“Soon No Off Season”

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

“Pretty soon the ball player will not have rest enough between seasons to get acquainted with his folks.” ~ The Sporting News, November 7, 1912

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Off-Season.”

They call it “The Grind.” That long baseball season. That life ballplayers choose.

For the pros, it begins in February at spring training and, if you’re lucky, it will extend to the far reaches of October.

College ball starts in February and stretches through four months, then summer league teams, and a “bonus” fall season tucked in before the snow falls.

Whatever’s left, that’s your “off-season.”

I thought “off-season” was a baseball term that had worked its way into the rest of the language. But, “off-season” is a business term that was first used in the 1840s.

soon no off season 1912 headline november 7 1912

The Sporting News, November 7, 1912

In 1912, The Sporting News complained that Charles Comiskey, President and Owner of the Chicago White Sox, was running his players ragged by shortening the off-season and putting his team on a train to California in the middle of February to begin spring training, forcing his players into exhibition games along the way, stopping at any place where a pick-up game might put extra “coin” into the owner’s pocket.

We don’t lay fallow much. There’s not much off-season for anybody these days. Apparently, there never was.

Photo: Davenport Field, The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. The end of the “Fall Ball” season. © The Baseball Bloggess

The Friday Night Guy

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

I’m not sure when college baseball coined the term “Friday Night Guy.”

ESPN suggests it came about in the mid-1990s when the SEC (the always power-packed Southeastern Conference) changed its weekend schedule, moving one of its traditional double-header Saturday games to Friday night.

On that night, in the SEC and in ballparks around the country, the best college pitchers – the aces – pitch.

To be a Friday Night Guy is to be the best pitcher on your team. Facing the other guy’s Friday Night Guy.

When the University of Virginia takes the field in the first game of this year’s College World Series on Saturday afternoon, their Friday Night Guy will take the mound – Sophomore Connor Jones.

(I know. It’s Saturday. Friday Night Guys get juggled around some once the post-season arrives.)

Jones didn’t start the season as the Friday Night Guy. He was, uh, I guess you’d call him the Saturday Dude for much of this season. The #2 guy.

Saturday Night Guy

Not this Saturday Night Guy.

When UVa’s ace Nathan Kirby went down with a shoulder muscle strain in April, Jones stepped up.

We call him CoJo.

(And, by “we,” I mean, really just me. But, it’s a good nickname, don’t you think? I spend a lot of time thinking up nicknames for the players and shouting them out, hoping they catch on. They usually don’t. This one, though, is a shame, because it’s pretty good.)

The Hoos will wear their “Connor Camo” jerseys, which they’ve worn whenever CoJo pitches, ever since wearing them for a dominating 5-2 win over heavily favored Miami on April 18. That afternoon Jones went 7 2/3, struck out 11, and gave up two runs, just one earned.

Camo-Clad Connor Jones pitching in that April 18 win over Miami.

Why the camouflage jerseys? “I thought they looked really cool,” Jones said this week.

(Fun Fact: The camouflage jerseys don’t really camouflage the guys. You can still see them.)

In this short interview, CoJo admits that 1) sometimes he doesn’t know who he is pitching to, he just throws, and 2) he’s a Red Sox fan. A Red Sox fan. How did that happen? The Red Sox could use a CoJo.

Since becoming the Friday Night “Connor Camo” Guy, Jones has started seven games and is 3-0 with a 2.09 ERA. The team is 6-1 in those games.

The University of Virginia Cavaliers face the Arkansas Razorbacks in the College World Series today, Saturday, June 13, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

What? You mean you’re not in Omaha? You won’t be at the game?

(Yeh, me neither.)

The game airs on ESPN.

Photos: Davenport Field, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia © The Baseball Bloggess

It’s All About The Grass

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Vivid.”

The very first time I went to a baseball game — a real game, with a real diamond and a manicured field — the grass made me blink.

I don’t think I’d ever seen grass so green, so bright, so lush, so … vivid … as the outfield grass around a baseball diamond.

When Little League fields and ad hoc diamonds in public parks start to brown in the heat of summer it always makes me a little sad. Because every player deserves some lush vivid green grass under their cleats.

Photo: University of Virginia Starting Pitcher Brandon Waddell, warming up in left field before his start on Saturday in the NCAA Super Regionals. Virginia defeated the University of Maryland and will advance to the College World Series this weekend.

And, Then This Happened …

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

The University of Virginia Cavaliers, after a strange and disappointing regular season, have advanced to the NCAA College World Series. Improbably. Unexpectedly. Unbelievably.

They swept the University of Maryland Terrapins in the Super Regionals with wins on Friday and Saturday.

And, I wasn’t ready for the dog pile.

Last year, I was.

See … here’s 2014 …

The UVa Cavaliers’ dog pile after defeating Maryland in the Super Regionals and advanced to the College World Series in 2014.

This year, once again parked in Section H of left field with all the other displaced season-ticket holders, I wasn’t ready.

