Meta tags:
description= 4 posts published by Bill Borst during November 2010;
Headings (most frequently used words):
the, gospel, truth, my, wife, ear, new, three, baseball, and, some, mona, lisa, moments, armageddon, was, yesterday, today, we, have,
Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (338), and (116), that (108), was (74), his (59), have (50), for (41), with (40), not (37), had (31), right (29), they (28), their (27), #baseball (26), but (26), this (22), one (22), about (21), from (21), all (21), 2010 (20), can (20), party (20), are (20), like (17), years (17), just (17), who (17), when (17), what (17), him (15), would (15), more (15), 2012 (14), did (14), life (14), 2011 (13), first (13), were (13), has (13), than (13), even (13), only (13), there (13), three (13), rights (13), ear (13), november (12), 2013 (12), 2014 (12), history (12), american (12), new (12), while (12), most (12), government (12), game (12), may (11), 2015 (11), many (11), two (11), will (11), these (11), been (11), hand (11), now (10), some (10), out (10), very (9), well (9), deaf (9), october (8), january (8), march (8), after (8), also (8), know (8), last (8), way (8), which (8), tea (8), lisa (8), should (8), people (8), republicans (8), over (8), could (8), her (8), time (8), hear (8), hearing (8), hoy (8), signals (8), john (7), because (7), play (7), school (7), left (7), few (7), man (7), our (7), wife (7), big (7), how (7), any (7), told (7), stan (7), rockwell (7), guess (7), ago (7), someone (7), played (7), hit (7), say (7), such (7), wordpress (6), comments (6), december (6), february (6), april (6), june (6), july (6), august (6), september (6), louis (6), didn (6), other (6), them (6), ball (6), robinson (6), anything (6), find (6), players (6), field (6), you (6), religious (6), responsibility (6), browning (6), started (5), com (5), truth (5), 2009 (5), uncategorized (5), theater (5), third (5), spirit (5), democrats (5), said (5), kind (5), thing (5), see (5), person (5), republican (5), past (5), state (5), own (5), election (5), part (5), both (5), close (5), seems (5), think (5), leaders (5), maybe (5), its (5), true (5), those (5), today (5), mona (5), every (5), artist (5), care (5), made (5), then (5), art (5), logic (5), subjects (5), fans (5), ever (5), she (5), used (5), else (5), league (5), don (5), long (5), name (4), gospel (4), posted (4), tags (4), boehner (4), constitution (4), armageddon (4), night (4), little (4), does (4), good (4), side (4), really (4), basic (4), things (4), still (4), evening (4), got (4), thought (4), post (4), bush (4), year (4), work (4), through (4), remember (4), fact (4), something (4), serious (4), norman (4), falter (4), reardon (4), brooklyn (4), signing (4), mystery (4), church (4), actually (4), small (4), dodger (4), umpires (4), umpire (4), called (4), love (4), much (4), smile (4), god (4), form (4), religion (4), often (4), freedom (4), dummy (4), deafness (4), ears (4), major (4), wax (4), get (3), sign (3), cross (3), bill (3), former (3), radio (3), author (3), natural (3), course (3), old (3), fan (3), ran (3), performances (3), perfect (3), high (3), working (3), family (3), sobran (3), millions (3), voters (3), standing (3), need (3), lead (3), tears (3), job (3), take (3), president (3), heard (3), mention (3), nevada (3), death (3), talking (3), look (3), always (3), idea (3), where (3), fellow (3), dumb (3), since (3), toward (3), friend (3), original (3), tax (3), human (3), movement (3), political (3), won (3), base (3), too (3), policies (3), lived (3), musial (3), saturday (3), ralph (3), brooks (3), wrong (3), score (3), sense (3), knowledge (3), attempting (3), knows (3), cover (3), another (3), read (3), funny (3), nuns (3), tried (3), research (3), probably (3), never (3), looked (3), written (3), must (3), portrait (3), enigmatic (3), case (3), coach (3), found (3), sometimes (3), comes (3), went (3), william (3), hall (3), list (3), law (3), class (3), commandment (3), real (3), nothing (3), loud (3), support (3), give (3), groups (3), health (3), federal (3), individuals (3), self (3), women (3), blood (3), children (3), spent (3), noise (3), louisville (3), milton (3), sounds (3), role (3), leagues (3), aids (3), suffered (3), tests (3), site (2), required (2), write (2), view (2), report (2), log (2), subscribed (2), subscribe (2), already (2), blog (2), rss (2), culture (2), politics (2), catholic (2), home (2), holy (2), university (2), taught (2), 1984 (2), currently (2), regular (2), books (2), social (2), wrote (2), world (2), college (2), arguably (2), fully (2), several (2), short (2), browns (2), society (2), produced (2), stage (2), six (2), sound (2), center (2), moment (2), 4th (2), bbprof (2), whigs (2), stieg (2), larsson (2), russ (2), carnahan (2), machiavelli (2), joseph (2), howard (2), philips (2), martin (2), charlie (2), crist (2), back (2), ahead (2), done (2), obama (2), sensitive (2), known (2), better (2), needed (2), important (2), vision (2), upset (2), future (2), down (2), fear (2), until (2), reid (2), head (2), wearing (2), opposing (2), lower (2), forward (2), means (2), happened (2), victory (2), possible (2), examples (2), personal (2), end (2), into (2), realize (2), democratic (2), learned (2), national (2), reminded (2), results (2), unlike (2), within (2), energy (2), point (2), forgotten (2), took (2), spending (2), certainly (2), favor (2), problem (2), mantra (2), second (2), court (2), certain (2), country (2), wore (2), yesterday (2), kiner (2), larry (2), goetz (2), donora (2), beans (2), deep (2), paint (2), vinci (2), telling (2), joke (2), child (2), best (2), worst (2), top (2), half (2), inning (2), pittsburgh (2), artistic (2), educated (2), painted (2), popular (2), interested (2), without (2), artists (2), doubt (2), everyone (2), righty (2), print (2), signed (2), rock (2), solved (2), sent (2), rochman (2), handed (2), dad (2), teach (2), lefty (2), inner (2), quite (2), polish (2), gone (2), public (2), schools (2), grade (2), present (2), autographed (2), gotten (2), least (2), suggestion (2), sukeforth (2), surprisingly (2), says (2), saw (2), continue (2), seen (2), cooperstown (2), rain (2), starting (2), dodgers (2), games (2), none (2), seven (2), actual (2), apparently (2), pirate (2), painting (2), legendary (2), chest (2), protector (2), flaw (2), especially (2), covers (2), 1st (2), famous (2), less (2), considered (2), sport (2), deal (2), unborn (2), nanny (2), flip (2), fire (2), crowded (2), entitlement (2), gordon (2), gekko (2), elvis (2), records (2), envy (2), capital (2), punishment (2), ash (2), heap (2), proper (2), ignored (2), virtually (2), caused (2), lose (2), mission (2), become (2), use (2), virtual (2), war (2), abuse (2), preaching (2), thou (2), shalt (2), believe (2), civil (2), strings (2), innocent (2), totally (2), defense (2), endangered (2), kill (2), absolute (2), backside (2), recording (2), record (2), greed (2), americans (2), stops (2), nose (2), limitations (2), ministry (2), great (2), legal (2), concern (2), spelling (2), white (2), mastoiditis (2), slugger (2), applause (2), rigler (2), cincinnati (2), reds (2), cid (2), klem (2), talk (2), music (2), before (2), player (2), hitters (2), lifetime (2), leading (2), fame (2), worse (2), sided (2), times (2), constant (2), early (2), age (2), lost (2), young (2), entire (2), usually (2), during (2), brain (2), damage (2), around (2), distinction (2), pitcher (2), dundon (2), credited (2), face (2), light (2), phone (2), literally (2), lot (2), words (2), study (2), beep (2), humor (2), tell (2), jokes (2), design, website, email, comment, loading, collapse, bar, manage, subscriptions, reader, content, privacy, account, feeds, archives, org, clerical, shirts, links, stuff, categories, navigation, search, graduating, borst, earned, asian, 1972, yorker, area, hosting, weekly, show, wgnu, 2006, substitute, conservative, phyllis, schlafly, ksiv, 1320, liberalism, fatal, consequences, scorpion, frog, conspiracy, retired, features, editor, mindszenty, foundation, monthly, 2003, nearly, 130, essays, affairs, professor, offered, maryville, 1973, accredited, midwest, historical, plays, local, memory, brownie, crestwood, choice, rigali, shrewsberry, grace, desmet, 2011with, run, comedy, happy, dysfunctional, reached, sbcglobal, net, mukowski, fedealists, turn, predecessors, federalists, watching, looking, complete, surge, type, male, alan, alda, stifle, emotions, bite, lip, beta, guy, let, cloud, embarrassed, probable, speaker, house, broke, decisive, strong, determined, heat, 1995, newt, gingrich, fall, victim, offers, olive, branch, surrender, compromise, farmer, turkey, thanksgiving, promises, wave, rush, chairman, endorsed, gaming, unions, boy, network, rings, knell, frank, fahrenkopf, sharron, angle, hopefully, quislings, lined, uniform, likes, vestigial, lindsey, graham, trent, lott, murkowski, retire, advocates, virtues, smaller, taxes, respect, abroad, secure, borders, next, winning, justified, medieval, atheists, patron, saints, occasionally, try, beat, system, intricate, plan, regards, fraudulent, elections, accept, sides, strange, harry, surprised, everybody, relentless, surprise, investigating, voter, fraud, hold, process, fighting, fight, disappointment, alumnus, enjoy, resounding, suddenly, narrow, margin, turned, surprising, 