Memoir
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Ibid.: Insert A (Lyndie)
That very night – the night I saw her throw her final pitch (that strikeout, and that leap for joy) – I had a dream, and in my dream, I was the one who was crying. She found me in the room where I had gone to hide myself and cry – her art supplies… Continue reading
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1987 Baseball Replay: Mea Culpa (April 13)
On this, our first Monday of the season, Onix Concepcion, backup shortstop of Pittsburgh, goes to the injured list, and the Pirates promote Denny Gonzalez to take his spot on the roster. I’m actually a few days late on this – I didn’t get my Baseball Register till just last week – but, since Onix… Continue reading
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1987 Baseball Replay: Off the Schneid (April 12)
Your Gracie’s beloved Tigers are 2-3 after five games despite leading the American League in pitching, so perhaps you can discern where the trouble lies. That having been said, it’s extremely annoying to have to report that Alan Trammell, their most productive offensive player (though he hasn’t been too productive thus far in our replay),… Continue reading
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1987 Baseball Replay: Defending Chumps (April 11)
Blue Jays fans still lament the fact that they lost two of their best players – catcher Ernie Whitt and shortstop Tony Fernandez – to injury in the catastrophic (for them) final week of the 1987 season. And they have some grounds for doing so – particularly in the case of Fernandez, who was injured… Continue reading
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Monday Grab Bag: April 22, 2024
Ladies and gentlemen…boys and girls…cowpunchers, three-martini lunchers, and fellow CARPET mun…. well, never mind, but still. Yesterday Joe Spivey posted a fascinating video to his YouTube channel (“WHERE we discuss books and little else“), taking us through his process of penning a book review. The book in question was the new memoir by Liz Truss,… Continue reading
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Records at Random: April 20, 2024
Jewel Akens: The Birds and the Bees: The Best of Jewel Akens (K-Tel, 2007) – This is basically just the 1965 Era LP of the same name with better sound quality (no guarantee with this label) and augmented by several additional tracks. Unfortunately, that means that the version of “Sukiyaki (My First Lonely Night)” will… Continue reading
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1987 Baseball Replay: Cruzin’ (April 10)
We have our first waiver placement to evaluate today, and I’m going to let it go through. Jerry Reuss, the veteran lefthander, was released on this date by the Dodgers, the team for which, as recently as 1985, he’d been a mainstay, with fourteen wins and a 2.92 earned-run average. But he fell apart in… Continue reading
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1987 Baseball Replay: The Crew Waits for No Man (April 9)
The injury bug continues to bite your Gracie’s poor Tigers quite mercilessly. Kirk Gibson is already missing the first month or so of the season, and now the Detroiters will be without Willie Hernandez, their ace reliever, for most of the next two. In our replay, he had pitched one scoreless inning over the first… Continue reading
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Records at Random: April 1, 2024
Emilie-Claire Barlow: Happyfeet (Rhythm Tracks, 2003) – Well, I’d be happy too, if they were mine. All such lascivious comments aside, though, I’m generally fond of her voice and her way with a song, whether old or new, and I found her vocal take on Miles’s “Freddie Freeloader” a worthy addendum to the original, which… Continue reading
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1987 Baseball Replay: Into the Groove? (April 8)
Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd of Boston, Joaquin Andujar and Moose Haas of Oakland, Cecil Cooper of Milwaukee, Jorge Orta of Kansas City, Denny Walling of Houston, Mario Soto and Nick Esasky of Cincinnati, and (most devastatingly for your Gracie) Kirk Gibson of Detroit have all begun the season on the injured list, their services unavailable… Continue reading
About Me
I write about what I find beautiful, interesting, or noble, particularly with respect to literature, music, and sport. I tend to fall in love a lot, not just with people, but with books, records, athletic achievements, etc., and if I’m in love I tend to want to tell the world about it. Hence this site. I’m not much into new analytics, conventional wisdom, or thralldom to presumptive expertise. Love is my motive force.