Wednesday, August 23, 2017
THE BASEBALL DIARY ANTHOLOGY, VOLUME 4
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
THE BASEBALL DIARY ANTHOLOGY, VOLUME 3
Thursday, March 16, 2017
THE BASEBALL DIARY ANTHOLOGY, VOLUME 2
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
THE BASEBALL DIARY ANTHOLOGY, VOLUME 1
It is with great pleasure that we announce the publication of THE BASEBALL DIARY ANTHOLOGY, VOL. 1: 1982-84. 250 8x10 pages of baseball, art, personal hygiene, and living in Eighties Los Angeles. Full color front and back covers. Includes three color inserts. Available for $20@ + $4 shipping and handling from William Fuller, 3042 6th Ave, Sacramento, Calif 95817. Cash or checks only. BD website coming soon!
Sunday, November 4, 2012
I JUST LOOK ILLEGAL
by the Editor
I don't think I'll ever be a Giants fan. But respect where respect is due. Getting there was the real fun; SF was magnificent in those final games they had to win. (Shades of those amazin' A's, eh? What is it about the bay area?) I was really hoping the Series wouldn't end in four days, no way the Tigers could be swept, right?
A huge THANK YOU to the BD contributors this season: James Humphrey, Turk Murdock, Spencer Kimball, Daniel DiPierro, Dave Wesley, Tom Gibson, Scott Soriano, Donna Copeland-Fuller, and an especially colossal shout out to Richard Rosen and Meredith Linden, who somehow managed to come through with multiple amazing posts above and beyond what the Editor ever expected. You all are appreciated more than you know!
BD Volume 12 is hereby put to bed. HOWEVER! This doesn't mean we won't be posting in the off season. If the baseball muse strikes anyone reading this, let it wash over you and send me whatever may result! In any case, the plan is to be back next year for Season 13. Hope to see you all back; have a great winter.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
TEAM AFFILIATION AND WHAT CAN BE HAD DUE TO IT
by Meredith Linden
Knowing people in the same family who
like different baseball teams with equal passion made me wonder. What
is it that determines a person’s team affinity and/or loyalty? I
grew up in Houston, hence my affiliation with the Astros buddy
program at a young age. In middle school, I enjoyed watching the
Oilers play every weekend in the fall. I was the only one in the
house who watched any sports, and I’m not sure where I acquired the
taste. Perhaps it was my athletic status at that time. Moving to
Philadelphia didn’t kill my athleticism but it seemed to negatively
affect my major league sports interest.
By the time I got to college, I was
more interested in basketball and the Rockets didn’t exactly call
out to me. I followed college football, being in Texas and all, but
for major leagues, I had to find a new team. It was during the
basketball playoffs in my junior year. The Pistons were playing the
Celtics. I didn’t like the Celtics. My only reasons were I didn’t
like the looks of Larry Bird and their uniforms were ugly. Oh, and
they were top dogs. I liked Isaiah Thomas and Detroit was the
underdog.
I never really settled on a basketball
favorite until I came to Sacramento and met up with Kings fans. They
were a relatively new team to Sacramento and the men in my life
seemed to love them. But they sucked, so I avoided any affiliation.
It was during the Loma Prieta quake,
which I felt in my living room, that I began a MLB affiliation. I got
pretty hyped up for some reason over the World Series and somehow
landed on the Giants, feeling the Oakland A’s a bit inferior. It
was just a feeling I had.
I think most people attach themselves
to sports teams for better reasons than I have. But team connection
can make a real difference out in the world; people take it very
seriously. As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided that because
of my affiliation with Baseball
Diary, I was going to watch a
baseball game this season. Of course, it would have to be either a
playoff game or World Series game due to the timing. And I needed a
team to root for.
I chose the Giants. It made sense to me
in a weird way. I could have chosen any team in the playoffs. So be
it. It just so happens they ended up in the World Series. How could I
have known? Some fans could probably say.
I watched game 5 against the Cardinals,
which turned out to be a great game! I had to watch it in the bedroom
as others were watching TV in the living room and, obviously,
baseball played second string. My daughter walked in on me and said,
“What? You’re watching baseball?” “Yeah, what of it?”
“Since when do you watch baseball?” Busted. Clearly she hadn’t
been reading my blogs!
It’s true I did other things while
watching the game, including taking notes for a blog post. I don’t
know why I needed notes. Perhaps I doubted my ability to really think
in baseball terms or remember key points of the game. I enjoyed the
game, watching Zito pitch a no run game. He’s kinda cute, too. Lynn
scared me until the Giants got through to the 4th inning.