You know that auto-focus “idiot button” on your camera? Not idiot proof.

But, really, can you blame me?

Maryland had just come off of a regional series where it knocked off UCLA, the number 1 team in the country. So, no slouch those Terps.

The Hoos took Game 1, beating Maryland on Friday night 5-3.

But, on Saturday, Maryland took a comfy 4-2 lead into the 9th.

All they had to do was breeze through the bottom of the 9th with the same ease they had breezed through every inning since the 1st. The Terps would tie up the series, leaving a deciding game on Sunday.

Then the “breezing” stopped. Lead off walk. Single. Walk. (Pitching Change). Walk. (Run Scores.)

It’s 4-3, no outs. But, to take my camera out at this point … to presume a miracle … is to jinx things. And, I’m no jinxer.

The Hoo’s #9 batter, scrappy freshman Ernie Clement – 1-for-6 over the two games – steps up.

And, this happened.

Ernie! (And, there’s your dog pile!)

Here’s the Game 1 Recap.

Here’s the Game 2 Recap.

The University of Virginia advances to the College World Series.

I finally got my camera out and focused.

Look … I’m on ESPN!

Is this how you take a selfie?

Congratulations, University of Virginia Cavaliers. Hoo’s going back to Omaha? You are!

Brandon Waddell, Game 2 starter, leads the post-game celebration.

That’s pitcher Connor Jones, winner of Game 1, surveying the Davenport Field celebration.

Ernie Clement’s batting helmet might still be out there.

The College World Series begins Saturday, June 13, 2015.

Strike Three

Quote

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Motion.”

It’s ironic that the first Word Press blog challenge that I choose to do is one that asks me to share a photo about “Motion.”

Because, the people who wish to speed up baseball – shaving off a few seconds here or there to make the game a few minutes speedier – are also, I think, the same people who gulp their food, chug their wine, push aside slow pokes on escalators, and angrily honk their horns at me on the highway when I’m just trying to get into the left lane because, you idiot, there is a left turn there that I need to slow down to get into because my house is over there, okay???!!

So, when I’m taking photos at a ballgame it’s not because I’m trying to catch the action – although there is plenty there, with home runs, and 100 mph pitches, and diving outfield catches, slides into home, and, be still my heart, those beautiful, beautiful around-the-horn double plays.

I’m more about capturing the stillness.

This photo is about stillness … and yet, I don’t think you need to know much about baseball to see the motion in it.

Strike three.

Photo: University of Virginia, Davenport Field, Charlottesville, Virginia. Orange vs. Blue Series, Fall 2014. © The Baseball Bloggess

“It’s All Concentration.”

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

Justin Novak, 2B, University of Virginia © The Baseball Bloggess

“The real key to fielding is anticipation and concentration. … Expect the bad hop and be ready for the worst. It’s all concentration.” ~ Legendary Orioles Manager Earl Weaver

Photo: University of Virginia freshman Justin Novak, after scoring a run as a pinch runner in the 8th inning, playing second in the 9th. University of Miami at University of Virginia, April 18, 2015. Davenport Field, Charlottesville, Virginia. © The Baseball Bloggess

uva miami box score

A Trifecta of Sorts

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

My baseball trifecta would be to see the Baltimore Orioles, the San Francisco Giants, and the University of Virginia Cavaliers in a single game.

Today the Bowie Baysox (Orioles AA team) faced the Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants AA team) in Richmond, Virginia.

Bowie’s starting pitcher was a UVa Hoo.

Close enough.

Sunday, April 12, 2015.

Branden Kline, starting pitcher, Bowie. Ten K’s over five innings. From the University of Virginia.

Ceremonial first pitch.

Richmond Flying Squirrel Javier Herrera. Safe.

Submarine pitcher Ben Rowan, traded from the Dodgers organization a couple days ago, making his Orioles organization debut. (A former Virginia Tech Hokie.)

Mike Yastrzemski, left field, Bowie.

Yes, Red Sox fans, Carl is his grandfather.

carl yastrzemski 1969

7th Inning Stretch.

2-1 Bowie. Bottom of the ninth. Tying run on second.

Angel Villalona.

(He struck out.)

Photos: The Diamond, Richmond, Virginia. April 12, 2015. © The Baseball Bloggess

Almost every photo was taken from behind the net today. Sorry about that.

It’s A Cold Day For Baseball

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

All around America, there’s college baseball today. It’s a perfectly fine way to spend an Easter afternoon, if you ask me.

Although it’s brisk outside.

We were at yesterday’s game. The University of Virginia took on Louisville in Charlottesville.

Weathermen insisted the temperature in Virginia was in the 60s on Saturday, but with the breeze blowing with some purpose out to right-center and then to right and mostly out in the bleachers where we were, I estimate yesterday’s wind chill at five degrees. (I could be off a bit. As I said yesterday, math … not my strong suit.)

