Baseball DIY

I didn't see anything in the literature for the new book talking great tales of Doubleday - it sounds like author Jim Reisler is dead on about the existence of the myth. It also sounds like Cooperstown was a political choice for the Hall - a chance to save a town that was struggling hugely in the midst of the Great Depression.

I think (and this is just me) that there was no myth about Cooperstown when the Hall was built. I think that grew over the years, as people forgot about the economic effects of the Depression and sought some more romantic reason for Hall of Fame being there then just politics and money. (Not that it is a bad place for it - I mean really, where would you have built it?) And the folks that perpetuated that myth were pretty savvy when you think about it. Go to Cooperstown not only for the museum but to actually see where baseball was born..

Can you blame them for giving that idea a go?

Be sure to back Gammons' new album (sorry, I've just been trying to find a way to use that pun).

Fans of Gammons won't be surprised that he's making a go of it as a rocker. Not only has he recorded a few songs before, for Hot Stove, Cool Music charity albums, but he's also made a career of blurring the line between music and sports. He has quoted Bob Dylan in rants about the Red Sox and constantly plugs his favorite albums, sometimes slipping them in as he gives updates on trades.

No matter which third-grade classroom you walk into, there will be at least one kid who takes great joy in telling the others that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and George W. Bush's soul do not exist.

Let me play that role right now.

The Hall of Fame is in Cooperstown because that is where, allegedly, Major General Abner Doubleday (who was present at Fort Sumter) invented baseball in 1839. The Mills Commission report of 1907 is to blame for this lie.

In the first decade of the 20th century, baseball's origins were under dispute: a side headed by the admittedly British Henry Chadwick (editor of Spalding's Official Baseball Guide) held that baseball evolved from rounders; another side led by National League president Albert G. Spalding (the guy who proposed that each different position should wear a different uniform in order to bring his business more revenue) held that it was as American as exploiting cheap labor...these were not, I confess, his exact words.

Spalding put together the Mills Commission, which "found," not surprisingly, that baseball was indeed an American pastime. They pinned the invention of baseball on Doubleday, based almost entirely on the testimony of one man, Abner Graves, who said he saw Doubleday teaching the game to kids in Cooperstown in the 1830s. Spalding wrote, "It certainly appeals to an American's pride to have had the greatest national game of Base Ball created and named by a Major General in the United States Army."

Case closed!

Except that there has been no other evidence connecting Doubleday to baseball in any fashion. No diary entry saying, "Today, I made up a great game." No baseballs, bats, or pine tar in his house. He died in 1893 and so was unable to deny anything, and never made any claim of inventing the game in the 54 years between 1839 and 1893. It is more likely that baseball evolved from rounders, and that the true origin of what we now recognize as baseball is the set of rules devised by Alexander Cartwright and the New York Knickerbockers in 1845.

But baseball had its myth. Myths are usually more powerful than the truth. So when organized baseball got the idea for a Hall of Fame in the '30s, Cooperstown was the natural fit, and sleepy Cooperstown, New York, welcomed the idea of getting some money. The Hall of Fame opened as part of the "centennial" of baseball's creation. Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

For more on the Hall of Fame and the Doubleday myth, I recommend Bill James' Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?, Ken Burns' Baseball, and Talmage Boston's 1939: Baseball's Tipping Point.

I just received a book catalog with this great sounding title, A Great Day at Cooperstown. It details the origins of the Hall of Fame and looks at not only the early stars of the game, but also the origins of the baseball myth in America.

Carroll & Graf is a great publisher, but unfortunately not a big one. That means this is the kind of book that gets buried deep in the Sports section at the big bookstores, and not displayed on the front tables. It sounds perfect for any fan of the game itself (and not of just one team) and author Jim Reisler has all the right credentials for putting together a book of this nature. Do you know why the Hall was built in Cooperstown? Neither do I - might be worth a read to find out!

I came upon a little-known passage in Voltaire's Candide last week, and I thought this was the place to share it with you.

From Chapter 30

"'But surely, Reverend Father,' said Candide, 'there is a dreadful amount of pseudo-intellectualism in baseball broadcasts.' - 'And what does it matter,' said the dervish, 'if there is pseudo-intellectualism or genuine baseball wisdom?'... - 'So what must we do?' said Pangloss. - 'Keep your mouth shut,' said the dervish. - 'I flattered myself,' said Pangloss, 'that you and I might have a little discussion about OPS and batting average, about who is the best player of all time, the origin of runs, the nature of defensive statistics, pre-established harmony of baserunning strategies...' - At which the dervish slammed the door in their faces."

and later....

"'Let us set to work and stop proving things,' said Martin, 'for that is the only way to make baseball bearable.'"

That is well said, but I'm still going to read Curve Ball and anything else about baseball theory. The questions raised might not have any answers, but cultivating my garden requires at least a little frivolous thought on the underlying mechanisms of baseball.

If you ever start a Heinie Manush site, be sure to call it "Heinie Manush-a." Get it? Like "minutia"? But with a play on his last name? Oh my God, that is so funny!!!

