I love April Fool’s Day. It’s one of my favorite holidays. (One year, when I worked in an office, I took every piece of furniture in a colleague’s space and hid them, leaving her phone and the papers from her desk on the floor. It was awesome.)
The Internet has ruined the day. No, Trader Joe’s is not closing. No, they’re not tearing down Fenway. Stop wasting my time, people. Not everyone can execute the perfect prank.
Mike Trout can. Thank you Mike for restoring my faith in this holiday.
“This would be the ideal town for weather bureau headquarters. It would take an army of clerks to keep account of the rise and fall in the temperature alone. … No one would be surprised upon awakening tomorrow to find that the north pole had suddenly located here or that we had moved during the night to the tropical zone. Most anything can be accomplished overnight in the town of Charlottesville.” ~ The Washington Post, March 6, 1915
College baseball fans know the deal. There is little room in a tight collegiate season for rain delays. And, there is no room at all for cancelled games.
While big leaguers unroll the tarps at the first rain shower, college players soldier on.
Matt Thaiss, Catcher.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons came to Charlottesville this weekend to play a Friday/Saturday/Sunday series against the University of Virginia Cavaliers.
But, with the promise of rain and snow and wind and cold, things required a bit of shuffling. Keep up with me here.
Ernie Clement, Second Base.
Friday evenings’s game was moved to Friday afternoon. Sunday’s game was moved to Friday night. Saturday afternoon’s game was moved to Saturday morning.
Got it?
(This is why I can already tell you that UVA won tomorrow’s game. Blows your mind, doesn’t it?)
Washington Post, 1912
Here’s what baseball writers will tell you about spring training in Charlottesville, Virginia.
It snows and hails and thunders and pours rain and gusts wind and freezes and scorches. There are plenty of lousy days for baseball and very few good ones.
Those writers, roaming around Charlottesville more than 100 years ago, won’t tell you much about the baseball they saw, but they’ll give you an earful about the rotten weather.
During Virginia’s hybrid time of still-winter-not-yet-spring – spwinter! – there’s no telling what any day will bring.
March 2016. © The Baseball Bloggess
Snow.
March weather in Charlottesville is like a grab bag at the dollar store – you’ll get something for your dollar, but you’ll probably look at it and think, “Really? I paid a dollar for this?”
So why did so many teams from 1892 to 1916 come to Charlottesville for spring training? Were they nuts? Or were the grumpy old baseball writers just annoyed that they had to spend a month in a place which was often snowy and always alcohol-free?
Today, baseball’s spring training is held in Arizona and Florida, more accommodating and predictable climates, and where the only things you have to worry about are swarms of bees and the Zika virus.
But, Charlottesville? “More fickle weather could not be found in any part of the globe,” one Washington Post reporter lamented in 1914 after an early March snowfall.
Who would choose Charlottesville for spring training?
These teams …
In 1894, the Baltimore Orioles came through Charlottesville as part of a nomadic spring training tour through the south and took both games against the University of Virginia. The Orioles, then part of the National League, went on to win the pennant. They were a powerhouse, those Orioles. Yup, chew on that O’s fans. A powerhouse.
In 1901, the Boston Red Sox (then called the Americans) spent spring training in Charlottesville. It was the Sox’ first season and, history will show that the first game ever played by the Red Sox, the first ball they ever hit, and the first run they ever scored, happened in Charlottesville.
There were a few others, but it was the Washington Nationals that spent the most springs in Charlottesville. They were officially the Washington Senators, but everyone called them the Nationals and so should you. (Although today we call them the Minnesota Twins.)
The Nats “springed” in Charlottesville in 1905 and ‘06 and then again, under manager Clark Griffith, from 1911 through 1916.
Embed from Getty ImagesGriffith (third from the right) and his Nationals in Charlottesville. March 1915.
Griffith, today enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, told reporters each season that his choice of Charlottesville over warmer locales was purely strategic.
“Baseball is the most perfect of games, solid, true, pure, and precious as diamonds. If only life were so simple. Within the baselines anything can happen. Tides can reverse; oceans can open. That’s why they say, ‘the game is never over until the last man is out.’ … Anything is possible in this gentle, flawless, loving game.” ― W.P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe
First, let’s get to the important things. The temperature during the last two games at Davenport Field, home of the University of Virginia Cavaliers (or, the NCAA National Champion UVA Cavaliers if you go for things like that) has been below 45.
