The view of the world from a hospital bed offers a different perspective on key issues of the day.
When only dreadful daytime television offers stimulation to counter the stultifying dullness of a stay in the infirmary for a patient and loving, attentive spouse, thoughts wander in and out of the mind like Bedouins searching for fresh pasture.
Thoughts of friends. Family. All-time best songs by The Who or Bruce Springsteen or The Beatles. Nuclear war. These are some of the menu items that become top-of-mind while staring at the ceiling or wondering whether lunch will mean something more than a “clear” diet of Jell-O and apple juice.
But mostly, it’s thoughts of baseball.
Baseball is not only a pastime; it is a companion. It is the source of endless debate and cogitation. The wellspring of amusement that makes a radio, MLB.TV, a subscription to the local newspaper and The Athletic all keys to a full life. Having a successful fantasy baseball team is also a plus. A subscription to Baseball America is a bonus if you want to keep an eye on the up-and-comers.
What follows is a series of random thoughts and musings about the Great Game. The game is thriving despite itself. Aficionados are already concerned about the game’s suicidal tendencies as it heads toward a 2027 lockout and resulting fan frustration over the idea of billionaire owners fighting millionaire players to cause a “work stoppage” and cruelly deny fans of their sports lifeblood.
• Dunedin has apparently discovered it has its very own professional baseball team. Games that previously had the atmosphere of semi-private exhibitions for 250-or-so diehards are now host to upwards of an occasional 2,000 fans. OK, $2 tickets and $2 hotdogs on Wednesday nights gin up the numbers, but it’s still an encouraging sign for the team’s 50th anniversary in the “Scotland of the Sunshine State.”
• Blue Jays third baseman Aldo Gaxiola, a 20-year-old who has clubbed five dingers this season, has one of the most memorable names in team history. Do they call him “axe”?
• A kids rec-league game in Idaho was forfeited after one of the team managers objected to walk-up music by Rob Zombie. This is wrong on so many levels. First, what kids’ league needs walk-up music? Are we somehow aiming to enhance the “fan experience” at rec leagues? Second, Rob Zombie? Really? Isn’t there someone else from the rock and roll crypt that would suit the needs of a young slugger? No one wants to hear Rob Zombie, least of all at a ballgame. But is it worth forfeiting the game? Maybe if it was Insane Clown Posse. Otherwise, play ball.
• Does anyone else miss spreading out the morning newspaper sports page, then grabbing a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal to look at the previous night’s Major League box scores? Reviewing them online just isn’t the same.
• The Florida State League, home to the Blue Jays and their crosstown rivals Clearwater Threshers, now has robot umpires judging check swings. Since check swings are ill-defined matters of opinion — “I know one when I see one” — it seems like a natural progression toward the further dehumanization of the game.
• Threshers alum Aroon Escobar, now of AA Reading, joins the likes of the great Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts as a player who will never really know what it sounds like to be booed.
• If baseball is worried enough about “getting it right” to employ robot umps, when will umps start to enforce keeping batters in the batter’s box?
• Eternal thanks from regular denizens of TD Ballpark — not to mention the recently deceased — to the person who turned the infernal PA music down from the Spinal Tap volume 11 to a more reasonable 8 or so. The ear-splitting racket the past few seasons was positively unhealthy, not to mention highly annoying. Extra points for not playing tunes between every pitch. Now about your music choices...
Finally, a major shout-out to the nurses, techs and doctors in the ER and ICU units at Mease Dunedin Hospital. This fine group of medical professionals not only offer superb care, they’ll take time to listen to a bored old patient spin yarns about baseball, life, the universe and everything.
Kudos guys!