Cardinal Dreams
Cardinal Dreams 1. Firebird, Thunderbird, Sunbird they all seemed the same to me their headlights like eyes unmoving, blank. 2. The Phoenix Center in downtown Pontiac, somewhere near the Fiero plant and Fischer Body where Johnny Cash worked three weeks alongside Abuelito, building the 1951 models. 3. Johnny Cash joining the Air Force, Abuelito’s old … Continue reading
Doing everything you do, in a skirt, or, Some thoughts on being a girl, doing boy things
1. A few days ago, Tim Carmody sent James Fallows’ wonderful “Throwing Like a Girl” my way. In typically superb Fallows form, he unpacks and challenges what it means to “throw like a girl,” and why, if it’s not exactly gender specific (because plenty of women throw correctly) it’s still largely female examples we see … Continue reading
For what it’s Werth
Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said today that the Tigers were never in the hunt for Jayson Werth, formerly of the Philadelphia Phillies and one of the coveted free agents up for grabs this offseason. Ladies and gentlemen, if you’ve ever doubted the wisdom of Dombo (not to be confused with the elephant, Dumbo) … Continue reading
Basically, everything you’ve been taught is wrong
Even now, I or another of my teammates on one of my co-ed Lansing rec league softball teams will say to a struggling hitter, “Swing level.” My good friend Maggie, who rediscovered her swing the first year I played on her team, said she can always hear her father, good old Ray Striz, telling her … Continue reading
It’s looking like a limb torn off
I believe in being five my father teaching me to throw in the backyard/ our house on Crescent Avenue: sidearm hard almost no arc on the ball watched it tail as a ten inch comet to my father’s open mitt. From FOR TIM (suggesting I name ten things I truly believe, which is really fucking … Continue reading
In which I have a hard time keeping a straight face (That’s what she said)
“He’s got a mean streak,” says his manager, Sparky Anderson. “As mean as Pete Rose. That’s saying the best thing that could be said about a ballplayer.” There are a lot of weak aspects to my game – hence hiring a coach to convert me into a real, badass third baseman, aka #Project3B. But despite … Continue reading
Sparky and his daddy
In 1984, the Detroit Tigers were off to the strongest start in baseball history. On May 16, manager Sparky Anderson appeared on the CBS Morning News with owner Tom Monaghan. It wasn’t their first national interview: ever since Jack Morris no-noed the White Sox in Chicago live on NBC to go 4-0, everyone had wanted … Continue reading
Bless You, Sparky
On a Monday night in third grade in the Catechism classes of St. Rita’s church in Holly, Michigan, Ronnie Haslem — the first boy who’d ever kissed me — opened his chubby fist and I gasped. It was a piece of notebook paper. It was a little damp — Ronnie had ferreted it away in … Continue reading
Project 3B
I don’t have time to be angry away from the field. So I brush it off, bottle it up and drink a tall glass of it before taking the mound. —Brian Wilson, Giants closer and general badass When I was a kid, the standard-bearer for bad-ass preparation tactics was the Siberian training montage in Rocky … Continue reading
Suggested Halloween costumes for my party Saturday, baseball playoffs edition
1. A-Rod Wear: street clothes, South Beach-chic Have: a blonde with you; suggestions: Cameron Diaz, Kate Hudson, Madonna Accessories: pile of damp Monopoly $1000 bills. Tell everyone you’re crying into your money. 2. Ryan Howard Wear: Phillies uniform Have: stunned, vacant look Accessories: a whole bunch of Ks, and a bat that stays right on … Continue reading
