A famous line from an Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem asked the question, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
When it comes to fans’ love of baseball, the reasons are countless. The recently released book “I Love Baseball” explores that very topic.
The reasons include our appreciation of inspirational men such as Dave Dravecky.
There are the oddities that occur which cause heads to spin, as well as the amazing plays which cause jaws to drop. Baseball is also a game filled with rich humor, evoking smiles and laughter.
Begin with Dravecky’s story.
In September of 1988, a cancerous tumor was discovered in his left, pitching arm, and surgery followed. It took until August of the next year before he could return to the Giants starting rotation.
In his first outing, he went eight innings and got the win after giving up just four hits and three runs.
Touchingly, when he had begun to warm up prior to the game, fans near the bullpen began to clap. Moments later, the entire crowd of 34,810 fans gave him a standing ovation.
At the end of each inning which he pitched, the crowd continued their standing ovations.
His next start, though, would be his last one ever.
He pitched five innings and gave up two runs, but in that contest he broke his left arm while unleashing a wild pitch.
The sickening sound of the bone snapping could be heard throughout the park — one witness compared the sound to that of a firecracker. Dravecky’s cancer had returned.
Sadly, he retired at season’s end and later had to have the arm amputated. Nevertheless his devotion to the game was inspirational, turning teammate Brett Butler into a fan. “The most incredible thing (for me) was to see a modern miracle happen … when Dave Dravecky came back from the doctors saying he’d never pitch again … he defied the odds and went out and did it.”
Such stories touch the heart and linger there forever, and are strong reasons to love baseball, which is full of oddities.
One tale involves a man who saw something, as they say, with his own eyes, but seeing wasn’t believing. In 1902, the Corsicana Oil Citys of the Texas League defeated the Texarkana Casket Makers, 51-3. With the concept of a mercy rule decades away, the Indians took no prisoners.
Jay Clarke had a perfect day at the plate– a really perfect day as all eight of his hits were homers. Of course, his shots were hardly monumental ones as the right-field fence was just 210 feet from home plate in a park not normally used by his team. In fact, his home runs were only a fraction of the 21 his team amassed. Corsicana had seven players compile five or more hits.
One report said they could have scored even more runs but they became too exhausted. As a bonus to this sideshow display, the losing pitcher surrendered all 51 runs. The Casket Makers were soon officially pronounced deceased– at the end of the league’s first half of the season, the team folded.
The data from the game went out by telegraph to the media. Upon receiving the wire, a see-it-but-don’t-believe-it telegraph operator figured, “This can’t be right,” so he reported the score as 5-3, and credited Clarke with only three home runs, not realizing that just about anything can happen in baseball.
How about the time Sean Casey hit a line drive into left field for an apparent hit, but was thrown out at first base by the left fielder. Score it 7-3, a first. Here’s how it played out: Casey’s shot first ticked off the glove of a leaping Joe Crede, the White Sox third baseman. Incorrectly thinking the ball had nestled into Crede’s webbing, Casey gave up on the play, heading back toward his dugout.
When he finally realized the ball was alive, he began his dash for first base, but it was too late. Pablo Ozuna got to the ball in short left field and rifled a one-bounce throw to first to retire Casey.
Humor and baseball go together like pine tar and George Brett.
Dizzy Dean once sent a message to a young hitter who had just stepped into the box to face him. “Son,” he said, “What kind of pitch would you like to miss?”
Another time Dean made fun of himself saying he had dropped out of school in second grade. He added, “I didn’t do so well in first grade, either.”
Information for this story came from Stewart’s book “I Love Baseball,” available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.