Monthly Archives: August 2009

When Life Throws You Curveballs, You Take Them The Other Way

In a literary sense, I sort of like clichés. Before they become hackneyed and mundane, they are tight exceptional metaphors and similes. The first time somebody compared his lover’s eyes to a glowing moon, or her beauty to a red … Continue reading

Posted in Baseball the Teacher, Conventional Wisdom, Meta, Thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The State of the Cap

There’s an interesting profile about the New Era hat makers in the New York Times today. It’s a business that has, more and more, catered to an audience outside of baseball purists, including fashion taste-makers. Despite the overall trend towards … Continue reading

Posted in Baseball Fashion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Reminders

August has been slow at Pitchers & Poets, but fear not. We’re getting back into the swing of things. Ted and I have a great new project underway (you’ll hear a lot about it in the coming weeks), and we’ve … Continue reading

Posted in Meta, Technology | 1 Comment

Poem of the Week: The Ball Game

This week’s poem by Robert Creeley comes to us via The Good Form,  a blog “where sports and poetry meet to talk it out.” The kind (and kindredly spirited) folks over there contacted us a few weeks ago, and we’re … Continue reading

Posted in Poem of the Week | 1 Comment

An Open Letter to Jim Tracy

Dear Spaghetti Arms, I try not to engage in criticism. That is, I try to avoid using this blog as a platform to shout about why a certain player should bat in a certain place, or why Joe Scouting Director … Continue reading

Posted in Conventional Wisdom, Meta | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

That Time of Year: The Baseball Season and its Stories Thus Far

[Quick non-sequitorial question: am I the only one who leaves Fire Joe Morgan in my RSS reader, even though nothing new ever pops in, as a kind of memorial?] Yesterday, a friend of mine claimed she could smell Fall on … Continue reading

Posted in Thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Poem Of The Week: Brush Back

This poem comes from a chapbook by Jilly Dybka called “Fair Territory.” You can download it here. For free. The poem’s relevance should be obvious in these trying times. Pardon the format:

Posted in Poem of the Week | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Grains of Loyalty: Staying True to Your Team in Traveling Times

Transience might be the defining characteristic of my generation, those in the ballpark of their twenties right now. It starts with college a thousand miles from home, then a junior year abroad, then post-college city-hopping to chase down entry-level jobs, … Continue reading

Posted in Media, Memoir | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Poem of the Week: Pull Hitter

Mariner Russell Branyan is having his best year as a pro, the proverbial “career year.” Credit may go to a computer-aided eye exercise program, or to statistical anomaly, but the big lefty has kept the Ms over .500 and in … Continue reading

Posted in Poem of the Week | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Catfish and the Centennial

As of today Pitchers & Poets has enough posts for somebody (like  VH1 or Pitchfork or  Time Magazine or the Modern Library Association) to create a definitive and Important list of the  Top 100 Pitchers & Poets posts. Indeed this … Continue reading

Posted in Meta, Music | 6 Comments