Look for a longer essay on the 19th Cent. past time that is baseball soon. For now, a brief anecdote:
Before leaving for the Giants game last night, I told my room mate’s boyfriend that I was going to bring back a home-run ball for him. “Hope you don’t catch it with your head,” Erik replied. With the Giants in the running for post-game play, I was surprised to see that the last home stretch of games wasn’t sold out. So I bought a cheap bleacher seat in left field for the opener with Arizona. I must’ve been feeling the game, b/c I actually pointed to a few places in the field where Giants batters dropped balls (one just behind 2nd base, another was a great drive to center field). In the 4th inning, Juan Uribe knocked the first pitch out for a home run… three rows in front of me! What an amazing site to see a tiny, white ball way up in the air heading straight for me. After the game, I went to MLB.com and found the video of Uribe’s HR. Here’s a screen grab of the moment the ball landed. The red arrow marks the ball and the red circle is yours truly (glad I wore a green tee) screaming and waving and watching the guys fight for the ball. more later….
