January 08, 2006

The Unnatural Natural The hobo Roy Hobbs. A homeless guy who clouts homers in a softball league somewhere in the heartland. It sounded too good to be true, at first, but baseball is full of things that are too good to be true--baseball itself is too good to be true--and that's one of the things we love about it. Like no other sport, baseball caters to our need for mythology. For pretend.

Links to an October 9, 2005 LA Times article by Times staff writer, J.R. Moehringer.

posted by dt118 18 years ago
  • That's a great story.
  • Great post
  • Awesome link, dt118! ))))))) Sounds like excellent material for a movie. Who should play the role of Meeden?
  • good read "I mentioned to Meeden that I couldn't help noticing his unorthodox batting style. A lefty, he cringed as the rainbow pitch wafted toward the plate, then lifted his right knee high, uncoiled his body and lashed at the ball. Meeden said he'd developed this style back when he first started playing with U.S. Pallet. He was so hungry and weak that he needed to wind his body as tightly as he could, like a top, to get maximum recoil on the swing." that sounds like 75% of baseball swings to me...
  • That was great.
  • "and that's one of the things we love about it." Who's 'we', white man? :) I don't really see much in baseball, and neither do 90% of the rest of the inhabitants of planet Earth. But every country has it's 'national game' and each one thinks that that game is the best, mythologises it, and makes it out to be something it's not. It's just a bunch of guys in silly costumes whacking a ball of some description, large, small, wearing padding or without. Spitting optional.
  • But God loves baseball more. You're forgetting that.
  • Good article, btw. It'd be cool to see this guy at a Cards game next season in the new stadium.
  • Probably not the proper spirit for the thread, but I have to second Chyren's sentiments- it's what I'm always thinking when someone is going on about 'the game that we all love'. I got stuck on a little league team one summer when I was a kid. After we were done losing our last game of the season, we got a lecture from our coach, who explained that he wasn't upset because we'd lost, but because we "hadn't given him our best". I must have been ten, and I was standing there thinking, 'wow, this guy's a bareass liar; here's a grown man who can't let it go that a bunch of kids lost a kiddy baseball game'. So much for the national pastime, and nuts to it.
  • Parents always ruin it for the kids.
  • The thing I've always liked about baseball is that it's root, root, root for the home team, because if they don't win it's a shame. That, and the fact that it's one, two, three strikes - "you're out!" - in the old ball game. Oh, and all the fucking steroids and cash and hookers, that's nice too.
  • Yeah, anytime is a good time for steroids, cash and hookers!
  • I'm pretty sure 90% of the world doesn't see anything in baseball because they've never seen baseball.
  • How can we not have seen it? Yanks go on about it all the time. Baseball this, baseball that. Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth. Bunch of beefy guys hitting balls around, every movie you watch, every tv show. Baseball references everywhere. Kevin Costner, Robert Redford. Trust us, we've seen it. Fat guys with funny caps and tight pants, hit a little ball, run around a little ring, everything really serious. Kick dust at each other, spit and yell. Less girly version of Rounders. Now hurley, there you've got yourself a game. :p
  • Oh yeah, and they're all called Slugger or something. ;)
  • I'll admit it. I love me some baseball. When I was a little kid and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I'd say "Reggie Jackson." When my mom explained that there already was a Reggie Jackson I changed my plans to say "utility infielder for the Yankees." Then I grew up and became a Rangers fan. Virtually any baseball post is peachy to me, though I also like learning about sports that are new to me!
  • We used to call it cricket for fat blokes.
  • > Now hurley, there you've got yourself a game. hurling? the stick is a 'hurley'.
  • Not hurling. Curling!
  • I loves me some baseball too, even after the bastard little league coach did his best to ruin it for me. Best.game.ever. The only game where the defense has the ball. 90 feet is the perfect interval between home & first. Jackie Robinson. The thinking man's game, etc. If you don't appreciate it, you haven't seen enough of it with someone who knows what's going on. (Or you just don't like sports. Fair enough. Most) People who say it's boring dont' know what's going on. Speaking of, I'd like to see some cricket with someone who knows what's going on. That looks pretty alien to me. What's with all the stickers and logos on the uni's? And where does one see cricket on yer standard uhmerikun tee-vee? Ooh and to bring it around again, could "the unnatural natural" play cricket?