SECTION 331

…there may need to be an intervention.

I got my first issue of Baseball Digest today. It was simultaneously not, and exactly, what I was expecting. It’s a half-size ‘zine-style magazine with a glossy cover and newsprint pages. It has articles about history of the game, write-ups on stadiums, player features that go into more than just stats (their backgrounds, how they developed playing style, who influenced them coming up to the Bigs, etc), and then Tiger Beat-style player profiles as well (favorite movies, most embarrassing moments, preferred ballparks). I didn’t think the first issue would arrive so soon; I think I subscribed to 8 of them, just to see if it was something I wanted to keep up with. I’ve just skimmed it so far, but it looks like something I will learn a lot from, and since I can stand to learn a lot, I guess it works out.

Speaking of learning, in the book I’m currently reading it talks about how the original radio broadcasts of games weren’t always the most accurate things in the world. Apparently, the broadcast booths that all stadiums have now were not built into the old stadiums. So radio broadcasters read a telegraph ticker over the air. When there was a lull in the action, they made stuff up! Fights, a manager approaching the mound, anything to fill up the moments where nothing was coming over the telegraph. Meanwhile, newspaper writers were in the same booth, getting the same ticker, completely appalled by the not-quite-true play-by-play that was being given to radio listeners. Lighting in stadiums was innovated some time after, and caused concern for the nation’s morality, crime rate, and even player safety – ah, the “good old days”. Of course, then-radio broadcaster Red Barber’s reasoning was simple – during the Depression era, people just wanted to eat their dinners, and then have some form of entertainment to forget their woes after a harsh day of manual labor. Obviously, it was a success; I have been to many night games, and while my vision is fading (I actually may need glasses by the time next season starts), I have yet to actually go blind (another thing that caused public outcry and concern when night games were suggested – Americans weren’t very smart in the early 20th century, I guess).

I need to stay away from listening to any trade rumors at all; that’s not going to actually happen, but it should. Teixeira’s name has been thrown out again as a possible coup for the Mariners. It would be too good and too expensive to be true, which is why I don’t think it would happen – also, the Red Sox and Yankees are apparently far more blatantly interested in him, not to mention LA, where he already has a fine team to play with. So therefore, I am going to stick my fingers in my ears and sing really loud so that I don’t hear this stuff anymore.