— Bill Deno (@bill_deno) August 18, 2019
That was a long and harrowing game last night. Eric Thames had the winning home run in the 14th inning.
Here's the Wikipedia article "Inside baseball (metaphor)":
In American slang, the term inside baseball refers to the minutiae and detailed inner workings of a system that are only interesting to, or appreciated by, wonks, insiders, and aficionados. The phrase was originally used as a sports metaphor in political contexts, but has expanded to discussions of other topics as well. Language commentator William Safire wrote that the term refers to details about a subject that require such a specific knowledge about what is being discussed that the nuances are not understood or appreciated by outsiders.I'm reading Safire's article (from 1988), and he ends by noting that the term "horse race" is replacing "inside baseball" in political commentary to refer to "the who's ahead aspect of the campaign to the exclusion of the substance presumably discussed."
According to Merriam-Webster, the term originated in the 1890s referring to a particular style of playing the game which relied on singles, walks, bunts, and stolen bases rather than power hitting. Within a few decades the term was being used to mean highly specialized knowledge about baseball, and by the 1950s it was being applied to politics.
Posts
33 comments:
What a game. Very glad that the Crew eventually won. The disappointment was not being able to listen to Brian Anderson and Bill Schroeder announcing. Second game in a row. Wonder what's going on with that.
ngram shows "inside baseball" bursting our of the starting gates in about 1907, then up and down with not much of a trend since then; and "horse race" much more popular the whole time but rolling upwards toward the picher's mound almost linearly since 1880, and showing both together demonstrates that ngram's GUI is rather primitive.
Yes, in the next year we're going to get 1,000 articles discussing the "Horse race" and another 1,000 articles decrying the fact the MSM is discussing the "Horse Race". Just like every Presidential Campaign. The Candidates are never called horses though. Although you could label Warren as a broken down Indian pony, and Bernie as an old horse ready for the glue factory. Harris, obviously, is a horse of different color.
Baseball is more interesting to talk about then watch. I usually don't see it until the playoffs.
Thames played for the NC Dinos of the KBO League in 2014 and 2015. He was "the first KBO player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season" and won the KBO League Most Valuable Player Award.
To or too?
Sung-Bum Na may make the move to MLB - punsters hope.
We've gotten rid of the "u" in Colour. Lets get rid of the extra "o" in too. Its to much.
... and let's also stop dropping the "e" at the end of a word if you are adding an "ing".
Braves beat Dodges last night. Preview of playoffs.
For some reason this post got thinking about ‘285 Perez’ and the triple brawl game against the Padres.
Good Lord. William Safire every week in the New York Times. Flora Lewis. Those were the days. Now we get David Brooks and Maureen Dowd.
If my fantasy league had a point category for awesome Thames would not be sitting in the free agent pool.
". “She’s 120 lbs. of dead weight. Carrying her around is a living nightmare.”
Sounds like they have figured out how to make one that's incredibly realistic, but that's not where the real market opportunity is.
Why does a sex robot need artificial intelligence, or even a vocabulary? A half-dozen phrases would be enough, and preferably you could customize those to your liking.
’Why does a sex robot need artificial intelligence, or even a vocabulary?’
That’s very inside baseball... :)
Allen S wrote:
"The disappointment was not being able to listen to Brian Anderson and Bill Schroeder announcing."
We are spoiled, aren't we? When they are gone, you really appreciate how well BA and Rock work together and what a good play-by-play announcer Anderson is. I was irritated last night when Dan Plesac, who is not nearly as funny as he thinks he is, kept telling a stupid story as a 2 run homerun was hit by one of the Brewers. I appreciate that being a good baseball announcer is much harder than it looks because of the pace of the game. You've got to be able to jump back and forth from small talk and story-telling to the game and BA and Schroeder (and Uecker) are very good at it. Plesac is like the drunk at the bar who keeps yammering on while you're trying to watch the game.
I assume Schroeder is absent due to personal reasons. Anderson is in great demand nationally as a sports announcer and I'm honestly surprised he hasn't moved on to work in a bigger market.
What a game! The Cardiac Crew can be relied on make you bite your nails until the last out is recorded.
Other teams have figured out Hader and that is worrying.
Ann Althouse said...
Thames played for the NC Dinos of the KBO League in 2014 and 2015. He was "the first KBO player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season" and won the KBO League Most Valuable Player Award.
8/18/19, 9:02 AM
Love him. I was surprised the first time I heard him interviewed. I was expecting this deep Barry White bass voice and he sounds like California surfer dude.
When did Walgreens start fielding a pro team?
Yes, Dan Plesac does not know when to shut up. Irritating, very irritating.
Not to be too insider baseball, but I was at the ballpark in San Francisco when the Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks played an eighteen-inning (5 hours, 28 minutes) game in 2001. The Diamondbacks won 1-0. Click the link to see what 35 goose eggs look like in a box score, then imagine what it would be like to sit through seventeen scoreless innings in person.
A little to...
?
Typo I assume.
The Brewers - Nationals game last night lasted over 5 hours, but with a lot of action.
So The Masked Singer is a Korean creative invention? Hmmm.
Braves beat Dodges last night. Preview of playoffs.
Dodgers beat the Braves the night before and are leading 3-0 today.
Preview of the playoffs.
To or too?
ToTo too!
Looking at the box score, I see --
W: J. Guerra L: J. Guerra
Apparently the guy was traded between innings so he could pitch both top and bottom and be both the winning and losing pitcher.
"then imagine what it would be like to sit through seventeen scoreless innings in person.”
Baseball heaven.
Q: MLB was deciding whether or not to reinstate Pete Rose in the 2014 season.
A: When asked about it, Rose said, "I hope they do, cause I've got $50 riding on it."
(For people as ignorant as I, Pete Rose is a guy who bet against his own team, or bet for his own team, or something whatever.)
Pete Rose is a guy who knowingly and willfully broke the only death-penalty rule in baseball -- Any player who bets on baseball games will be permanently banned.
What is more, his obfuscations about doing so probably caused Commissioner Bart Giamatti to have his fatal heart attack.
@jim at... that 3 runs on a first inning HR was all
The bums from Brooklyn/LA Dodgers got. But the Braves smoothly scored 5 runs using the new Rawlings designed super
Ball with bases loaded. There is joy in Mudville after taking the series 2 to 1 games.
In
"What is more, his obfuscations about doing so probably caused Commissioner Bart Giamatti to have his fatal heart attack."
If obfuscations can cause a fatal heart attack, 1/2 of social scientists would be dead.
It's also the only rule that is posted in every clubhouse in MLB.
Rose only bet on his team to win, and that sent a very clear signal to gamblers when he didn't bet on his team to win. His guilt is unquestioned.
Post a Comment