Althouse: Baseball heroics.

May 5, 2019

Baseball heroics.

Silver lining sign meet Gold Glove candidate. #NotToday pic.twitter.com/jAGkidxenX
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) May 5, 2019

24 comments:

Danno said...: Great catch. Wall didn't sound like it had any padding.; 5/5/19, 6:19 PM
Henry said...: Wow. Thank god that wasn't at Wrigley.; 5/5/19, 6:27 PM
alanc709 said...: He's lucky. Griffey, Jr. made a play like that in the Kingdome in 1995, broke a bone in his hand and missed about 2 months.; 5/5/19, 6:30 PM
Ann Althouse said...: That player, Lorenzo Cain, left the game with an injured hand, but it was later, when he was hit by a pitch.; 5/5/19, 6:44 PM
Anonymous said...: I so miss Lo Cain!

A Royals fan; 5/5/19, 7:36 PM
justjack said...: For me, analytics has made baseball unwatchable in real time. But I still thrill to the moments, like this, that remind me of why baseball is such a great game, and of why it was for so long the Great American Pasttime.; 5/5/19, 8:03 PM
traditionalguy said...: Cain is able.; 5/5/19, 8:05 PM
harrogate said...: Seems like Spinelli doesn't much comment here anymore. That makes me sad.; 5/5/19, 8:17 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Beautiful catch! Baseball can get so darn tedious - thank God for centerfield action like this.; 5/5/19, 8:19 PM
tim maguire said...: I’m one of those wet blankets who objects to describing athletic feats as heroic. Unless some monster was going to kill a little girl if he didn’t make the catch, then it was just a great catch.; 5/5/19, 8:29 PM
robother said...: I was at a Rockies game in I think 2012 when the Dodger center fielder Matt Kemp made a similar catch running into the wall in Coors Field. Based on subsequent seasons, he was never the same.; 5/5/19, 9:13 PM
Greg Hlatky said...: You're at a sports bar one evening enjoying a ball game on the TV. Unfortunately, there's one guy there who's determined to make the evening a trying one. You know the type: fat, backwards cap, jorts, black sneakers, doesn't shave, etc.

He loudly voices his opinions, all of which are stupid and completely wrong. Let's say, he insists that Pete Rose is the greatest hitter of all time because he had the greatest number of hits. You try to explain that Rose only won one batting title and Cobb a dozen. Or the huge gap between Cobb's batting average and that of the American League as a whole. Or about Hornsbey or Williams and their accomplishments outshining Rose's.

But no, fat loudmouth keeps on insisting that because Pete Rose had the most hits of any ballplayer, he's the greatest hitter of all time. The more patiently you explain, the more facts you muster on behalf of your argument, the more stubborn Fatso gets, the louder, the more insulting, the more belligerent.

Has anyone ever run across this type?; 5/5/19, 9:39 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I’m one of those wet blankets who objects to describing athletic feats as heroic. Unless some monster was going to kill a little girl if he didn’t make the catch, then it was just a great catch."

A monster, that wall, was coming straight at him, and he saved that ball from falling to the ground.; 5/5/19, 9:42 PM
Anonymous said...: meh - standard play. Nothing that out of the ordinary. Soccer-style theatrics are now SOP for the MLB.; 5/5/19, 10:46 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Rose won 3 batting titles (ducks).; 5/5/19, 11:53 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Wall looked stationary to me.; 5/5/19, 11:54 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I endorse Ms. Althouse's choice to create a Ritmo post. I would ask her to do one every day that I can skip right on the main page. And if Inga returns, include her in the post.; 5/6/19, 12:08 AM
Gospace said...: I was trying to figure out how to connect this post to Trump- since everything can be made about Trump, but I can't figure out how. Not imaginative enough, I guess.; 5/6/19, 12:33 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Gospace, don't try to tread on Chuck's ground. It is impolite- if you succeed, he has no reason to live.

Of course, now that I think about it..........; 5/6/19, 12:38 AM
Anonymous said...: Ann's husband is a beisbol fan. Ann likes beisbol. Ann's husband is a trump fan. Ann likes Trump.

Nttawwt. (Think like the Brew Crew -- Brewers fans do Some genders lead, some follow. Nttawwt. Followers make children, and society needs that role filled too.); 5/6/19, 4:39 AM
BamaBadgOR said...: Lorenzo Cain is a great player who doesn't attract attention to himself except by his play. He's a throwback e.g. this weekend he advanced runners by hitting to the right side, made enough contact on an outside pitch to get the ball into left field for a sacrifice fly, ran out his infield ground balls, was a constant threat to steal a base, and hustled on all plays in the field. He also covers the plate with the result he gets hit by a lot of pitches. His "loose" swing reminds me of players from the '50s and '60's. He is a better all-around player than Christian Yelich.; 5/6/19, 5:24 AM
tim maguire said...: Ann Althouse said...
"I’m one of those wet blankets who objects to describing athletic feats as heroic. Unless some monster was going to kill a little girl if he didn’t make the catch, then it was just a great catch."

A monster, that wall, was coming straight at him, and he saved that ball from falling to the ground.

That's true. The wall could have been armed. It was a risk he had to take.; 5/6/19, 6:12 AM
daskol said...: He is a better all-around player than Christian Yelich.

You were doing so well until this sentence. Cain is great. Sometimes outfielders make spectacular catches because they are late on the jump or take a poor route, but this was a perfect route and a full extension catch in harm's way.; 5/6/19, 7:52 AM
Anonymous said...: The best part of that play doesn't get replayed in this clip: after getting his bell rung he gives the ball to the right fielder who relays it back in to the infield, preventing the runner from advancing. THAT is hardball.; 5/6/19, 10:07 AM