SB Nation Blog: whills

MOFOs on parade

whills — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:18:04 -0000

A month and a half ago, the greatest rarity in baseball occurred. On Monday, May 12, Toronto’s second-baseman Asdrubal Cabera turned an unassisted triple play, the second of this century for the American League. The National League also has two since 2000. There have only been 14 unassisted triple plays in the history of the National and American Leagues, the first in 1909. The assisted triple play is much more common, although still relatively rare in league play.

On May 30, 1927, Cubs shortstop Jimmy Conney turned in an unassisted triple play in National League play at Pittsburgh. The very next day Johnny Neun, the Detroit first baseman, turned another in American League play against Cleveland.

There would not be another unassisted triple play for 41 years and two months in the American League, until Washington ss Ron Hansen broke the streak on July 30, 1968 for a team so bad they were immortalized in a book (The Year the Yankees lost the Pennant) and a Broadway play (Damn Yankees). Of course, the event didn’t happen at home but in Cleveland. Someone noticed a Mr. Applegate in left field, but he disappeared after the play.

The National League would endure much longer, 67 years and four months, before Mickey Morandini, Philadelphia 2b, would stick it to the Pirates’ at Pittsburgh on September 20, 1992. National Leaguers had thought it was a myth until it actually happened.

As the 100 degree days remind us, cooler times will come, they must come. But for now, we must wait however impatiently. The occurrences of unassisted triple plays reminds us of how fickle and unrelenting the wait can be. So much so that sometimes we even stop waiting. Hopefully, that will not be our fate.

Where We Feast

whills — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:48:05 -0000

Later this week we shall give thanks for our bountiful harvest, however we may conceive it, and thank our lucky stars as we sit before our turkey and dressing and near our loved ones.

As UT fans it would be an appropriate time to thank all those turkeys we've processed. As we move into the total victories passing lane with regard to Notre Dame, we should take stock of where we have earned those 819 victories.

Now face to the East, toward College Station, and say, "Thank you, Farmers. We couldn't have made it without you. When we say Hook 'em, we're talking about you."

Now wash your hands and come to the table.

Revelation within the words

whills — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 21:43:17 -0000

My after-the-game routine normally involves examining the official quotes from the game. In lieu of actually being there in the locker room asking questions, these are the closest you can get to both the stated spin and the unstated responsibilities.

This is my first diary here (be kind, please) and I want to delve into something that was obvious from the game and yet not really discussed here to this point. (And forgive me if I just missed relative statements, but I think I've read everything here since last night.)

I go about this as an autopsy. Indeed, most written sports stories about events are autopsies even if the corpus is still warm. This particular story is, ironically, about a corpus of extremes, that is, both too hot at a critical time and too cold when it should have been hot. Mystery? Or a mirage?