I have to admit, I was not bored.
But perhaps the defining moment in my
short career as a baseball fan was at Baskin Robbins during Game 6. I
had watched my game and while I was mildly interested in whether the
Giants made it to the Series or not, I was not watching any more
baseball; I just didn’t have the time.
As I waited for my daughter to decide
what she wanted, I noticed the game was playing. I searched the place
for the TV. Nowhere. I asked the ice cream scooper if it was on the
radio and he assured me it was. Of course. I asked the inning and the
score, the only proper thing to do. His eyes lit up and we talked
about the game two nights before. It was the perfect bonding moment.
I ordered my ice cream as we talked. He
handed me my cone with what can only be characterized as a
softball-sized scoop in the place of the normal baseball-sized one.
My daughter’s eyes widened immediately. “That’s Giant!”
Exactly. Her sundae was mysteriously covered in extra chocolate
syrup. My daughter looked at me quizzically. And that’s what team
affiliation can get you!
Saturday, October 20, 2012
UNIFORMS
by Meredith Linden
Long, long ago when we could wear
whatever we wanted to school, I decided I would much rather wear the
keen plaid skirts, pressed shirts, and Maryjane shoes of my
contemporaries who went to private school. Back then, yeah we’re
talking ages ago, most private schools were parochial.
Never mind that I was not religious in the least, much less Catholic.
I envied the uniform as well as my friends going to CCD
(Confraternity of Catholic Doctrine).
What is it about uniforms? There’s
the proverbial joke about loving a man in uniform or going for the
nurses in their white caps and starched white dresses (now they just
wear scrubs). Oh, how pure. Just imagine hundreds of hospital
employees divided into their appropriate caste by uniform, standing
out on the lawn for a picture. How clean, how precise, how
conforming.
When my kids started school, the school
uniform had been adopted by public schools to cut down on
inappropriate clothing in general, and gang clothing specifically. I
loved it. Shopping was so easy; we had to buy very few non-uniform
outfits. And in the poorer registers of town in which I worked, we
had much fewer problems with people paying attention to clothing.
Problem solved.
What in the world does this have to do
with baseball? Well, of course, a team would NOT be a team without a
uniform. As I mentioned in a recent post, I was halted in my tracks
as I passed a university team practicing in their uniforms. Oh yeah,
it was baseball, by the way. I was struck, and struck that I was
struck, star-gazed-like, by the men/boys in uniform. A little flip was
had by my stomach. Well, that was an interesting surprise. I have
never really had such a visceral reaction to a sports uniform, or any
uniform, before, especially on men.
But there you have it. They were neat
little packages of athletics. The pants come in nicely at the waist,
different for a guy, even if the pants do have those weird type of
belt loops. But that’s the only thing I could find I didn’t like.
I remember wearing jersey-style rock shirts from concerts, all designed
on the baseball theme. They need room for their arms to swing the bat
and catch fly balls, so their shirts have bigger sleeves, but
their mostly broad shoulders account for the difference. You really
get to see the man in a baseball uniform. That might sound
funny coming from me, as I’m not a man’s woman. But I know
attractive when I see it.
When comparing
football, basketball, soccer, and baseball (and even rugby) uniforms,
my vote is for the baseball uniform. Football players wear theirs
purely by necessity but look ridiculous in the top-heavy
skinny-legged outfits. Basketball uniforms have changed considerably
even since the 70s from the short shorts (ugh, who wants to see
that?) to the obscenely long and baggy shorts, but they don’t do
much for the men’s figures. Finally, I just can’t stand the long
tube socks making up the bulk of soccer and rugby uniforms. I know, I
know, baseballers wear some sort of them, too, but at least you don’t
see their knees when they hike up their knickers. Thus, it looks like
a continuous pant with a little flare at the knee.
I don’t know who came up with the
knickers idea over 100 years ago, but it stuck for quite a while. Not
everyone does it, which makes me wonder why some players do or don’t
do it. But what’s even more interesting about today’s baseball
uniform is the return of something around the neck. The men used to
actually wear bow ties or scarves. Now they’re wearing necklaces of
team colors and, I understand, the necklaces are supposed to have
some sort of healing magnetic powers. How 21st century.
After my “aha” moment regarding
baseball uniforms, I decided to find out what others saw attractive.
After a household poll, I found it is just a matter of taste. As they
say, whatever turns you on.
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