And, you know what that means …
Free hot chocolate!
The NCAA champions are playing the Monmouth Hawks this weekend.
I vaguely know where Monmouth is (somewhere New Jersey-ish).
If you visit Monmouth’s Wikipedia page … which you can do here … it will kindly request that you fill in the blanks and tell it something – anything – about this team.
I can tell you only that they seem to have a good time when they play – they’re a joyful bunch – and that goes a long way with me.
UVA won on Friday night, 4-2, in unspectacular fashion. The highlight of the game was that it took my feet, which were double-socked, nearly one full hour to thaw out. They were completely numb.
It was brutally cold – it had snowed that morning – and my main take-away from the game is that I’m certain I wouldn’t last a week in a world without central heat.
Friday morning. Snow on the cat.
Let’s skip to Saturday. Still cold.
More hot chocolate!
Daniel Lynch, Saturday Starter.
Behind string-beany, first-year pitcher Daniel Lynch, the Hoos jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the 2nd in one of those they-batted-around innings – six singles, one double, two sacrifice bunts – that messes up your scorecard in a totally-worth-it sort of way.
They love to bunt, these fellas.
Matt Thaiss, Third Year, Catcher/1B/DH. 2-for-5 on Saturday, 1 Run, 1 RBI
“Our small ball is what makes us an offense,” Thaiss, who homered on Friday night, told The Daily Progress. “We always talk about not having a good hitting team, but having a great offense. That’s what we preach here. We practice bunting just as much as we do hitting.”
The high temperature in Charlottesville, Virginia yesterday was 47.2 degrees.
Just 2.2 degrees colder and there would have been “free hot chocolate for everyone” at Davenport Field where the University of Virginia Cavaliers — the Hoos — play ball and where the free hot chocolate flows at 45 degrees.
There was no hot chocolate. There was no win for the Hoos.
It was cold.
But, it was my first game of the spring. Even though it’s still winter.
And, even though it’s still cold.
(Why do we play baseball in February anyway?)
But, there was the first photo of spring …
© The Baseball Bloggess
The 2016 honor of “First Photo” goes to UVa utility infielder and backup catcher Justin Novak.
The first bleachers of spring …
© The Baseball Bloggess
Photo By, And Courtesy Of, Jesse Pritchard.
Sunrise At Davenport. Charlottesville, Virginia.
Congratulations, Baseball Fans … You’ve made it through another off-season.
It’s Opening Day for the National Champion University of Virginia Cavaliers (wahoowa!) (I did mention “National Champion” didn’t I?).
University of Virginia vs. Kent State from Pelicans Ballpark in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. First Pitch is at 4:00 p.m.
And, major league pitchers and catchers have been reporting all over the Cactus & Grapefruit Leagues this week. (Fun Fact: The Baltimore Orioles still only have four starting pitchers in their rotation; I’m sure they’ll figure something out.)
It’s a beautiful day … let’s Play Ball!
Embed from Getty Images“Packing for Spring Training is a pretty easy process. You just throw everything in the bag, throw it in the truck, and hit the road.” ~ Former UVA Cavalier & Current Baltimore Oriole Pitcher Tyler Wilson
Listen to a great interview with Tyler on this week’s Wahoo Central Podcast here.
Baseball Season is Here. ‘Bout Time.
Before baseball even got to the bases, innings, or outs, there was an umpire:
Rule #2 of baseball’s “Knickerbocker Rules” (1845):
“When assembled for exercise, the President, or in his absence, the Vice-President, shall appoint an Umpire, who shall keep the game in a book provided for that purpose, and note all violations of the By-Laws and Rules during the time of exercise.”
The only thing more important than an umpire? Rule #1 which reminds players to “strictly observe the time agreed upon for exercise, and be punctual in their attendance.”
So, let’s give umpires some love on Valentine’s Day …
First, don’t call it a clicker.
“[A] ball and strike indicator … figured in my very first lesson in how to be a professional umpire: Never call it a clicker. (Why? Nobody ever said, but, I guess it’s like an opera singer’s not referring to an aria as a song.)” ~ Bruce Weber, As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels In The Land of Umpires
Not a clicker.
Don’t call the Umpire “Blue.” It’s just rude as it was once a heckle and it was spelled “Blew” – as in “Hey, Blew, you blew the call!”
Embed from Getty Images
Don’t slug the umpire, even in the name of poetry.
Mother, may I slug the umpire
May I slug him right away?
