Baseball DIY

First off, I'd like to whole-heartedly apologize for the infrequency of posts to this blog. I'm currently busy with actual work, a graduate class reading load, getting the second issue of BDIY together, and trying to have some kind of social life so my wife will let me live in our house. I promise that this blog will eventually be something that you can check every other day and find something new and interesting.

With that said...a "Retro-Bermanism" is a Bill James invention wherein an pre-ESPN ballplayer is given a nickname in the manner of those distributed by one Chris Berman. A few examples: "Rocky (I'll Call a Tony, You) Colavito," "Frank (I'd Follow You to) Shellenback," and "Ray (Electric) Schalk." In the car, I've started playing this game with literary figures. Here's what I've got so far:

1. Nathaniel (Every Rose Has Its) Hawthorne
2. Ralph Waldo Emerson (Lake and Orlando Palmeiro) <---a perversion of Berman's own "Rafael (Emerson, Lake, and) Palmeiro"
3. Henry David Thoreau (Me the Damned Ball) <---in the spirit of Keyshawn Johnson
4. John Steinbeck (beck, beck, beck...Gone!)/Ernest Hemingway (back, way back...Gone!)
5. Ford (Greg) Madox (Whitey) Ford <---a two-for-one special
6. Herman (No Joy in) Melville
7. Mark (Party On) Twain

Feel free to send in your own. It's a great way to waste your time with two of your great loves!