kirk and i get tickets to the last home game at shea every year, and this year is no exception. so we were there last night, although we left after the 4th inning. to be honest, i hate when people leave the game early (it’s one of my biggest baseball pet peeves), but it was cold and i’m coming down with something, i think, and the game was going nowhere (the mets lost), so there you are.
call me a fair weather fan. literally, last night.
i’m not very optimistic about the mets’ post-season chances. the pitching is suspect, and they are on a bit of a losing streak, and as a team they are not hitting very well at all. hopefully they’ll turn it up a notch when the post-season starts. the first series will be five games, and it’s easy to get knocked out of a short series quickly.
we’ll see.
of far greater baseball interest is this story about a 110 year old negro leaguer. the story is in the ny times today.
seems that no one knew he was alive until last summer (who’d have thought that there would be a 110 year old baseball player hanging out somewhere?), but he’s turning out to be a treasure trove of baseball lore and information.
this quote from the story will put things in perspective:
Simmons, known as Si, was born on Oct. 14, 1895 — the same year as Babe Ruth and Rudolph Valentino, and before F. Scott Fitzgerald and Amelia Earhart. He played at the highest level of black baseball while a boy named Satchel Paige was still in grade school.
amazing. his first professional baseball was played in 1912.
the story is well worth the click through.
