My tin cup runneth over The brown baseball Saving the base runner From a cleat gouging At the hands (feet) of a first baseman With an irrational grudge No rhyme, no reason, no meter, no bathos Or is there?
That reminds me of Charlie Finley's experiment with orange baseballs. Finley owned owned the Oakland Athletics in the 1970's when he managed to convince Spalding to make orange balls, thinking that bright orange fly balls would be easier to track in the sky than white. These were normal white balls dipped in orange dye, and used for exhibition games.
The dye concealed the red stitches, so batters had a hard time gauging the spin of the ball. Even so, they teed off on them since the dye made the balls slippery and pitchers couldn't get a good grip. With the breaking ball being the only pitch that did not go wild, it was not difficult for batters to adapt. Worse still, the dye made ink smear so players found it impossible to autograph them.
Still, in the catalogue of bizarre experiments in baseball, orange balls (which were retired after two games) weren't nearly as crazy as when the Chicago White Sox wore short shorts for their uniform, or when Bill Veeck sent 3'7" Eddie Gaedel up to bat with the instruction "If you swing your bat, I have a rifle sniper up in the lights who will shoot you dead where you stand."
3 comments:
That reminds me of Charlie Finley's experiment with orange baseballs. Finley owned owned the Oakland Athletics in the 1970's when he managed to convince Spalding to make orange balls, thinking that bright orange fly balls would be easier to track in the sky than white. These were normal white balls dipped in orange dye, and used for exhibition games.
The dye concealed the red stitches, so batters had a hard time gauging the spin of the ball. Even so, they teed off on them since the dye made the balls slippery and pitchers couldn't get a good grip. With the breaking ball being the only pitch that did not go wild, it was not difficult for batters to adapt. Worse still, the dye made ink smear so players found it impossible to autograph them.
Still, in the catalogue of bizarre experiments in baseball, orange balls (which were retired after two games) weren't nearly as crazy as when the Chicago White Sox wore short shorts for their uniform, or when Bill Veeck sent 3'7" Eddie Gaedel up to bat with the instruction "If you swing your bat, I have a rifle sniper up in the lights who will shoot you dead where you stand."
Have you read the Veeck autobiography? It's a hoot.
Bill Veeck was a genius, no doubt. I have his book, it's very instructional on the business of expansion-era baseball.
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