25 Sep 2009, by Ted
Aaron of East Windup Chronicle brings us today's Celebrity Rogue terminology. Being the Asian-centered baseball blog that they are, these EWC contributions have a certain overseas flair.
When a Korean baseball manager, attempting to play match-ups, changes relief pitchers four or more times in a single half inning.
The Taipei Sizzle is the practice of fixing baseball games in the Chinese Professional Baseball League during the early to mid part of the 21st century.
In Japanese baseball, when a colorfully dressed mascot celebrates a home run by doing back flips all the way down the third base line alongside the hitter.
For more of these gems, visit the Rogue's Baseball Index and make your mother proud.
24 Sep 2009, by Ted
Poet, novelist, newspaperman and friend of PnP, Steve Weddle, of DoSomeDamage.com, brings us the latest Celebrity Rogue, in which he investigates the more perplexing side of the logic-miasma that is baseball broadcasting.
The Joe Morgan Triple Play is the stating of an idea three times without being interrupted by a single thought.
A good base stealer should make the whole infield jumpy. Whether you steal or not, you're changing the rhythm of the game. If the pitcher is concerned about you, he isn't concentrating enough on the batter.” - Joe Morgan
McCarverism, named in honor of broadcast legend Tim McCarver, is either the most obvious or most oblivious statement that can be made during a game.
Example of the familia obvious in which Tim McCarver explains why the fifth and deciding game of a best of five series has more pressure: “No, the fifth game of the first round is the worst, the most pressure, ... That ranks No. 1 because of the difference of the three-out-of-five format and the season. You play 162 games to play three-out-of-five. The disparity between the two is the reason it makes such an impact.”
Example of the familia oblivious in which McCarver, well, who knows: “If he'd been around 75 years ago, George Gershwin would have written about him 'the way you wear your hat, the way you raise your knee.'”
For more of these gems, check out The Rogue's Baseball Index.
23 Sep 2009, by Eric
This afternoon's Rogue Term was written by our friend Evan aka HighLevelPerformer, of the inimitable Astros blog The Crawfish Boxes. So sit down, kick up your feet, and take a break from speculating about the likelihood of Jim Fregosi manning the Houston bench in 2010. Instead, enjoy this term describing a phenomenon that is as nonsensical as it is ubiquitous in both its gamely application and announcerly utilization.
This is a term utilized by play by play broadcasters to take note of a batter-pitcher interaction that is currently in progress, juxtaposing any past confrontations the two players may have had with the one going on presently. The point of the For His Career notation is to give the listener an indication of what will happen, just before it actually does. As a general rule, the actual number of past interactions, whether it be 8 at bats or 9, does not impact a broadcaster's utilization of the For His Career. See also, Small Sample Size.
Example:
Play by play announcer: "For his career, Teddy Ballsmacker is 1/1 against Horatio Inningseater."
Color Commentator: "Ooooohhh...with a history likes that, Inningseater is going to have a tough time getting out of this pickle."
23 Sep 2009, by Eric
Our cleanup hitter in this parade of celebrity rogue contributors is Reeves Wiedeman, checker of facts, and sharer of ideas at his blog Meanderings. Reeves has also written for real newspapers such as the Boston Globe. His term, while rooted firmly in the Kansas City of his youth, sprays water and wisdom on baseball stadiums of all geographies.
A stadium feature that comes to define a baseball team in the public consciousness more than its on-field performance (i.e. those fountains in the outfield of Kansas City's Kaufman Stadium). The term is most often used when the team in question stinks, and thus its on-field performance is a subject to be avoided. One exception of note is "That Big Green Wall," which will in perpetuity overshadow any success had by the Boston Red Sox.
Contemporary synonyms include:
-Those Kayakers In Right Field
-The Swimming Pool
-That Sign That Used To Tally Cal Ripken's Consecutive Games
-The Rally Monkey
Example in conversation:
Royals fan to Yankees fan: "So, Jeter and the Boys are really pickin’ it up this year, huh?" Yankees fan to Royals fan: "So, Those Fountains are nice, huh?"
For maximum navigatability, be sure to hit up the Rogue's Baseball Index.
23 Sep 2009, by Eric
As history unfolds, so must our recordings of it change. Here is the recently added update to the world famous Definitive Unsourced Milton Bradley Timeline.
2009 B: Hitting .257 in September, Milton Bradley is suspended from the Cubs for the duration of the season after blaming Cubs fans for the team’s failure to win a World Series (you would suspect a GM would be thankful for that sort of comment). The suspension leaves Bradley and the Cubs in a sort of purgatory, as it is clear the team does not want him back and he does not want to be back in Chicago. How will this glorious soap opera end? Fear not. Evidently a graduate of the Nothing is Fucked school, or completely unaware that the goddamn plane has crashed into the mountain, Hendry reassures Cubs fans: We don’t anticipate any problems. We’ll have it all worked out in the next few days.
CLICK HERE FOR THE TIMELINE IN ITS ENTIRETY
(also a good excuse to employ theour used the Kooks category).