Among Other Things: Ahh, baseball
Baseball’s a funny game. A couple years ago my son-in-law was coaching at third base when one of his Little League players thought he could stretch a triple into an inside-the-park home run.
As the excited youngster was steaming into third base, Pat held up both hands, signaling the runner to stop at third.
The kid grinned and slapped at Pat’s hands and kept right on going … and was thrown out at home. Afterwards, Pat asked him “Didn’t you see me giving the stop sign?” The boy said he thought he was giving him a “High Five.”
Then a few years ago at a contentious Little League contest during which some parents were quite vociferous, the coach stopped one kid as he left the dugout to go into the field and asked him if he knew what a good sport is. The boy nodded yes. The coach said, “Good. That means no arguing with the umpire, no criticizing teammates for a mistake, and no insulting players on the other team. Right?”
“Yes, sir,” the lad agreed.
“Good,” the coach said. “Now go tell your Dad that, would you?”
A while back I did a column on former Yankee manager Yogi Berra’s more memorable comments, such as the one last week in the Missoulian’s cryptoquote. “I’m not hungry. Just cut the pizza in four pieces instead of six.”
Casey Stengel, another New York manager noted for his quaint observations came up these comments: “I got players with bad watches – they can’t tell midnight from noon.”
“I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks during batting practice.”
“If we’re going to win the pennant, we’ve got to start thinking we’re not as good as we think we are.”
“Managing is getting aid for; home runs that someone else hits.”
“I been in this game a hundred years, but I see new ways to lose ‘em I never knew existed before.”
“Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.“
I don’t know if he throws a spitball, but he sure spits on the ball.”
”All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.”
“Don’t cut my throat. I may want to do that later myself.”
Ahh, softball
Congratulations, Polson Lady Pirates softball team. Three in a row — years’ titles, not strikes. Awesome! You “done good,” ladies.
Ahh, tennis
Congrats, too, to the Lady Pirate netters, who won the district tennis championship.