500, vote, partiers, doomed, failure, planned, destroy, resurrect, ashes, foolish, agenda, driving, cultural, economic, cliff, warp, speeds, columns, centered, inadequacies, mistake, disturbed, seemed, hostile, intellect, politician, candidates, joe, dropped, weeks, delegate, convention, 1999, payer, remarkably, different, movements, attempted, framework, systems, provided, juice, pulsated, veins, electorate, disappointments, delaware, alaska, ideas, makes, goers, rejuvenate, approach, profligate, insure, ballot, box, rejection, whose, ask, neo, con, advisers, adopted, order, curry, along, highlights, eight, office, roberts, alito, cuts, rang, degree, almost, indistinguishable, offering, failed, vindication, saying, dribble, place, shake, rafters, months, severe, trepidation, knew, hang, balance, quote, leg, late, trilogy, main, character, tee, shirt, lisbeth, salander, girl, dragon, tattoo, heart, soul, lurks, desire, model, herself, silly, del, giocondo, ambiguous, included, bit, drama, episode, trumped, knowing, peculiarity, swiftest, leap, upon, ensure, come, deliberately, sought, create, aura, dealer, asked, ate, whoa, baseman, ground, bought, large, sep, apparent, similar, nature, sender, affirmed, interview, photo, act, soft, rebelled, showed, attend, mainly, formal, education, mary, solve, surmised, forced, items, autograph, dozen, pictures, https, free, baseballs, mass, gave, reaction, mail, uncovered, nebraska, originally, assumed, recently, copy, 1954, pictured, andy, cases, interpretation, surmise, exhibiting, glee, bearing, reality, situation, panglossian, indication, anyone, balderdash, note, underneath, break, clouds, optimistic, explanations, miss, official, rained, loses, why, smiling, five, came, circumstance, shorten, visitors, apocryphal, johnny, hopp, dixie, walker, 1948, make, outfielders, background, distressed, joyous, enthusiasm, later, fired, manager, charley, dressen, ready, branca, clyde, elderly, billy, meyer, details, readily, available, focus, coaches, tells, waiting, decide, flanked, lou, jorda, identifiable, outsid, rival, preferred, inside, closely, strokes, hanging, den, 1950s, extremely, bottom, sixth, opinion, portraitist, prompted, renditions, davincis, 300, published, loved, combining, style, fascination, wrought, imagination, honesty, uncanny, relate, endearing, special, subject, 1916, illustrator, loving, however, affair, between, visual, luminaries, ring, lardner, damon, runyan, carlos, williams, marianne, moore, donald, philip, roth, delillo, affection, energized, scribes, poets, writers, reads, literary, inspires, pretty, surmises, aficionados, thinking, hands, mysterious, frankly, louvre, growing, reading, moments, orwell, stae, penalty, 7th, relationship, restored, america, stay, teachers, seem, confused, meaning, participation, sight, earth, carnival, barkers, secular, likely, relegate, fervor, vii, continual, card, contributed, betwen, various, segments, population, breach, catholics, powers, steal, confiscation, wealth, redistribute, others, accountability, sacred, duty, urge, pulpits, help, poor, needy, erroneously, expensive, pay, abortion, euthanasia, embryonic, stem, cell, extra, threat, effectively, moves, sidelines, losing, exempt, status, separation, doesn, belong, unless, priests, ministers, solicited, forefront, protests, step, tyranny, handouts, tether, rest, assume, destitute, luck, accidental, occurrences, welfare, incumbent, private, citizens, tend, needs, unable, fault, provide, necessities, charitable, institutions, mother, rather, myself, subset, parents, dependents, primary, regard, food, shelter, relies, primarily, each, individual, represents, pure, image, likeness, respected, protected, amendment, latter, debatable, stone, principle, behind, perfectly, acceptable, ethics, book, listed, exceptions, except, species, concomitant, exception, relegated, oblivion, teen, companies, obscure, same, unwritten, word, trumps, churches, against, unfortunately, addicted, largesse, neighbor, goods, religions, involve, sacrifice, degradation, overruled, importantly, divine, shout, textbook, your, begins, press, speech, anytime, born, zero, sum, impinges, per, privileges, begin, power, orwellian, buried, somewhere, bowels, spends, money, conjuring, patriotic, symbols, flag, affront, sensibilities, offended, finding, underwrite, protect, abusers, business, profession, code, phrase, authority, flesh, choose, under, sun, sort, venue, responsibilities, focused, wasn, witty, enough, perhaps, educators, expression, teaching, eading, riting, rithmetic, tinnitis, nhoy, maui, morning, wake, completely, stopped, playing, relish, melodious, female, voices, suffering, potent, argument, magic, coming, thankful, live, sympathize, athletes, involved, communications, whole, necessary, skill, deteriorate, disheartening, enormously, attentive, bats, custom, establishing, practice, among, continues, career, 1882, 1894, earning, 341, batting, average, ranks, 11th, hitter, yet, unknown, outfield, alcohol, 900, fielding, percentage, unique, defensive, positioning, facing, runners, extent, direction, blind, liability, evidently, incurable, alcoholic, motto, bottle, appeared, drunk, suspended, alleviate, pain, began, drinking, heavily, drop, illiterate, condition, danger, tormented, infection, contracted, childhood, result, vertigo, facial, palsy, interesting, pete, spectacular, stood, bleachers, wildly, waved, arms, hats, communicate, language, useful, beloved, teammates, nonetheless, due, possibility, york, addition, lips, feet, away, unlikely, manual, signal, articles, printed, influenced, creation, nor, maintain, introduced, majors, claimed, introducing, believed, created, balls, strikes, minor, although, 1886, issue, using, umpiring, mobile, alabama, sporting, news, able, speak, voice, resembled, squeak, intelligent, circles, developing, day, though, widely, disputed, corrected, addressed, referred, himself, dummmy, rookie, led, stolen, bases, pride, became, tom, lynch, fielder, teams, 1888, 1902, notably, franchises, washington, ellsworth, immediately, baptized, number, retarded, admit, blank, understand, functions, decline, pause, reflection, failing, eyesight, hundred, considering, consider, poet, lamented, sonnet, xix, afflictions, easiest, carry, complaining, ringing, answer, static, frequency, domain, nerve, tinnitus, difficulty, pitches, titanic, loss, aid, twist, body, conversation, silver, sleek, fits, looks, feels, experience, tiny, piece, technology, being, choked, invasion, linoleum, build, trouble, wedged, constantly, melissa, manchester, concert, fox, seats, dangerously, speakers, 1979, moron, yelling, phillies, infections, physician, lance, bed, auditory, insults, quipped, insulted, insult, drive, specialist, trauma, couldn, scans, chart, stock, market, hard, taken, test, scores, hate, avoiding, elevate, sugar, psa, stressful, predict, occur, sat, isolation, booth, sorts, unrelated, repeat, scary, resisting, concerns, central, institute, based, bad, sad, diminishing, notice, story, french, jesuit, martyred, 17th, century, huron, indians, canada, issac, joque, laughed, smart, forte, parish, dinner, meal, served, named, geoffrey, holding,
Text of the page (random words):
the major leagues after pitcher ed dundon and tom lynch short at only 5 4 and deaf surprisingly hoy wore the name dummy with pride and some distinction in his rookie year hoy led the league in stolen bases in fact hoy often corrected individuals who addressed him as william and referred to himself as dummmy he was no dummy said to have been able to speak with a voice that resembled a squeak he was actually one of the most intelligent players of his time and in some circles is credited with developing the hand signals used by umpires to this day though this view is widely disputed for the record umpire cy rigler is believed to have created signals for balls and strikes while working in the minor leagues although in the november 6 1886 issue of the sporting news the deaf pitcher ed dundon is credited as using hand signals while umpiring a game in mobile alabama on october 20 of that year legendary umpire bill klem claimed the distinction of introducing those signals to the major leagues introduced baseball signals to majors no articles printed during hoy s lifetime have been found to support the suggestion that he influenced the creation of signals nor did he ever maintain that he had such a role in addition if hoy could read the lips of an umpire only a few feet away it is unlikely that he would have needed a manual signal as well nonetheless due to the possibility that he may have played a role in