Kindred Blue
Baseball lore, columns, videos, comedy, poetry,
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Ron Sokol, longtime columnist, author, and baseball aficionado, tries to keep the hits coming every week. Follow Ron on Twitter at @kindredblue1.
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SOME VINTAGE VIN SCULLY, THE LYRICAL POET OF BASEBALL
KINDRED BLUE RECENT BLOGS
BASEBALL AND LIFE
Do you have a place you go, or hang out, where you "take five"? I would guess most who go to a baseball game, sit in their seats, browse around a bit, get food, go to the restroom, stretch, but largely stay put, right? That works, but at times I find myself straying....
A TRULY FINE VINTAGE
Serendipity is defined as an unplanned, fortunate discovery. You see, we were in Tennessee. Some of the folks in our group are history buffs, which meant a longish-stop-over at the home of our seventh President, Andrew Jackson (aka "ol' Hickory"). Not the nicest...
SLUGGER, AND THE ENDURING POPULARITY OF BASEBALL
About a third of the way through our tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, our guide Natalie said something that has really stayed with me: "The size of the crowds here on any given day are a testament to the enduring popularity of the game of baseball."...
WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A BASEBALL QUIZ
There's a gentleman named George Will. He is a conservative thinker, commentator, prognosticator, author, as well as a big time baseball fan. Each year for a number of years he has a quiz that is presented with Opening Day. Here it is for 2019. Good luck! And... I...
COME ON – Is Baseball Slow or Fast?
The games lasts 3 hours, at least. Four balls. Four balls until you walk. Not run... walk. Guys come in from the bull pen, so let's all pause. And, it takes three strikes to get rid of a batter. In the mean time how many foul balls will he hit before he succumbs?...
DEAR MIKE TROUT, from your friend Khayyir (or, another reason to like baseball)
Hi, this is Khayyir. I am 10. You are my favorite player. I went to a game and you hit two home runs and made a really good catch in the outfield. My dad, and my mom, like you too. They always say "Mike Trout is a good man, that is a good man..." So I think in...
OH YEAH?
With the season on the horizon, some of us have donned boxing gloves (ok, not really, baseball mitts), but we're ready. We are REDDDDDDD DEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Just in case anyone asks what's such a big deal about baseball, that slow, yawner, boring game where players...
DAD
Dad took me to baseball games slapped my knee when something good happened played catch with me after sometimes at night under the moon On those rare occasions when he was not working he talked to me about baseball players some he really admired Had all sorts of very...
THE BABE’S BIGGEST FAN
Julia Ruth Stevens died recently at the great age of 102 (which is less than one seventh of the home runs hit by her adoptive father George Herman Ruth). Babe married his second wife, actress and model Claire Merritt Hodgson in 1929, and adopted Julia thereafter. She...
ARGUING AGAINST THE KNIFE
Ulnar collateral ligament reconstructions, also known as Tommy John surgery. The first was in 1974, thank you to the remarkable Dr. Franklin Jobe whose patient was indeed Tommy John. When Dr. Jobe did the surgery back then, he projected about a 1 in 100 chance of...
A BASEBALL POEM ABOUT A KID
Could be a girl you know In fact may just be. Could be anyone's kid you know probably is. Gotta watch as the kid takes swings stands ready to hit that pitch to maybe you know well make you stand up and shout wildly like a crazed person. But, when did being a parent...
AHHHHHH SPRING!
Drabble by Kevin Fagan for February 25, 2019
OPENING DAY: A NATIONAL HOLIDAY
Look, if you've been buried in snow. Or work. Or, well, you just miss the "crack of the bat". Whatever it is, you see opening day of the baseball season almost at hand and you long to be there. Maybe you play hooky from work. Last year, 2018, were it not for some...
LANDSCAPES
Hope you enjoy this video -- I might have had you in mind, it is possible!