Hello everyone!

I guess a brief introduction might be appropriate here...
My name is Tom Barnes (I write under the pen name Ray Thomas) and I'm a baseball fan.  Hmmm, a bit too brief perhaps. 

I'm 59 and was born in southeastern Pennsylvania not far from Philadelphia so, naturally, I'm also a Phillies fan.  Hard times are nothing new to me...23 straight losses in 1961, but a 10 game losing streak hurt even more because it cost them the NL pennant in 1964.  Still, somehow, I had fallen in love with that team and have been a phaithful phan ever since despite the ignominy of becoming the first professional sports franchise to lose 10,000 games.  Makes the current edition oh so much more enjoyable!

I'm a newcomer to NSB and the new owner of the Penn Barnstormers in the Cleveland Heartbreak League (uh oh, 2-10 in the first two events...).  I'm still getting familiar with the software and the sim mechanics so if any of you old pros might care to toss a few pearls of wisdom at me, I brought my glove...

Now, with that shameless plea for help out of the way...

I've often thought about just what it was that allowed baseball to snake its way into my psyche, to permeate my very being.  I mean, as a kid, I lived and breathed baseball.  Spent every moment I could playing ball on the local hospital's front lawn (and never once worried about "trespassing" - how times have changed.  Begged mom to buy only Post cereals so I could read the stats on the baseball cards printed on the back of the box while I ate my Raisin Bran and then, when the box was empty, to cut them out and save them...my simple treasures.  Well, there's one thing...stats.  Baseball, like no other sport is a game of numbers and calculations and averages, the grist for comparison as well as argument and even the occasional beer wager.  (And, incidentally, the fodder for this very website and game).  OK, so stats are one thing that attracted me to baseball, but what else?

How about symmetry.  In basketball, soccer and hockey the balls (or puck) and the players are running all over the playing field in what seems a dozen different directions.  You hardly know where to look to keep up with what's going on.  Football attains a semblance of symmetry for a few seconds after the teams come to the scrimmage line and before the ball is snapped, but once the ball's in the quarterback's hands, it becomes a bunch of guys scattered all over the field.  In baseball, the flow of the game is much easier to follow. The pitcher is going to throw the ball and the batter is either going to hit it or not.  If he hits it, the fielder is either going to catch it or not.  When he does hit it he's going to run.  And therein, lies the beauty.  He's always going to follow the same path, from home to first and, if he hit it well, possibly second or third.  The flight of the batted ball (sometimes majestic) is easily followed.  It allows you to know in advance where the play is going to be so that, if you're paying attention, it is unlikely that you'll take a line drive to the noggin!  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good football game but don't get nearly as immersed in it as I would a baseball game.  When the Phils and Eagles are both playing on a Sunday afternoon I watch the Phillies and check in on the Birds during commercial breaks.

The pace of a baseball game suits my temperament.  There are those who find baseball slow and boring. Some of these same people have been known to spend an entire afternoon in front of the TV watching Tiger Woods wander around acres and acres of finely manicured grass.  Baseball is cerebral, there is much to think about as each hitter comes to the plate depending on the inning, the score and who the batter and pitcher are.  Baseball gives you a few moments to contemplate the manager's strategy before the play unfolds.  From my perspective baseball can only be boring to those who don't know and understand the game.

Baseball is open-ended.  There is no clock, no final gun.  The game continues as long as necessary to determine a victor.  Extra innings (overtime sounds so depressing) are exciting, its like playing the ninth inning over and over until the slugger wallops the walk-off or the rookie pitcher breaks your heart.

Hot dogs.  Absolutely nothing compares with the taste of a mustard and onion laden hot dog at the ball park.

That's all for now, I'm hungry...

2011-07-19