the use of signals as well as for his all around play there is a movement to support his election to the hall of fame in cooperstown new york hoy lived to be 99 and was beloved by all his teammates he taught them how to communicate in sign language very useful on the field when he made a spectacular play fans stood in the bleachers and wildly waved their arms and hats an early form of deaf applause a more interesting case is that of pete browning browning was tormented for his entire life by mastoiditis a serious infection of the inner ear usually contracted during childhood which can result in deafness vertigo facial palsy and brain damage a danger in the field but could he hit because of his condition browning lost his hearing at a young age his deafness caused him to drop out of school at an early age so that he went through life as a virtual illiterate to alleviate his constant pain browning began drinking heavily he often appeared on the field while drunk and was suspended many times evidently he was an incurable alcoholic who lived by his motto i can t hit the ball until i hit the bottle when he did play he was a liability in the field they tried him at 1st base but opposing players blind sided him every time he tried to field the ball maybe they deaf sided him so he started a unique defensive positioning of facing the runners to the extent that he could not see the ball hit in his direction he was apparently much worse in the outfield where maybe the alcohol played more a role than his deafness he is one of the few major league players to have less than a 900 fielding percentage unknown to most fans browning is one of the leading hitters in major league history his 341 lifetime batting average ranks 11th on the all time list he is the 4th leading right handed hitter in baseball history and yet he is not in the hall of fame browning played most of his 12 year career in louisville from 1882 1894 earning the name the louisville slugger he was enormously attentive to the bats he used and was the first player to have them custom made establishing a practice among hitters which continues to the present i can sympathize with these athletes i have been involved in communications of one kind or another my whole life and to lose or have a necessary skill deteriorate before my very ears is disheartening it is such a loud world we live in but i am thankful i can hear what i can hear i relish all the melodious sounds of real music female voices especially that of my long suffering wife a potent argument and just the magic coming from the people who still love me dumb or not maybe one morning i will just wake up and the music will have completely stopped playing and as long as i can still talk i ll be ok as they say hear today gone to maui posted in uncategorized tags bill klem cid cincinnati reds cy rigler deaf applause deafness dummy nhoy john milton louisville slugger mastoiditis tinnitis white noise the new three r s november 18 2010 5 comments it was in grade school that i first learned of the expression about schools teaching the three r s which were then r eading riting and rithmetic i wasn t witty enough to realize that perhaps these educators should have spent more time on spelling should have focused more on spelling today i think the three r s that should concern not just school children but all americans my new three r s are rights responsibilities and religion of the three only the first one seems to get any mention in any sort of public venue we hear so much about a person s right to do just about anything under the sun i am talking about the right to choose which is a code phrase for the legal authority to kill one s own flesh and blood then there are the new rights to a job health care and so on the rights business has been great for the legal profession it seems that our political social and even religious leaders are always finding a new right for the government to underwrite and protect from its abusers there seems to even be a right not to be offended some individuals and even groups find any mention of god or patriotic symbols such as an american flag are an affront to their sensibilities i believe there must be an orwellian ministry of rights buried somewhere within the bowels of the federal government that spends all its time money and energy in conjuring new limitations on human freedom a ministry of rights i say limitations because these are not really rights per se but government privileges that begin with their power over