Can of Corn🌽

“PlayyyyyyyyBalllllllll”

Ham screeched.

Because.

He had to get home for lunch🥪

The grounds crew are raking, staking, lining with meticulous hue. With fine point precision and steadfast care to ensure on opening day, all lines will be visible.

Seen with out wear.

Just around the corner.

45 degree angled corner.

Protractorally measured.

Small and Often.

”Playyyyyyyyyyyy Balllllllllllllllll”.

The official start of America’s pastime.

Just around the corner.

45 degree angled corner.

Line ups are being drawn up.

Skills and drills willed.

Oh the crack of the bat,

Clink, clink, clank, clank (aq)

There are some new rules in case you have not heard.

New base sizes and shifts and pitch counts absurd.

But as Carey used to say, and Brickhouse did too

”Hey, Hey”

It’s time for baseball what are we to do?

The off season was quiet. While itchin’ to play, other sports competed, led the way. Snow kept some fields from receiving play. Still others offered half time shows of creative talent and song. We made it through a bleak cold winter post covid and long.

Some folks think it boring.

America’s past time galore.

Let’s speed up the game,

Pitch faster, hit long.

We will see how it goes.

I, for one, cannot wait.

Even though I have never played this game of ball so great!

A different version, with a squishy, larger ball would be all that I would see, in my career now long gone.☺️ Knowing when to stop is the key.

America’s pastime is great game, if you know what to look for. It is chock full of drill, skill and will. A game second to none.

Sometimes those in the outfield are left alone with no ball. To catch or chase after. Pitching so good, fielding that strong.

It all began with around 1869 with a team from Ohio named after a hued sock. Some players were secretly paid by the teams who held their stock.

Rivalries existed then too. Between teams, leagues and players. The time ‘round 1920 proved to be the dead ball era.

No home runs. No excitement. No talent was concrete? Not quite. Not necessarily. A fix was in, the fix of defeat.

A scandal of all fixes hidden quiet and secret.

The sport survived the scandal of 1919. To fix the World Series, make it too hard to clean. The Black Sox scandal was too dirty to clean. Oh how would competitive baseball now be seen.

As historical as baseball is, has been, and will be. The sport broke a barrier with a player named Jackie.

As life often challenges another scandal would follow and a new problem arose with big pills to follow. The introduction of steroids and the growing girth of tendons, ligaments and muscles. Intention to make play much more interesting.

No more no home runs, now corked bats, pine tar, snuff and spit. Would take over the air waves and some fans now would said “we have had it”. No more. I quit.

But as Carey used to say and Brickhouse did too.

”Hey Hey”

It is time for baseball, what are we to do?

It is after all a business. Please do not “boo”. Competition is fierce, for me and for you. On field off field. Round field. Round the bases. Must keep up. Must not yield. Head down take the field.

It is after all a business, small ball, squishy or soft. Expansion is a key in the business of the ball.

One can opine what is the big deal if you sniff. Either make it “cross the board” or don’t allow the whiff. All for one and one for all. What are the rules? Please be clear so we can follow.

The sport has a constitution which is appropriate in the US. In 1922, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Federal Baseball Club v National League held that baseball is not interstate commerce and therefore NOT subject to federal antitrust law. Major League Baseball is the only league that has such a status, has not faced any competition since this case.

Gotta love a sport that stands on its own. Has a constitution. To govern. Itself.

The leagues were short-lived. Competitors of no one. Continental and Federal League challenge was done. Short-lived they were. Major League Baseball again stands alone.

As with any business, some conflicts exist, the way to view the games is sometimes a twist. Like God and the weather who can predict if the game will “go on”. The branch of video and broadcast to enjoy from dusk until dawn. The sport and the play call comes out of New York.

As Yogi once send when you come to end in the road, take the fork.🙂

Attempts to share the sport with the world deliberate and cunning. How best to exhibit to the world a sport so stunning?

Because to some it is a bore. A test in patience. So much nuance, subtlety and restraint require of us more.

Smalls learned this overtime with a kid named Benny. It is way more about the camaraderie than the shiny new penny.

Yet to some it gets dicey, when the pitch goes a “slicin”. The curveball comes in drops so low and buckles your knees, the sinker so skillful and sink-fully it causes you to to sneeze.

The squishy, softer ball league has joined forces with the World Classic. To offer a glimpse to the world a sample of talent. Through the years, conditions, injuries and the Tommy John display repair to see the results of wear, harm and tear.

As with any feel good sport, of which baseball tops it all, it even offers a bonafide lesson in civility of the Civil Rights War. A Beacon of Light, A Beacon of Change. A Beacon of Hope. To play a sport based on love, pure talent and connected rope. Not a pipe-dream-loop-hole of misleading false hope.

Some notable winners of the Beacon of Hope Award include Jim Brown, Bill Cosby, and a baller named Magic. At one end of the rope they held a connection of hope.

Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson were Lifers. True Beacons of Life winners. They gave of themselves and put on display their tithes and true talent for truth and honesty.

Lastly the Beacon of Change award went to Muhammad, Billie Jean and Berry Gordy We thank them for crossing over to promote good change. Thank You Lordy🙂!

Through it all, baseball stands as the stand alone game. Where individual performance means more than the game. The teammate mentality. The teammate supreme. Than the self expectations and fragile self esteem. It all seems so simple, yet complicated it may be when data intrudes and affect the hits, slides and seams.

What is really most vital is a great coach, who takes the pitch count, ball count nuances, signals and signs. Timing perfection, rope of hope with a player’s true desire. The affect and effects of the wind, sun and rain. The affect and effects of the delay of the game.

Smalls, DeNunez, Benny, Squints, Ham, Tommy, Timmy, Bertram, Ya Ya, all knew. When taking positions, head down, run and be you. Team players have your back and players remind you to do. Make the play. Back ‘em up. Throw it in field without pause.

And. Please do not waste.

Your time and your talent.

Wishing, hoping for more.

Than this moment in time.

Muscle memory, reflex, sublime,

Depth perception, peripheral

Bruised leg or bruised ego

Swing, Look or Whiff

As Benny said to Smalls,

Just do. And. Then don’t

Revel this moment in time

And. Do not

Think too much.🙃