You could also have a Heinie Groh site and use "Heinie Minutia," but I really think the first idea works better...

Also, you have my permission to name your band, fantasy baseball team, or social club the "Meaty Urologists."

Quick, visualize the year...

I don't know what you see when (if) you visualize the year, but I see what amounts to a clockface. For some reason, June is at 12 o'clock and December is at 6 o'clock. Why is this the case? I'm not sure, but I think it says something interesting about my psychological attachment to baseball.

See, as the year progresses (counterclockwise), the big hand hits baseball season around 3 o'clock, "peaks" in June, descends in earnest by 9 o'clock (September), then gradually works down to the depths of December. But as the new year turns over, the big hand starts its ascent again. So even subconsciously, I consider baseball season the high point of the year.

This view of the year may have been brought about during my school years, but it has stuck with me into my days of year-round drudgery. It's easier to get up and go to work, to make it through eight hours (or however many), if there are baseball games going on somewhere in the world.

Please go to baseballdiy.org for a special announcement concerning BDIY's near-future.

Don't worry; nobody died or anything.

(Did you know that there was a baseballdiy.org? It's not really mentioned on this blog.)

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Well, don't tell that to Bruce Sutter. Sutter was elected to the Hall of Fame today on the 13th try (triskaidekaphobia be damned). No one else was elected...not even me.

Pop quiz: Which state has produced the fewest Major League Baseball players? Give yourself a hearty huzzah if you said “Alaska,” which is the birthplace of just nine major leaguers, including the Red Sox’s Curt Schilling. Granted, it’s only been a member of the Union since 1959, but so has Hawaii; thirty major leaguers were born in Hawaii, still disproportionately more than Alaska when you factor in the states’ populations.

So are we to conclude that there just isn’t any good baseball played above the 54th parallel? That would be a mistake. You see, players like Tom Seaver, Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Dave Winfield, and even one-time Cardinals ace Bob Tewksbury have all run the bases of the Alaska Baseball League.

Have you ever heard of the Alaska Baseball League? My guess is you haven’t, unless you subscribe to an Alaskan newspaper or read Baseball America cover-to-cover every month. The ABL is a wood-bat summer league for college players (good to know college players can get at least some experience with a wooden bat) comprising six teams: the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks, the 2005 league champions; the Mat-Su Miners; the Peninsula Oilers; the Anchorage Bucs; the Anchorage Pilots; and Athletes in Action, which is a touring team out of Ohio that uses Fairbanks as its headquarters. That the league plays during the summer, when MLB and the St. Louis Unions are in action, is just one more reason that it gets little if any publicity in the contiguous 48. The teams play about 35 games against league opponents, as well as playing teams that venture up to Alaska for a quick nine…Hmmm, could this be a possible road trip for Lincolns’ Lads in the future? Summer temperatures in Alaska usually reach the seventies and occasionally hit the eighties, so get that picture of fans huddled up next to each other in parkas out of your head. Fans show up by the hundreds (sometimes thousands) to enjoy the closest thing to professional baseball they’re likely to see until MLB puts a team there, which will happen right after the Cubs win another World Series. That is to say, it won’t happen.

What really distinguishes the ABL is that, for all intents and purposes, there are no “night” games. Through a combination of Alaska’s location on the globe, the earth’s revolution around the sun, and the good graces of the Alaskan weathermen, sunlight extends well into the evening and early morning during the summer months. Games that start at seven o’clock end in daylight that lasts well after the final at-bat.

The Goldpanners, in particular, have capitalized on this round-the-clock natural lighting. Located in Fairbanks, which is just 160 miles from the Arctic Circle, the Goldpanners play their Midnight Baseball Classic every year around the summer solstice (June 21 or 22), the longest day of the year. The Panners held their first Midnight Baseball Classic in 1960, but there has been a midnight game in Fairbanks every year since 1906, when it began as the result of a wager between two competing taverns (I was unable to confirm whether these taverns were named “Cheers” and “Gary’s,” but it seems probable). The game starts at 10:30 pm, when the sun is “setting” in the north, and by the time the game ends the next morning, the sun is rising…in the north. Play is stopped at the half-inning nearest midnight for the singing of the Alaska Flag Song. The Goldpanners claim that “never once has artificial lighting been used for this unique event, and never has the game been postponed or delayed because of darkness.”

In fact, the 100th Midnight Sun game took place June 21, 2005, when the Goldpanners faced the Omaha Strike Zone from Nebraska. Four-thousand fans watched as the Goldpanners beat the Zone, 3-1. Panners pitcher Sean Timmons took the win, which made him the winningest pitcher (3-0) in Midnight Sun history. His jersey and hat from the game are now on display in Cooperstown.

So, if you’ve got nothing else to do on June 21, 2006, maybe you should head on up to Fairbanks, Alaska, to watch some potential major leaguers knock the ball around way past your bedtime. Or, if you really need a full night’s sleep and would rather stay closer to home, just take the Alaskan Baseball League as another reminder that, no matter what the latitude, baseball truly is a nation-wide pastime.