possibility that the pitcher tampered with the ball. Over the years I have heard of pitchers using fingernails, belt buckles, etc. to "scratch" or "rough up" the surface of the ball to make it "dance" on the way to the plate - I'm a little surprised that this possibility hasn't been mentioned. If the pitcher was trying to do this, he might have nicked the threads and caused them to fail.; 4/19/14, 8:59 AM
rhhardin said...: He should have gone on to second.

Let them try to toss him out.; 4/19/14, 9:00 AM
Trashhauler said...: Not so unusual an event. Especially if it's the same ball you and the gang have been using all summer, it's been left out in the rain, and it has some duct tape covering the part where the stitches have begun to separate.

But it's probably different in the big leagues.; 4/19/14, 9:08 AM
Wince said...: Al: Don't worry, it's... it's good luck.

Tye: In Haiti.

"Made in Haiti" doesn't mean what it used to.; 4/19/14, 9:12 AM
Bob Ellison said...: A charming example of the mystery that is baseball. Walls and balls in that game vary widely.

Yeah, that final catch was a treat.; 4/19/14, 9:25 AM
Lorenzo said...: And Blake the much despis-ed
Tore the cover off the ball.; 4/19/14, 10:42 AM
George M. Spencer said...: A metaphor for modern American society, the wrappings have come off, the ball will not fly. Like our foreign policy, it is a source of amusement, awkward, inept, pathetic. Where does the error lie? Is it in the outsourcing of our values to Haiti and to Miley Cyrus? The runner, Putin-like, is safe, undeserved of his gain. The great Umpire who stands in judgment of us all smiles, for not even He can change the game.

This from a George Will column next week.; 4/19/14, 11:43 AM
Lance said...: That makes my day. That's so cool. Thanks for sharing.; 4/19/14, 1:20 PM
Wilbur said...: A quick-thinking runner on second would've lit out for third.

And kept on running to home. They'd never get him.; 4/19/14, 1:30 PM