It’s April but I was dressed for winter – long underwear, an extra sweater, gloves, and, most important, polartec socks. That I was surrounded by people in flip-flops only made me colder.

(What is wrong with you people? Are your feet made of lava?)

Fun Fact: It is possible to score a ballgame, take photos, and check Twitter with gloves on. It’s not easy, but it is possible.

Still, it’s warmer than Easter Sunday in North Dakota. Here’s a photo from this morning’s Main Street Cam in Devils Lake, North Dakota, the town where I spent my high school years.

Yup, as usual, one look at the Devils Lake Street Cam has warmed me up like a hot cup of coffee.

Saturday was not a good day for the #9 UVa Cavaliers. Grand-slamming, strong pitching #7 Louisville took game one from the Hoos 8-1.

UVa third-baseman Senior Kenny Towns sums up Saturday’s game:

Today will be cold again. But, today will be better.

I’m bringing a scarf.

Photo: Davenport Field, The University of Virginia, April 4, 2015

And, It’s Not Even Spring

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

It’s pretty cheap to complain about the snow when there are only a few inches outside.

I’m sure someone in New England has just come in from shoveling snow off of his roof – again – and is cursing me for complaining.

(Fun Fact: If my local paper was using baseball players to measure snowfall, we’d be moving.)

Pitchers and catchers reported to Florida and Arizona this week. The NCAA college baseball season began last weekend. Because, when it comes to baseball, spring begins in winter.

I guess we’re always trying to speed up baseball.

There may not be eight feet of snow on the ground here, but there was still enough to run the University of Virginia baseball team down to Charleston, South Carolina this weekend to play its first “home series” of the season 450 miles away from home.

Virginia, snow. South Carolina, no snow.

This meant no baseball for me this weekend.

Charleston, South Carolina was one of the first locations to serve as a big league spring training spot when the Philadelphia Phillies set up shop there in the spring of 1886. (The Chicago White Stockings put together their own spring training in Hot Springs, Arkansas that same year.)

Philadelphia Phillies in Charleston, SC, Spring 1886. ~ Public Domain Image

In 1884, Cap Anson, of the White Stockings, told Sporting Life magazine that early spring workouts in a warmer climate would “relieve the men of all stiffness, soreness, and rheumatism, and [allow the White Stockings to] start off with a physically strong team.”

But, really, the goal was simply to dry out the drinkers.

And, slim down the overeaters.

Apparently, every generation has its Pablo Sandoval.

(The Chicago White Stockings of 1886, incidentally, eventually became the Chicago Cubs and not the White Sox, as you might have assumed. See, baseball can teach you something even in February.)

The snow is melting today. It never lasts long in Virginia.

And, the University of Virginia is 7-0 this season.

But, it took a historic 18 innings — and five hours — this afternoon to notch that last win versus Marist down in Charleston.

uva tweet1 uva tweet2 uva tweet3 uva tweet4

And, it’s not even spring.

.013 Seconds ~ A Brain Test

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

Scientists recently discovered that the human brain can fully process an image that has been seen for just .013 seconds.

I don’t know how long .013 seconds is, except that it’s probably the fastest thing my brain can do. (My brain can take hours — hours — to decide what it wants for dinner. Thank you, Editor/Husband for bringing home carryout.)

In comparison, it takes .4 seconds for a 91 MPH fastball to go from pitcher to catcher (assuming it actually makes it to the catcher and doesn’t end up in the bleachers … but you get the point).

In the time it takes a young college pitcher to wing his fastball over the plate, my brain will process some 30 images.

Including this one from the University of Virginia during the Cavalier’s “Fall Ball” season last October.

Here’s your test. Look at it for just .013 seconds. Then answer the question below. (No cheating, although it’s ok to click on it to enlarge it on your screen.)

In .013 seconds, your brain processed the image.

So, how many major league scouts with radar guns did your brain see?

The correct answer is …

Six.

(Or, seven if you counted that one in the lower right corner, which, I believe belongs to UVa and not a scout. But, if you counted it, good for you — I’m giving you credit.)

This concludes your brain test.

These photos were taken on October 5, 2014 in Charlottesville, Virginia at UVa’s Davenport Field. The pitchers the scouts had come to watch and clock — Juniors Nathan Kirby and Brandon Waddell.

Both lefties. Everyone loves a lefty.

UVa Junior and Pre-Season All American Nathan Kirby.

UVa Junior and Pre-Season All American Brandon Waddell.

Just 14 days until the start of the NCAA baseball season.

The Baseball Bloggess

Loves the 4-6-3 and the Serial Comma.

Category Archives: University of Virginia

“Soon No Off Season”

The Friday Night Guy

It’s All About The Grass

And, Then This Happened …

Strike Three

Quote

“It’s All Concentration.”

A Trifecta of Sorts

It’s A Cold Day For Baseball

And, It’s Not Even Spring

.013 Seconds ~ A Brain Test

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