Tag: World Series

On a Baseball League

It’s October, the time when the (former) National Pastime plays its annual fall classic. I played two years of Little League in Alabama when I must have been 10 or 11. The first team was the McGriff Tire Indians (McGriff Tire was the local sponsor of the team), and we wore green. The next year, I was put on the Orioles, with black and orange colors, but I can’t remember the sponsor that year. The thing was, kids used to play baseball all the time. We played in school, then, we dreamt of summer when we could be on the diamond as much as we could during the long days. None of us was any good, but we had fun. And that’s what baseball should be about for the majority of players.

Take the NBBA, a league that is growing in popularity in the US and worldwide these days. It got started in 1976 mainly for adults to play, but today the age of the players varies widely. The league allows players as young as 12 and as old as 70. And the game as played by the NBBA has some quirky rules to it.

First of all, a game is only six innings instead of the usuals nine. And there are only six fielders on each side. The pitcher and catcher come from the other team; that means that the team that is hitting has a teammate throwing the pitch to them–the best possible pitch to hit. Oh, and each team has a spotter. More on that position in a moment. In addition, the ball is an oversized softball. The bases are blue, and they stand almost five feet tall and are made of a soft foam. Oh, and there is only first and third base. No second.

As for each inning, the batting team gets four strikes before the batter is considered out. If the batter hits the ball, it must travel at least 40 feet (even in play) or it will be considered a strike. If the ball is hit more than 40 feet, and the batter reaches either first or third base before a fielder touches the ball, a run is considered to have been scored. If a fielder catches the hit ball in midair, the side is immediately retired and the fielders come in to take a turn at bat. It’s almost as if the NBBA is a cross between baseball and cricket, but it’s not really that, either.

An invitational tournament is held yearly, and, sometimes, international teams play in it. The winner of the tournament is crowned World Champion. More than 200 teams are in the NBBA in the US alone, and teams are cropping up all across the globe as the game catches on. Cities like the usual major league towns are of course represented, but other towns like Austin, Wichita, and Stockton field teams as well. Teams with names like the Scrappers, the Sluggers, the Lightning, the Reapers, and the Comets have all seen action in the league.

Oh, and the spotter position I mentioned earlier? That’s a key ingredient to the game. When a ball is hit, the spotter identifies which of the six fielders’ position or area the ball is coming to. That’s all the spotter is allowed to do–identify an area from 1 to 6. It helps, also, that the ball that is used emits a beeping noise. That beep really helps the fielders do their jobs.

That’s because all members of the National Beep Baseball Association are blind.

On a Baseball Hero

It’s World Series time in the United States. Yes, there are several people in America who get the irony of a world championship being proclaimed from a league that represents only two countries in that world. That’s a story for another time, perhaps.

This story is about Ty Cobb. For those of you who don’t know, Cobb was arguably the best player ever to play the sport. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, maybe some of the modern players have a case here, but the fact that Cobb was the first player elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame makes a strong statement. Cobb was a native Georgian who played most of his over two decades in baseball in Detroit as the Tigers’ centerfielder. In a sport where a player getting a hit 25% of the time is considered to be a good statistic, Cobb averaged .366 for his entire career. He retired as the stolen base leader and was also known for his fearlessness in the field and on the basepaths. He had few friends in the game because of how aggressively he approached playing, but people in and out of the game respected his skills.

After shifting to manager of the Tigers and finishing his career in Philadelphia, Cobb lived a luxurious life off the proceeds from shrewd investments he’d made with his salary over the years. For example, Cobb was a major shareholder in the Coca-Cola corporation. He used his wealth to travel, fish, golf, and enjoy life. He granted interviews to almost all who came to him. Now, if you are a baseball fan, you might realize that Ty Cobb, for all his amazing accomplishments in baseball, never won a World Series.

Years after his career was over, he and a famous sportswriter named Grantland Rice were returning from the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia by car. He and Rice stopped in Greenville, South Carolina at a liquor store. The pair entered, and Cobb stopped soon after his eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room. The fat man behind the counter looked familiar to him. “I know you,” Cobb said, walking up to the counter. “Remember me?”

The heavy fellow narrowed his eyes to look closely at Cobb, and he took the stub of a well-chewed cigar from his mouth. “Yeah, I know you, but I wasn’t sure you wanted to remember me. Most people don’t,” the man said. The last time they met, Cobb reminded him, was on the baseball field over 30 years before. “You were a great player,” Cobb said, and the portly man dropped his chin on his chest in humility. “Can I get your autograph?” Cobb asked the man. “I always wanted it.”

The man apologized. “Ain’t got one here. Come back tomorrow.” Cobb smiled, according to Rice, and said, “Sorry. We are just passing through. Maybe some other time.” Cobb paid the man for their liquor, and he and the sportwriter continued their journey

“Shoeless” Joe Jackson came out on the porch and watched the pair drive away.