So he cannot be here, Mother
When the clubs begin to play?
Let me clasp his throat, dear mother,
In a dear delightful grip
With one hand and with the other
Bat him several in the lip.
~ Anonymous, Chicago Tribune, 1886
Changing someone’s mind is never easy.
Our brains are wired to tightly hold on to our beliefs, preferences, and opinions, even the stupid ones.
After all, 25 percent of Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth. Rapper B.O.B. believes the earth is flat. We call people like that a few sandwiches short of a picnic. But, try changing their minds. I mean, just try.
I used to believe that football was great (greater than baseball, even). I didn’t know that players were being permanently maimed and brain-damaged by the sport. I didn’t know that the National Football League (NFL) was complicit in this damage by covering up the dangers of their sport in an effort to pad their coffers and protect their billions at the expense of their players.
Now, I do.
Football is a violent and deadly game. The National Football League is a greedy, criminal, and negligent organization.
I have changed my mind about football. And, I haven’t watched a game since. I won’t be party to a game that sacrifices the health and welfare of their players in the name of sport.
I am, pretty much, a boycott of one.
I don’t pretend that I can change anyone’s mind about football, one of America’s most beloved pastimes. Super Bowl 50 – or Super Bowl L if the league used its traditional Roman numeral system – is Sunday and more than 100 million will watch it.
Here are 50 reasons why you shouldn’t. (Short on time? Read #1 and #20. If you haven’t been convinced by those … please read a few more. Feeling political? Don’t miss #43 and #44.) (Click the links for citations.)
“With the tail-end of that dreadful Northwestern blizzard rattling the windows and doors and the ground partly covered with snow and ice, it is rather difficult to compose an original article on baseball.” ~ The Washington Post, January 22, 1888
Before we get to my garden gnomes …
I wish I could tell you something about Jack Blizzard, who pitched nine games in the Texas minors in 1954. But, there’s nothing much to tell. No one knows much about Jack Blizzard. Or, if they do, they’re not talking.
He pitched nine games or so for the Plainview Ponies and the Abilene Blue Sox. These were Class C teams in the West Texas-New Mexico League. He was from Sulphur Springs, Texas. He was 19. He was a lefty.
Other than that, there’s not much to tell; just a few mentions in The Abilene Reporter News in the spring of 1954.
He first appears on April 28, playing with Plainview. He came into a game as a reliever and pitched part of the 8th. No runs.
On May 8, now with Abilene, he was one of four Blue Sox relievers who struggled through the 4th inning versus the Pampa Oilers; together the four relievers gave up seven runs in that inning. The Sox lost 12-4.
On May 20, another loss, this one to the Clovis Pioneers 9-3, and Blizzard came in to eat up the last 4.1 innings, holding the Oilers to just 3 hits, no runs.
May 25. Double-header, two losses, and two relief appearances from Blizzard who gave up one run in his second game of the day.
June 1. Another Blue Sox loss. Blizzard comes in in the 9th and walks two. On June 21, the Blue Sox send him to Oklahoma City.
And, he disappears. Leastways, I can’t find him.
He could very well be Jack Blizzard of Nederland, Texas, a former salesman, who passed away in 2009. His obituary doesn’t mention the spring of 1954 or baseball, but all the other details fit.
Today would be a good day to talk about Jack Blizzard, when there’s nearly two feet of snow outside here in Virginia.
Being jilted is no fun.
Which is a shame because “jilt” is a fun word.
Let’s go a’jilting!
It’s a jiltingly beautiful day, let’s have a picnic.
But, language is fickle and being jilted, of course, is no fun at all.
(If you haven’t been jilted – by a date, a boyfriend or girlfriend, or even a fiancé – you are a rare bird, or a bird with selective memory. You can keep reading, Unjilted One, but this won’t be as meaningful for you.)
So, what to do if you thought you were jilted … but you discover you weren’t? Not jilted. Unjilted. Ajilted. Non-jiltified.
What if you’ve already moved on only to discover that you weren’t jilted after all?
On Saturday morning, reporters learned that Baltimore Orioles first baseman (sometime right fielder and one-time winning pitcher) Chris Davis had re-signed with the club.
Embed from Getty ImagesWelcome back to Baltimore, Chris Davis!
(I’m not sure I can even welcome you back, “Crush”, because, as it turns out, you never really even left.)
Re-signed and resigned are two different things which is extremely hard for some writers to understand.
The Baseball Bloggess 