their subjects and end there as well i say that anytime that a new right is born in the zero sum game of life it impinges the freedom of another this is true of the basic rights in our constitution such as the freedom of press religion and speech everyone knows that these rights are not absolute as any high school history textbook will teach my right to freedom stops at where your nose begins stops at someone else s nose no one has the right to shout fire in a crowded theater religions that involve human sacrifice the degradation of women and the abuse of self or child are overruled by not only man s law but also more importantly god s divine law unfortunately millions of americans have become addicted to the largesse of their neighbor s goods as a form of entitlement this is a form of lower case greed that you never hear the churches preaching against i guess the new mantra that trumps gordon gekko is that greed is only good if someone else has more than you do the unwritten word in these examples is the second r that is responsibility responsibility is like the flip side of a hit record when i was a teen recording companies produced a hit on one side with an often obscure recording by the same artist on the backside with the exception of elvis records no one would ever play the backside and it was virtually relegated to oblivion every real right has a concomitant responsibility with it we all have the right to life except our unborn the most endangered species in our society but even that right is not absolute my college ethics book listed three exceptions to the commandment thou shalt not kill self defense is perfectly acceptable when one s life is endangered this self defense principle is behind the logic of capital punishment and a just war now the latter two are debatable and not written in stone the one kind of life that is totally protected by the first amendment is the innocent s right to life innocent life represents the pure image and likeness of god and must be respected as such with regard to the right to food shelter a job and health care the responsibility for all these relies primarily on each individual parents and those with dependents also have the primary responsibility of those in their care these so called rights while all subset of the right to life should never be the responsibility of the federal government the so called nanny state mother i d rather do it myself if individuals are unable through no fault of their own to provide these basic necessities of life than they are subjects for charitable institutions if someone is destitute or just down on his luck because of accidental occurrences his welfare can be incumbent on private groups or citizens to tend to his needs but for the federal government to assume this as part of its mission in life is wrong i say this because all government handouts have strings long strings that can tether a person to them for the rest of his life this is a certain forward step toward a life of tyranny the third r is religion now most people say that religion doesn t belong in anything to do with rights unless it is civil rights and priests and ministers are solicited to march in the forefront of civil rights protests all over the country but when it comes to abortion euthanasia of embryonic stem cell research they are reminded of the extra constitution threat of the separation of church and state which effectively moves many to the sidelines for fear of losing their tax exempt status many religious groups erroneously believe health care is a right and expensive right that someone else should pay for now religious leaders have every right even a sacred duty to urge us from their pulpits to help the poor give to the needy and the like but they have no right to support a government confiscation of personal wealth and redistribute to others without any form of accountability this is breach of the 7 th commandment thou shalt not steal for catholics and an abuse of their preaching powers what about the president s continual use of the class envy card that has contributed a virtual class war betwen the various segments of the population the church has forgotten vii it is this very participation with big government that has caused these religious leaders to lose sight of their real mission on earth and become nothing more than loud carnival barkers for a secular government that would just as likely relegate all religious fervor to the ash heap of history just as teachers today seem to have ignored the original three r s our religious and political leaders have virtually ignored or confused the true meaning of the new three r s it is time that their proper relationship be restored so america can stay on its proper course posted in uncategorized tags 7th commandment ash heap of history capital punishment death penalty church and stae class envy elvis records entitlement gordon gekko fire in a crowded theater flip side god s law nanny state orwell rights the unborn baseball and some mona lisa moments november 11 2010 6 comments while i was growing up i remember reading about da vinci s mona lisa and how enigmatic her smile was i have been to the louvre and i got as close to her portrait as i could and quite frankly her smile does not do very much for me really other than her mysterious smile what is the big deal an enigmatic smile first of all she is not that pretty and i think the surmises from art aficionados about what she was thinking says to me that they had too much time on their hands no sport inspires true art more than baseball baseball has long been considered a sport for american scribes and poets and the list of writers who have written on baseball reads like an american literary who s who luminaries such as ring lardner damon runyan william carlos williams marianne moore donald hall philip roth and don delillo had a deep affection and love of the game that energized their work less well known however is the love affair between visual artists and baseball american illustrator norman rockwell is probably the most famous baseball loving american artist baseball was the subject of his 1st cover in 1916 his fascination for the game of baseball like his own work is wrought with imagination honesty and the uncanny sense of baseball players and fans to relate to a game in such an endearing and special way rockwell loved combining his love for baseball with his artistic style he went on to paint 13 covers on baseball out of the over 300 covers he published for the saturday evening post i find that a popular american portraitist norman rockwell prompted more thought in his renditions than two davincis got fans to think i find my opinion especially true when it comes to his work with baseball subjects as an old brooklyn dodger fan from the 1950s i was extremely interested in his painting of the three umpires sometimes called the bottom of the sixth i had a print of it hanging in the den of my first home many years ago my knowledge of the game told me that i had found a flaw not in his strokes but in the logic of his baseball knowledge a flaw in rock s logic if you look very closely you will see three umpires the lead umpire with his hand out is the legendary beans reardon identifiable by his outsid e chest protector the rival american league did it that way while reardon s national league preferred the inside chest protector reardon is flanked by larry goetz and lou jorda logic tells me that it is just starting to rain as does the fact that the pirate players are standing in the field waiting to see what the umpires decide my focus is on the coaches the painting s details are readily available the elderly pirate is billy meyer he seems upset or distressed by the joyous enthusiasm of the dodger coach clyde sukeforth the man who would later be fired for telling manager charley dressen that ralph branca was ready the game was apparently played in 1948 one can make out the outfielders in the background they are johnny hopp dixie walker and ralph kiner the actual score 1 0 in favor of the visitors is probably apocryphal since i could not find anything close to the score the dodgers did play seven shorten games but none that i could find with pittsburgh the dodgers only won five of the 11 games played in brooklyn none came close to this circumstance if the rain had just starting why is the dodger coach smiling it is an official game and if the top half of the inning is rained out brooklyn still loses most explanations i have seen miss this point i have seen the original in cooperstown a small note underneath the portrait which is surprisingly small says that the dodger coach saw a break in the clouds and he was optimistic that the game would continue balderdash i say there is no indication from anyone else that this is the case i can only surmise that sukeforth was exhibiting a panglossian glee that had little bearing on the reality of their situation there are at least two other cases of an enigmatic interpretation of baseball art recen...
|
